Scott Andrews - Children's Crusade

He pushed open the doors and walked inside. The first person he met was Green. Tariq thought Green was a bit odd. Gawky, with acne scars and floppy blonde hair, he was very quiet and reserved in company. But give him a classroom of students or, better still, a gang of people wanting to put on a play or a musical, and he was driven, focused, funny and inspirational; a natural performer. Tariq had assumed he was gay, but recent rumours suggested otherwise. The oddest thing, though, was that he didn't take part in any of the military training exercises. Matron had exempted him, and only him, from all such activities. She'd never told Tariq why. She'd just said: "He's earned it."

Green nodded a greeting as Tariq entered, then smiled in relief as the four kids he'd brought back with him shuffled past in search of baths and bed. But his face fell as he realised no-one else was following on.

"That's it?" he asked.

"Call an assembly, ten minutes, dining hall," replied the Iraqi. "All kids of ten and up. I need to get some food in me first."

He hurried off to the kitchen and left Green to round everyone up.

Tariq had been a leader before, in Basra. Giving orders came easily to him, and he felt no nerves as he stood in front of over forty children and twelve adults.

"Hands up everyone who was at the original school during the battle with the Blood Hunters," he said.

About twenty hands went up.

"And how many were here when we moved from Groombridge?"

About thirty.

"And how many of you want to move again?"

There was a murmur of disquiet.

"Because there's a chance we're going to come under attack. And I, for one, am not running and hiding this time!"

He was hoping for a chorus of "Damn straight!" but instead Mrs Armstrong spoke up for the back.

"Why not start at the beginning, eh, love?" she asked. "Tell us where the others are."

Tariq looked down at his audience and shook his head in wonder at his own stupidity. These weren't his fellow rebels from Basra, these were bloody kids, and he had started off like he was a sports coach gearing his team up for a big match. What was he thinking?

So he told them, honestly, without sugar coating it or hiding anything, exactly what had happened and what they had learnt at Thetford.

"We've prepared for a siege, over and over," he said in conclusion. "You all know your roles and positions. My job is to make sure that this place stands firm, no matter what. And with the defences we've got and the strategies we've drilled, anyone who attacks this place is going to find they've bitten off more than they can chew."

He fell silent then, waiting for some kind of response.

"No," came a voice after a moment's silence. It was not shouted, but it was spoken forcefully. It took Tariq a second to realise that it was Green speaking.

"You want to say something?" asked Tariq.

Green got to his feet and gestured to the podium where Tariq stood, asking permission to address the room. Tariq nodded and stepped aside, surprised.

Green cleared his throat and looked at his feet as he prepared to speak. Then he looked up and addressed the room.

"Somewhere in London there's an army of kids fighting a war," he said. "Kids like you and me. Kids who should be here, with us. We've been looking for allies recently, building trade relationships with the Steamies and the rest, and trying to arrange mutual defence pacts with Hood and Hildenborough. We know some of the people we encounter may be hostile or dangerous, but we keep looking for allies who can help us.

"These kids in London don't know it, but they are already our allies. Because they're us. They're you and me and her and them, if we'd never found this place. If Matron hadn't stuck her neck out and fought for us. If Lee hadn't seen off Mac. If Rowles hadn't sacrificed himself to keep us safe.

"If not for their efforts, we would be those kids. Scared, alone, fighting a war against kidnappers. Or worse — shipped to America already, where God knows what would have happened to us.

"And how do we repay the sacrifices our friends have made to keep us safe? We hide here and hope the bad guys don't come looking for us? Well, yeah. Of course Matron and Lee want us to do that. It's natural. They've fought hard to keep us from harm, to create this place for us. They don't want to risk it or lose it. Of course they want us to stay here and protect this perfect haven they've built.

"But the thing is, they've also taught us by their example. And their example teaches us a different lesson.

"It tells us that the only safety worth having is the kind you fight for.

"It tells us that sitting around waiting for other people to look after you is asking for destruction.

"It tells us that protecting people weaker than ourselves is the most important thing we can possibly do with our lives.

"They're out there now, fighting for us. God knows where Matron is, or what's happening to her. Lee's dad has gone to London to try and lead a gang of kids against an army that will almost certainly kick their ass. Lee's gone riding off into potentially hostile territory with a bunch of men who we don't know he can trust.

"And we're supposed to sit here and let them do all this for us because it's what they would want us to do?

"Fuck that.

"Fuck hiding.

"Fuck defences.

"Fuck keeping a low profile.

"If we want to justify what they've done for us, we don't do it by staying here and letting them risk their lives for us again.

"We do it by joining them.

"We do it by fighting for ourselves.

"We do it by going to war.

"We've spent all this time looking for allies to help us, and now we've found some. But they need our help instead.

"So tomorrow, instead of running all the drills we've rehearsed a thousand times, I say we get kitted up, arm ourselves, and take the fight to the enemy. We go to London, we meet up with John and this resistance army in Hammersmith, and we shut these motherfucking nutjobs down and bring those kids here, to safety, where they belong.

"Who's with me?"

Tariq stood, mouth gaping open in astonishment, as the whole room rose as one and began cheering. Green stepped down from the podium and walked across to him.

"They're all yours," he said with a smile.

Caroline rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up.

"What?" she mumbled.

"There's a man," said the young boy who had just shaken her awake.

"What kind of man?" she asked, reaching for her jumper.

"Soldier," said the boy.

Caroline was instantly awake. She pulled the jumper over her head, grabbed her jeans and got to her feet.

"Where?"

"He was at the market just now."

"Just now? What time is it?"

"I dunno," shrugged the boy. "Sun's up."

"You know the rules about going to the market on your own," she scolded.

"Didn't go on my own," he pouted. "Went with Jimmy and Emma."

"Who are how old?" she asked, rhetorically. But the boy had stuck out his lower lip and refused to make eye contact.

Caroline shook her head wearily, wondering when she ended up a mother.

"Okay," she said. "So this soldier, why come tell me?"

The boy sulked a little bit more then finally muttered, petulantly: "He was asking about us."

"Did anyone tell him anything?"

The boy shook his head.

Caroline reached down and began secreting her arsenal of knives about her person, then she grabbed her shotgun and ran for the door.

The man was not very subtle.

It was not uncommon to see people dressed in combat gear, especially these days. But something about the way he wore it told you that it was more than just an affectation. This man was a soldier born and bred; his bearing and body language proclaimed it like a loudhailer. It was something about the way he looked at things. You could see him scanning the environment, calculating routes of ingress and egress, assessing the potential threat of everyone who passed his eye line, turning his body every now and then to make sure his awareness was 360 degrees. He was armed, too, with a machine gun strapped across his chest; his hand was always on it, ready for action.