London Eye Part 5

Emily walked just ahead of him, filming again. He could see the viewing screen of her camera, and noticed that much of the time it was focussed on Lucy-Anne's back. Good, he thought. My little sis knows where the mystery is.

"So who do you think left the picture of your mother?" Jenna asked quietly. She was walking at their rear. Jack glanced back at her and shrugged.

"At first, I thought it was obvious. Her. Rosemary. But now I'm not so sure. She swore she didn't put the pictures there, and why would she lie if she did? We'd already committed to coming in with her. We'd have committed to it even if she told us about the dogs."

"She was just being cautious," Jenna said. "I guess there was always a chance we'd never meet them."

"A chance, yeah."

Emily must have heard them chatting, because she turned and walked backward for a while, training her torch and the camera lens on them. Jack gave her a thumbs-up, and Jenna laughed and waved.

"The intrepid explorers venture deeper into unknown territory..." Emily whispered into the microphone, hurrying on ahead until she walked beside Sparky. He gave her a goofy grin and started making faces at the camera, obviously enjoying the attention.

"So if it wasn't Rosemary, then who?" Jenna asked. "Bit of a coincidence."

"A lot of one," Jack agreed. The tunnel was wider here, and he and Jenna started walking side by side. It was easier to talk that way, and he enjoyed making eye contact with her. She was a good friend. "I dunno, I feel a bit..."

"I know," Jenna said. "You know your mum's alive, but Sparky and Lucy-Anne are walking into the dark."

"That's one way of putting it." Jack smiled and reached out, squeezing Jenna's shoulder. She surprised him by leaning in quickly and giving him a strong hug, then going on ahead.

"Your turn to bring up the rear," she said. "The quiet we've left behind gets heavy after a while."

"I've got big shoulders."

They went on, and Jack discovered that Jenna was right. Before him was subdued chatter, the sound of shoes sc.r.a.ping the floor and clothes brushing against the walls. Behind him...nothing but darkness and silence. They both took on weight very quickly.

He thought a little about what Lucy-Anne had said before the dogs attacked, about dreaming it. Strange, but she was a strange girl. Back when they'd still been sleeping together, she'd frequently woken up with a start, always claiming to not remember the nightmares that had woken her. She'd suffered more than all of them, he supposed, being left on her own in that big, empty house. She must have a head full of nightmares.

The tunnel ended in another room, smaller than the bas.e.m.e.nt where the dogs had attacked. From here Rosemary led them through a series of small chambers and connecting tunnels, and here and there they pa.s.sed through tumbled walls, crawling and squirming their way through narrow gaps. Beyond, they entered a place that kept its origins a mystery: tunnel or cave? It was difficult to decide, and Jack spent half an hour trying to make out which was the case. The place had an uneven floor and fissures across its walls and ceiling, but here and there he was sure he could make out tool marks.

Sparky's shout startled him from his contemplation.

"Hey, you lot! I'm b.l.o.o.d.y starving! Rosemary says there's a place up ahead where we can stop for lunch."

At the mention of food, Jack's stomach rumbled. The fact that he was still hungry after what they had been through, he saw as a good sign. Need to go moment by moment, he thought. The past has gone. The future is waiting. It's the here and now that matters most.

They found somewhere beautiful. It was so unexpected that Jack had to blink several times to make sure everything was real. They climbed some stone steps and emerged inside a ruined church, its walls blackened by an old fire, charred ceiling timbers littering the floor, windows long-since vanished and steeple tumbled down. But the walls were still solid, and because the roof had gone, the insides were a riot of wild undergrowth, unchecked for many years. A thick, heavy curtain of clematis covered two walls, smothering window openings and bursting with pink and yellow flowers. Another wall hung with wisteria, swinging with pendulous sprays of mauve blooms, and the final wall, below which the remains of what may have been an altar lay in ruins, was home to a gorgeous, heavily thorned yellow rose. The floor of the church was awash with colour and a low, tangled plant that Jack could not identify.

"Wow," Jenna said. n.o.body else could think of anything more suitable, so they stared around in silence.

"Sorry," Rosemary said. "I forgot to tell you about this place, as well."

Jack smiled. And then Emily was running, dashing here and there, filming, lifting shrub branches and delving beneath, and a robin landed on a bush close to where they all stood.

"Seems quite tame," Lucy-Anne said. "How close are we to people in here?"

"We're right on the edge of the Exclusion Zone." Rosemary spoke quietly, as though to mention those words could spoil this place.

"This has been ruined for more than two years, though," Sparky said.

Rosemary shrugged. "I a.s.sume so. Just another part of the route that Philippe gave me."

"So where to from here?" Jack asked.

"A dangerous part," the woman said. "The riskiest when it comes to being seen. A dash across the old churchyard, then over a narrow road that used to lead to a housing estate. It leads nowhere now, but it's still close to the Exclusion Zone, and there may be military patrols."

"After that?" Lucy-Anne asked.

"Down again. A dried-up stream that leads to an old sewage treatment works. A tunnel. Then under the Exclusion Zone, and we'll be in London."

"We're that close?" Sparky said.

Rosemary nodded at the clematis-covered wall. "It looks like a clear day. Take a look."

Sparky glanced at Jack, frowning, but Emily had been listening and she was there before all of them. She snuggled herself through the trailing clematis plant, pushing through with the camera, and then they all heard her intake of breath. Jack did not realise just how much she had been nattering commentary at the camera until she stopped.

"Emily?" he said.

"It's all gone." Her voice was very small, and very vulnerable.

Sparky and Lucy-Anne pulled aside the hanging plants, and the four of them pushed their way through, standing beside Emily by one of the empty window openings.

They had all heard many stories of the Exclusion Zone, read plenty of eyewitness accounts of what it looked like, and over the past two years there had been at least a dozen drops of photographs of this place close to Camp Truth. But some things simply had to be seen.

Jack could barely believe that such talent for destruction could exist in humankind.

There were buildings around the church-houses, shops, and the blocky outline of an old school. They all seemed to be abandoned. Beyond them, to the east, was a place where similar buildings had once stood. Now, there was only ruin. No wall had been left standing, and the piles of rubble, some higher than Jack's head, disappeared into the distance. They reminded him of scenes he'd seen of the Sahara, only these dunes were of brick, slate, and stone, rather than sand. Many areas had been scoured by fire, scars on the grey landscape that had reduced the rubble to dull black boils. A few tree stumps were visible, but even these had been bulldozed down or destroyed in explosions.

Here was the Exclusion Zone, created by the Choppers to protect the rest of Britain from what had happened in London. Here was the terrible evidence of the government's scorched earth policy, an attempt to create an unbreachable cordon across which no one could go, and nothing could come. Here was destruction, and beyond, perhaps two miles distant, Jack could see a line of buildings standing in the hazy summer heat.

There was London. There was the Toxic City. And somewhere beyond the boundary of those buildings-maybe even in one of those he was looking at right now-his mother, and perhaps his father.

"We're so b.l.o.o.d.y close," Sparky said.

"What have they done?" Lucy-Anne whispered, her voice broken, face wet with tears. Jack touched her, and she fell shivering into his embrace. He felt the wetness of her tears against his shoulder, and his own eyes blurred.

"There's no going back now," Jenna said.

"This sight is something many of you may have imagined, but never seen," Emily said, slowly panning the camera across the staggering ruins. "But viewers, beyond this image is a lie about to be uncovered. Prepare yourselves. Soon, you will witness the truth of the Toxic City."

The culprits for these cowardly acts are still at large. All Londoners should remain at home and await further instructions. Do not attempt to flee the city. Do not attempt travel of any kind. Further attacks are expected. The prime minister will be giving a live statement on all TV and radio channels at 7:00 p.m.

-Government Statement, all-channel broadcast,

6:15 p.m. GMT, July 28, 2019

T hey lowered the clematis back across the window and ate the food they had brought. The church was still a beautiful place, but the air was marred by the knowledge of what lay beyond. Once they left here, Jack suspected they would be leaving that beauty behind.

The robin returned to watch them eat. Sparky threw a bread crust its way, but it hopped back and ignored the offered food. Jenna crumbled the crust from a jam tart and sprinkled it across the undergrowth. The bird watched her, head jerking this way and that as though expecting ambush at any minute.

Emily crawled forward with the crusts from her own sandwich. She broke them into many pieces, then held out her hand as far as she could stretch.

"Not a chance," Lucy-Anne said, but she grew still as they watched the little bird. It hopped from the wisteria and came close, eyeing them all suspiciously, but was apparently unconcerned at Emily's presence.

Jack saw that she held the camera in her other hand, the lens trained on her hand offering the crumbs.

The bird hopped closer, hesitated, then jumped into Emily's palm.

Jack heard her intake of breath. He wished he could see her face.

Eventually the bird hopped away, and their small group was taken with a flutter of excitement. They finished their food and pa.s.sed a water bottle around, all of them aware that every mouthful and swallow brought them closer to leaving this place.

"I never liked London," Sparky said. "s.h.i.t-hole. b.l.o.o.d.y place made my brother what he was." He toyed with a long leafy plant stem, winding it around his finger. "What he is."

Jack was surprised. Sparky rarely talked about Stephen, and certainly not to an audience. Sometimes, after a few ciders, the two of them would discuss him for a while, but it always ended up with Sparky getting angry, his voice turning hard and exuding violence. Jack had always thought that talking, really talking, was just what he needed.

"How?" Jenna asked, and Jack could have kissed her.

"Went there to join a band," Sparky said. "Mum and Dad didn't want him to go, said he should stay on in school and go to university. More they said that, the more determined he became." He laughed. "Band was called Deep s.h.i.t. Steve liked that, said that when they made it big he could always answer people asking what he did by saying, 'I'm in Deep s.h.i.t.' Well, he soon was." He drifted off, concentrating far too hard on the plant stem. Jack noticed his friend's face flushing.

"What sort of band was it?" Jenna asked.

"Punk. Real punk, not the pop sort that was popular a few years back. Music with b.o.l.l.o.c.ks. But the singer, Charlie, was a waster. He wasn't really there for the music, not like Steve. He thought they'd make it big, make loads of money, do what they want. Thing is, he spent it before they made it. Booze and drugs, and girls attracted by the glamour of it all." Sparky shook his head, as though amazed for the first time at what had happened to his brother.

"It's strange what some people see as glamorous," Rosemary said. Sparky glanced up, and for a moment Jack thought he was going to shout her down. But then he nodded.

"Yeah. Steve never did, not really. But being aware of how c.r.a.p all that stuff was...it didn't help him. Mum and Dad blame him completely, but I blame them. Never let him do anything he wanted. Kept him at home, trying to protect him they said, because they had this thing about how big and nasty the world was. They knew it was, 'cos they saw it all on telly, read it in the papers. Huh."

They waited quietly, letting Sparky take his time. Even Emily was silent, leaning against Jack as if for protection from where this story was going.

"So he rebelled," Sparky continued. "What a b.l.o.o.d.y cliche, eh? He took the drugs to get back at Mum and Dad. Least, that's what I think. They just blamed him, disowned him, never took his calls. And he stayed there in London when the band fell apart before it had really begun, and..." He started crying.

"I think we all know the story from there," Rosemary said after a while, and Jack winced and closed his eyes, because now surely Sparky's fury would fly.

But sometimes grief can overcome fury, and smother it. "That's just it," Sparky said, his voice sad and lost. "None of us knows, not really. We know what happened to London. But something like that...it's not one story, it's a million. That's why I want to find him. Need to find him. To hear his side of the story." He lowered his head again and wiped at his eyes, unashamed in his sadness.

After a minute or two Jenna stood and went to him. She sat by his side, not touching him, silent, but Jack could see that her simply being there meant the world.

Jack and Emily went first. The churchyard was even more overgrown than the ruined building itself, and it was impossible to hurry without risking a fall. There were still gravestones showing their humped grey shoulders above the undergrowth, and hidden beneath would be tomb slabs and other promises of broken bones. But the lushness also provided good cover, and they crawled their way towards the church's boundary.

Over the road, into the ditch, right, and then left. It sounded so easy. But Rosemary's directions could not convey distance, nor the fact that there were great swathes of vicious stinging nettles all across the churchyard.

They moved slowly, carefully, doing their best to avoid the nettles and always listening for noises that may warn of danger. In the distance Jack could hear motors, so faint that there was no way of telling whether or not they were approaching. Closer, there was only the singing of birds, and the soft, secret whispers of plants moving in a warm summer breeze.

When they reached the edge of the churchyard, they followed the boundary wall until they found a grilled gate. The hinges looked rusted, but there was no lock or chain, and Rosemary had told him that she'd come this way.

"Ready?" Jack asked.

Emily nodded, rubbing at a rash of stings across one forearm. "Need some dock leaves."

Jack smiled. "Mum always told us that, didn't she?" Emily tried to smile back.

Jack leaned against the gate and looked back along the road. Nothing. Then he turned and looked toward the Exclusion Zone. He could see where the road finished in a pile of rubble, the tarmac crushed and cracked by whatever heavy vehicle had been used to demolish so many buildings. Again, nothing. They seemed to be completely alone.

The Exclusion Zone spooked him. So many people had lived there, and now they were gone, along with all trace of their existence. A place that had once been so full of life was now barren and sterile. The breeze lifted drifts of dust-clouds across the broken landscape, and he could imagine they were something else.

"I'll go first," Jack whispered. "If you hear or see anything wrong, go straight back to the church."

"And leave you?" Emily's eyes went wide, the mere thought of being parted from her brother patently terrifying.

Jack touched her shoulder and squeezed. "Don't worry," he said. He could think of nothing else to say. "I'll go first." This was so dangerous that if he was seen, there would be no easy way out for any of them.

Cameras? he thought. Microphones, satellite surveillance, dogs? They wouldn't leave the Exclusion Zone unwatched or unprotected, surely? But Rosemary had come this way, and that was all he could hold on to.

He gave Emily a quick kiss on the cheek, pulled the gate open and ran. His feet kicked up dust from the road, grinding in the grit on its surface. It was only two lanes wide, but it seemed to take forever to reach the other side and fall into the ditch.

The ditch was filled with nettles as well. Jack gasped as they touched him across one arm and beneath his chin, raising sore welts that would take hours to fade away. He squatted, turned, and looked back at the church. n.o.body shouted, n.o.body came, no vehicles sprang to life. He could almost believe that he had made it.

Cautiously, he lifted his head above the edge of the ditch and looked across at the gate. Emily was there, staring right back at him. He gave a thumbs-up and she smiled, returning the gesture. Then she slipped through the gate and followed his route across the road.

"Careful!" he whispered as she dropped in beside him. "More nettles!"

"I'm okay." She had her camera out again, Jack noticed, and she poked it over the ditch to get a shot of the church.

"Come on, the others will follow soon. We need to get back under cover."

"I like feeling the sun."

"Me too," Jack said. But after only three or four hours underground, up here he felt so exposed.

They moved slowly along the ditch bottom, doing their best to dodge the worst of the nettles, stomping on those they could not bypa.s.s. When a telegraph pole cast its shadow across the ditch Jack looked up, expecting to see a camera fixed to its side and swivelling to follow their progress. But all it held were two limp cables, long since cut.