'Yeah, I heard there were odd bits of cannibalism after the plague.'
'Not odd bits!' she exploded suddenly. 'There were hundreds of them! I watched them! They chased me! They caught me! Jimmy, please, you have to understand what they're like, what you're walking into! They kept me prisoner in a dark hole! They fed me to fatten me up! Slash said he was going to have me for supper!'
'Slash?'
'Yes! He's like . . . he's like . . . a lion. He's their king!'
Jimmy cleared his throat. 'Their jungle king?'
'Yes, I know what it sounds like! But it's not a comedy, Jimmy, it's not a cartoon! They eat people! Slash has these two men — he calls them the Royal Butchers — and they're the ones who take people away and execute them, and then they're roasted on barbecues and served up . . . It's horrible and mad and I never want to go near them again — do you not understand that?'
'Yes, I understand . . .'
'But no, you're not going to change your mind.'
'I can't. And I should point out that you're still alive, aren't you?'
'Only just! I escaped! I was very lucky. I was in a cage. And the night they were due to . . . eat me . . . they fed me first and this guy didn't lock the door properly and I got out, but they spotted me and chased me, they hunted me for days and days and they came so, so close to catching me . . . Jimmy it's really, really awful — they're . . . they're . . .'
'Cannibals. Yes, I gathered that.'
At the bottom of the hill they came to a set of railway tracks. Jimmy looked along them, left and right.
'Left,' he said.
They turned that way, and began to skip along the overgrown sleepers, hugging their sides to try to keep warm.
'I hid in the sewers for days. There were billions of rats. If I fell asleep I'd wake up covered in them. There were wolves. I can't even remember most of it.'
He said nothing.
'Jimmy, please. Do you even have a plan? I can't go through that again. How do we get through to your ship without being captured? Please, Jimmy, what's your plan? You must have a plan . . .'
'My plan is to just keep walking.'
'That's no good!'
'Best I've got.'
They walked for another hour. Then they sat down on the track for a while to rest.
'No more magic cookies?'
'No more magic cookies.' She had her hands in her pockets. She was looking truly miserable. But there was nothing he could do.
They got up and started walking again. Perhaps another thirty minutes later they became aware of a dull vibration beneath them. At first they thought they were imagining the sensation and said nothing to each other, but then it became more pronounced and they exchanged glances before turning as one to look back down the line.
About a mile away: a train, coming towards them.
Wordlessly they darted off the tracks and into the trees. They threw themselves down as flat as they could and peered out from behind the thin pines as the train approached.
As it rattled past they saw that every carriage was filled with teenaged soldiers, bristling with guns. Missile launchers and mortars were mounted on the roof.
The President's army — or part of it — aiming straight for New York.
As it began to shrink into the distance Jimmy and Ronni raised themselves and scurried back to the track. They felt just the faintest of vibrations coming up through their boots.
Jimmy blew air out of his cheeks and looked at his friend.
'I have a new plan now,' he said.
'What is it?' Ronni asked.
'We walk faster.'
30
King Slash
They were locked into a dressing room somewhere in the bowels of the New Amsterdam Theatre. The music and singing and dancing thundered on for another hour above them. The tunes were familiar, but poisoned for ever. They sat disconsolately on hard wooden chairs or dressing tables stained by years of make-up. After a while a steaming pot of food was brought in to them by men in wolf masks, together with bowls and spoons and cans of warm beer. The food smelled wonderful. But nobody wanted to be the first to try it.
'It's some kind of stew,' said Ty, sniffing at the open pot. He had a big appetite normally. 'It's someone, isn't it?'
Dr Hill fished out a piece of meat. He held it up to his nose. He let it drop on to a dresser before pushing and prodding it with a spoon. 'Impossible to tell,' he pronounced. He nodded around the passengers. 'I'm sure it's safe to eat.'
'And you will all be damned to hell.'
It was Cleaver, his eyes blazing, his skin as pale as Claire had ever seen it.
Mr Rodriguez, who clearly despised the minister, took this as a challenge. He lifted a spoon and stepped up to the pot. 'We have to eat,' he said. 'As long as we don't know for sure, I think we can eat this with a clear conscience . . .' He looked round the little group for support. It was not forthcoming. 'Please yourselves,' he said and dipped his spoon in, briefly examined what he brought out, then closed his eyes and put it in his mouth.
'Perhaps it's your wife,' said Cleaver.
Rodriguez immediately gagged, ran into the corner and spat it out. Then he was sick. He collapsed and began to cry, repeating his wife's name, Mary, over and over again.
Ty shook his head sadly and turned away. 'I wish I'd had more fun,' he said wistfully.
'What?' asked Claire.
'Mom and Pop wanted me to be a lawyer, so ever since I was a little kid I was always studying. It didn't come easy to me. All the time I should have been out there being a kid I was working.'
'I thought you spent all that time with your dad. Central Station, the park . . . ?'
'Yeah. Well. Once a year, maybe.' He sighed. 'All that work, just to end up in a stew.'
Claire patted his arm gently 'Maybe you won't end up in a stew,' she said. 'Maybe you'll end up in a pie.'
'That makes me feel better.'
They turned as the door behind them opened and one of the Wolf Men entered. 'Slash wants to see you,' he barked at Jeffers.
The first officer studied him for a moment, then pushed himself off the dresser he'd been perched on. He fixed his cap. He nodded across the room. 'Claire, with me.'
Claire looked at him in surprise.
'Just you,' Wolf Man snapped at Jeffers.
Jeffers shook his head. 'She's our official historian, she comes too.'
Wolf Man's head moved stiffly towards her. Then he turned back to Jeffers, gave a short nod and indicated for him to follow. Jeffers looked at Claire and together they approached the door. Claire gave Ty a what on earth is happening? look as she jumped up to follow.
Wolf Man led them along a corridor and up a set of stairs into the backstage area. Although the show was over it was still busy with actors and technicians. The prisoners continued on through this, and then began to mount several flights of steps.
'I don't understand,' Claire said to Jeffers. 'Usually you never want me along.'
'This is different.'
'How?'
'Because they want to negotiate.'
' What? How do—'
'Shhhhh.'
There was a door at the top of the steps with two armed guards stationed outside. One of them opened it and they followed Wolf Man into a large, mostly empty space, with mirrors along one wall. As a child Claire had attended ballet lessons in a room similar to this. A throne like the one she'd earlier seen pushed on to the stage sat at the back of the room. It was empty, but men wearing cheetah heads stood on either side of it. Each of them gripped what appeared to be samurai swords. They stared straight ahead and didn't acknowledge either of the prisoners as they approached the throne. A tap could be heard running from a smaller room off to one side. Then it was turned off, and a moment later King Slash appeared, his lion head in place, wearing a flowing white gown with some kind of ceremonial dagger in a jewel-encrusted belt looped around his waist. He was wiping his hands on a paper towel, which he rolled up and threw to one side. He nodded at Wolf Man, who turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.