Not long after Takeover Day, McCormick had stood in the same spot and delivered a rousing speech to more than thirty people, who had all cheered and whooped at the idea of fighting back against Nicholas Grant and his million clones. Most of that crowd had since died: many in combat, some through illness, and poor Mike Ambrose had killed himself. The remaining Underdogs – six special needs students, an old man, an ageing nurse, a child, the dictator’s daughter and a man who had since been cloned – were a pathetic army by comparison.

Ewan found Alex in the corner of the room, with the right-hand side of his face concealed against the wall. It would take him a while to get used to his three-inch scar. But he was in the cellar with everybody else, and nobody seemed to avoid him. Presumably they’d all been told the result of the test: that Alex’s blood had coagulated normally, which meant he was as human as everyone else in the room.

‘Ah, Ewan,’ said McCormick, ‘we were just sharing our favourite memories of this house. I thought it’d be a nice way of ending things before we leave. Why don’t you join us?’

‘Save it,’ Ewan answered. ‘If we’re leaving we’d better do it now rather than later.’

‘We can wait until nightfall. Come on, share your own.’

Ewan wanted to respond with something that would kill the mood. Maybe the time he and Jack got drunk in the cellar, after Oliver Roth had murdered David and Val Riley. Or stumbling across Mike Ambrose’s body in the generator room. Or anything else involving friends who had suffered horrible deaths.

But he restrained himself. McCormick’s own emotions must have been unsteady: this house meant more to him than anyone else. It may legally have been Polly Jones’ place, but for years it had been McCormick’s home too.

Ewan knew what his favourite memory was, but it wasn’t one he could declare aloud. It was his favourite moment for strategic reasons rather than blind sentiment.

It had been on Takeover Day, when the clones had come to raid Spitfire’s Rise, burst through the door and left without incident. He and McCormick had sheltered upstairs, having seen the platoon approach from a distance. The soldiers had entered, seen Polly Jones’ dead body, and left with the assumption that the house had already been raided. Not long afterwards, the clones had left the village altogether, allowing Ewan to leave the house and tell his friends about the shelter he had found.

In all the time that had passed since then, none of the Underdogs had been told that McCormick had been a resident at the house all along. Or that Polly existed.