‘Then maybe you won’t want to stay for the last event,’ said Sophie. ‘They’ve saved the biggest, toughest, ugliest grown-ups for last.’

‘It just gets better,’ said Kyle. ‘See you around, Brooke.’

But Brooke stayed put.

‘What do you do with them bodies?’ asked Lewis, as two kids pulled away a fat father, one leg each.

‘There’s a big bonfire tonight and a big party apparently,’ said Sophie. ‘They go on that. I guess it’s like a Guy Fawkes made of real people.’

‘Nice,’ said Brooke.

It took a while for the arena to be cleared of corpses, and while it went on the gladiators took the cheers from the crowds. Lots of the kids threw things down to them, soft toys and bits of clothing, scarves that the gladiators tied round their wrists. Brooke could see that already this event was developing its own rituals as the kids celebrated their triumph over the enemy, making the nightmares go away, showing that the sickos weren’t all-powerful, weren’t all to be feared.

As they were sitting there, Josa came over, carrying her baby. She was alone. None of her boys around. To Brooke’s surprise she offered to shake Ed’s hand.

To her even bigger surprise Ed shook it.

‘Respect,’ said Josa and offered Ed a toothless smile. Then she turned to Kyle.

‘Clean slate, yeah? I know when I’m beat. You all could of come and joined us, you know. We need killers like you.’

Ed shook his head, hardly believing what he was hearing. ‘If you’d been a bit more welcoming maybe we’d have considered it,’ he said.

‘You know what it’s like.’ Josa gave a shrug. ‘We gotta survive. We don’t trust no one. And I do like to play games.’

‘You’re a bastard, Josa.’ Ed said it almost politely.

‘Ain’t I just?’ Josa laughed. ‘Respect to you, though, yeah? From one warrior to another.’

‘Are you apologizing?’

‘Maybe.’

Ed nodded. ‘I guess maybe’s good enough for me.’

‘I was just doing what I had to do,’ said Josa. ‘Like I learnt it.’

‘You’ve kept your people alive. You’ve pulled them through some hard times. I know how tough that is. Just remember what Arno said – the grown-ups are the enemy. If we’re ever gonna make anything of this whole big mess we’re gonna have to work together to rebuild.’

‘You think that’ll happen?’ Josa asked. ‘You think any of us got a chance?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Maybe’s good enough for me too,’ said Josa.

‘That army has to be stopped first, though.’

‘What army?’

‘The sickos that came through the other night.’

‘That was way heavy, man. Was all we could do to keep them out.’

‘They’re massing. But I’ve got a plan.’

‘A man with a plan.’

‘Yeah. Can I rely on you to help me out, Josa?’