SECTION III

Click Here For Section IV

The time seemed to pass very slowly, not only for Tai-San but for all of the tribe. They were restless and anxious, wanting the others to return, worried that they might not. Trudy played listlessly with Brady, and KC and Chloe argued noisily. Usually Tai-San would have meditated, both to calm her own mind and to send positive energy to Lex, but she found herself unable to concentrate. She sat alone in her room before a candle, trying to find a quiet place inside herself, but for the first time in a long while that quiet place did not seem to be there. She opened her eyes and listened to the increasingly bitter arguments; listened to the quiet sound of Trudy singing a half-remembered lullaby; listened out for Lex's return. There was nothing. She closed her eyes again and relived their all-too public farewell.

The hours wore on. Jack broke up the fight between KC and Chloe, taking KC away to help with his work. He was planning new sets of alarms; silent ones this time; and KC's quick mind was always a help to him. The boy was sullen though, still upset that he hadn't been able to go with Lex and the others. Jack couldn't give him any reassurances over that, and didn't bother. The boy was fast and wily, and would probably be perfectly safe outside; but rules were rules, and he wasn't going to argue with Lex. Always supposing Lex came back. If he didn't KC would have to go outside, or they'd all end up starving here, in their largely empty fortress.

Chloe refused to help Trudy with Brady, or Tai-San with her various chores, and wandered aimlessly about. The quiet of the place was beginning to get to her. She missed the old days, when the Mall had been full of people. Not just Lex and Bray and Amber, but Salene, Dal and Ryan, and Patsy and Paul. Lex and Bray had always been arguing, Amber had always been trying to keep the peace, Salene had always been worrying about something until Ryan had taken her under his wing. And Chloe, Patsy and Paul had run wild around the corridors, playing their noisy games with the twins' old dog, Bob. He was gone now too of course, and she wondered sadly if he was with Dal now. Maybe Patsy and Paul were with them too. That thought made her blood run cold, but she didn't cry. She wasn't sure that she wanted to. Crying wasn't something that she did so much these days. She listened to the sounds of their old games echoing in her memories, and heard Bob's bark again, the way it had echoed in the big empty lobby. She heard Ryan arguing some uncertain point with Lex, and Salene's voice reciting endless bedtime stories, as they had all huddled together in the early days. Things had been so frightening then, but at least they had all been together. Now she had nobody. Tai-San was only interested in Lex; Trudy was only interested in Brady - and possibly Bray. She couldn't be any use to Jack because she didn't know anything about electronics, or inventing things, and KC didn't want to play games anymore. He just said stupid things to her, and played stupid pranks that made her angry. She was lonely, but there was nothing she could do to change that. Nothing at all.

They went to bed only when it became clear that Lex and the others were not coming back any time soon. Trudy settled Brady down, then rolled into bed with a book she had been reading on and off since moving into the Mall. Tai-San tried to meditate again, and gave up with a burst of uncharacteristic temper. Kicking over her candle she climbed into the bed that she was supposed to share with Lex, and watched the little flame flicker out against the bare floor. Where was her husband, and why hadn't he come back to her? She hadn't expected him to be gone this long. She worried about him, and her mind thought up all manner of unpleasant possibilities. When at last she fell asleep it was to a dream of Eagle Mountain, and the explosion which had killed Lex's first wife. This time, though, Lex and Zandra died together, and Tai-San was left standing all alone.

Only Jack slept peacefully, though possibly only because he had been working so hard. He fell asleep at his desk, as he had done so many times before, and dreamt that he was winning an electronics prize at his old school. He had always hoped to study mechanics and computing at university, and in his sleep he did just that, being honoured as the youngest ever graduate of ever more prestigious establishments. Most of his lecturers looked just like Dal, but that oddity didn't register to his dream self. He just muttered acceptance speeches in his sleep as a hundred and one hugely famous, and now all dead, scientists presented him with outlandish awards. KC watched him from a chair in the corner, debating whether or not to try getting him into bed, but gave up on the idea. He looked comfortable enough where he was, and moving him would only wake him up. Besides, KC wasn't strong enough to lift the older boy alone, and he didn't want to wind up breaking Jack's leg again. Once was enough for anybody. In the end he abandoned the idea and the room, heading off into the corridors of the Mall in search of entertainment. He couldn't sleep, even if the others could. He was in one of his restless moods, and if he couldn't have chocolate, or a long walk through the dark streets, he would have to settle with some frenetic pacing.

He met Chloe in the back corridors. She was standing by a grubby window, half boarded up, and bearing signs of several special offer stickers. Something about two for the price of one on all apples, and something else about organic potatoes. KC had never seen the point of reading, and although he had recently made more of an effort to learn, he still didn't see why it was such a great skill to possess. What use was it to him to know how much the adults had been charged for their organic potatoes? He watched Chloe for a while, trying to decide whether to acknowledge her or slip on by, but apparently she had seen his reflection in the dirty window. She glanced back.

"Going to stay there and stare all night, or was there something you wanted to say?"

"Me? No, I er..." He looked away, feeling very awkward. "I didn't know you'd seen me."

"I've got eyes in the back of my head." She smiled very slightly. "I never used to understand that saying. My mother used to say it all the time, and I used to look for the other set. She said they were hidden by her hair, and when I asked how she could see with them then, she said it was magic. Grown up magic."

"They all used to say things like that." He felt even more awkward now. Chloe hadn't spoken this much to anybody in some days, except when she was shouting. He wasn't sure what to say to her. "Maybe they really did have eyes in the backs of their heads. They always knew what we were doing, even when they weren't looking."

"I suppose it's something that happens when you're a parent." She turned away again, looking back out of the window. "Do you ever think about your parents?"

"They died before the Virus came along. I don't remember them all that well." He shrugged. "But yeah, I think about them. I wonder what they'd think of our new world."

"And of what we get up to in it. What did my parents think when they saw me fighting the Locos and Tribe Circus, and the Chosen? Or now, with Tribe Fury? I wonder if they knew what sort of thing I'd be facing, when they got sick?"

"I suppose that depends on when it was. Early in the spread of the Virus, or late." He shrugged. "But I doubt they'd have guessed, no. Who could? Nobody would have imagined that it would really have been every adult, everywhere. Could they."

"I suppose not." She sighed. "I just wish they were here sometimes, that's all. With all the old technology. I could phone up Patsy and find out where she is. Our parents would have stopped Lex and the others from going outside."

"They wouldn't have needed to go out in the first place," pointed out KC. "If the adults were still around we wouldn't need to look for food or supplies. We wouldn't be living in this Mall, there wouldn't be dangers out on the streets." He smiled. "And none of us would ever have met each other, except for Ebony, Trudy and Bray."

"And Zoot," added Chloe. She could never forget him. The creature she had hated as something from a nightmare, who had turned out to be a young boy, a brother and a father. "Except he would never have been Zoot."

"And the Chosen would never have worshipped him, and we'd never have been afraid of him, and police car sirens would still be a nice noise." He shrugged. "Well, for some people. I never liked the police much."

"You would have done if you'd behaved yourself. You were probably out stealing things, weren't you."

"Sometimes." He grinned at her half-turned back. "But nothing major. So, er... is there some reason for all this nostalgia, or are you just bored?"

"Don't be stupid, KC." Some of the recent irritability was back in her voice, and he back-pedalled slightly, figuratively if not actually. "It's not nostalgia. I was just thinking, that's all. I want everybody back, and that got me to think about when they were all still here. And before then. Back when we were all happy."

"We weren't all happy," he told her, for his life at least had become better since the time of the Virus, when he had had a family of sorts for the first time in a long while, and had found a safe place to call home. She shrugged.

"Most of us. I was thinking about all of the others; the ones who have died, and the ones who have disappeared. Not Zandra so much, although I suppose that's unfair... but the others. Patsy and Paul."

"Yeah. And Dal." KC shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Chlo. I wish I could say that everybody is okay. That Patsy is fine, and Salene and Ryan too, and that Lex and the others are on their way back here right now. But I can't, and I'm not much good at pretending with things like that. Con tricks yes, but fooling you into believing that everything's okay... well that's something different, isn't it. I'm sure that they probably are alright. All of them. But we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we. One way or another."

"Yeah." She stared out of the window again, at the dusty, litter strewn street. She wasn't supposed to be here, where it was possible that somebody would see her through the glass; but she had needed to see the outside world. Life could become peculiar and unreal, when you spent all day every day inside, with no view of anything beyond the walls and the ceiling. She wished that she could feel the wind in her hair, and the soft ground beneath her feet as well, but for now she would just have to content herself with a look. "KC..."

"What?" He thought about going closer, but knew full well that he might well trigger another argument if he did anything other than follow her lead, and read the signs very carefully. She was silent for several moments.

"Sit with me? In one of the rooms. Where there are some chairs. I don't know if I can get to sleep tonight, but I don't want to be alone, and I know that the others are asleep. Except Tai-San maybe, and she won't want me hanging around. I want to know that there's somebody to talk to, if I want."

"Sure." He followed her slowly upstairs, into one of the rooms that they had made into a lounge; a place of rugs and bright cushions, and pictures painted onto the boards they had used to cover the windows. They lit a single candle, and put it on the table in the middle of the room. Chloe sat down on a couch, held a cushion tightly, and tried not to let her mind wander to thoughts of people who might now be dead. KC sat beside her.

"You want to talk now?" he asked, wondering what on earth they could talk about. She shook her head, leaning back and staring into space. Several minutes passed before she spoke again.

"KC, do you know any stories?"

"Loads, yeah. So do you."

"I know. I just want to hear a story right now, that's all. Sometimes I want..." She frowned, feeling that she was saying too much, but wanting to share something of her feelings tonight. "Sometimes I just want to be a kid and listen to a story."

"Yeah." He wanted that himself often enough, but tonight he was happy to play the more grown up rôle, and let her feel that little bit reassured. "Okay. So are you sitting comfortably?"

"Yeah." She didn't look comfortable, and she clearly wasn't relaxed, but he thought she was probably about as settled as she was going to be. "What's the story about?"

"Kids," he told her, because the only other ones he knew involved horrific monsters, vampires and lots of blood, and that probably wasn't what was needed right now. "And a magic cup that granted their every wish."

"Good." It sounded like a cheerfully babyish tale, and that was just what she fancied. "Go on then."

"Okay." He could feel himself relaxing now, and silently thought that perhaps this was what he needed too. "Well once upon a time there were four kids, and they all lived next door to each other. They'd never heard of viruses or tribes, and they'd never been scared or hungry. They were called Chloe, Patsy, Paul... and Kelvin."

"Kelvin?" She looked over at him, surprised, and he shrugged a little. She had told him more than she had intended this evening - and he knew when it was a good idea to share a revelation.

"It's what the 'K' stands for," he answered, looking decidedly embarrassed. "And if you ever tell anyone..."

"I won't." She laughed lightly, and looked all the better for it. "Okay, so there were four children. What happened to them?"

"Well like I said," he continued, making everything up as he went along, "there was this magic cup..."

And as the night turned into dawn, and the candle burnt itself down towards the table top, so the gentle story progressed.

The little shack on the hillside had been home for several days, but Amber and Sasha knew that they couldn't stay there. Tribe Fury knew about it, and that at least meant that it could not be safe. Amber wasn't sure that she should be moving, for the sake of her own health and for her baby's, but it was clear that she couldn't stay behind; so taking it very slowly, and very carefully, they headed off in search of somewhere else. As it turned out they had been not at all too soon, for they had not gone far before they heard the sound of a raucous engine. Sasha pulled Amber into the cover of some heavy bushes.

"They're nowhere near us," she hissed. He held a finger to his lips.

"If they're here to check on you they might look around a bit," he whispered back, and she nodded her understanding. It made sense; she was fairly sure that they had left a trail behind them that would not be hard to follow. She tried to see if they had left any signs that might point to their hiding place, but Sasha held her back. He didn't want to take any chances.

They waited in their hiding place for hours, pressed together, with stiff, sharp twigs sticking into their skin and catching in their clothing. They heard voices, and the sound of people tramping about; then followed a long period when they heard nothing at all. Neither of them spoke, though, or tried to move. Until they had heard the engine again, and knew that they were once again alone, it was not safe to take any chances. Amber closed her eyes, and tried to convince herself that whoever was out there were friends and not enemies. She had no proof that they were members of Tribe Fury, after all. It was a foolish hope though, and she knew it. Who else would have a vehicle, or the fuel to power it? In the green clad semi-darkness, Sasha sought out her hand and held it. She didn't even consider pushing him away, or give a thought to how familiar he was getting.

"She was half dead! She couldn't have gone far!" The strident voice of some young soldier made Sasha's hand tightened reflexively around Amber's. Somebody else answered, speaking rudely and with frustration.

"Maybe she tried to head for the city?" suggested a third. He sounded young, but the mark of the military was in his voice nonetheless. Amber tried to position herself so that she could see out through the bush's thickly growing leaves, but all that she could see were wood and leaves. Nearby the new arrivals were moving about, peering at possible trails, shouting at each other about things that they thought they had seen. Sasha tried to flash one of his incessant cheery smiles at his companion, but she wasn't looking. She was staring at the impenetrable bush that separated her from a group of people who had obviously been sent to find her. She wondered what they wanted; had somebody perhaps got into trouble for leaving her behind? They didn't elaborate though, and just spread out, shouting to each other as they prowled around. Amber wondered what would happen if they found her; what they would do both to her and to Sasha. Take them to the city, presumably - but to what? Part of her wondered if perhaps it might be best to be found now, and maybe taken to the same place that these people had already taken Bray, although she knew that he wouldn't thank her for doing that. She couldn't risk it anyway, and her eyes strayed almost unconsciously to her stomach. If she gave herself up there was a chance that she would be killed; and that would also mean the death of her baby. That was unthinkable. Trying not to breathe too loudly, desperate not to move and risk giving herself away, she closed her eyes again and readied herself to wait things out.

It took a long time. The group of Furies spent ages surveying the hillside, examining everything, shouting to each other and growing frustrated. Amber wondered how much time had passed, but it was impossible to be sure. She couldn't see the passage of the sun with the bushes in the way, and there didn't seem to be much change in the quality of the light. Sasha's hand retained its grip on hers, never slackening, never wavering, and she found herself thinking that, if a great deal of time really was passing, he must have remarkable patience. The thought made her smile faintly, and Sasha saw it and gave her hand a brief squeeze. They could almost have been enjoying themselves in their refuge, she thought; two friends hiding and laughing, sharing a joke. It was better to think that way than to dwell too much on why they were really crouched in the middle of a bush.

Tribe Fury left some six or seven hours after they had arrived, roaring away down the hill in a jeep that clearly had no muffler. Amber and Sasha didn't move. Amber wasn't sure that she could, but staying still had little to do with manoeuvrability. They were worried that somebody might have stayed behind to finish the search; to be sure that their quarry had indeed left the barn, and had not just gone away for a few hours, perhaps in search of food. There was no sign of anybody though; no noise. Finally Sasha announced that he was going to take a look.

"Are you crazy? If they see you..."

"I can move pretty quickly, and of course it's not me that they're looking for." Sasha wasn't sure if he was being intentionally brave, or when he had become quite so daring, but he knew that his way was best. "You can't be in a chase right now Amber. We have to know if it's safe, and somebody other than you has to find that out. Yeah?"

"Yes. I suppose." She let him go, feeling dreadful about it, waiting with the sensation of something like thousands of ants in her stomach, until she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the bush. For a moment then she was afraid, in case it wasn't Sasha; in case he had been captured and made to talk. Then she knew that it didn't matter. She was certain that he wouldn't betray her,but if he had there was no hiding from it. She pushed her way out of the bush, and when she saw that it was him, and that he was beaming happily, she surprised herself by giving him an excited hug. He returned it, equally surprised, then let her go.

"Nobody's around," he told her. "Coast seems to be clear. We should get going."

"Yes." She looked away, back in the direction in which they had originally been heading. "I feel bad. We should be going to the city, not to some safe haven somewhere else."

"I know. Hey, I want to know what's going on there too you know. I want to be sure that everybody down there is okay. I had other friends in the city besides you, and I liked the rest of your tribe, too. Maybe not Bray exactly, I'll admit that... but the kids, and the others. They were good to me. I'm sorry that you don't know where Patsy is. She was a cute kid."

"Yeah. Yeah, but we'll find her... Maybe after all of this is sorted out." Amber thought about what a mammoth task that would be, and felt heavy hearted. "But we can't get started yet. We can't even go back to the city, can we."

"You know we can't. You're just not ready for that yet. Besides, we don't know if it's even possible to get into the city. If it's going to be at all tough then we're definitely not going to be able to do it yet. You have to be sure that you're strong enough."

"Yeah." She felt bad, even though she knew that she shouldn't. This was about her baby; it wasn't as though she were making excuses, or trying to get out of helping her friends. "So where exactly do we head for?"

"We'll make a camp. I'm no slouch at that, you know. Somewhere near a water source, so I can fish, and somewhere quiet and safe, so that you can get plenty of rest. As close to the city as we can, if it'll make you feel any better. I wish I knew how long you should rest up for."

"Me too. Maybe a week?"

"More like several, but we'll take each day as it comes. We'll walk slowly on the way, too. There's no rush."

"There might well be."

"Yes, I know. I was trying to make you feel better." He smiled sadly. "It's not your fault, Amber. They'd understand that."

"Yeah." Quite suddenly she didn't want to think about it anymore, even though she knew that she always would. "Come on. There's always a chance that those people might come back."

"True. The more distance we put between ourselves and that barn, the better. You're to tell me if you feel tired though, or if you feel... anything else."

"If I start to feel contractions again, there's nothing we can do about it, is there. Not this time." She smiled sadly, and remembered how she hadn't wanted the baby at first. Now she didn't think that she could carry on if she lost it. Sasha looked uncomfortable. He wanted to make her feel better and didn't know how, so smiling bravely she took his arm, and tried to tell herself that everything was going to be alright.

"It'll be okay, Sasha," she said, hoping that it would feel better if she said it aloud. "The baby is going to be fine."

"I'm sure that's true." He smiled at her fondly, sorry that he couldn't help her to be really sure, then started to lead the way onwards. The wait for Tribe Fury to finish their search had robbed them of a lot of good walking time, and although they were both now hungry, they didn't want to waste any more daylight by stopping to eat. It was important to get going. Arm in arm, they headed off in search of their next place of shelter, both with so much about which they were trying very hard not to think. It wasn't easy. In the end Sasha burst into song, and eventually, hesitantly at first, Amber joined in. It was many miles later though before she finally began to relax.

The Chosen had made an efficient base of operations in the tunnels. Clearing away rubble, opening up more tunnels, and making a stab at furnishing several larger chambers had leant a sense of practicality to the place, and lit by candle light it had an air of Gothic drama as well. Not that the four Mall Rats really appreciated any of that when they were dragged into the first such chamber and thrown against a wall. It was not a big room; simply a larger, rounded section of tunnel, with shored up walls and a roughly tiled floor. An old health and safety poster on one wall suggested that it might have been something to do with the underground railway once upon at time, though there was nothing to suggest that it had still been in use when the Virus came. It had been filled with old pieces of furniture, some home-made, and a pyramid of food tins stood against one wall. There was a store of batteries too, and a plastic cask with a built-in tap that was presumably a source of water. No beds, though, noted Ebony. There was probably a lot more to this headquarters than she could see, then. She looked around the place with a calm and calculating eye, letting Lex and Bray do the shouting. Their captors were unmoved by the anger, and the Guardian was apparently amused by it. Pride just looked disdainful and cold.

"So what happens now?" Reining in his anger enough to ask a sensible question, Lex shook off the hand gripping his arm. The almost shaven-headed, blue-scalped heavy who had spoken to them before smiled thinly.

"Sentence has already been passed upon one of you. I can't imagine it being very different for the rest."

"You can't burn me alive down here. Try that and you'll suffocate yourselves." Bray's voice was a low growl, showing a level of anger that Ebony hadn't seen him display in a long time. Even her own nefarious deeds and acts of betrayal hadn't warranted that kind of hate. She sympathised. Her own feelings for Zoot were strong enough to make her loathe everything that the Chosen had ever tried to do, but for Bray it was all so much worse. Blue head - Brun, as Pride had known him during the days of the Mall's occupation - let his smile grow.

"There are lots of ways to kill. Fire is nicely demonstrative. It was supposed to make a point, and send a message, but that's less important now. I'm sure we can come up with something equally fitting."

"We can't wait." Lex turned to the Guardian, who was currently hanging back, watching the proceedings with an air of obvious amusement. "What are you grinning at?

"Do not address the Guardian without the proper respect." Brun seemed anxious to do his part as chief acolyte. Clearly either subservience or merely the art of being a true creep came easily to him. Bray, on the other hand, didn't think much of the idea of showing the Guardian any respect at all, and like Lex he threw off the grip that still pinned one of his arms.

"Okay, so you want us dead. Fine." He didn't bother tempering the anger he so obviously felt, and instead let it all show now. "So kill us, or try to. Don't try to get us all to behave as though we have some respect for you. You know damn well what we think of you, and those feelings haven't changed just because you got lucky today."

"The Guardian will one day be the ruler of all the Earth. He is entitled to--"

"Bull." There was no stopping Bray now, and as the incensed Brun advanced on him, Bray pushed him violently away with a stiff-armed shove. A number of the Chosen descended upon him, but with a loud, abrupt cry, the Guardian froze them all in their tracks.

"I think that's enough arguing and fighting from all of you." He carried himself with all his old flair and superiority, despite his recent breakdown. When Bray's burning eyes turned upon him now he smiled indulgently, and waved a hand at the rabble of guards. "Leave us." He told them imperiously. "I don't need you now."

"Sir, I--"

"Enough. Our... guests will join me in my chambers, and we'll endeavour to have something approaching a civilised conversation." The Guardian brushed what was probably only imaginary dust from the skirts of his pristine white robe. "Is there a problem with my order, Brun? Some reason why you don't feel capable of doing my bidding?"

"No. No, of course not." Brun lowered his eyes, looking as though he had been severely reprimanded. "It's just that to leave you alone with our enemies seems--"

"You think perhaps that I'm not capable of making sensible decisions any longer?"

"No!" Brun was reduced to a madly stammering bundle of apology. "F-forgive me, sir. I-I-I only meant that I-I well that I--"

"Never mind what you meant, Brun." The Guardian turned away, opening a drawer beneath a battered metal desk and withdrawing an automatic pistol. It gleamed black in the light from the multiple candles, and reflected the hard line of his faint smile all along its barrel. "There'll be no cause for concern. I merely want the chance for a talk with these people."

"Yes sir." Clearly reassured by the sight of the gun, Brun backed down immediately. "In that case, consider yourselves lucky to have been given a stay of execution. You'll see a doorway just to your right. Go through it."

"Or what?" asked Lex, who always liked to make his presence felt. The Guardian cocked an eyebrow, and gave the gun a small wiggle.

"There's a short length of tunnel, and then a thick curtain," he said, rather conversationally. "You'll kindly oblige me by going through, into the room beyond. And don't think about trying anything when you're on the other side of the curtain. I'm very good with this gun."

"Great." Lex shared a look with his companions, but didn't get much feedback. Pride was still looking sulky and cold, and Bray was just fuming. Only Ebony seemed to be thinking especially clearly, and he could see that she was curious. He shrugged, feigning indifference. "Okay. Fine. Come on guys."

"Good choice." Still smiling in what he seemed to think was a benevolent manner, the Guardian waited for them all to enter the tunnel before following. There was no light, but the glow from the chamber behind meant that they were not entirely blind. Ahead the curtain hung as a thick black shadow, and Lex reached out for it, knocking it aside. It felt heavy, and smelt faintly musty, as though it had hung for a long time in whichever place it had been taken from.

The room beyond was something very different to the practical, cluttered space of the first chamber. It seemed to have been hollowed out of rock, giving the impression of an old mine cutting, or perhaps part of some long diverted underground river. Several stalactites hung from the ceiling, reflecting candlelight like bizarre disco accoutrements. And there were a lot of candles to reflect. They stood on the room's large central table, and on a smaller table to one side. They stood on the floor in little clusters, and the hung from the ceiling by slowly spinning ropes. Their light picked out several thick rugs, and a number of pictures. Whether or not they were original works of art or just reproductions Lex neither knew nor cared. They looked strange though, in this subterranean dwelling place.

"Lex." The voice was a surprise, for he had thought that every part of the room was well lit. He soon realised that one part of it was not so bright, though, and it took him a moment to see the figure bent over a rickety table. Why he had chosen to work in the dark, rather than at one of the lighted tables, Lex didn't know. He did know who the figure was though; the blue hair and blue-belted, white robe were as much an identifying feature as the faintly nervous voice.

"Luke." Pushing past Lex, Ebony strode further into the room to greet her former Chancellor. "I wondered where you'd got to."

"I was... brought here." He looked uncomfortable. "What's happened? Who else is here?"

"Only the four of us." She moved aside so that he could see the rest of her fellow prisoners. "No Ellie I'm afraid."

"I... think I'm rather glad actually." He saw the curtain twitch, and snapped to a sort of attention as the Guardian entered. "You've... captured them?"

"Yes. Why don't you congratulate me, Luke?" His commander approached with head held high and shoulders squared. "A little group of Mall Rats, here for my pleasure. And don't look so disapproving. I know you liked to consider yourself one of them for a time, but all of that is forgotten now, isn't it."

"Yes." Luke's eyes sought the floor and held it, a faint red flush showing in his face beneath the blue markings of paint. Lex snorted.

"Well he might have considered himself one of us once, but obviously not for long. What happened to your new leaf, Luke? Your boss waggle his curls irresistibly?

"It wasn't like that." Luke was looking increasingly uncomfortable. "What's going to happen to them, Guardian?"

"What do you think should happen to them?" Sitting down on a large wooden chair that had a commanding position in the room, the Guardian tried out his attempt at a benevolent smile once again. This time he didn't try to hide the unpleasant glint in his eyes. "They're already under sentence of death, so really you can let your imagination run wild."

Luke shifted his feet awkwardly. "I don't--"

"Actually," cut in Ebony, using one of her best eyelash flutters, "it's only Bray who's under sentence of death." Pride shot her a faintly disbelieving look, and she met it with pure innocence. "What? It's true."

"Guilty by association," the Guardian informed her. "And anyway, you're all equally guilty of destroying my rule. All equally guilty of defying our great lord Zoot."

"Don't give me that crap." Even the gun couldn't stop Bray from taking a step forward, but Pride moved quickly enough to stop him from advancing any further. "You don't believe that rubbish any more than we do, and I won't have you talking about my brother that way. Twisting his memory into some--"

"Regardless of who believes what, Bray, my followers expect to see you and your friends suffer for what you did. And if you don't watch your mouth, I might just think about letting them have what they want. There are all kinds of ways to kill a heretic. Fascinating, painful ways spread throughout the pages of history. Am I not right Luke?"

"Yes." Luke wasn't meeting anybody's eyes now, and remained focused firmly on the floor. "All kinds of ways. But we--"

"And," cut in the Guardian, who knew full well that his former lieutenant didn't want anything to happen to any of the Mall Rats - or to anybody else for that matter, "we're prepared to do just about anything to see that Zoot's justice is done."

"I told you to--" began Bray, but Lex pushed him aside and stood firmly between him and the loathsome leader of the Chosen. Something had struck the former sheriff, and it had made enough of an impression to cut through his own wild anger.

"What do you mean, you 'might just think about letting them have what they want'?"

"Ah." The Guardian smiled at him, and crossed his legs in as regal a fashion as he could manage. "Well, it's interesting you should mention that." His eyes, bright and teasing now, lingered on Bray. "Fate - or Zoot - has brought you here." A flutter of a smile briefly brushed the superiority from his face, as he savoured the effect that the mention of Zoot's name had upon Bray. "And it would be an idiot who wouldn't agree that we all have problems just now. I knew that trouble was coming. There had been rumours. Whisperings, from outsiders and wanderers. Great chaos they said, so my most loyal followers and I tried to leave the city by boat. We didn't make it, obviously. After the aeroplane went over, boats came in. Not many of them, but enough to make escape by sea rather awkward."

"Are you coming to a point any time soon?" asked Pride, who was rather of the opinion that if they were going to be executed it would be preferable to get it over with, rather than being chronically bored first. The Guardian spared him a quick glower, then returned his attention to Lex.

"My point is," he said, with all the superiority and force of the autocratic monarch he liked to see himself as, "that the city is hardly in a good shape right now."

"That's an understatement." Ebony, as ever, was beginning to see possibilities presenting themselves. Bray shot her a furious look, obviously suspecting that she was about to begin fraternising with the enemy. She frowned at him, in a way that was supposed to speak volumes, but which as usual managed to be half flirtation and only annoyed him further. The Guardian spoke on, as though there had been no interruption.

"I have barely more than half a dozen followers. Eight including Luke - though I have my own reasons for not wanting to count my dear lieutenant. We can try to spread our word, but thanks to you we're likely to find hatred and suspicion in the city now, and besides, things are awkward. Most people are beyond our reach now."

"Our hearts bleed for you." Pride wondered vaguely why it was him making the bitter comeback, and not Bray - but his simmering companion didn't seem to trust himself to say anything just now. He was merely standing very still, staring at the Guardian with dark and hateful eyes.

"I don't expect your understanding." The Guardian was silent for a moment, regarding his prisoners in obvious thought. Finally he stood up, casting aside his regal pretensions. "We need to get rid of Tribe Fury," he said at last, "You fought the Chosen, and I assume that you also plan to fight your new enemy. Well I want to fight them too. I want them driven from this City, and ideally crushed altogether. I--"

"If you're talking about some kind of alliance, forget it." Bray's eyes had lost their ferocious gleam, and he was no longer shouting. Instead he spoke in a quiet, hoarse voice. Lex frowned.

"Well hang on." He could see Bray's point, and an alliance with a nut like the Guardian might well turn out to be the cause of major problems; but it could also be a good thing. Even if nothing else it meant that they would be doubling their forces. Bray shot him a murderous glare.

"We are not making an alliance with this creep. Just think about everything he did. The people he killed and had sent away. Try asking Jack and Chloe what they think about it."

"Yeah." Lex looked a little chastised - though only a very little. "But on the other hand, we're down to nine people, and we're the only real fighters. This gives us another nine people."

"Nine people we can't trust," pointed out Pride. "And who'll probably try to kill us the first chance they get."

"And don't let the others hear you say that we're the only fighters," added Bray. "We get by fine, Lex. We are not working with the Chosen."

"Well if it's a choice between working with them and being executed by them, I'd like to come to my own decision there, Bray." Ebony flashed him one of her entirely insincere smiles. "We've been talking for days about fighting back, but we don't have a chance on our own and you know it. We need allies."

"And right now we don't have any." Lex met Bray's furious glare head on. "Yeah. I know. And if I was you I'd feel the same way. I do feel the same way. I just don't think we can afford to be too choosy." He winced. "And now I'm trying to be the voice of reason. Now I know something's wrong."

"Don't let me pressure you into any immediate decisions." The Guardian's voice was oily sweet. "But don't forget that my people are expecting an execution. If I don't give them news of one sort or another fairly soon, they're likely to come in here and get you." He shrugged, looking angelic. "And that really wouldn't be my fault then, would it. Look, we've had our differences. And I admit, I despite each and every one of you. Your whole tribe is guilty of offences against me and my teachings, and I'd like to see you all suffer - but I want to defeat Tribe Fury more. You have my word - in Zoot's name - that I won't see a hand or a weapon raised against you until the enemy is gone. After that.. well." He smiled broadly. "After that the city will belong to the strongest of us, and once again there'll be a free for all. There'll be no rules then."

"Sounds fair to me." Ebony sighed at the others, with their uncertain faces and suspicious eyes. "It's better than an execution - and don't think that he's going to let us out of here alive if we refuse. If you think you can fight your way out of here, fine. We'll make the effort - and at least one of us is sure to die trying. What good is that going to do us? The last thing we need is to lessen our forces even more. Do you want to be the one who never makes it back, Lex? Leaving Tai-San all alone? Or you, Bray? What do you think that would do to Trudy, now that she doesn't have Salene to fall back on? And what would we tell Amber when she eventually turns up? There's a time for hate and revenge, and right now the best place for it is directed at Tribe Fury. Just tell me I'm wrong."

"She actually is making sense." Pride met Bray's eyes and saw that he was recognising the truth of it all too. "I hate to hear myself say it, but an alliance might just be the best thing. It's got to be better than dying."

"You really want to do this?" Bray wasn't sure that he believed what he was hearing, even if he did know that on some level it was probably a good idea. Lex tried to look sympathetic.

"We're not going to be making friends with them," he offered, as though in compensation. Bray shot him an unimpressed glance.

"Well that makes it alright then." He turned away, mind drifting back to the many moments in the past that he had spent in thinking of his hatred of the Chosen. Of how much he despised their twisted leader, with his feigned belief in his mad little religion. Of the day the Guardian and his crazed followers had tried to burn him alive. The Guardian had killed Ned, Alice's inadvisable boyfriend; he had had so many people sent away. There was no way of knowing if Ryan and Patsy were still alive... or Danni. Bray couldn't help but think sadly of her, the girl he had thought he was in love with, but who had slipped from his mind almost entirely when he had been reunited with Amber. She could be anywhere; or she might never have left the city alive. He would probably never know; and the idea of joining forces with the very people who had quite probably murdered her made him sick deep inside.

"Bray?" Pride's voice was gentle, for he was aware enough of his companion's unhappiness. Bray didn't answer. "We need a decision, Bray. From all of us. I guess the rest of us are going to agree to the alliance, but if you're really against it--"

"Of course I'm against it." He glanced up then, dragging his thoughts away from memories that made his blood boil. "What do you expect? But you're right. I suppose."

"So we're allies?" With an ostentatious display of theatrics, the Guardian laid aside his gun and beamed around at all and sundry. Bray ignored him.

"We should get back to the Mall," he said, his voice thick with self-loathing for the choice he had just made. Lex nodded. He had been away from Tai-San for long enough, and being back with the man who had nearly stolen her from him made him even more anxious to be back. The Guardian smiled a slow smile.

"We have things to discuss," he told them grandly. "The terms of our alliance, our plans for regaining our city from Tribe Fury."

"Our city," Bray told him. "You don't belong here."

"But I am here Bray. And you need me, so let's forget about arguing over trivialities." His smile made his eyes shine with insincere warmth. "We need a meeting place. Somewhere where we can come together at pre-arranged times, to discuss tactics. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Ebony looked around at the others. "How about the rail yard? It's been pretty much abandoned since the Locos moved into the hotel, and there's nothing there that Tribe Fury would be interested in. It's well positioned, too, and easy to defend if the worst comes to the worst."

"Visibility's good," conceded Bray, his voice still gruff. "We'd be able to see if anybody came."

"The rail yard then." The Guardian nodded in satisfaction. "The former headquarters of Zoot himself. How fitting. We shall be guided in our cause by the lingering aura of our great leader."

"And you'll die painfully there too, if there's any justice." Losing patience rapidly, Bray strode over to the curtain. "Come on. It's not exactly a short walk back."

"You won't get past my people without my say so, Bray. I'd recommend that you don't try to." The Guardian's voice had lost its false cheer, and had taken on a hint of snide force. "I'm not through with my terms yet."

"Don't push," warned Pride. The Guardian laughed loudly.

"Nothing too major, I assure you. But if you want to get out of here then you have to agree." The Guardian's eyes strayed to the gun that he had so recently set down. The Mall Rats knew that there was very little chance of one of them making it to the weapon before he did. Lex scowled furiously.

"What are these terms?" he asked, in a tone of voice that suggested he was intending to refuse them all outright. The Guardian regarded him silently for a moment, apparently rather liking the idea of trying to build up some tension.

"Just an exchange," he said after a moment. "A little something to cement the bond. To help prove that we can trust one another."

"Well if you think we're going to leave you a hostage, you're very much mistaken." Bray's eyes glittered with the lights of some very black humour. "Unless it's Ebony you want to keep here, in which case you're welcome."

"Thanks a bunch." Ebony looked back to the Guardian. "So? Do you want one of us to stay here? Because none of us will."

"No. What use do I have for a hostage? You're all far more use to me out there, doing whatever it is against Tribe Fury that you did against me and my people. No, what I want is more an exchange of utilities. Of supplies. We have food to spare, and maybe one or two other things - and if I'm not very much mistaken, by now you've got your water filter up on the roof working again. The Mall always seemed to be full of batteries too. Fully charged ones. I want to know how you do it."

"Maybe you wouldn't need to, if you hadn't destroyed so many of the things when you ruled the city," pointed out Lex. "Didn't think so highly of electricity then, did you."

"That was then. Now I have new priorities, and the Great Age of Zoot, when all such trappings of the Old World are cast aside, will have to wait." He smiled beatifically, apparently enthralled by his own great plans. "So do we have a deal?"

"How much food are we talking about?" asked Ebony, determined to ask the question before Bray could break in with an inevitable refusal. Her fiery old friend remained silent however, apparently giving the proposal fair, if prolonged, consideration. It fell to Lex to finish things.

"We do need food," he admitted, wondering why he kept having to be the responsible one today. "The water system isn't going yet, but it very soon will be. We don't have our battery charging facilities up and running again yet either, but we can show you how to do it. You'll have to send somebody with us back to the Mall."

"I know." The Guardian smoothed out his shining white robe, obviously preparing himself for another declamation. "I shall be coming with you myself. I won't claim not to trust my followers, but I'd rather keep certain things to myself. If we're to strive for a world where such things as electricity are obsolete, there are temptations that need to be removed. I don't want them to know how to generate the stuff."

"It's not difficult," muttered Bray, who was in full sulky, broody swing, and apparently enjoying it. "Just basic high school science. Or are you saying that your followers are too stupid to think it up by themselves? Or see what you're doing and copy it?"

"I'll ignore that." The Guardian might have been the psychopathic and objectionable one, but he had an ability to sound ever more reasonable than Bray. "But anyway, if you want to leave here alive, you'll take me with you. Luke will come as well, to help carry the stores. You'll be able to take more food with an extra pair of hands."

"The two of you?" Pride looked from the Guardian to Luke and back again, an expression of disbelief on his face. "How the hell are we supposed to get you to the Mall? These tunnels won't take us right to our front door, and it's not easy moving about out there without being seen, as it is. You expect us to get two guys in bright white robes through the streets? You'd show up like beacons even in daylight, and by now it must be dark. Tribe Fury have searchlights, and if one of them catches you, you'll glow bright enough to be seen right out to sea."

"Then we'll change our clothes." The Guardian was quite determined not to be left behind. "I want to know how to recharge batteries, and I'm going to hear all of the details from whoever is in charge of doing it for you. I need an air pump down here, and that's going to take a lot of power. I think I can use car batteries to power a fan, and if I understand it right, the fan can power the car batteries in return. But I don't know how to set that up. I think you do. You use some kind of dynamo, right?"

"Yeah." Bray turned away, suddenly feeling the need for an air pump himself. He felt terrible, and the sense of constriction in this underground place was only making things worse. This was the man responsible for the death of Dal, and quite possibly of Danni; for the possible deaths of Ryan and Patsy, and for a lot more besides. And yet here he was, preparing to take that same man to the Mall, to exchange goods and favours, and enter into an alliance with him. An air pump wouldn't be nearly enough to chase away the feeling of suffocation.

"Aren't you afraid that we'll kill you, once we're out of here?" Lex couldn't believe that the Guardian would trust his safety to his bitter enemies. The older boy smiled at him, eyes glittering with a faint sheen of mockery.

"You're the good guys," was all that he said. He didn't really need to say more. What exactly could they do to him that he would have need to fear? They weren't the type to leave him to the non-existent mercies of Tribe Fury, nor to deal with him themselves. It was a pleasant thought that they might like to entertain, but it wasn't something that they could ever really do. If the Guardian decided that he wanted to go visiting with them, they were stuck with him for as long as he chose to stay. They couldn't even lock him up once they had him at the Mall, for his followers would be sure to know where to look - or where to send Tribe Fury in a typically grand gesture of real revenge. Lex glowered.

"So they're coming then?" He had no desire to take either of them, even if they weren't wearing their conspicuous robes, but Bray seemed to be relenting. All the anger and sourness had gone from his fellow Mall Rat's face. Bray shot him a look that was almost entirely devoid of expression.

"They're coming," he said, with a flash of his old authority. "And we're going, which is more important."

"Hear hear. Enough with the tunnels and threats and the rest of it. We stay here any longer, and everybody back at the Mall will have given up and gone over to Tribe Fury." Ebony rolled her eyes, infuriated by all this endless posturing. So the Guardian was an enemy, and a deadly one at that - but there was no immediate threat so why worry? Pragmatism was all.

"Good." Looking repulsively self-satisfied, the Guardian gestured imperiously to Luke. "In that case we'll change. Come along Luke."

"Why do I have to come?" Not at all glad at the idea of being taken back to the place he had been taken from, Luke was thinking largely of Ellie. How would she respond to seeing him again? And Jack, who had always hated the boy who had stolen her from him? He had no way of knowing that Ellie was far away from the city, at the farm her father had owned. She knew nothing of Tribe Fury, and nothing of Luke's whereabouts. Neither did she particularly care.

"You're coming because I want you to come. Because I don't trust you not to leave here without me to keep an eye on you. Now come on." The Guardian grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards a second curtain on the far side of the room. "You should like to be with me, Luke. It's an honour to be requested at the side of your great leader. Now get in there and get changed." He pushed him through the curtain, then disappeared after him. Lex slumped against the wall of the chamber.

"This is insane. We're really taking those two weirdoes back to the Mall with us?"

"Do we have a choice?" Ebony picked up the gun, long left abandoned. "Of course, we could always take care of them once we're outside."

"Put that down." Bray took the gun away from her, dropping it back onto the table. "Don't you think he'll notice if it's not there? He's left it on purpose, just to rub in how helpless we are."

"Helpless? He said himself that there are nine of them. With this gun--"

"We can maybe shoot one or two of them before the rest of them get out their guns and shoot us." Pride began to pace. "We can't try anything when we're in here, so why not just give in gracefully? We've already agreed to an alliance. How can it be worse to go through with this exchange as well? Just grin and bear it, and get them in and out of the Mall as quickly as we can."

"And try to persuade Jack to share his design secrets with the guy who had him exiled into slavery." Lex rubbed his eyes. "Tell me this isn't really as bad as it seems."

"You're the one who made the deal," Bray reminded him. Lex glared.

"Yeah. Because somebody else was too busy glowering and glaring at everything to have been making any sense. You've been snapping and growling since we came in here. That hasn't exactly been helpful."

"That's the Guardian." Bray's temper was beginning to rise again. "This is the Chosen. Remember? The ones who tore our city apart. Who killed Dal. Who killed Danni. Who tried to turn my brother into some kind of weird cult figure. Of course I'm angry. You think I'm happy about this? I'd rather we were in Tribe Fury headquarters right now."

"Cut it out, both of you." Pride could hear approaching footsteps, quiet on the rough stone floor. The Guardian and his unwilling protégé were returning already. Everybody glanced up as the curtain was pushed aside, but if the Guardian noticed the atmosphere he was walking into, he gave no sign of it. He merely smiled around at everybody, his bearing ever more regal now that he was dressed in what appeared to be a suit of black velvet. Beside him, in a shirt and trousers of the Chosen's particular shade of blue, Luke looked utterly miserable, but the Mall Rats barely noticed him. Pride forced a not too falsified smile.

"Are we ready?" he asked, in the tone of voice his father had used to use as the family set out on summer holidays in times long past. Bray nodded heavily, the suffocating feeling returning fast. He needed to be out in the fresh air. So did they all.

"None of you wanted my gun?" Retrieving the weapon, the Guardian stashed it away inside his clothing. "You see? We're all friends already."

"Or just not as stupid as you think we are." Lex led the way to the curtain. "Now let's hurry up and get our stores."

"Ah yes. Your food." The Guardian smiled his unpleasant little smile. "I'll have to think of something to tell Brun and the others. They'll still be expecting to execute you all. Still, I shouldn't think it'll be a problem."

"Great." Ebony stayed behind momentarily as their new ally stalked majestically back to his adoring followers. Lex and Pride followed uncertainly, but both Luke and Bray hung back with her, "Every time I think maybe we can make this work, he opens his mouth and everything seems ten times worse. Why do I get the feeling this is not going to go well?"

"I can't imagine." Bray rubbed his eyes, trying to focus his mind beyond Dal and Danni. The only thing he could think of instead was Amber, and that certainly didn't help. "Let's just get out there. The sooner we're out of here, the sooner we can get back to the Mall, and the sooner we can get that madman out of our lives and back here in his sewer where he belongs." He cast a bitter look at Luke. "And you along with him."

"Yeah." Luke lowered his blue head, and started off after his hated leader. He had been a Mall Rat once, or had hoped to be; but the Guardian had ended all of that with a rope and a cruel hand. Now it seemed that the Mall Rats hated him as much as he hated the Guardian. He didn't blame them. They didn't know the truth, and he couldn't imagine that they would want to listen.

"At least we're getting some food stores out of this," commented Ebony, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Bray glared at her.

"Yeah, sure. We've had to make a crazy deal with a Fury, another with the Guardian - both of them raving nutcases and capable of doing anything. But at least we've got some food stores."

"I prefer to look on the bright side." Ebony pushed past him, striding off after the others down the short length of tunnel that led to the main cavern. The glow of candles surrounded her, and Bray and Luke both watched her alluring silhouette for a moment - then Bray's glower returned, and with it Luke's ever sinking spirits.

"If you can," he told the Mall Rats' sometime leader, "get away once we're out in the open. Kill the Guardian if you can. Because believe me, he will kill you. He wants to defeat Tribe Fury, and he knows that you and your friends are probably the best chance he's got to do that - but there's nothing he wants more than to see you dead. You and Trudy. I don't like to think what he might have planned for Zoot's child."

"Yeah. Great." Bray quickened his step, following after Ebony and leaving Luke behind. Wonderful. All his fears confirmed, and at a time when his spirits were already at a decidedly low ebb. As if he didn't have enough problems, with Tribe Fury to deal with, as well as Racha and his mad games. Now he had another enemy ranged against him - another lethal obstacle to remove. He only wished he could get rid of the feeling that things were going to get a whole lot worse.

Amber and Sasha found a good place to shelter, far enough from the outskirts of town to feel safe, yet close enough that they could pretend they were in a position to be of some use to the beleaguered citizens. In the burnt out shell of a small cottage they built a somewhat spare camp, and Sasha constructed a roof to cover it, made from branches, leaves and bits of furniture that had escaped the worst of the fire. It gave the camp some solidity and a degree of weather proofing, as well as a certain amount of camouflage. He was sure that Amber would be safe, then, whilst he was foraging for food, and to be extra certain of her welfare he made her the best bed he could, from grasses, heather and mounds of fallen leaves. He didn't dare build a fire so close to the city, but she claimed to be warm enough, and they had agreed to keep each other warm at night if necessary.

He caught some fish, and cooked them on a small fire some distance away, built in the gully carved out by the passing stream. He hoped to be invisible there, and indeed there was no sign of anybody coming to investigate. He wrapped the cooked fish up in bundles of leaves, and carrying a bowlful of assorted boiled vegetation, he hurried back to Amber. She was resting as best she could given her general state of agitation, but she relaxed a little more when she saw him returning.

"Hey." It was an awkward greeting, for he still wasn't entirely sure how to handle such things. She was, after all, the girl he had once planned to spend the rest of his life with, but she was carrying somebody else's child now, and was desperate to get back to him. Sasha wanted to greet her with a hug, but instead all that he trusted himself to do was smile and treat her like any ordinary friend.

"Hey Sasha." She smiled appreciatively at the food as he divided it up. "You've been busy."

"And I hope you haven't." He nodded vaguely in the direction of her stomach. "Any... twinges?"

"No. I thought I felt it move a little while ago, but it didn't feel dangerous. Not like contractions."

"Good." He ate some of his fish, feeling suddenly rather uncertain how to continue the conversation. "That's good. Maybe if you carry on taking it easy for a while, things'll stay okay."

"Yeah." Responding to his sudden awkwardness with some of her own, she smiled slightly. "So did you see anybody while you were out?"

"No. Not a soul. I didn't hear anything either. The city seems pretty quiet."

"Maybe that's better than the alternative?"

"Maybe." They ate in silence for a while, before something else struck him. "Remember the gunfire and explosions we heard? If they've stopped it must mean that they've finished taking over now. Where do you suppose they've set up home? Billeted all over the place, or in one central headquarters? We'll need to know, if we're going to try to fight them eventually."

"Maybe we should worry about that later."

"We don't know how much of a later we've got." He smiled though. "But point taken. I suppose we can find that kind of thing out when we're more in a position to actually fight these people."

"Yeah." She couldn't help smiling. "The two of us, fighting them. With their guns and bombs and jeeps and planes. What do we have?"

"A spoon." He grinned at her. "And a bit of fishing line."

"And some fish." She started to laugh then. "We can't lose, can we."

"Of course not." He joined in with the laughter, forgetting about his earlier awkwardness. "Give it a bit of time, when you're a hundred percent again, and we'll take our spoon and show them who's boss."

"Yeah. Absolutely." Her laughing died down to a happy giggle. "This is crazy. The two of us, ready to free an entire city."

"I'm sure there have been stranger liberators. Classical history is full of terribly heroic underdogs. So's mythology. And literature."

"Show off." She was impressed, though. With the exception of Bray she hadn't met many well read boys in her life. They ranged from the kind who refused to admit to any interests beyond football or rugby, to those like Lex, who couldn't read at all. Dal had been different of course - but he had only seemed interested in non-fiction. In technical books, in science and medicine. He hadn't been very interested in her bowing shelves filled with old tales and books of ancient alleged truths. That sort of thing was meat and drink to Sasha of course. He lived on stories. They were his livelihood.

"Fish good?" he asked, as the conversation seemed to be dying away. She nodded.

"Wonderful. You're a great cook. I haven't eaten this well since I was with the Gaians out in the woods. Now they could write cookery books."

"I know. I spent some time with them once, seems like a long time ago. Before I met you, when I still wasn't sure if the city was safe." He smiled. "Doesn't make me sound very brave, does it. You were living there every day, and I wasn't even sure if it was safe to visit."

"Hey, I didn't want to be there. Dal and I wanted out long before you turned up. We hated it there, him especially. Stuck in the Mall all day. Heaven for Lex, maybe - under siege, always fighting with somebody. All that tension. I suppose I preferred living with the Gaians."

"I suppose I should sulk about that. You wouldn't leave the Mall for me."

"I didn't choose to leave for them. It was... well, things happened. The others thought I was dead, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go back to them... It was complicated. Then I fell in with the Gaians, and this guy called Pride." She smiled at his expression.

"Should I be jealous now?"

"Maybe. That was complicated too. Still, like I said - they had great food."

"Which is definitely important." He lay back on the ground, a stretch of stone flagging, with some pieces of carpet still remaining. "You can rule the richest tribe in the world, or the strongest, or the most powerful - but I'm not interested. My stomach is much more important."

"It'll be your back that you have to worry about if you go on lying on bare stone." She frowned at him, concerned. "You can't be comfortable?"

"I'm used to sleeping in odd places. I live on the road. There isn't always a bed when you're miles away up in the mountains looking for hill tribes to play for." He shifted slightly, wishing that he was on such ground now, instead of hard stone flags. They were not nearly so welcoming. Amber smiled.

"Don't be daft. You collected all this grass and heather, you might as well share it."

"I don't think that's--"

"There's more than enough room, even with all the proper proprieties." She moved aside and gestured to the bed. "Come on. I need you in good shape, Sasha. I don't know how well I can take care of myself on my own."

"If you're sure." Feeling awkward again, he settled down next to her. It was more comfortable there, certainly. With a fire it would have been well nigh perfect.

"I wonder what time it is?" She laid aside her now empty bowl, and relaxed into the embrace of the slightly scratchy bed. Sasha laughed shortly.

"Half past eight," he guessed, clearly not having a clue. "And it's Monday. I've just finished my piano lessons."

"Badminton." She smiled at the old and unexpected memory. A short walk home, meeting Dal on the way. He would be leaving his computer club, and at some point it had become a tradition to walk home together. Funny how she had never had a conversation like this with Bray. All that she knew about his earlier life was that he had had some kind of a relationship with Ebony, and that he had liked to look after his younger brother Martin. She didn't know anything about after school clubs, or even what he might once have watched on TV.

"Then a film or some old sitcom," piped up Sasha suddenly, as though he knew exactly what she had been thinking. "My parents loved old TV, and we'd watch all the classic repeats. Comedies they must have seen a hundred times."

"My parents too. It was like an old ritual. All of us sitting together. My dad's parents lived with us, so it was quite cosy. I always liked having a lot of people around. Not like you, out there all on your own."

"I'll let you into a secret. I'm not so fond of the 'all on my own' bit. I much prefer it when I meet up with a tribe. It's just that I've got nothing much to offer in the long term. They'd soon get bored of me when they'd heard all my stories, and I'd get bored too. Restless. All those adventure stories my dad used to tell me I suppose."

"My father used to tell me stories too. He had so many books it's a wonder we had room for them in the house."

"I think I'd have liked your father."

"I know he'd have liked you. He loved music, and bad jokes."

"Hey! My jokes aren't bad." He smiled though. "We lived on the outskirts of a smaller city up the coast from here. Near the old holiday village? Dad used to work in the funfair there, during the summer. I used to help out. We'd all pitch in with these mad stage shows. All ancient jokes and silly voices. Real end of the pier stuff."

"I never went there. We used to go camping in the mountains usually. Not near here though; often right on the other side of the country. We went to Greece once, and to Egypt. My mother wanted to see the ruins. That was our last holiday together."

"Ours was abroad too." He hadn't bothered commiserating. They had both learned that that got them nowhere. Everybody had lost their parents; everybody knew how it felt. "We went to France." He grinned. "The food was great."

"You and your stomach."

"I know. My mother was a cook though. Maybe it goes with the territory."

"Mine worked in a shop. She used to think up intricate revenge plots against difficult customers. Once she even asked Dal's parents if they could suggest some really good poisons." She laughed. "She had them at it then too. Working out how they could poison the till receipts or something."

"My father said he used to plot ways to get at his awkward customers too. It must be something to do with working with the public." Sasha stretched languorously. The heather in the bed smelled nice, and made him relax even more. "What did Bray's parents do? Your baby might take after them too you know."

She frowned. "I don't know. I think he went to a private school, so they probably had a fair amount of money, but he never talks about them. To be honest we've never had much of a chance to talk about anything. At first, before we became a couple, we didn't really talk at all - except to make plans for the tribe. Then I left and didn't see him for a few months - then we were fighting the Chosen, and there was the city to rebuild, and then Ebony getting out of control, and-- Well, we never really talked about ourselves. About me sometimes, and Dal. After he died. Never really about Bray."

"Well I'm sure there's plenty of time." He hesitated, wanting to say it right. "I mean, I'm sure he's okay. Still alive. You'll be able to find out everything you want when you meet up again."

"Yeah." She stared up at the darkened ceiling, and the only slightly less darkened sky that showed through the many large holes. Guilt nagged at her. She had hardly thought about Bray properly all day. He was out there, trapped in the city, a prisoner of Tribe Fury as far as she knew - and here was she, carrying his child but thinking of other things. Other people, and places, and times. Sasha touched her shoulder.

"It's okay, Amber." As always he seemed to know what she was thinking. "You can't think about him all the time. And you can always make up for it when you're back with him again, right? You and him and the baby."

"Yeah." She wondered how hard it had been for him to say that, then settled back down on the bed, resolved to start making real plans. Sooner or later her resting would have to be over. Sooner or later, if she was ever going to find out what had really happened to Bray, she was going to have to enter the city. She might as well start thinking about it now. A gentle breeze blew the scent of crushed heather to her, and with it a wave of unexpected sleepiness. She yawned.

"Night Amber." Sasha was already thinking about sleep. Of course - he didn't do planning, or even worrying as a rule. He just slept, or played, or ate. It wasn't a way of life that she could ever embrace - but as she tried to bring her mind back to her plans and her responsibilities, she found that she could hardly make the thoughts connect. Everything seemed to blur, the tension began to leave her, her eyes drifted slowly shut. After only a few more seconds she was fast asleep.

They set out from the Chosen's underground headquarters in more of a drawn out ramble than the tight knit group they had been before. There had been a mild mutter of dissent amongst the members of the Chosen at the idea of allowing Bray and the others to go free, but such was the Guardian's hold over his followers that there had been no real argument. They stood in a straggly line to see their leader depart, standing with their heads bowed and their hands hidden by the cuffs of their robes, all muttering prayers to Zoot that the Guardian would be kept safe. Bray glowered at their words, but said nothing. Ebony led the way out.

"We thought we'd be going back empty-handed," commented Pride as they left the furnished chambers. "We did better than we thought we were going to."

"Yeah." Lex was trying to focus on that too. It wasn't exactly a great feeling to be returning home with the Guardian in tow, especially since, in every way that mattered, they owed him their lives. He wondered how the others back at the Mall would react to his appearance; particularly Tai-San, who had once seemed to have feelings for him. Maybe they would get lucky, and somebody from Tribe Fury would see those waving blond locks as a perfect target. Although the Chosen pair had changed out of their white robes, the clothes they had opted to wear instead were hardly less ostentatious, particularly in the Guardian's case. Luke at least had avoided the bright white that presented such a convenient target, though the blue he wore instead was bright enough. Beneath his velvet suit, the Guardian wore a flowing white shirt with frilled cuffs and an embroidered front, which made him look faintly like a pop star. It certainly wasn't especially effective as camouflage, even if the black of the suit itself was a good start. He wasn't very good at moving quietly and slowly, and at sticking to the shadows, either, however hard Lex tried to explain the necessity for such things. The Guardian liked to be seen; it simply wasn't in his nature to be inconspicuous. When Luke tried to persuade him to do as Lex suggested, the Guardian looked as though he had been asked to dance naked for the members of his mother's old bridge club.

"I've hidden before," was all that he would say on the matter, though he did comply in the end. "Crawled through mud and bushes on the run from half the city. It's not an experience I plan to repeat." Lex gritted his teeth and thought about the stores they had been given. A silver lining to every cloud... Well, nearly every cloud. Bray was still simmering, and the bulging bag of baby supplies that he still carried, along with a second bag full of the Chosen's donated food, didn't seem able to cool his temper. Riding on his skateboard, almost invisible in the half light of the late evening, he drifted off ahead on his own, with Ebony trying to catch up. Luke mooched along some way behind the rest of them, weighed down by food supplies he had been anxious to help to carry, and apparently unwilling to be a part of the main group. Lex didn't blame him. It couldn't be easy to be thrust back into the company of the Mall Rats after everything that had happened.

"I don't like being strung out like this." Pride looked around, searching for some hidden threat. "It makes us too easy to pick off."

"I know." Lex squinted ahead. Bray had slowed, and was drifting along on his skateboard with Ebony walking alongside him. They looked as though they were talking, but he couldn't imagine what about. They hadn't spoken much since Bray had discovered Ebony's part in Amber's disappearance all those months ago, after the tribe's trek to Eagle Mountain. There had been enmity and antagonism between them ever since, but now they seemed to be talking in earnest. For some reason it made Lex nervous, although he couldn't really imagine them doing anything that he would have cause to worry about. The Guardian seemed rather more interested in them, but if he had his suspicions or maybe just machinations, Lex didn't want to think about that, either. He shifted his load, shut his mind to dawdling Lukes, glowering Guardians and muttering others, and thought about nothing but Tai-San. She was worth thinking about. The rest was not.

They took a tortuous route back to the Mall. Lex had lost his bearings after taking the detour underground, and although Pride was still looking confident, he didn't seem to know where they were either. Always thinking of the day when he might return to his own people, he had never made any determined efforts to map out the city properly within his mind; something that he would have done immediately in a rural setting. He frowned at some of the landmarks, and wondered at the inexhaustible supply of new sights. Just how big was the city, and how many parts of this one region could there be that he had not yet seen? It bothered him, for it made him feel small, something that even the biggest and most wide open places outside the city never did.

"It's pretty quiet," he commented, as they turned down yet another alley, past yet another old office block. A burnt out hulk of a car marked the entrance to the alley, its already scarred body pocked by the newer holes of gunfire. Lex nodded.

"I thought we'd have seen somebody by now," he admitted. "Even just from a distance. There's no way they've stopped patrolling. They can't believe that they have everybody."

"False sense of security," muttered the Guardian, sounding rather as though he had been thinking, and part of his thoughts had managed to speak themselves out loud. Lex frowned.

"Huh?"

"What?" The would-be dictator saw the two pairs of eyes frowning at him, and shrugged. "It's what I'd do. What I did do. You want to get the people you haven't already got, so you make them think you're giving up trying. You ease up on the patrols, leave some sections of the city alone for a few nights. Lull the locals into a false sense of security."

"Then you strike," completed Pride, with distaste. "Charming."

"It's war." The Guardian flashed him a smile, all sparkle and carefully measured charisma. "They want the city. They're not going to play it fair. With their strength and firepower why should they bother?"

"True. I suppose." It did make perfect sense of course; it was just that neither Lex nor Pride liked the idea of such tricks being played; especially if there was any chance of being caught out by them themselves. Up ahead, though, leading the way with confidence, Bray and Ebony showed no sign of falling for any trickery. They were moving carefully, dividing the surrounding area up between them so that it was easier to watch out for any nasty surprises. Bray was no longer skating, and was instead walking as surreptitiously as the two bulky bags would allow. Lex wished that the Guardian and Luke would be half so careful.

"Pirates' territory." Ebony had been muttering a running commentary of the tribes that had once owned the areas they were walking through. It was a litany of the oppressed and displaced.

"The Pirates don't count," Bray told her. "You got rid of them, not the Chosen or Tribe Fury."

"I think we sold most of them to out of towners for slave labour." She sounded almost pleased with herself, and probably was. No doubt they had fetched a good price. "You think there's anybody in these buildings now?"

"Probably. They're still all in one piece. Somebody's bound to be using some of them." He shrugged. "But what's it matter? They can't exactly get on the phone and tell Tribe Fury about us."

"We don't know that. The Furies have walkie-talkies, we know that much. Maybe they hand them out to their new recruits."

"If you're going to think like that, we're never going to go anywhere." He couldn't help staring around though, searching darkened windows for a sight of an unknown onlooker. There were a lot of buildings with windows into this latest alley, and only a fraction of them were boarded up. It didn't look as though the area had been properly inhabited though, for as they walked on they passed a huge skull and crossbones painted on one wall. It was a relic of the days of the Pirates, and any serious new gangs would have removed it. Maybe the place still was empty after all.

"Maybe I'm being too cautious." For her there might have been ghosts of course, adding to her unease. Echoes of guilt, over what had happened to the tribe that had used to live here? Bray didn't think that he would ever be able to believe that. "But I can't help thinking that we're being watched."

"Yeah. It does feel like it." Again he scanned the buildings, but again he failed to see anything suspicious. The windows were empty, the visible sections of roof clean of spies and gunmen. "We're pretty vulnerable right now though, and we all know it. It must be making us jumpy."

"The others are catching up. We should wait for them. Go as a unit from now on. We're heading into areas where the Furies have been more active. Back towards the main roads. We shouldn't be so strung out."

"Yeah." He shot a glance back over his shoulder, towards the ever nearer Guardian. The big blond was smiling placidly, eyes shining as though he were pleased to be there; pleased to be among them. Even without his hatred of the leader of the Chosen, Bray still wouldn't have believed that expression of warmth and good cheer. Luke's warning still echoed in his head, as well as his memories of earlier times; being a prisoner of the Chosen back at the Mall. The Guardian would kill him if he could, once all of this was over. Kill him or do something worse.

"Trouble?" Catching them up as they slowed to a halt, Lex looked about for signs of whatever threat might have caused them to stop. Bray shook his head.

"Just waiting for you. It's open terrain for a while now. We need to know what we're doing."

"There's no better way? We've had good cover until now. I'd prefer that to continue." Pride didn't like the idea of breaking cover when it was too dark to be sure that they were alone. Bray shook his head.

"We've chosen the best route we could. We've gone the longest way, through the kind of streets it's less likely anybody will be watching. Now we have to go into the open for a while. There were a couple of alleys that we could have used once, but they're impassable nowadays. Gas explosion in the early days I think."

"We should have stuck to the tunnels." Luke was nervous, a fairly common state for him. Ebony shook her head.

"The tunnels around the Mall are too small for us to get down with this much to carry. The bigger ones were blocked off by Zoot, and you're not telling me you lot have opened up that many."

"No." The Guardian seemed to find her words amusing. "We haven't been out that way. Not that it didn't occur to us."

"I'll bet." Lex went to the end of the alley, peering out into the dark street beyond. Smashed streetlights that would once have lit the whole area stood as thin silhouettes at regular intervals. "How about sewers? Using some of these buildings as a short cut?"

"There's no sewer entrance here. I haven't seen a manhole in ages." Pride was all eyes, hating this inactivity. He felt much more of a target when standing still.

"And the buildings are no good, either. There's no access from one to another, and they only have doors and windows on two sides." Ebony knew that well enough; it had been the reason why the Pirates had thought that their dwellings would be easy to defend, but it had become the reason why they had been so easily taken. They had been trapped, without any way out.

"Then we'd better get it over with I guess." Lex grinned crookedly. "What are the chances that they're out there? I mean, they don't know we're here, right?"

"Sure. Why would they be watching that bit of road?" Luke was itching to get on the move. He wanted to be safe inside the Mall, away from these dark and dangerous streets. "They haven't seen us so far."

"We hope." Ebony offered him the same dazzling smile that she had so often turned on her victims in the past. "But I agree with Lex. We're standing here like lemons, and it's getting us nowhere. We either go, or we turn back and take an even longer route home."

"If we do that it'll be dawn before we get back, right? I mean, it seems like we've been walking for hours." Lex edged around the corner, standing at the side of the street beyond. It was one of the old main roads; the kind that parades marched down, and cars got stuck in during rush hour. A place of famous name shops with cheap flats above; but a sea of broken glass nowadays. All that was left in the shops were the cash registers, and the flats had fared little better.

"Careful," Bray told him. "There's sure to be somebody on guard out there. It's a main thoroughfare, and they're all watched over to some degree." He eased out to stand beside Lex, muscles screaming their readiness for sudden movement. "One guard alone we should be able to get past, even if he does see us." He shot a glance back at the Guardian in his gaudy shirt, hair practically aglow in the moonlight. "Well, he's sure to see us. They're not slouches."

"So he'll get in touch with his friends, they'll move to cut us off... I'm not liking this plan." Pride lowered his burden of foodstuffs to the ground, glad to be rid of it for a moment. His insistence at still carrying the metal barrel meant for Jack's windmill gave him far greater a load to carry, and his arms had been protesting for some time. "Is there a better plan?"

"We can't run very fast with all this stuff," pointed out Luke. Lex stared around at the seemingly empty street, wondering if Bray were right, and there really was somebody out there standing watch. If so then it was possible that they had already been seen; and there was no sense in standing around any longer.

"We can't leave the food behind," he pointed out. "We've got to take it. If I was a sentry I'd be high up. One of the roofs probably. That means right now we're probably invisible, unless he's on that one just opposite. Assuming that he isn't we'll be alright edging along the side of this building towards that cross-roads. Then which way do we take? Heading east?"

"Turn right by those traffic lights." Bray had his eyes closed, trying to remember quickly. "There's an entrance into the back of an old bakery, and we can cut through that building into an alley. From there it's a straight line to that old street that runs behind the buildings opposite the Mall. We're less than a mile from home now I think, but that makes it even more awkward."

"True. We can't let any sneaky invisible guards see where we're heading." Lex was taking charge in the way that he liked to whenever he saw a security matter rearing its head. "Okay. We keep undercover until we hit those cross-roads, then we make a run for it. Don't make any noise, don't stop for anything; and if we're seen, split up. It won't be hard to find the way back to the Mall now, but take a roundabout route if you can." He cast a speculative eye over them all, with their heavy loads, and wished that he had as much faith in them as he had in himself. Bray and Ebony would be okay, and Pride too - but the Guardian and Luke might wind up leading the enemy straight to the Mall's front door. They didn't even know about the new secret entrances, and he didn't feel inclined to waste further time explaining now. He took a deep breath. "Okay, everybody ready?"

"If this is the only way we're getting home, we'll have to be ready, won't we." Ebony was already edging away down the road, keeping to the shadows and unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. "But next time we decide to leave the Mall on a mission, we give up and go home the minute the first thing goes horribly wrong. We don't wait to get a hat trick first."

"Nervous?" Bray was following her, eyes everywhere but seeing nothing. The moon had gone, and without it the darkness was too complete in the city these days; had been for a long time now. That could work with them or against them; and in his experience it usually went against. Tribe Fury were so well equipped they might even have night vision goggles.

"Nervous?" It sounded like she was echoing his words, but in actuality was merely showing her outrage. "I don't get nervous, Bray. I just get careful."

"So do I." The Guardian was coming next, as close to Bray as he could be, head turned towards his hated enemy. He was smiling, in much the way favoured by Racha, but there was none of the Fury's warmth in his eyes. "Feeling exposed, Bray? Like the whole of the city is watching? Maybe they are."

"Maybe." Bray turned his head away, determined not to look at his tormentor. "But if they are it's you they'll be looking at." He quickened his pace slightly, bumping against Ebony in the dark. Following on behind the Guardian, Pride hissed for silence, but the conversation had already come to an end. The Guardian was merely smirking now, his fun momentarily over.

"I wish I had a rucksack." Renewing the noise almost as soon as it had ceased, Luke struggled to keep pace with the others whilst simultaneously holding his heavy bag. It knocked against Pride's back unexpectedly, and the taller boy almost stumbled. The metal barrel he was carrying scraped against the wall.

"Shut up!" In his desire for silence Lex almost spoke too loudly himself. "Be bloody careful can't you!"

"Shut up yourself." Pride reached back to try to steady Luke, finding himself wishing for the calm and capable lieutenant who had been his enemy during the days of the Chosen's rule. Insufferable though he could sometimes be, he would have been of more use to them all now than the edgy bundle of nerves he seemed to have become since losing his faith. At the back Lex growled something indistinct.

"Just get a move on." Ebony didn't know what was going on behind her, but she could hear something, and that in itself was a bad thing. They were growing nearer to the cross-roads now, and she could see the road that was to take them all back to the Mall. So near, she told herself; so close to their ultimate goal. The sensation of being watched was growing with every step, but she was willing to believe that that was just tension. Tension and the desire to be safe inside, and finally able to relax. Her attempts at self-reassurance failed her though, and she began to slow with each step. Bray bumped into her again, taken by surprise.

"Ebony?" he hissed. She glanced back at him, able to see nothing more than a familiar shadow.

"Do you really think there's a guard posted along here?" she asked. His head turned away from her, looking towards the tall buildings. In daylight he had seen a figure standing on most of the tallest ones at one time or another. It was standard practice, and nights were no different. They had their floodlights then, and they turned them on whenever something demanded attention. He had watched them sweeping other streets with the powerful beams, and heard the bullets that were sent chasing after the light. Why would this place be any different? It was just a question of where the guard was posted, not whether he was posted at all.

"There's a guard," he told her, and tried to hurry her on. The tension was killing him too, and he wanted to be back at the Mall as much as she did. With every heartbeat he expected a floodlight to crash on; expected to suddenly find himself visible to everybody nearby. The fact that no light did come on only seemed to make it feel more inevitable.

"I hate this." Ebony didn't like the idea of being caught like a rat in a trap. It hurt her pride as well as having more dangerous connotations. "Creeping around my own city the way people used to creep around to avoid me. It's not right!"

"Ssh." He hurried her on even faster, trying not to stumble on loose shards of glass and bits of broken window frame. So close to the cross-roads now. So close to the place where they would have to break cover and make a run for it; where they would have their last chance to get past any unseen onlookers. So close.

They ran at the same time, as though there had been some secret signal, dashing for the small road that intersected with the main one. Pride struggled stubbornly with the ungainly barrel, and Bray found it almost as hard to balance the two heavy bags and the skateboard that all crashed relentlessly against his sides. Luke tripped on something in the middle of the road, but stayed upright. The Guardian helped him, for whatever reason, supporting him as he stumbled, and pulling him onward to help increase his speed in spite of his load. It seemed pointless to try stammering his thanks, for the Guardian never did anything just from the goodness of his heart.

They were in the other street then, heading back into greater shadow, trying not to relax, trying not to slow. Lex grinned his feral grin and risked a glance back the way they had come. It was impossible to see anything of course, but that impenetrable blackness, with no sign of pursuit within it, seemed strangely encouraging nonetheless. He gestured ahead, breathless more from the tension of it all than from the exertion.

"Come on," he gasped, already thinking wonderful thoughts about Tai-San. It made him pull ahead, Luke moving with him in his sudden determination to get away from the Guardian's unwelcome hands. Pride kept pace, looking forward to being able to set down his burden, and give his strained arms the rest that they deserved. He wasn't sure why Ebony was hanging back; thought that she was turning away to look in some other direction, and couldn't understand why she should be doing that; failed to remember that they were by no means yet out of danger. It shouldn't have been a surprise to hear the cry of warning that started to ring out behind him, but it was. It shouldn't have been a shock to hear what had to be alien footsteps slapping against the tarmac - but it was. His heart had barely begun to sink when the street was flooded with light.

"Scatter!" Lex's voice was almost drowned by the burst of automatic gunfire that made all of them dive for cover. There was no cover. They were in a narrow street without recessed doorways, without dustbins, without anything that might have made good places to hide. There was no way to scatter immediately; no other roads leading off. They tried to run, but when a small metal object sailed overhead, and hit the ground with an explosion that made the ground shake, they all ground to a halt. Lex spun in a brief circle. There seemed to be nowhere to hide - the light was blinding him, trapping him; the footsteps were echoing closer; dust was falling from the residue of the grenade explosion. He spat obscenities in a gruff voice, then threw caution to the wind and made a break for it. Bullets scratched the tarmac near to his feet, but he ran on anyway. The others were doing the same, and he hoped that they were all still alright. All of them, even the Guardian. He didn't want anybody to be gunned down.

"Lex! Go left!" Pride's voice was a surprise; a clear sound cutting through the ringing in his ears. He turned left automatically, not knowing why until he saw the big window that gaped before him. The glass was gone of course, save for a few shards clinging around the edge. It was like a door, leading to-- well, that much he could only guess at. Could only hope for the best. Gathering his strength for the leap that would take him over the low sill, he ducked his head, clung tightly to the food he was determined not to lose, and hurled himself into the blackness beyond the window. Somebody else came after him; perhaps a third. After that all he could hear was gunfire. He slipped on rubble underfoot as he tried to turn around and see who else was with him. Friend or foe? It was so dark after the bright light outside. His eyes danced with spots and sparks that prevented him from seeing anything of any use. A hand grabbed at his arm and pulled.

"Come on!" Pride's voice.

"The others--" He wasn't sure who the others were. Which of them were here in this building? Pride was pulling him onwards.

"I can't see a thing, Lex! I don't know where anybody is! Just run!" They were slithering together then, struggling to get away from whoever might be out in the street, or coming after them. Gunfire echoed again, horribly loud. Lex half turned, saw - what? A figure, blond hair lit by a halo of light; another figure, darker, slimmer, bearing a long plait of hair that reached past his shoulder, in contrast to the shortness of the hair on the rest of his head. A third figure too perhaps? Small? Female? They were running, but not for long. As Lex watched, slowing to a halt even though he knew that it was stupid, he saw another explosion burst into life. He didn't really hear it, or if he did the sound didn't register. He just saw the wall of flame that seemed to erupt from the ground, cutting off whatever retreat the three familiar silhouettes might have had. There was rubble falling from all around, and the ground was shaking beneath his feet. Pride was yelling, pulling him on, telling him to hurry before the building crashed down around them, but he resisted for a moment. Resisted long enough to see one of the three fall. The smallest one he thought, though by then it was hard to be sure of anything. Bricks seemed to be falling everywhere now; a chain reaction started off by the explosion. Everything was shaking, and he saw flames dance up, heard more gunfire, saw the other two figures fall, or thought he did. Then another explosion turned everything he could see into a churning mass of flame and falling stone. Pride was dragging him away and screaming in his ear, but he couldn't hear any of it, and couldn't really even feel the ground beneath his feet as he ran. Dust blinded him and the blood roared in his ears. He didn't notice when they reached open air again, and began to run more normally. Didn't notice the grit in his mouth, the stones in his shoes, the heavy load in his arms that sheer pride would not allow him to lose. All that he was aware of was a last, lingering image burned into the back of his mind. Three figures; three people known to him; caught in explosions and gunfire. Three figures falling. Beyond that the world was nothing but confusion.

Ebony didn't remember being knocked off her feet; just clawing her way back up again. Her eyes stung from the clouds of brick dust, and she could hardly breathe for the same reason. Her head swam.

"You're surrounded!" The youthful voice was filled with authority, but when Ebony looked around she couldn't see who had spoken. The fierce glare of the floodlight was no help in the midst of all the dust, and she realised then that the surrounding members of Tribe Fury probably couldn't see her any better than she could see them. She suppressed a cough that might have given away her position, and then looked about as best she could, through streaming eyes, to see if she was alone. She wasn't. At her feet the Guardian was beginning to move, knocking aside chunks of stone that had partially buried him. He frowned up at her.

"Ebony? What-?"

"Ssh. They can't see us." Nearby there was the sound of a loud rumble, and she thought that she felt the ground move. "They're keeping back. They don't think it's safe to come any closer."

"I'm not surprised. Sounds like half the buildings nearby are about to come down." The Guardian made it to his feet, then looked about with a frown, "I can't see a thing. Where's Bray?"

"Bray? I don't know. I don't know where anybody is. I saw Lex and Luke running into one of the buildings I think..."

"Then they probably got crushed." The Guardian sounded completely unconcerned by that possibility. "But Bray was right next to me when I fell. We should--" He broke off at another rumble, flinching slightly as a new deluge of dust and fragments of stone came down upon them. "We have to move. Tribe Fury have good reason not to come any closer. I think these buildings are going to come down."

"Move where? We don't know where they are. We could be running right into them." She turned in a circle, trying to see something - anything - through the thick, churning dust. Her foot struck something as she moved, and she frowned in surprise. That had not been a stone. "That felt--"

"You've found somebody." He was crouching down then, fumbling through chunks of stone and brick, coughing quietly as the dust blew up into his face. A gunshot rang out, but it passed over their heads. Somebody shouted.

"We really don't have much time," Ebony muttered. The Guardian nodded his regal, blond head.

"I know." He was still fumbling about in the rubble - then with a sudden heave lifted up the unconscious form of a very familiar person. Brown hair flopped forward over a face recently returned to its old, paint-free state. Ebony caught hold of a dusty lapel, and felt for a pulse at the neck.

"Alive." She was all business then, helping the Guardian to haul the slumped figure up from the ground. Part of her wondered why the Guardian was trying to help out, and wasn't attempting to run off and leave Bray behind. Old proverbs about gift horses and mouths notwithstanding, she couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Where do we go from here?" Lifting Bray up into his arms with barely an effort, the Guardian turned about to look for a likely direction in which to flee. Ebony shrugged.

"I got a bit disorientated in that blast. I think we came from that direction." She pointed uncertainly. "But they seemed to be all around us so quickly. We might make it into one of the buildings, but I don't know that I'd like to risk it. It might not be safe."

"It's that or get taken in by Tribe Fury." The Guardian shrugged as best he could, and the skateboard that hung on its strap around Bray's shoulders rattled lightly. "Pick a direction."

"Right." She thought that was where the more robust of the surrounding buildings had been, but since she no longer had a clue which direction was which, she didn't really know where to begin. The Guardian nodded though, apparently satisfied with her judgement.

"You were Zoot's greatest supporter during his lifetime," he said, sounding just like a priest again." He'll guide you now."

"You think?" She glanced at Bray, not believing that he was safe being carried by his hated enemy. "Well he'd better do a good job then. We'll have to make it quick. Once they hear that we're moving, we'll be done for if we don't move fast."

"I don't think so." He was getting a better grip on Bray, who was beginning to stir. "Just trust in Zoot. Trust - and run." And run he did, hurtling through the thick haze of dust as though answering some sudden shout of command. Galvanised into action by his movement, unwilling to be left behind, she ran after him, unable to breathe in the crumbling atmosphere. A great shout started up, and gunshots suddenly ripped into life once again; an echoing cacophony of sound that came from somewhere invisible. Ricochets zipped off stone, presenting greater dangers, but Ebony was thinking only of grenades. A gunshot might not be fatal, but a grenade, right now, could not fail to be. Above her she knew that buildings towered, and if the rumblings and quakings she had felt were anything to judge by, some of those buildings were none too secure. If the explosion didn't get her and her companions, the collapsing buildings would.

"In here." The Guardian caught her arm, dragging her into the lobby of some old building. There was dust falling from the ceiling, and the place felt less secure than the world outside, for all its grand, stout pillars. The air was clearer though, and she choked and coughed, tearing eyes helping to clear away some of the dust that had so painfully obscured her vision. Bray was struggling, though weakly, and the Guardian set him down on his feet.

"What the hell-?" began Bray, but a huge shout made him break off in mid sentence. He turned, frowning; saw dark shapes coalesce outside the ruined front of the building. Tribe Fury. Clearly they had decided that if the terrain was safe for their quarry then it must also be safe for them. They looked inhuman, wearing goggles to protect their eyes from the dust. One of them raised a rifle, pointing it through the gaping hole that had once been a door. It didn't seem to be pointed at anybody in particular - which was when Ebony realised that it wasn't a rifle at all. Part of her mind was screaming A bazooka?! The rest was screaming Don't be stupid - how could it be a bazooka? How could any kid possibly have one of those... She drew in a deep breath, mind still fighting over the two opposing concepts, wrestling with the idea that she should really be running away. Ahead she saw a lick of flame, and realised somewhere deep inside that it really was a bazooka, and that the kid holding it had just pulled the trigger. There was a rushing, roaring sound; a shout of warning from somewhere outside the building. She found that strangely funny. Apparently the rest of the Furies couldn't believe that he had fired the thing either. Some of them were running, but everything was in slow motion.

"Get back!" The Guardian reacted when she was beginning to think that she herself would not. A powerful hand caught the back of her shirt even as a second was doing the same to Bray, and a great, unexpected strength was dragging them both back, running with them, hurtling at what could not have nearly enough speed towards the back of the lobby. There was a door there - a door that seemed impossibly far away. A gaping, glass-less hole of a door beyond which figures moved outside. Not more of Tribe Fury? But there was no choice, and certainly nowhere else to run to, for behind them something was already exploding. The grenade had hit one of the pillars in the lobby, obliterating it instantly in a flash of white fire and clouds of thick, white dust. A tremendous rumble echoed throughout the building, and great chunks of the ceiling began to fall. The fire was spreading too - rushing outwards in a circle of intense heat from the point of impact, thick black smoke stretching upwards and outwards and downwards. Ebony thought that she could smell her hair beginning to singe. Her feet slipped and skidded, but she was fast enough to keep up with the Guardian's demanding pace. She couldn't hear anything anymore - didn't know if he was saying anything, or if Bray was, or if Tribe Fury was coming after them. Didn't even know if she was saying anything herself. It was impossible to know anything for sure.

"Keep going." The Guardian sounded as though his adrenalin was finally giving out, but he was pushing them through the door now, so that both Ebony and Bray felt the rough stone of the door edge graze their arms. They were stumbling then, past anonymous figures who were also running; past great tongues and fists of flame and stone and dust. There was a huge sound; a roaring, pummelling rage of noise, and they were still running, all of them, away from it and whatever was causing it. Ebony couldn't see a thing, for the dust was thicker than ever, and even though the flames were giving fiery red light enough to illuminate the whole street, it was all swallowed up by the clasping, grasping, suffocating, evil dust. She couldn't breathe. She didn't think any of them could. Not until, with the last few staggering steps that seemed to be available to her, to the Guardian, to Bray, they at last reached a place where the dust was nothing more than a hot, chalky taste; where the smoke was a burning, unpleasant smell, but where the heat had dissipated. The Guardian let go of her then, though she had long since ceased to realise that he was holding her at all. She sagged against the nearest building and looked back, staring at the sight she had known that she would see.

The building they had run through was gone, along with one or two others by the look of it. She wondered which one Lex and the others had escaped into, and wondered how she would feel if she allowed herself to believe that they might be dead. If they were still back there then they must be dead, that much was clear. There was so much rubble, so much dust, so much noise, smoke and flame. It made everything alien, and horribly lethal.

"They're still coming," coughed Bray, who looked even more shell-shocked than she felt. Being rescued by the Guardian would do that to you, she supposed, and even in the midst of all this, couldn't help wondering why the Chosen's unpleasant leader should have done such a thing. There was no time for more than the most cursory suspicions however, for Bray was right. Shots were still ringing out, and ricochets danced off the rubble close to her feet. She moved back. The Furies were not yet advancing properly, but they were still shooting, sweeping the area with small and powerful beams of light that must easily have picked out the dusty survivors of the buildings' collapse. There were others here too, though, Ebony remembered - and they were shooting as well. She wondered if she could come up with a speech of surrender that would allow her to keep her self-respect intact as well as her life - then realised that those others were not shooting at her. They were shooting back at Tribe Fury, with guns that were the match of the Furies' own. She blinked about in surprise. There were a lot of them now; people no doubt brought out of hiding by the noise of the one-sided battle. People dressed in loose grey jump suits bedecked with chains torn from bicycles. People with helmets and goggles, and a welter of wild, jubilant, swirling face paint that almost matched the design she herself had never ceased to wear. Her mouth fell open. Locos. By all that was holy - Locos. One of them was grinning at her in a lopsided sort of welcome, from a face blessed with eyes that glowed with psychosis, and teeth that were almost entirely lost to hard fought battles. He was giving her a gun, and clapping her on the back, and she felt the most wonderful, glorious, unbelievable sensation of joy and excitement rushing through her. Battle lust. Adrenalin. Comradeship. The need to fight and the love of fighting. It was like a lit match to the touch paper of her soul. Gone was the fatigue; the worry. She could no longer taste or smell the choking dust and suffocating smoke; couldn't hear the Guardian muttering joyful prayers of thanks to Zoot. Couldn't really even hear Bray telling her to stop. Stop what? She barely knew that she was firing the gun, joining in with the fire fight, as flushed and as exultant in the danger and the bloodlust and the badness of it all as the brethren she had so suddenly been hurled back amongst. She didn't know a thing until the gunfire died away in stops and starts and the throng of Locos began to withdraw. The Furies were no longer firing. They were either dead or giving in gracefully, pulling back to reconsider their options. Only then did Ebony lower her gun, and recover the wits that she had lost even before Lex and Pride had disappeared. She blinked around. The Guardian was standing stock still, head and arms thrown back, thanking Zoot for the gift of his loyal followers in such an hour of need. The Locos were crowding around, ignoring the praying madman, welcoming her back amongst them with an enthusiasm that she had never thought to hear from them again. They had hardly split up on good terms, that last time, and she had thought for so long that many of them must have been dead. And Bray, standing at the back, staring at everything with the sort of horror that he had hoped never to feel again. So much carnage. So much chaos. And all, as ever, in the name of the brother he still yearned for the chance to remember simply as Martin. Dear sweet, mad little Martin - hanging over all of this as the vengeful, furious ghost of Zoot. Bray was shaking his head, staring from the Guardian to Ebony with a sick look on his face, but Ebony had no time to consider his feelings. She felt as though she had just been handed her own army, all clamouring for her to ride at their head. Queen again, if only, this time, over a few. She wanted to laugh. The Guardian already was laughing. So were many of the Locos as they started to escort her away. She didn't look to see if Bray was following; didn't notice that the Locos had given him no choice. Drunk with power she didn't even bother to wonder if Tribe Fury were following too. This was power. This was chaos. She could almost believe, in this supremely satisfying and extraordinary moment, that the Guardian's prayers had been answered. She could almost believe that Zoot really was watching over them, ruling supreme. Lord and master of all. She really wouldn't have been all that surprised.

They ran blindly for what felt like hours, never sure whether there was really any danger of pursuit. No further gunshots rang out, at least in their immediate vicinity, and there were no more explosions nearby. No more grenades, no more floodlights. Eventually, by an unspoken agreement, the three fugitives sagged into the cover of a partly tumbled wall, and collapsed. Lex pushed the food away, staring at it in a strange sort of loathing. The food was safe. Great. What about the friends he had had to leave behind?

"They're dead, aren't they." Luke's voice, slightly shaky, so exactly mirrored the train of Lex's own thoughts that the older boy was immediately angry. He would have lashed out, if he had been entirely sure of making contact without needing to move too much.

"Of course they're not." Pride's voice sounded thick. Lex didn't respond.

"They're dead! Of course they're dead." Luke stumbled to his feet, wandering out into the middle of the road to stare back the way they had come. Everything was still in utter blackness, and it was impossible to see anything at all. The moon, which had disappeared before Tribe Fury's attack, still showed no sign of returning. They might have been anywhere, and would never have known it.

"Shut up. Keep your voice down and get out of sight." Lex thought about getting up and dragging the other boy back under cover, but really couldn't be bothered. He wasn't especially tired; he kept himself in good enough physical condition for a long and desperate run to be no great feat for him; but reaction to what had just happened was beginning to set in. He thought that his hands might be shaking, and was glad that nobody else could see.

"The Guardian." Luke was grinning, widely and madly, his eyes unusually bright. Again it was something that nobody could see, but something in his voice, now a hoarse whisper, alerted Pride. He rose to his feet.

"Luke, calm down."

"I am calm." The boy turned to face him, blue hair flopping down over his face. "I just-- It's him, Pride. You don't understand. I'm sorry about the others. Ebony and Bray. They didn't deserve it, Bray especially, but him. You don't know what this means."

"They're not dead." Lex also got to his feet. "They're still alive. They might need rescuing, but if they do that's okay. We've rescued Bray before. From worse than Tribe Fury too."

"From more immediate danger, perhaps. From worse than them? I don't know about that." Pride was staring into the middle distance, thinking of his horror at the sight of a crowd about to burn another human being to death. "But you're right. They're still alive, and we'll help them. Just not now. We have to get back to the Mall. Regroup. Think things through. There's nothing that we can do right now."

"Yeah." Lex hated to agree, even though he well knew that Pride was right. It would be crazy to try anything right now, when they were confused and tired and the world was still not making sense. Tribe Fury would be on the alert, and there were too many of them all in one place at the moment. Too many guns, too many grenades - not to mention that infernal floodlight, turning the pitch darkness into brightest day. "We'll get these stores back to the others I guess. Maybe get something to eat. Rest for a bit. Then... what? Go back and get the rest of the Chosen to help us? The manpower might be useful."

"Yeah, but they'd never do it, would they. If we go in there and tell them that the Guardian has been captured by Tribe Fury they'd slit our throats soon as look at us. That or assume that if they came with us the same thing would happen to them. They'd never trust us."

"True. Especially once they find out that the Guardian is dead." Smiling crookedly, Luke ran that thought through and through his mind. The Guardian. Dead. It sounded wonderful, and he couldn't whisper it often enough. Pride slapped him none too gently across the back of the head.

"Shut up," he warned, in a voice rather more gruff than his usual steady tone. "We don't talk like that. Optimism is one of our strengths."

"Optimism? You think imagining that the Guardian still being alive is optimism? It doesn't feel that way to me. You have no idea what he's like, Pride. You saw bits and pieces. Flashes. When you were in the Mall you saw a madman, yes - but you don't know how mad he is. Maybe nobody does. Maybe not even me. But I do know that I was trying to find happiness and freedom, and he dragged me into the sewers with a rope around my neck and refused to ever let me see daylight again. If it hadn't been for you coming, I'd still be in there, with no hope of ever getting out. I tried to leave him, you see. I turned my back on him. Tried to find something else for myself. He doesn't allow that."

"Well I'm sorry, but that's still no reason to hope that he's dead. If he's still alive, then Bray and Ebony are still alive, and we want that. They're our friends, and more. We need them, if we're going to have any chance of defeating Tribe Fury. We can't afford to lose a single person, even if that person is evil and insane."

"Yeah. Need them." Luke turned away slightly. "Not that things wouldn't be better for you too if they were dead. I know that you like Amber, and if Bray is dead--"

"Don't even say that." Pride wasn't often angered enough to want to hit somebody, but he had to rein in his fists now before flattening the smaller boy. "Nobody should ever wish another person dead unless they really mean it; and I don't believe that anybody could ever really mean something like that."

"Yeah, well you always were the flower power peace boy." Lex didn't know if he had meant to sound so antagonistic, but it came out that way regardless. Pride, as ever, seemed unconcerned.

"Let's just get back home," he said quietly, almost gently. Luke laughed shortly.

"Home." He sounded bitter. "Yeah, sure. Back to Ellie. Except she doesn't want anything more to do with me. Back to Jack, who hated me to start with. Back to--"

"Ellie isn't there. Most of them are gone. Disappeared by your lot or just left because of what you all did." Lex started to gather together the disparate collection of stores he had been carrying, ready once again for the off. There was bait in that short speech; the hope that Luke might say something about the Disappeared, or at the very least express some kind of regret; but Luke was past all of that. He had struggled with his guilt long enough to know that it was something he had to deal with himself; and asking for the forgiveness of others would get him nowhere. He didn't know where the missing members of the Mall Rats were, any more than he knew what had happened to the tribal leaders, following the Chosen's original take-over. He had tried to atone for his mistakes, and for those of the rest of the Chosen, but it had got him nowhere. It was a private thing now, and as far as he was concerned, it would have to remain that way.

"Where's Ellie gone?" He tried to make it sound like an idle question, but it felt as though his heart had dropped out through the bottom of his stomach. Lex didn't answer.

"We should get going," he said instead. "It might be dawn soon."

"We've got a little while yet." Pride scanned the uncooperative sky. "But you're right. I'm not sure how far off course we've gone. Does anybody know exactly where we are?"

"Course I bloody do. It's not just Bray that knows this city." Lex was immediately grumpy again, partly because he didn't know exactly where they were. "I think it's that way. East."

"That way's west, but it feels right." Pride offered him a small smile, but it was invisible of course in the darkness. "In relation to the way we've been going, I think we should probably head that way."

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Lex turned away. "We're looking for the old nail factory. It'll be the first obvious landmark. We should head for the back of the Mall though, and go in by a roundabout route. I'm not taking any chances."

"No. Course not." Pride was also gathering together his share of the stores. Luke did the same, partly through a sense of duty, and partly through a vaguely mechanical response to the actions of the others. Now that he was calming down after the adrenalin rush of the escape, he was beginning to feel rather ashamed. It hadn't been right to speak his feelings towards the Guardian aloud, nor to wish death on Bray and Ebony even if it would help to free him from his tormentor. Ever since breaking free of the Chosen he had been up and down; desperate to prove himself one minute, all but suicidal the next. Being dragged back into servitude by the Chosen had hardly helped things to sort themselves out in his mind.

"How do we rescue the others?" he asked, as they began to head off in the direction Lex and Pride had decided upon. Pride shrugged.

"See where they've been taken, think things through, do what seems right." It would have been nice if they had a few more people. He and Lex might be able to handle it, perhaps with the help of Tai-San, but a few more hands would have made him feel a good deal more confident. There were so few people that they could trust, however. So many mysterious tribes around the city, with who knew what allegiances. Only Bray seemed to know who most of them were; who was independent and who was now aligned to Tribe Fury. Even the ones who were independent were not necessarily trustworthy, nor likely to be inclined to help.

"There's a secret way into the hotel, if it helps." Luke was thinking back to his days as controller of Ebony's fledgling Mint, when she had been friendly towards him, and he had been trying to be useful. "Ebony showed me. There's an old paint factory, and it has a sort of drain that leads into the hotel cellar. Does now, anyway. I shouldn't think it was built that way."

"Might be of some use I suppose." Pride tried to picture the paint factory, and was rather of the opinion that it was too close to the hotel to be of any use. It would be too hard to reach with the number of guards that were likely to be around. Still, it was one more fact to be filed away; one more thing that might be useful eventually. Lex either didn't think so or didn't care, for he hushed them both impatiently. There were a time for the exchange of information, it seemed, and that time was not now. He wanted silence, and silence was what he got from then on; a hurried, breathless rush conducted without a sound, struggling through the burnt out carcasses of the warehouses and shops that surrounded their shopping mall home. It wasn't until they were in sight of the place that Lex spoke again.

"You see anything?" he asked. Pride shook his head. There was just about enough light to see the gesture now, for dawn was slowly beginning its approach.

"Nothing. But if you don't want to risk it..."

"No. We can't hide forever. Besides, who's going to be watching back here? That mob that came after us before are probably more than satisfied with what they've got."

"Yeah." Lex started to lead the way towards the Mall, keeping low, moving slowly, eyes on the alert. It wasn't easy to move that way with so much to carry, but the idea of not returning empty-handed was becoming an obsession. He had brought it this far; kept hold of it all this way. He'd be damned if he was going to lose it now when in every other way he was returning home in defeat. It wasn't easy to get the stores into the hotel, struggling over the low wall and through the little fire exit that was their back-up entrance and exit. There was nothing left after that but a slow, stumbling walk down the corridors, to the big hall that had been the centre of their world for so long. Luke slumped down on the wall of the fountain and closed his eyes, and after a moment Lex did the same. Only Pride remained standing. He had seen Trudy at the top of the stairs, and was filled with an urge not to look too defeated. Brady was probably too young to be affected by such things, but there was no sense in sending out too many bad vibes. Babies were sensitive to such things.

"Lex. Pride. Luke." She showed no surprise at seeing the blue-haired boy. Her voice was measured and even. Lex waved a hand in greeting, but didn't say anything.

"You've been gone a long time," she commented. They all knew that her eyes were scanning the room, searching for Bray, waiting for his appearance. "Where are the others?"

"Not here." Lex didn't want to explain anything more just yet. He stood up. "Tai-San?"

"Here." She was coming from somewhere on the ground floor, running towards him to greet him with a shaky hug. Jack was there too; all hostile glares at Luke and awkward silence in place of a welcome home. That was when Lex began to realise that there was something wrong. For Jack not to be excited at the sight of so many new stores, not to mention the metal barrel that Pride had struggled to bring so far, meant that something had to be amiss. His eyes narrowed.

"What's up?" he asked, wondering if members of Tribe Fury were about to pour out of hiding and surround them all. That would surely be the crowning glory to a dreadful day. Tai-San pulled back a little, looking from him to Pride and back again.

"I'm sorry Lex," she said in the end. "I don't know how it happened. We were asleep--"

"How what happened?" Pride took a few steps over to join them, intensity in his dark eyes. "What's wrong?"

"It's KC and Chloe." Trudy's shoulders were slumped, and she sat down on the top stair to better cradle the dozing Brady in her arms. "We've been looking for them everywhere, but they're not anywhere we can think of looking." She looked tired, just as the rest of them did. "They're not in the Mall anymore, either of them. They've gone."

THE END

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