Tim Lebbon - London Eye

“So aren't these all Irregulars?” he asked.

“Yes. Everyone in London now is an Irregular, apart from the Choppers and those in their employ. But they came in after Doomsday. Those of us who survived the Evolve virus…yes, all changed.”

“So what do they do?”

His mother pointed at an old man on a bed close to them. “Richard was a Pleader. In the right conditions, he could exert his will and desires on the chaos around us, and coax it in a certain direction.”

“Change the future?”

“In small leaps, and on a very small scale. But no more. Whatever he has is killing him.” She sounded very sad. “Over there, that big lady, she had hearing better than a dog's. Massive audio range. She's deaf, now.”

“Is it the same illness that Richard has?”

“It looks the same, but I just don't know. I'm no doctor, and it was Doomsday that made me a healer.”

“We saw people out on the streets, naked and raving. Like animals.”

“The same,” his mother said. “We're seeing it more and more.”

“The Irregulars are starting to die,” Jack whispered, and his mother said nothing to contradict.

Emily ran up to them from where Jenna and Sparky were standing. Jack looked at Richard and the other dying people, treasuring their reunion even more.

“We met the Nomad,” he mentioned, thinking of how she had picked on him and the taste of her finger in his mouth. He felt his mother tense.

“You really saw her?” she said, aghast.

“She said that was her name. And she was…strange.”

Susan shook her head. “Most people don't really believe in her, even now.”

“Jenna does. She's collected all the stories. She think she's Angelina Walker, the woman who crashed into the Eye and released Evolve.”

“The first vector.”

“That's what she called herself, yeah.”

“What did she do? What did she say?”

Jack was not sure why he lied. But when he said, “Nothing, really,” and glancing down at Emily, his sister gave him a little smile. He knew then that he'd made the correct decision.

“Strange,” his mother said.

“Huh!” Jack said. “Strange? Did I tell you about the lioness? And the wolves we heard, and the flowers in Tooting?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, but I'm sure you're going to.”

“I want Emily to tell you, Mum. I want her to show you.” He held Emily's hand. They'd already talked about this, and now the physical contact gave him double the strength he needed. “I want you and Emily to get out, the way we got in. Rosemary's already said she'll take you. She has a gun, and knows where she can get more.”

“Guns, Jack?” She used her old scolding voice, and Jack almost smiled. Almost.

“For the dogs, Mum. And…anything else that might try to stop you.”

“And you?” Her voice quavered. She's afraid of losing me again , he thought. And he understood. The temptation to leave was there, but he had to preserve faith in their father, a faith he could never lose without at least trying.

“I've already told you what I'll be doing, Mum.”

“I like that word,” she said. “‘Mum.’ It's a good word.”

“I always knew I'd get to use it again.”

“And Dad,” Emily said. “That's another good word. Jack says it has power.”

His mother's eyes opened wider, and he saw something that might have been hope. Or if not that, then acceptance of his need to try. She came to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Be very, very careful,” she said. Pleaded.

“I will, Mum. Sparky and Jenna are coming with me.”

“Are they special forces?”

He laughed. “Not quite. But we're a good team.”

She nodded, squeezed his hand, and then parted. “I have to speak to my friends down here, tell them…something. Not the truth. I couldn't do that to them.”

“Will leaving…?”

“Compared to everything else we've been through?” She looked around, smiling at a patient walking with the aid of a wheeled frame. “It'll be sad, rather than hard.”

“Sis, you look after Mum, won't you?”

“You betcha!” Emily stood slightly in front of their mother, like a bodyguard preparing to take a bullet. Her face was so stern that Jack laughed out loud.

The thought of leaving his mother so soon after finding her again was incredibly painful. But the longer they remained together, the less inclined he'd be to leave at all. And he owed his father everything.

“That camera,” he said to Emily. “It's precious. It's almost priceless, for all the people we've seen in London. You know that, don't you?”

“Of course I do! I'm not a bloody kid, you know.”

“I know you're not, Emily. You're my hero.”

“See, Mum?” she said, beaming proudly. “Jack's hero!”

“So when you get out, put the camera somewhere safe and sound. Don't take it home with you. When I come out with Sparky and Jenna, we'll retrieve it and do what we can.”

“And Dad?” Emily said.

“I'll do my best.”

“Why does he call himself Reaper now?” his little sister asked.

“Because he's forgotten who he is. I'm going to remind him.”

“Please keep them safe,” Jack said to Rosemary.

The old woman smiled. “Keep yourself safe. Good luck with Reaper.”

“His name's Graham. And I'm looking forward to seeing my father again.” Jack knew what she wanted to hear: I'll speak to him, persuade him, plead with him if I have to. But he could not say that yet, because his priority was completing his family. Perhaps the two aims would run side by side, or maybe they would collide. Time would tell.

Jack, Sparky, and Jenna watched them leave the underground hospital. Jenna put an arm around Jack's shoulder.

“Wimp,” Sparky muttered, and Jack coughed, half-laugh, half-sob.

Jack saw his mother and sister pass out of sight, and he could not fight away the feeling that he would never see his family again. Standing there with his two best friends in the world, he had never felt so alone.

Lucy-Anne was too terrified to ask him about his dreams. Her own scared her enough. So she walked with Rook in silence, and he told her they had somewhere special to go.

“But I need to find Andrew,” she said.

“And you've told me where he is. ‘North of here,’ you said.”

“Yeah.”

“Girl… where north of here?” She still hadn't told him her name, because in some ways it still felt distant to her. It belonged to a girl with other friends, another life.

“Well…” she began, but there was little else she could say. Your brother is alive north of here , she remembered a man saying, and if that was all he'd said, perhaps that thing in her mind would not have snapped. But he had gone on, told her more.

“North is a big place,” Rook said. “And like I mentioned, it's a wild place.” He looked up at the clear blue sky, speckled with hundreds of dark spots where the rooks kept pace with them. “Everywhere in the city is wild now.”

“So where are you taking me?” she asked.

Rook laughed, and high above Lucy-Anne heard the cawing of many birds.

“Girl, I don't believe I can take you anywhere. But if you'll come with me, I'll introduce you to some people who might help.”

“Why might they?”

He frowned a little, looked away, but then smiled at her again. “Because I'll ask them.”

The boy seemed friendly enough to Lucy-Anne. And he was strong, not just in his wiry frame, but mentally. He exuded a power that frightened her a little, but alongside that fright she had to admit it turned her on as well. His was a power she had never imagined, and something about the fact he had changed his name made him seem closer to the city. She had come to this place with friends, but they paled when compared to Rook.