Table of contents

Chapter 1 – Evil will win – Page 2

Chapter 2 – Geez – Page 13

Chapter 3 – Now that’s what I like to see – Page 22

Chapter 4 – Next thing I know – Page 32

Chapter 5 – Everyone loves Pippin – Page 42

Chapter 6 – Beddy byes – Page 52

Chapter 7 – Doreen the disaster – Page 72

Chapter 8 – The Wretc is dead - Page 83

Chapter 9 – Road sweet Road - Page 92

Chapter 10 – Lemme walk - Page 104

Chapter 11 – If we have a plan then I’m smart - Page 117

Chapter 12 – Have we made it? - Page 129

Chapter 13 – Now that ain’t fair – Page 142

Mia Middleditch 1
Rise of the Wretc
Chapter 1 – Evil will win

Evil will win. Eventually. Yeah, yeah, I know good always

wins blah, blah, blah, but evil will win now. And I guess it’s

our fault, too. So scientists can go around moaning and

complaining to the government to do something; however

the bottom line is: it’s our fault. Jesus, scientists can be so

dumb when they’re being so clever.

I’m talking about the demons, of course. Scientists created

a breed of super strong, super fast, indestructible animals,

which they called the Wretc. But we normal people call

them demons because that’s what they are.

Scientists combined human DNA with that of all the most

dangerous animals of the world and grew the Wretc.

Disgusting. They only realized what they’d created when

the Wretc murdered two of their three creators – how

sweet.

And the Wretc reproduce by feeding. So every time the

Wretc feed another litter of Wretc is born. As you can

imagine, we’re being over thrown pretty quickly by them.

The population of England alone has gone down by nine

tenths already and the Wretc only escaped two years ago.

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Rise of the Wretc
Not including the fact that Russia has been totally

overthrown.

But you have to remember that they are only animals. It’s

the brain that tells them to kill and (surprise, surprise) the

brain is a human brain. So, you see, it’s we humans that

are evil. We humans that make them kill so mercilessly.

We humans.

Nevertheless, I guess we should be thankful that the Wretc

haven’t decided to try and over throw the U.S.A yet. The

U.S government is making a load of special weapons to

defeat the Wretc and we’re hanging on to the hope that

they’ll be done soon.

I’m Jinxx, by the way. I live with my parents and my two

sisters in our flat by the River Thames. It’s not a

permanent place. Only while the Wretc are invading

because they go for big groups of people and everyone

has moved to the country.

The loneliness is a bit weird sometimes but they’ve started

an underground school for the people who stayed. Almost

everything is underground now. The Wretc can kill us too

easily when we’re out in the open. Underground we have

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Rise of the Wretc
safety precautions, which, even with their human minds,

the Wretc can’t enter.

On the first day of the underground school everyone

teased me about my name. Almost everyone teased me in

a friendly sort of way. Almost everyone. However, one

group of girls danced around in a ring round me, while

they commented on my name.

“Your parents gave you bad luck! Jinxx Luck! What a silly

name!” The ringleader jeered loudly.

“What’s your name then?” I asked her, desperately trying

not to lose my temper.

“Lilliput Pot. Daughter of Marissa Pot and Daniel Pot. Very

proud to be so, too.” The ringleader said daintily.

She had pale skin and blonde ringlets, which bobbed up

and down as she moved, her eyes were baby blue and had

a malicious spark in them – we were not going to get

along.

“Then you can’t chat! Look at your name – Lilliput! Yeah,

my name is strange, but your name is Lilliput!” I said and

then I added, “Not that I would’ve made a comment about

it if you hadn’t of made a comment about mine.”

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Rise of the Wretc
Lilliput just stared at me with her jaw hanging open.

“Better shut your mouth before bugs fly into it,” a girl, who

is now my best friend, called Tango grinned at her.

All the kids started talking to me then.

“Oh, Lilliput is the biggest bully you’ll ever meet here.”

“Lilliput needed a taste of her own medicine.”

“You’re not a bully, are you?”

Of course, I told the kid that asked whether I was a bully

that I wasn’t and that Lilliput had just made me angry. All

the kids seemed relieved when I said that and swore to not

make me angry.

“That’s a good idea,” I’d grinned cheerfully at them.

I’m remembering my first day now as I’m walking to

school. It’s Monday 16th November. The tubes have been

closed down and I’m walking along an old track. My friend

Tango is about ten paces behind of me and thinks I can’t

hear her.

“Hey, Tango!” I shout casually.

I hear her gasp and cuss under her breath.

“You didn’t tell me you knew I was there,” she cries.

“You didn’t ask,” I laugh.

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We walk down the dark tunnel until we reach the stop

nearest to school. As we clamber out of the tracks, my

cousin, Louie, appears from behind a rusty seat.

“Boo!” He shouts.

Tango just rolls her eyes and makes a sarcastic comment.

“So-rry,” Louie mutters.

I smile and tell them to shut up. We walk through the

school gates and Lilliput and her girl gang are hanging

around chatting.

“Oh, yes, my mummy is very wealthy and is importing the

biggest diamond in Portugal to here for her private

collection!” Lilliput is showing off loudly.

“That’s great! When we all get eaten, at least your mum

will have a big diamond in her private collection!” My other

best friends Ray and Nick (the twins) grin sarcastically.

That sends a wave of laughter through the whole school.

“Oh, ha, ha very funny,” sneers Lilliput.

The whole of her girl gang immediately agree with her and

a chorus of ‘ha, ha very funny’s goes into the air.

Suddenly, our teacher, Mrs. Point, struts into the

playground and orders us to get into our classes.

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“Single file, no talking, no pushing, no running, no messing

around. Is that clear? I should hope so. Walk quickly and

sensibly.” Mrs. Point shouts bossily at us as she totters

around in her click-clacking high heels.

First impressions of Mrs. Point don’t really count. She has

stylish hair and immaculate, modern, designer clothing.

The first time you meet her you are like wow! Then you

see how strict she is. She’s like a devil teacher and if your

mum wants to complain because she’s keeping you in

after school for coming in late she’ll just be all innocent

and sweet. Ugh!

And our school is a big tube station. Yeah, seriously, a tube

station. Not kidding. They moved some chairs and

equipment to a tube station and set up lessons. Talk about

cheap.

So now we kids are stuck in school – thanks a lot. Tango is

muttering about Mrs. Point behind Lilliput and Lilliput is

putting her hand up and telling on her.

“She’s lying, miss. I never said a thing!” Tango cries

indignantly.

Mia Middleditch 7
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Lilliput just laughs. But Tango can look very innocent and

can be very persuading when she wants to be.

“Lilliput! Being a liar isn’t an enviable quality and certainly

not one I want my pupils to have. Afterschool detention. An

hour and a half. Now seat yourselves.” Mrs. Point

reprimands Lilliput sternly.

Everyone is shaking with silent laughter. Of course,

though, it’s Ray and Nick who get caught.

“Ray! Nick! Do you think telling lies is a funny business?

No? Well, stop laughing then!” Mrs. Point shouts.

Ray and Nick just roll their eyes and, with their fingers

crossed behind their backs, apologize.

That sends me into a spasm of laughter. I can’t stop

giggling.

“Jinxx! What is wrong with you children today? Afterschool

detention – everyone!” Mrs. Pointer screams.

That is the oldest trick in the book. Turn all your

classmates on you. Well, too bad, we kids know this trick.

We kids won’t get angry at one another and we kids will

annoy Mrs. Point. Ha! Well, everyone except Lilliput and

her girl gang.

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“Oh, Jinxx, you are the worst!” Lilliput begins as her girl

gang shouts agreements, “we don’t want to stay in, you

know!”

Simultaneously, everyone groans at Lilliput and Mrs. Point

smiles smugly.

“Lilliput, you are the biggest dweeb I’ve ever had the

misfortune to meet!” I tell her.

Everyone giggles and a few kids shout ‘yeah’. Mrs. Point

just shakes her head and wags her long, bony finger at us.

“Children! Behave yourselves! Into your math seats –

now!” She shouts at us.

We all get ourselves into our seats and (surprise, surprise)

Mrs. Point is doing a lesson on Wretc and weapons. She

may as well be talking gibberish because I’m in a

daydream and I’m not listening to her.

**********************************************************

School has just finished and Tango, Ray, Nick, Louie and I

are walking to the park. We’re passing Lilliput’s house and

none of us can help but stare. They have a mansion! We

Mia Middleditch 9
Rise of the Wretc
all live above ground, of course, and everything is free

now, but still.

The walls are painted a spotless white and there are grey

marble pillars standing in front of the door. The front

garden is neat and trimmed and there are clear glass pave

stones leading to their oak door.

Lilliput flounces in with the girl gang so we quickly tear our

eyes away and hurry to the park.

“Wow,” Ray and Nick gasp, “her house is . . . well, it’s . . .

wow. That’s all we can say.”

“I know! But don’t let her hear you – we’d never hear the

end of it!” Tango hisses.

We muck around for about ten minutes before rain starts

falling.

“Geez, that’s just great,” I mutter, shaking my now soaking

hair around.

Everyone laughs as we all head for somewhere dry to sit.

“Shall we just go home?” Nick asks.

“Well, we can’t! Our parents are doing that stupid food

giving thing so the elderly get food,” Ray points out.

“Really? So are mine and Tango’s,” I say.

Mia Middleditch 10
Rise of the Wretc
“Mine aren’t,” Louie smiles, “see you later!”

“No way, Louie! Get back here! You are staying here, big

cousin!” I scream at him.

Everyone laughs as we dive under the climbing frame. Ray

tells Nick to move up and Nick shoves me into Tango so I

shove him into Ray and Ray shoves me into Louie and

Louie shoves Ray into Tango. We all collapse in laughter

after this little exchange.

It starts raining harder and we all shift closer under the

climbing frame. Thunder rumbles overhead and I see Ray

and Nick jump.

“You two are scared of thunder?” I inquire curiously.

“No,” they start, “loud noises. Loud noises make us jump

but we ain’t scared of them.”

Louie, I know, is scared of thunder and as it rumbles

overhead I see him edge closer into the shelter of the

climbing frame.

“We should go somewhere drier.” I decide.

“Good idea,” Louie backs me up shakily.

I wink at him and ask the others where they think we

should go.

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Rise of the Wretc
“Hmm . . . how about the old pub up the road? It’s empty

because its owners left to Parracombe in north Devon.”

Tango asks.

“Sounds good to me,” I grin – anything to get out of the

wet.

The roads are slippery and wet. The sky is dark and grey.

Louie is trembling beside me and Tango is whistling. Ray

and Nick are, like me, just walking.

The pub is called The Pig’s Meal and Drinks. We break the

wooden planks, which barricade the door, and run in. It’s

cold in here. Colder than I would’ve thought. But at least

it’s dry.

We hear a strangled scream of mangled horror and agony

and I feel all my friends flinch beside me. Tango gasps and

starts trembling. The twins chew their bottom lips and

close their eyes. Louie crawls under the table and rocks

back and forth. I hiss and cuss.

“They . . . they’re . . . coming,” stutters Louie as he bangs

his head against the table leg.

Mia Middleditch 12
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“Yes,” Tango whispers, “they’re coming and we’re all

going to die and my mum will be so upset and I’m not

even twelve yet!”

“Geez, Tango, get a grip. They have human brains.

Human. They won’t look for us in here – not enough

people. They’ll go for the streets and the churches and all

the busy places like that.” I assure them, trying to assure

myself.

The twins appear relieved and Tango has shut up. Louie,

on the other hand, is very pale and still whimpering to

himself.

“Oh, quit it, will you?” Ray mutters under his breath.

Not quite under enough.

“WAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLL!” Louie lets out a loud

wail.

“Louie! If they hear us, we’re done for!” Tango hisses

before adding, “Not that we’re not done for, but still.”

As we sit in tense silence, we can’t help but hear the

bloodcurdling screeches of the nearby people and cringe

inside . . .

Mia Middleditch 13
Rise of the Wretc
Chapter 2 – Geez

We’re all squashed under a table, huddling close together.

We’re scared witless. Louie can’t do anything but moan

and whimper. This is driving us crazy.

“Will you shut your trap!?” I hiss at him through clenched

teeth.

Louie just lets out a long, defiant wail before whimpering

again.

The twins lean over him and whisper to me:

“Can we go sit over there and leave him whimpering here?

The noise is unbearable!”

I agree and tell Louie everyone is going to another table

and that, when he shuts up, he can join us.

“WAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLL!” He moans, trembling

hands clutching my arm.

Mia Middleditch 14
Rise of the Wretc
“Well, shut up then!” I groan, flinging my hands in the air

in exasperation.

Louie just closes his eyes and whimpers.

We walk away. Under the table, all four of us listen to the

horrendous, unbearable shrieks of agony and terror. It

makes my blood run cold and sends shivers down my

spine.

Cold air rattles around the pub and goosebumps rise on

my bare arms. Tango is shivering next to me and everyone

can hear her teeth chattering. Nick is grinding his teeth

together and Ray is biting his nails. I’m hoping we’ve gone

mad and that we can’t hear the screams and I’m also

trembling lightly.

“Hey, guys, I’ve had an idea – we go around the back of

the pub and look for food and stuff. Y’know, nuts and coke.

And the owners left really suddenly and probably didn’t

have time to pack so their stuff is probably still in their

apartment upstairs,” Nick suggests.

“It’s a better idea than sitting here doing nothing,” Tango

pipes up.

“I agree,” Ray follows.

Mia Middleditch 15
Rise of the Wretc
“Well, let’s see if Louie will come,” I say.

Of course, Louie stands up and grabs my hand. His hand is

clammy and cold.

“Louie? Are you feeling alright?” I ask him.

He just shakes his head and lies down.

“Ray, look after him, will you?” I request.

“Uh, sure,” Ray replies.

With Louie lying under the table and Ray looking after him,

we make our way upstairs. It looks like Nick’s assumptions

are correct – the owners haven’t packed much.

There are coats, shoes, clothes, food and drinks littered

over the floor, like someone had been deciding what to

take and what to leave and hadn’t bothered to clean up.

Tango is already trying on a sleek black leather jacket and

the twins are grabbing food. I look around before picking

up a thick, raincoat and pulling it on. It is cold from the

cold air but nevertheless an improvement. I look down at

my freezing hands and wonder whether there are any

gloves lying around.

Tango beats me to the punch – drat – and pulls on a pair of

knitted mittens, which look odd compared to her leather

Mia Middleditch 16
Rise of the Wretc
jacket. She sees me observing and says:

“Well, they will do until I find something better.”

I smile and continue my search. Pretty soon, I find a pair of

skiing gloves. Not new, flashy ones but old, tatty, warm,

reliable ones. Of course, it doesn’t help that my hands look

like the hands of a giant.

All kitted up, I grab some clothes for Louie and Ray.

“Suddenly it doesn’t seem so cold anymore,” Nick grins at

me.

“Wow! Really? Does that coat have anything to do with it?

Isn’t he dumb, Jinxx?” Tango smiles.

“Oh, absolutely, no doubt about it!” I laugh.

We all burst into a seizure of giggles. It’s not so much the

joke we’re laughing at – we’re laughing in the face of

death.

We all stop short when we hear a mortifying screech in the

distance. My insides curl and Tango shudders. Nick’s eyes

dart down the flight of stairs to where his twin is and I’m

sure that Ray’s eyes are doing the same.

Ray and Nick aren’t identical twins. Not even close. From a

distance, you probably couldn’t even tell that they were

Mia Middleditch 17
Rise of the Wretc
brothers. Ray has wispy blonde hair, which has light brown

highlights in it, whereas Nick has long, jet black hair, which

looks like there are shades of dark blue hidden away inside

it. Their eye colour is different, too. Ray has green eyes

and Nick has hazel eyes.

It’s their manner which gives them away. When one moves

the other does and they are usually on the same train of

thought (which freaks us normal people out loads. . .).

We rush downstairs, making sure our footsteps are light

and noiseless so as not to bring attention to ourselves.

“Here – we bought you some clothes and we found some

food,” I inform them, throwing stuff at them.

“How long do you reckon this will go on for?” Louie, who

seems perkier, croaks.

“Geez, I ain’t got a clue . . . maybe today or tomorrow or . .

.” I trail off, leaving the unanswered question lingering in

the air.

Tango just yawns and shakes her ginger head from side to

side.

“I really hope it’s not that long,” she yawns, “but still, I

need some sleep – I’m knackered.”

Mia Middleditch 18
Rise of the Wretc
Everyone murmurs agreement.

“Well, you boys can do what you want but Jinxx and I are

sleeping upstairs,” Tango declares, before grabbing my

hand and marching me up the stairs.

Tango settles onto the couch and I belly flop into the

squishy armchair by the TV.

“Wonder if it turns on,” Tango muses out loud.

“’Course not! The electricity’s been cut off, ain’t it?” I

explain.

“Yeah, but still . . .” Tango trails off.

“I know, it would be nice if it did work – but we don’t live in

fairytale world,” I say.

As the sun dips in the sky and darkness descends, Tango

and I drift into a deep, restless sleep.

**********************************************************

Yawn! I slept terribly last night. Every bit of me feels like

I’ve been twisted around and around so tight I can’t

unwind myself.

Mia Middleditch 19
Rise of the Wretc
“Well, that was a perfect night’s sleep,” Tango smiles to

herself.

Only now do I realize that Tango had mysteriously

disappeared and has only just reappeared again.

“Where did you get to?” I ask her curiously.

“Oh, well, I figured that if you were sleeping there,” she

gestures to the armchair and then to the door leading to

the master bedroom, “that it wouldn’t hurt anyone if I slept

in the bedroom.”

I sigh and stretch.

“You know what I could do with? A hot shower.” I yawn

sleepily.

“A cold shower is better for you,” Tango says.

“Yeah, but I don’t want a cold shower, I want a hot one!”

“Calm down, calm down. Wonder if the Wretc have gone

yet?” She ponders out loud.

“Let’s go see the others,” I murmur, all thoughts of my

nice shower pushed out of my mind.

We hurry down the stairs to see Nick, Ray and Louie up

and about barricading the doors with chairs and tables.

“Morning,” they call cheerfully.

Mia Middleditch 20
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“Morning,” me and Tango greet them.

“What’s the good mood about?” Tango asks suspiciously,

eyeing the upturned furniture being piled up by the door.

“Oh, just that we aren’t dead already – though I had my

doubts about Jinxx,” Nick grins.

“If you’re referring to me deep sleeping, I was having a

seriously freaky nightmare, in which you were being eaten

by a Wretc.” I tell him smugly, watching his smile flicker.

“Morning, little cousin,” Louie greets me weakly.

“Wow, it can talk – did you see that Tang?” I remark

sarcastically.

Tango just giggles and flicks her ginger hair out of her

face.

Tango has dark skin and bright carrot coloured hair, which

is shoulder length and usually plaited. Over the bridge of

her nose she has a splash of light freckles, which stick out

from her face. Her nose is slightly too long and crooked;

however, no-one would ever think of telling her that. She

has shy green eyes that change colour in different light

conditions. They are the only part of her that would show

you that she’s quite shy at times.

Mia Middleditch 21
Rise of the Wretc
Light is seeping in and it gives the inside of the pub a new,

glossy look but reveals a layer of silvery dust. A cobweb is

in the doorframe and a spider is dangling on a thin thread.

Fortunately, none of us are scared of spiders and we

overlook the tiny creature.

Nick coughs and interrupts the still air resulting in dust

flying everywhere.

“This place needs cleaning,” Louie (a neat freak)

comments breaking the silence.

“Well, that’s all great and dandy, but I’m not acting as a

maid!” I point out.

“Fine, you can cook breakfast. Tango you’re cleaning.”

Louie corrects himself.

“What are the twins doing?” Tango demands, angry to be

the cleaner.

“We are making this place more homely – we’re going to

be here a while.” Ray answers her.

Tango pouts but doesn’t argue any further.

“Yeah, but won’t the smell of food attract the Wretc?” Nick

asks.

“Good point,” I back him.

Mia Middleditch 22
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“It would be if they were normal animals; however, they’re

not. They’re only attracted to the scent of fear – yes, fear –

which is why they go for big groups of people. The more

people the bigger the sense of fear. That’s why I started

trying to cheer everyone up – keep them clear ‘cos we

ain’t got fear!” Ray assures us.

“Ok . . .” I begin only to then trail off not knowing quite

what to say.

So, without further questioning, we all set off to do our

tasks.

I look in the cupboards of the upstairs kitchen and find

some raw, red bacon. Yum. Or more like yuck.

“Um, guys, what am I supposed to cook with?” I ask them.

“I don’t know!” Louie exclaims, throwing his hands in the

air in helplessness, “cook stuff that don’t need to be

cooked or make a small fire. I guess you could set those

gas hobs on fire maybe?”

“No, no, too dangerous. These guys look like eager

campers; maybe they have a camp fire cooking thing?”

Nick suggests.

“How about making a fire in the fireplace?” Ray adds.

Mia Middleditch 23
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“What fireplace?” I ask eagerly.

“Oh, yeah, we forgot you couldn’t see much last night.

We’ve been up and about exploring.” Nick explains.

“Hey . . . you didn’t happen to find a beer garden, did

you?” Tango inquires timidly, almost as if she was afraid if

she got her hopes up they would be smashed like a crane

smashes a brick wall.

“Um, yeah,” Ray says, “why?”

“Did you look around?” Tango presses.

“Uh, no, it was outside.” Ray answers her.

“We could look, though.” Louie offers.

“Um, yes please. See if you can find a barbeque – if you

can that will be our problem solved.” Tango says.

The twins walk out the unblocked exit and all our stomachs

rumble.

“Well, I hope they’re back soon,” Tango grumbles, wetting

a dusty mop with some toilet water.

“Me too,” I whisper, “me too.”

Leaving a disgusting smell, Tango drags the mop, which is

now drenched with water, across the wooden floor.

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“Wow, out of all the things I could’ve been, I’d never

thought of myself as a maid before – surprisingly, I don’t

really like the job.” Tango complains under her breath.

Louie shoots her a filthy look, which she returns with an

evil glare that could make the devil look like mother

Teresa.

“That stinks, you know.” I tell her.

“What? The water or the dirty look?”

“Hmm . . . bit of both, I think.”

“Well, the water’s clean – just normal toilet water.”

“And that’s what worries me,” I mutter under my breath.

“And it’s not smelly,” she continues, “It’s just your

imagination!”

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Chapter 3 – Now that’s what I like to see

Ray and Nick walk in, grinning, with pieces of junk in their

arms.

“Look what we found!” They exclaim, “A barbeque and

loads of other cool stuff.”

“Like what?” Louie asks.

“Well, a bag of coal,” Nick starts, making Ray laugh at

some private joke of theirs.

“And matches!” Ray continues.

“And lighter fuel!” Nick takes over.

“And, last but not least, torches!” Ray finishes.

They both bow and say things like ‘thank you very much’

and ‘we love you too’ before slapping each other high

fives.

“Idiots,” I mutter, but can’t help collapsing in chuckles.

They wheel the barbeque in and draw back the curtains of

the windows to let the light in.

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As soon as we see the Wretc, we all leap back and snap

the moth bitten, stale smelling curtains shut, breathing

heavily.

“Geez,” I pant, “that was absolutely, positively the most

terrifying thing ever.”

“Well,” Nick gasps, “I have to disagree – listening to the

people scream was the most terrifying thing ever.”

“No,” Tango counters him, “I’m sure that this is way, way

scarier and if you think screaming is scarier you need to

check your brain and your instincts and your survival

sense”

“No,” Ray whispers, confidence gone, “it’s a tie to me.”

“Guys,” Louie hisses, eyebrows raised and sweat painting

a shine across his milky skin, “get a grip. Be happy. If they

smell your fear we’re done for. And they’re right out there.

Like, right now! So be happy – quickly!”

“He’s right, y’know.” I whisper.

After what seems an age but is probably only ten seconds

or less, I stand up and say:

“Who’s up for breakfast?” I ask.

The hungry side of everyone gets the better of them.

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“What sort of question is that?” Nick asks, his grin

returning.

“Now that’s what I like to see – hungry, smiling people!” I

giggle happily and grin.

Everyone sets back to their jobs as the twins hang the fully

charged flashlights on the ceiling so we can see. This is the

first time I’ve seen the inside of the pub or should I say

inn.

The floors are solid wood. Scratched and dirty but being

cleaned. The chairs are antique looking oak affairs and the

tables are a rich brown – or would be if they weren’t

covered in a thick layer of dust.

Yesterday I hadn’t noticed that there were rooms for

people to stay in. The pub wasn’t a pub – it was an inn. The

counter is really splintery and the varnish has been done

quite sloppily but it has buckets full of character. I am

definitely sure that with a good polish it would look fine.

The inn must be at least one hundred years old because it

has many original features like a bread oven and two

massive fireplaces, which are complete with logs and

matches.

Mia Middleditch 28
Rise of the Wretc
The main room is immense; however also crowded with

chairs and tables – the huge counter in the middle doesn’t

help either. There are faded patches on the wall and

spaces where the old awards used to be when they did

their last paint job.

I run up the stairs to the owner’s apartment and raid the

cupboards, fridge and the freezer. All the meat in the

freezer is defrosted and the fridge is, although not room

temperature, not as cold as it once was.

I find two tins of sausages, two tins of sweet corn and a tin

of baked beans for breakfast but think that sausages,

sweet corn and baked beans might not be enough.

In another cupboard I find loads of packets of pasta. And

take two. I dig around for tomato bolognaise sauce and,

when I eventually find it, take all my ingredients

downstairs where, to my surprise, the others are moving

all the furniture.

“You took your time!” Tango accuses me.

“Well, I’m going to cook up a well nice breakfast/lunch . . .

or should I say brunch?” I grin happily.

Mia Middleditch 29
Rise of the Wretc
“You better!” Nick laughs, throwing something at my head

but missing by, like, an inch.

“Hey,” I smile, “I have an idea.”

Everyone listens and creeps closer.

“How about we move some of the stuff down here –

y’know, mattresses, duvets, etc, etc – and all camp down

here. It makes more sense than having to run upstairs and

back down again.”

Everyone is thinking along the same trail of thought as me,

I’m sure. We all just don’t want to be separated. The idea

of being alone in the dead of night with those things out

there doesn’t sound appealing to anyone sane.

“Sure, it’s a good idea,” Louie agrees casually.

“Then, you boys get to work while Tango cleans and I

cook.” I smile.

**********************************************************

I’m just finishing our pasta and sausages as we chat. The

boys have moved everything downstairs and we’re

ravenous.

Mia Middleditch 30
Rise of the Wretc
“Have the Wretc stopped attacking?” Ray asks grumpily.

“Look outside,” I suggest.

Taking my advice, Ray arises and peers out the window.

“Hey guys? It’s clear. It’s clear and silent and the Wretc

aren’t outside and I think it’s over,” He says disbelieving.

“No way. Don’t be pulling our legs, Ray, seriously, don’t.”

Tango hisses, a threat hidden inside her voice.

“I swear I’m not. I can’t see anything . . . or anyone.” Ray

stutters, alarmed.

“He’s telling the truth,” Nick observes tilting his head so he

can look at his brother more carefully.

Hope rising, we all slowly make our way to the window. We

gaze out, breath pace increasing, heart pounding, blood

drumming in our ears. Then we see.

The road is clear and the air is silent and still. There aren’t

any Wretc. There aren’t any people either. Realization

dawns on us as we stare outside.

“No,” I hear Louie half whisper, half gasp.

“Well,” Tango begins and I can hear the strain on her voice

as she tries to control herself from crying, “at least the

Wretc are gone. And maybe everyone got underground in

Mia Middleditch 31
Rise of the Wretc
time. Maybe everyone’s safe, not wanting to give away

their position. Maybe . . . maybe . . . maybe . . . oh, I don’t

know, maybe something miraculous has happened.”

But we all know that miracles don’t happen and that we

are just plain unlucky.

“What shall we do?” I whisper, my voice breaking.

Everyone turns to look at me.

“What can we do?” Nick whispers.

Ray blinks and I notice that his and Nick’s hands are

trembling slightly.

"Well, we can’t just give up, can we?" He says, at first

quiet then getting loud and strong.

"Can’t we?" Tango asks him.

"No, we can’t." He replies firmly.

I’m sure I can hear Tango mutter something like we’ll see

about that but I can’t be totally sure.

“So we can go out now?” I ask shakily, my whole body

trembling and my voice rising and dipping in places.

“Uh, well, I guess so . . .” Nick answers me, a question

hidden in his curious voice.

Mia Middleditch 32
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“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Tango cries

impatiently.

Louie shrugs and I get the feeling he wants to stay here.

So do I. Thinking about it, the twins probably do too. And

I’d bet ten quid that Tango does as well. There’s just

something dramatic and special about being stuck

somewhere for days with only your survival skills and your

friends to lean on. Something special and something that

has made us all better friends.

Nonetheless, it is silly and unnecessary to stay here longer

so I think we might as well go and find everyone. Surely

not everyone is dead as we first assumed. What a dumb

idea. So silly. ‘Course not. What were we thinking? But I

still think I’d feel better if I saw someone.

“So . . . shall I still make lunch or do you want to go?” I ask

timidly, not sure why I’m so shy at the moment.

“Lunch!” Nick laughs so animatedly that I have to giggle,

which sets of the others and before long we find ourselves

rolling around clutching our sides.

“Lunch it is!” I declare, a smile etched on my features.

Mia Middleditch 33
Rise of the Wretc
I return to my cooking and preparing the pasta and

sausages whilst the others take the stuff they really like

from the inn rooms and the apartment.

“Thieves,” I mutter to myself, “silly thieves who I am

ashamed to call my friends – wonder if they’ll leave me

anything.”

The pasta cooks quickly and, me being a stupid, dopey

idiot, the sausages burn. The others do not like this.

“What a great cook,” Ray praises me sarcastically, “five

stars! World acclaimed! I’ll pay you millions for your

recipes!”

“Oh, I’ll show you my recipes!” I grin at him, walking

menacingly up to him.

“I’m so scared,” he drawls.

“You should be,” I hiss as I throw a slap that connects to

the side of his face.

“Ah, Ray! You got slapped!” Tango cries.

Ray just goes red and laughs it off.

“Well, you cussed my food, Ray, you had to suffer.” I smile.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ray rolls his eyes.

Mia Middleditch 34
Rise of the Wretc
“Do I have to come over there . . .?” I trail off, leaving the

question hanging.

Louie startles us by, in a very solemn voice, saying:

“We should find the survivors – if there are any.”

“He is, as usual, right,” I frown, turning over the words ‘if

there are any’ in my mind.

Without another word, we put all our blankets into our

stolen bags and yank on our stolen clothes. The barricaded

door doesn’t stall us for long.

The air outside is still and cold. Bitter in fact. If it was a

person I’m sure it would be cruel and uncaring as well as it

would tease ‘til pigs flew and not once get caught.

I can’t see anyone around and first snow is starting to fall.

It’s the sixteenth of November, cold, snowing and

strangely cemetery like. I’m trying to breathe quietly and

to make sure my footsteps are light. And failing quite

miserably.

The others are trying as hard as I am and having much

more success. None of us want to break the heavy silence

although it’s weighing us down and smothering us in its

quietness.

Mia Middleditch 35
Rise of the Wretc
”Where is everyone?” Nick whispers softly, words barely

audible.

“Underground hopefully,” I murmur, trying to believe it

myself.

“Hopefully,” Louie echoes, his voice breaking.

We walk down past the park, which has been savaged and

torn apart. Some roads are stained with crimson blood

smears and as we walk down Lilliput’s road we see what

might be a severed torso.

“Is that . . .?” I begin, unable to finish because of the black

edge to my vision.

“A body?” Tango whispers.

We walk closer to examine it. It was the body of Lilliput

Pot. Lilliput. Now it’s just her torso. Not her body. Her

torso. Her head is rolling around in a pile of dog’s mess.

Ray picks up a stick and prods it. It rolls to Nick’s feet. Nick

jumps back, aghast. So do I. Her eyes are blank and her

mouth open as if she died in the middle of a scream.

“I swear her facial muscles are supposed to relax when she

dies,” Louie says.

Mia Middleditch 36
Rise of the Wretc
“Well her face isn’t relaxed,” I point out through clenched

teeth.

Her blonde ringlets are mixed with dry blood and a cloud

of mist is covering her eyes.

We all turn away, each one of us trembling, and the black

edge creeps in closer and closer, covering my vision

completely.

Mia Middleditch 37
Rise of the Wretc
Chapter 4 – Next thing I know

Next thing I know, I’m being carried by the twins; Nick

carrying my arms and Ray my legs. They’re swinging me

and singing ‘what do you do with a drunken sailor?’

“I am not drunk and I am not a sailor,” I protest, scaring

them.

“It’s alive!” Nick cries, dropping one of my arms so I sway

dangerously.

“I am not an it!” I cry indignantly.

The twins look at each other and, at exactly the same

time, drop me. Ouch.

“Idiots!” I complain, spread out on the floor of what seems

to be a tube station.

The twins laugh and swing me again but this time I fight

against them. They laugh at my feeble attempts to break

free.

“Are you still feeling weak?” Louie asks me, concern

colouring his tone and his pale face even paler than usual.

“Well, I just blacked out so, yeah, I don’t feel like a bunch

of roses.” I say impatiently.

Mia Middleditch 38
Rise of the Wretc
Everyone just rolls their eyes and Nick mutters ‘Jinxx is

back’ to the rest of them.

“I heard that!” I hiss.

Nick just raises an eyebrow and mutters:

“Well it’s true.”

I am feeling too tired to argue so I simply lie on the floor

and stretch.

“Oh, my legs and my hands are number than numb.” I

moan feeling the twins scoop me up again.

“Not surprising, really, seeing as you’ve just fainted.” Nick

and Ray say simultaneously.

“I did not faint! Fainting sounds so . . . dainty. I blacked out

– end of.” I protest half-heartedly.

“Oh, yeah . . .” Louie begins, trailing off as he sees my

expression – dark thunder, evil eyes, that kind of thing.

“Where’s Tango?” I inquire.

“Oh . . . she’s . . . well, she’s . . . um, she’s kind of upset at

the moment,” Ray mumbles, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“What do you mean?” I press suspiciously, eyes narrowing

at the way he seems to be filtering information.

Mia Middleditch 39
Rise of the Wretc
“She saw her parents’ dead bodies and went into shock,”

Nick says; his voice expressionless and cold.

I didn’t have to be a genius to work out why.

“Did you . . . did you see your parents?” I ask gently,

before adding, “Did you see my parents?”

“Yes,” Nick and Louie whisper, “we saw all of our parents.”

“Oh,” I whisper, hands shaking lightly.

“Please don’t faint,” the twins joke, although I sense there

is a serious current behind their words.

“I told you – black out, not faint. And I’ll try not to, OK?” I

reply, half joking.

Everyone rolls their eyes and smiles unwillingly.

“It’s strange,” Louie begins, “but I actually missed my tiny,

little baby cousin.”

I growl at him and try to wriggle out of the twins’ grip to hit

him. Unsuccessfully. Suddenly, a whirlwind of thoughts

come hurtling, full speed, into my head.

“Is everyone dead?” I ask.

“Yes,” everyone answers me.

“Then what are we going to do?”

Mia Middleditch 40
Rise of the Wretc
“Haven’t got a clue. Maybe we could go to Aunt Doreen’s?”

Louie suggests.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll let the twins and Tango come –

they’re practically family.” I say.

“No,” the twins begin, “we’re going to find a remote place

and settle there.”

“Me too,” Tango agrees, making us all jump out of our

skins because we don’t see her coming.

“It would probably be safer, actually,” I say to Louie – he

can already see that I’m not going to leave my friends.

“Well, I don’t really mind because, whatever we do, we’re

probably going to die,” Louie sighs, shaking his head and

holding his hands up in a surrender gesture.

“Keep thinking like that, Louie,” Tango hisses.

We all laugh and roll our eyes.

“So . . . where exactly is this remote place you had in

mind?” I ask.

“Haven’t a clue,” Ray grins cheerfully.

“Somewhere in the country – maybe in a big field with a

huge hotel in the middle of it,” Tango suggests.

Mia Middleditch 41
Rise of the Wretc
“Yeah,” I agree, “somewhere really remote, where there

aren’t any people around to attract anything.”

“And we should stay in a hotel. If we were to stay in a

hotel we’d be surrounded by supplies – food, water, beds,

shelter, stuff like that.” Louie adds.

“So it’s decided!” Nick declares happily.

“Well – sorry to dampen the mood – we don’t know where

a hotel in the middle of nowhere is and, if there was one,

surely the owners would’ve stayed there!” Tango rants.

“You’d be surprised,” Louie says slowly, “I heard that a five

star hotel in the middle of a village of a population of about

two hundred people closed down and left everything there

– even the people fled.”

“So where did everyone go?” Tango asks.

“To Scotland and Wales. I don’t know why. I think they

thought they could hide and they thought there would be

more countryside there, maybe?” Louie replies, lost in

thought.

“If you’re suggesting that we trudge all the way to Devon

to some hotel in the middle of nowhere – and we don’t

Mia Middleditch 42
Rise of the Wretc
even know which nowhere – then, Louie, you have another

thing coming.” I hiss, just grasping his plan.

“Just a suggestion,” Louie says.

“I suggest we walk down the motorway,” Nick proposes.

“And get eaten? I don’t think so,” Tango explodes quickly,

beating me to the punch.

“No, no, no. The Wretc don’t go for small groups of people

– we’d be OK. I just think that we’d pass loads of petrol

stations and find loads of food on the way – not to mention

that we might actually pass a hotel,” Nick defends himself.

“I have to admit, it sounds like a good idea,” Louie says

tentatively, trying desperately not to spark Tango’s anger.

“Fine, fine, we’ll go. But we need to get some decent

clothes and stuff first.” Tango relents, her face softening.

“Yippee, Tango’s back,” I cheer sarcastically.

Tango just smiles.

**********************************************************

We trudge down to the nearest clothes shop and pick out

some warm, thick clothing.

Mia Middleditch 43
Rise of the Wretc
“I look and feel like an Eskimo,” Tango complains to

herself as she pulls on a wooly hat.

“Well, look at it this way, at least we won’t freeze to

death,” Ray grins.

“Yeah. So when the Wretc eat us we won’t be popsicles –

isn’t that just great!” I chuckle sarcastically.

I yank on a pair of wooly socks and some fluffy, warm

boots, which are keeping my feet snug.

“Uh! These backpacks are so heavy!” Louie huffs as he fills

a backpack with supplies, “why do we need all this if we’ll

pass petrol stations filled with sweets?”

“In case the owners packed all their stuff up or the petrol

stations are locked,” Ray answers immediately.

“Exactly,” Nick agrees enthusiastically.

We all look and feel knackered – it’s been a day to

remember.

“So, like – not to seem over eager – but when are we

leaving?” I ask quietly.

“Now,” everyone replies in unison. Spooky.

“Creeps,” I mutter under my breath.

Mia Middleditch 44
Rise of the Wretc
Everyone’s eyebrows raise a fraction and I roll my eyes

and stick out my tongue.

“What? It’s true,” I protest indignantly.

“Right,” Nick drawls as Ray rolls his eyes.

“Hey! I saw that, y’know!” I cry.

Everyone just turns away and we file out of the door in

silence. Y’know, you kind of get used to silence. Sure, I’d

rather be playing on my computer or kicking a ball, but

still. Silence is just one of those really annoying things –

just like Louie.

We start off at a snails pace and no-one is speaking to

each other. Y’know what I could really do with? My MP3.

Listening to music would just calm me down no end.

“Hey,” I say eventually, breaking the silence, “can I run

home and get my MP3?”

“Only you would think about music when we are about to

flee our homes,” Louie comments.

“Shut up, would you?” I snap back, frustrated.

“Guys!” Ray cuts us off, “Jinxx, go get your MP3 – in fact

everyone get some form of entertainment and some

batteries.”

Mia Middleditch 45
Rise of the Wretc
“Batteries . . . ?” Tango begins, trailing off when she sees

Ray murderous expression.

“Yes, batteries!” He exclaims, throwing his hands in the air

in frustration.

“Well, I’m going to take a board game,” Louie says.

“Well, I couldn’t care less,” I mutter loudly, my hand

involuntarily creeping up to slap him.

Knowing that would be the complete dumb thing to do, I

hit the nearest wall. Ouch.

“Well, how about we meet here in an hour?” Tango asks,

breaking the mounting tension.

“I’d say sure but I don’t have a watch so I won’t be able to

check the time,” I murmur.

“Go nick one then!” Nick sighs.

I turn to glare at him but Tango grabs my shoulder and

spins me around.

“Jinxx! Let’s go.” She hisses quietly, her voice barely

audible.

“I’ll be fine,” I mutter, my voice venomous.

“OK,” Tango smiles.

Mia Middleditch 46
Rise of the Wretc
I start running to our flat and it suddenly strikes me how

ugly London is. I mean, even Louie’s face is better looking

than this place. OK, so maybe London isn’t quite that bad

looking, but still.

The buildings fly past me as my feet pound the concrete.

My heart is racing. I love running. It’s just, like, fun. I’m not

really, really good – strictly average, in fact – but, hey, you

don’t have to be good at something to like it.

I’ve just reached the place where a pigeon delivered a

certain . . . package on my sister, Anna’s, lip. I remember

laughing so much that I cried that day.

Home is about three hundred meters away and I’m

probably going to reach it in about five minutes.

I’m here. I pull the key out of my trousers and shove it in

the door. Turning it isn’t as easy as it looks! My mum can

open it in, like, two seconds; however I open it in, like, two

minutes!

The inside looks exactly as it normally does and I can hear

a baby crying. Pippin? I run to her room and see her

sprawled in her cot screaming. I reach in and lift her into a

tight embrace.

Mia Middleditch 47
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“Where’s Anna, Pip?” I ask her, after like ten minutes.

“Anna got eaten by a big, ugly thing,” Pippin reports

calmly, as if Anna being eaten is the most normal thing in

the world.

I’m not going to cry. I’ve had enough of crying. I’m not

going to cry. Well, that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

My sister Pippin is a highly advanced three year old, who

acts like a nine year old but looks like a one year old. She

has a strawberry blonde bob and light blue eyes. To be

honest, I don’t know how Pippin and I can be related. I’ve

got ash black hair and dark brown eyes – total contrast to

her.

I squeeze her tightly and rub her back soothingly.

“Where’s mummy and daddy?” She asks, not concerned –

just mildly curious.

“Um,” I pause to think about this and to stop myself from

crying. “They’re on holiday.”

A very long holiday. A very long holiday, indeed . . .

Mia Middleditch 48
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Chapter 5 – Everyone loves Pippin

Everyone loves Pippin. You just can’t help it. She’s funny,

sweet and trustworthy. Despite this, we’re going to drop

her off at Aunt Doreen’s on the way to wherever we’re

going. It is Louie’s idea – I think he secretly hopes we’ll

want to stay there.

Pippin is snoring quietly as we walk along. We’ve just

reached Croydon. It’s ten o’clock at night and we’re all

knackered. If it wasn’t for Pippin, I think we would’ve been

absolutely exhausted because we would’ve been running.

“I’m hungry,” Pippin whines as she wakes up.

Mia Middleditch 49
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“Same here,” I agree.

Everyone else murmurs their agreements and we all split

up for food. The twins and I are searching the Whitgift

Centre and Louie, Pippin and Tango are searching House of

Fraser. Tango is not happy about this.

“Why am I with Louie?” She complains.

I shrug and say something about because I don’t want to

be. The twins smile and start walking off so I run and follow

them.

“Where in the Whitgift centre?” I ask.

“There’s a Sainsbury’s, I think,” Ray suggests.

“OK,” Nick says and we all follow Ray to Sainsbury’s.

There is no security and Sainsbury’s is still stocked with

food.

“Jackpot!” I laugh happily.

“Exactly,” the twins grin simultaneously.

They are the weirdest, craziest people I have ever met – no

lies.

The shelves are crammed with food and I’d bet that the

tills were stuffed with money.

Mia Middleditch 50
Rise of the Wretc
“Get tins and packaged stuff! Crisps, chocolate, sweets!

Baked beans, peas, sweet corn! Pasta, especially! Lots and

lots of pasta! Oh, and get drinks, too.” Nick shouts.

“You forgot matches!” I add as loudly as I can.

We raid Sainsbury’s and fill up our backpacks full of food

and drinks. I run over to the tiny clothes section and pick

out the largest shoulder bag I can.

“Why do you have that?” Nick asks me, scaring me by

appearing out of nowhere.

“Geez, how do you do that? It is seriously annoying,” I

begin, “and I’ve run out of space in my backpack for other

supplies so I need another bag.”

“Good idea,” Ray approves, creeping out from the

shadows and nearly giving me a heart attack.

“Will you two quit it?” I hiss venomously.

The twins chuckle and retreat back into the shadows. I look

around for other supplies. I’ve already got a lighter, two

torches, batteries, knife, flask, sleeping bag, food, drink,

clothes, umbrella, pop-up tent, my MP3, a shovel and a

first aid kit.

Everyone is still packing food and I’m getting a bit chilly.

Mia Middleditch 51
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“Hey, guys! I’m going to Millets and getting some warmer

stuff!” I shout, my voice echoing around the room.

“Bring us back some rain-macs!” The twins ask

enthusiastically, “and be back by half eleven.”

“Sure thing.”

I trudge down the silent roads to Millets. I remember when

there used to be a stall selling fresh donuts. Mm . . .

Millets is locked; however the doors aren’t barricaded and,

from what I can see, the clothes are still in there. The snow

from yesterday finished about twelve hours previously but

it has started snowing again. Goosebumps rise on my arms

despite my thick coat. As snow starts raining down harder,

my coat starts to absorb it and I’m getting really quite wet.

I take out my shovel and whack the window, full power.

The window caves in quickly. I scramble inside and fall on

my knees. The floor is cold. Br.

I look around for macs and take one for everyone. Seeing

how thin they are, I take two. My boots are warm; however

they are also suede and will get soaked in the snow. I look

at the rack of socks and take three packs of four.

Mia Middleditch 52
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“Geez, they need heating in here,” I mumble to myself as I

rub my arms and shrink into my coat.

I take all the macs and socks and clamber out onto the

street. I turn my head in search for a decent shop with

thick, waterproof coats. I end up in a camping shop and

find a roomy coat, which has fluff inside of it so that it

works like a thermal insulator.

I also find a pair of hiking boots with an outside of leather

and an inside of soft, warm fabric. I pull on all my stuff and

head back to Sainsbury’s.

“I’m back!” I shout noisily.

“We never left!” The twins laugh, creeping out of the

shadows and scaring me half to death.

I giggle.

“So, did you get our macs?” Nick asks.

I pretend to look thrown and then put on my best

apologetic face.

“Sorry, guys –,”I begin, only to get cut off by Nick.

“Hand them over, Jinxx,” He orders, holding out his open

palm – probably trying to intimidate me.

“I haven’t got them,” I insist.

Mia Middleditch 53
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“Jinxx,” Ray surprises me by interrupting, “you have a face

that’s as easy to read as an open book.”

“Actually,” I protest futilely. “People say I can cover my

emotions well.”

“That’s the problem,” Nick explains, “you’re too good. Like

an extremely skilled actor, who plays their part extremely

well.”

“Uh, huh,” is all I can say as I gape at them, jaw hanging

open half way to the floor.

“Now hand them over,” the twins grin.

“Fine,” I sigh, fishing in my bag for the macs, “here you

go.”

**********************************************************

We’ve joined back with the others. Pippin is wide awake

now – and screaming like it too.

“Shut up,” I hiss, “I can’t deal with your whining today.”

“I want mammy,” Pippin wails.

“Well, we can’t have what we want,” Nick snaps

unthinkingly.

Mia Middleditch 54
Rise of the Wretc
I don’t moan at him or tell him to back off because I know

that I would’ve said something a lot worse.

Pippin falls silent and tears roll down her cheeks. We all

pointedly ignore her. We haven’t got time to deal with an

upset baby.

“Let’s get going,” I suggest.

“Where?” Tango asks, her temper flaring, “where exactly

are we going, Jinxx? ‘Cos I don’t think walking aimlessly

down a motorway makes much sense. Do you? We’re all

going to die anyway – what’s the point of trying to run?”

“Well, I don’t think it does anyone much good to just sit

here. We might as well be running because it’s something

to do, at least.” Louie growls protectively.

“Cool it,” I whisper, “happy days, chocolate cake.”

Louie smiles in spite of himself. The twins exchange

glances and cough.

“We might as well get going because we are personally

knackered. The sooner we get out of town, the sooner we

can sleep.” Nick sighs.

“What do you mean?” I ask suspiciously.

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“The Wretc are probably still here,” Ray explains, “if we

sleep, chances are we’re going to have nightmares and if

we have nightmares . . .”

“If we have nightmares what?” Louie presses.

“If we have nightmares, they’ll smell our fear,” I realize

slowly.

“Exactly,” the twins say.

“So let’s go,” Tango, who is now visibly shaken, says

weakly.

We all nod.

“How do we get out of town, anyway?” I ask.

Everyone shrugs.

“Anyone got a map?” Louie asks shakily.

“Nope,” I answer him.

“I do,” Tango says.

“Give it here then,” Louie says.

Tango passes him a plastic map. All I can make out is a

load of squiggly lines. Louie pulls a marker from in his

pocket.

“We’re here,” Louie informs us, dotting a place on the

map. “We need to get to here before we can sleep.”

Mia Middleditch 56
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The place he means looks about six centimeters away.

“How far away?” Ray asks.

“Three kilometers,” Louie says.

“Where is it anyway?” I ask – I can’t actually see what the

lines mean.

“The nearest motorway.” Louie replies.

“The nearest motorway? The NEAREST motorway? The

nearest motorway is THREE KILOMETERS away?!” Tango

bursts.

“Yes,” Louie replies calmly.

“So we better get walking,” I grin, trying to ease up the

tension.

“What about Pippin?” Ray asks.

“What about Pippin?” I shoot back at him.

He holds his hands in a surrender gesture.

“I just meant are you going to carry her all three

kilometers of the way?” He defends himself.

I hadn’t thought of that.

“I don’t know . . .” I murmur.

“Why don’t you go get a pushchair from Mothercare?” Nick

suggests.

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I quickly agree with them and dash to Mothercare. I pick a

big, warm push chair, which has space for bags and stuff. I

also take supplies for Pippin.

I race back to the others, who raise an eyebrow at the big

pushchair.

“I’m going to put my food underneath her then put my

clothes on top of it so she’s not uncomfortable. That way, I

only have to carry the supplies and if I have to run I won’t

have to worry about my shoulder bag opening.” I explain

hurriedly.

They don’t complain.

I stash all my stuff away and then give Pippin a biscuit

from my food.

“I got you some milk but you have to eat it quickly or it will

go off, Ok?” I whisper to her as I lie her down.

“Ok. Can I have some now?” She asks.

“Sure. But, you have not to sleep, Ok?” I tell her.

“But I’ll get bored,” she protests.

“How about I get you some toys when we next pass a shop

that has some?” I ask her.

“Ok. Do you have any pens?” She asks.

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“Um, I’ll ask Louie,” I say.

“Ask Louie what?” Louie queries.

“Have you got any pens?”

“Uh, yeah – I thought Pippin might like to use them.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, little cousin.”

I groan but take the pens.

“Here you go, Pips.” I smile as I hand her the pens.

“Do you have my school shirts?” She asks, a mischievous

gleam in her eyes.

“Uh, yeah. Here,” I say as I try to work out what she’s

planning.

“Can you pull the hood over the top of the buggy? It’s all

windy.” She asks sweetly.

I pull the hood over her buggy.

“Can I have a torch?” Pippin asks.

I pass her a torch and hear her giggling.

We all exchange glances and sighs. I grip the foam bar on

the pushchair and grind my teeth together.

“Should we get going?” Tango asks.

“Might as well,” I sigh, barely stifling a yawn.

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The snow is still falling in swirls around us and my teeth

are chattering.

I yank on an extra mac and a cardigan.

“What great weather for walking,” I cheer happily.

“Right,” the twins drawl, their eyes rolling.

We trudge along the dark streets, which are the first step

to our unknown destination. So you see, when I said I

really wasn’t lucky, I really wasn’t kidding . . .

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Chapter 6 – Beddy byes

Wednesday 18th November

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We’ve made it. It’s four o’ clock in the morning and we are

about to pass out from exhaustion.

We’re all curling up under a massive oak tree and snow is

still falling. Personally, it’s lost its glamour to me. I’m too

tired to admire it. Everyone is falling asleep and Pippin is

already snoring.

My head feels heavy and my eyes are droopy.

**********************************************************

It’s twelve o’ clock in the afternoon. We slept for eight

hours! Gosh. We better not turn nocturnal.

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I’m the first one up. The others are fast asleep – and

snoring, too. Louie’s the worst. He has proper deep snores.

Like pig grunts. Snort, snort, snort.

Nick talks in his sleep. He was blabbering about all sorts of

things. Apparently, he is having a dream about being

crushed by a tree and Ray being eaten in front of him. As

well as that, Tango and I are being tortured. Ouch. He’s

only mentioned Louie once. He said that Louie turned into

a Wretc and ate himself.

Ray turns over every so often and screams loudly, before

having a shaking fit. The first time he did that, I jumped

out of my skin and rushed over to make sure he was Ok.

Tango is the worst. She sleepwalks. Ugh. Seriously, at

about eight o’ clock, she came over and started fighting

with me! I think we’ll be sleeping for most of today.

Ugh. I’m still so tired – emotionally as well as physically.

Pippin woke up at eight o’ clock; however she fell back

asleep. I’m going back to sleep.

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Thursday 19th November

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We slept all of yesterday. Nevertheless, I still feel tired.

And I need a stretch.

“Morning, lazy,” Nick yawns, scaring me.

“So, you managed to fight off that tree?” I ask him

mischievously, a grin forming on my face.

Nick goes tomato red.

“How did you know about that?” He demands.

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“And somehow Tango and I survived the torture,” I

continue.

“Blah, blah, blah – I can’t hear you.” Nick smiles.

“Sure you can’t,” I mutter.

“Look!” Nick laughs, abruptly changing the subject, “it’s

the pig!”

I can’t help but giggle. Louie scowls and pulls his sweater

back over his head.

“I’m going back to bed.” He huffs.

I yank his sweater back and tell him to wake up.

“We’ve been asleep for over twenty four hours!” I exclaim,

“I think we’ve all had enough sleep, pig.”

“What about them?” He jerks his thumb in the direction of

Ray and Tango.

I just smile to myself and pull a bottle of water out of

Pippin’s pushchair. Nick sees what I’m doing and raises

and eyebrow. I hand him a bottle. He smirks.

“One . . . Two . . . Three” I say slowly.

On three, we pour the bottles of water over Ray and

Tango.

“Blah!” Ray splutters, shaking his dripping hair.

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“Uh!” Tango exclaims. “You guys!”

I burst into giggles. Nick rolls his eyes. Louie groans and

tells everyone to shut up.

I pull another bottle of water and Nick raises both his

eyebrows in disbelief. I smirk. He grabs a bottle and

gestures for the others to do the same.

“One . . . Two . . . THREE!”

As we pour the water over him, Louie shoots erect.

“You . . . you . . . you stupid, idiotic, immature BABIES!” He

squeals, sounding more like a pig than ever.

“Totally worth it,” I whisper to the others.

We all smile to each other.

“Should we get moving?” I ask.

“No. Well, yes, but not yet – we need to dry off.” Tango

says.

As if to clarify this statement, Ray shakes his head and

water flies everywhere.

“Geez, that’s just great,” I mutter, brushing water off me.

The wet people dry off and we march along the motorway.

After about an hour, we pass a petrol station. An open

petrol station.

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“Hey, guys!” I call, “can we stop here?”

“Why?” Tango asks.

“Because I’m hungry and I can’t be bothered to cook.” I

explain.

“I thought you stole junk food,” Louie says disapprovingly.

“Yeah, well, I did; but Pippin won’t eat anything but junk

food and I can’t be bothered to fight with her.” I hiss.

“And anyway,” the twins back me up, “we wasted water on

waking us up.”

“Yep,” I agree, “and I could nick some coke. Yes! That is

what I’m talking about.”

“Fine,” Louie, sensing defeat, sighs.

As we walk closer, we see that the petrol station has a

metal shutter. We make quick work of bending the metal

until there is a big enough gap to clamber through.

Gosh! The owners didn’t take anything. The shelves are

still fully stocked and the calendar is still on the October

page.

I look in the biscuits section and take five packets of

Maryland’s – three for me, two for Pippin. I find the row

with various chocolates in and take loads. Galaxy, Ferrero

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Rocher, Cadbury, Lindt, Terry’s chocolate orange – special

hazelnut edition – and a box of Thornton’s.

“Are you going to eat all that?” Nick asks skeptically.

“Not all at once, no.” I reply.

“Forgetting something?” Ray teases.

He is holding three bottles of Cherry Coke.

“Give,” I say, holding my hand out.

He drops one bottle.

“Thank you,” I grin.

The twins smile back.

I remember how bored Pippin got on Wednesday and look

for some toys. All I can find are a colouring book, a teddy,

three toddler-ish magazines, a set of crayons and a tiny

doll.

I take everything and we press forward. Pippin awakes as

we walk and asks if I bought her anything. I give her the

doll and one of the magazines. I’m saving the rest for later.

Louie, who has taken the position of group leader, says we

will stop for dinner at nine o’ clock. Pasta and tinned

sausages.

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Friday 20th November

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It is still snowing. Actually, that’s a lie. It’s a mixture of

snow and big chunks of ice.

We’ve been walking for four hours straight. The last time

we had a rest was at twelve o’ clock for lunch. At this rate,

we will be at Doreen’s by Monday evening.

We have only passed two petrol stations – both of which

had already been robbed and nothing worth taking was

left. My MP3 uses AAA batteries so I’ve just been listening

to my music; however listening to the same tracks over

and over again gets pretty boring.

Pippin fell asleep at around half past one and my feet are

sore. None of us are much for conversation. Except, of

course, for Louie.

“Shall we play I-spy?” He suggests.

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“Well, no. We’re moving so it’s not really the best time.” I

snap at him, patience gone.

“I’m bored,” Louie complains loudly.

“Then concentrate on not being so annoying.” I suggest.

Louie scowls. Hopefully, that’s him taken care of.

The twins are silent and every so often one of them will

help push Pippin.

“When’s dinner?” Pippin asks, making us all jump.

“Good question,” Tango agrees.

I turn off my MP3 and listen to the conversation.

“I’m hungry, Jinxx.” Pippin moans.

“Have a biscuit, then.” I suggest as I hand her one of her

cookies.

She munches quietly and then pulls the top of the

pushchair over her. I automatically hand her the torch.

“Who has the map?” I ask at half past five.

“Me,” Ray answers.

“Where’s the nearest hotel?” I ask him.

Tango snatches the map of him and peers at it.

“This map doesn’t show you hotels.” She sighs.

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“Where’s Google Earth when you need it,” I mumble,

pulling on my headphones.

**********************************************************

It’s nine o’ clock. I set a bunch of twigs in our biggest pot

alight. The flames dance in front of my eyes. I love fire. It

is so vibrant. So dangerous.

I pour two packets of pasta into our smallest pot and pour

half a litre of Evian water into it. Tango pulls on a pair of

oven gloves we picked up from a mini Tesco’s earlier. She

lowers the pot into the fire but places the handle on the

edge so we can still take it out.

Ray stirs the pasta every so often. Louie sprinkles tiny bits

of salt into it and I cook the sausages. Nick looks after

Pippin.

When dinner is cooked, I tip some pasta into everyone’s

drying clothes. It stopped snowing a couple of hours ago

and we’re drying the clothes off.

“Geez, I’m knackered,” I yawn, suddenly sleepy.

“Me too,” Tango sighs, sucking pasta into her mouth.

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“Well, we only have three more hours to go.” Louie says.

“Ugh!” The twins, Tango and I groan simultaneously.

Spooky.

We eat slowly so our clothes can dry and we can savour

not having to move. Nevertheless, the time when we finish

does come and we pack up.

Our clothes are warm but not dry. Oh well. We set off down

the motorway, shivering.

Saturday 21st November

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We wake up aching all over. It’s three o’ clock.

Our clothes are still wet and we are now very

uncomfortable. Humph.

Thankfully, it’s not raining – well, not yet, anyway.

“Up! Up!” Louie shouts at Tango, who is enjoying the

oblivion of sleep.

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“Yeah, yeah.” She mutters.

“Guys! I can see a mini Tesco’s so I’m going to get some

eggs and bread.” I call.

“Ok,” Louie allows, “just make sure that they are in date.”

“Sure thing.” I say.

I’m back quickly. And with eggs, flour, milk, sugar, five

large Aero bars and three packets of biscuits.

“You took your time,” Louie accuses me sternly; “we have

a schedule to keep if we want to get to Doreen’s by

Monday evening.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I mumble under my breath.

Not quietly enough. Drat.

“JINXX!” Louie explodes.

“Save us the lecture, Louie.” I drawl.

Louie just goes red in the face. Everyone laughs. We set up

a fire and a makeshift washing line to hang our wet clothes

on.

“What do you want to make?” Nick asks me.

“Pancakes. Then I’m going to make chocolate sauce and

drizzle it over.”

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“Why do you need so much flour and stuff?”

“Because I want them to last the whole of today – we’ll just

warm them up later.”

“Right.”

I crack the eggs and stir them in with the milk and the

flour.

“Pass me the sugar,” I ask no-one in particular.

Ray hands me the bag. I sprinkle what I’m guessing to be a

tea-spoon worth of sugar into the batter.

I could run my own cook show – Survival Snacks, live by

Jinxx Luck. Yep, yep.

I mix the batter a bit more and then I pour some of it in the

frying pan, which has water in the bottom instead of oil.

Very healthy.

The batter makes twenty pancakes in total, which is a bit

of a rip off considering there were twelve eggs, twelve

bags of flour and six cartons of milk. (All of which were, of

course, in date.)

I make the chocolate sauce with the five large Aero bars

and drizzle a tiny bit over each pancake we all have one

and save the rest for later.

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**********************************************************

The road is stretching endlessly in front of us and the only

things that tell us we are actually going somewhere are

the various signs.

It’s half four and it hasn’t rained or snowed all day. That’s

a good thing. Maybe. Possibly. Not really.

I’m bored senseless. Seriously. My MP3 died and Pippin is

asleep. All the others are too bored to make conversation

so we are all just walking.

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Sunday 22nd November

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We have been walking for ages. Time seems to slow down

but we seem to go at the same pace. No-one has said a

word since lunch. I’m not going to break that silence.

This time tomorrow, we’ll be close to Aunt Doreen’s and

then – once Pippin’s gone – we’ll be able to look for that

remote hotel.

But at this moment in time I’d just like to curl up in bed

and sleep.

**********************************************************

I could quite easily strangle Louie. He is barking orders

around like we’re actually listening to him. Ugh.

“Shut it, will you?” I snap at him.

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“Well, you need to organize your backpacks.” He protests.

“Well, you need to organize your backpacks,” Ray mimics

him.

Louie rolls his eyes and I pull my hood over my head.

“Why?” Nick asks me. “It’s not raining.”

“Yeah but it will.”

“How can you tell?” Ray inquires.

“I’m just speculating, to be honest,” I admit.

**********************************************************

It’s dark and cold – and I was right: it did rain. We are

hidden under a dark tunnel. None of us can sleep.

Crazily, I want to get up and walk. We’ve been walking for

over twelve hours but I still want to walk. It’s madness. It’s

so cold. I just want to light a tiny fire. Just a small one. No

one will notice. It’s so cold.

Tango stirs and rolls over. I tense for a fight but she sits up

and rubs her eyes.

“It’s so cold,” she stutters.

“I know,” I whisper.

She jumps. Then she sees me and relaxes

“You scared me for a minute.” She sighs, rubbing her eyes.

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“Do you want to go for a run?” I ask.

“No, not really.”

“Do you want to light a fire?”

“Ah, we shouldn’t really.”

“Who cares?”

“Fine.”

I set about lighting a fire and when I’d make one I heat up

some water.

“Want some hot water?” I offer Tango.

“Sure,” she smiles.

“What did we do to deserve this?” I mumble to myself.

“I haven’t got a clue,” Tango whispers.

The twins arouse and walk over to us.

“Having a midnight bonfire?” Ray assumes.

“And we weren’t even invited!” Nick exclaims.

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Chapter 6 – Doreen the disaster!

It’s eight o’ clock. Monday 23rd November.

Aunt Doreen’s house is now visible. We are ecstatic. If we

had the energy, we’d sprint the rest of the way.

Unfortunately, we don’t.

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Her house is smaller than I last remember it. It’s a tiny

cottage – not a fairytale cottage with roses growing up the

side – it’s a tiny cottage, which needs a good paint job and

the only plants in sight are dead.

Louie’s mood has dramatically increased whereas mine

has dramatically decreased.

“Go on ahead, if you want.” I say to him.

“Do you mind?” He asks.

“Nah, we’ll be fine.” I assure him happily – anything to get

Louie out of my hair.

“Thanks,” he smiles.

He jogs up ahead.

“Do you guys want to rest?” I ask everyone.

We must look a sight. Dark circles under our eyes, eyes

red and bloodshot. What will Doreen think? Oh. That’s a

disaster waiting to happen – better warn them.

“Um, guys, we should get cleaned up.” I say.

“What do you mean?” Tango asks suspiciously.

“Well, think of Louie as neat-freak stage one and then

think of Aunt Doreen as neat freak stage one thousand.” I

tell them.

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“Oh,” the twins mumble.

“Big oh,” Tango clarifies.

“Be afraid,” I warn them.

We all decide to get cleaned up. We passed a petrol

station about twenty minutes back so we decide to head

back and freshen up.

“Wonder what Doreen will make of Louie?” I grin impishly.

“Oh, I wish I could see that,” Tango smiles.

“Totally.”

“I feel so deprived.”

“Me too.”

The twins look at each other and raise their eyebrows.

Simultaneously, we all laugh.

**********************************************************

All cleaned up. We had quick washes with bottled water

and brushed our hair into a more appropriate style. Can’t

do anything about the clothes but hey, at least we tried.

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We’re almost at Doreen’s house and as we approach I can

see how battered her house looks. The door is splintery

and dirty stains mark it. I’m honestly surprised at Doreen.

Tango knocks on the door and I can hear a dog going

ballistic. Ninny. Seriously, that’s her name. Ninny the dog.

She’s a sweetie really – if you get past the manic barking

and the ferocious growls you get if you don’t share food.

But still.

Aunt Doreen herself opens the door and, seeing it’s us,

ushers us in before inspecting us. Deciding we’re

touchable, she draws us all in for quick hugs. She smelly

like sickly perfume.

Her immaculate hair is going grey and worry lines crease

her forehead. Nonetheless, her house is – as always –

perfect. She’s wearing a floral dress with a ‘kiss the cook’

apron over it.

“Jinxx! Pippin! And these must be your friends! Louie has

told me so much about you. But, come now, you look filthy

– although I have to say Louie looked a lot worse than you

do. He’s just having a bath now, the poor darling. He

hasn’t yet told me about your little adventure – you must

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fill me in. Now, please remove your shoes and I’ll see what

I can do about some clean clothes.”

She tuts and looks us over once more. As soon as she trots

off, I groan and run my fingers through my hair.

“Was that as bad for you as it was for me?” Tango asks

wearily.

“Oh, believe me: it only gets worse from now.” I sigh.

The twins look positively taken aback.

“But she was perfectly nice,” they say, confused.

“Exactly,” I explain, “she’s . . . overbearing. I can’t be

around her for too long without getting really frustrated.

She’s too nosy. She has to meddle and make things her

idea of perfect – I guess that’s why she and Louie get

along so well.”

That the twins can understand. At first, Louie seems really

kind and sweet but then he grows seriously annoying and .

. . well, y’know.

Right on cue, a wet Louie comes racing down the stairs, a

spotless white towel wrapped around him.

“Hi guys!” He greets us warmly – he loves Aunt Doreen’s

place so much.

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“Louie, dear, come here, please. I have some clothes for

you and I need to comb your hair . . . ah, I see you’ve seen

that your friends have arrived.” Aunt Doreen purrs.

She waddles into the hall and leads Louie away.

“You children go run yourselves bathes while I sort Louie

out and get some dinner ready.” She orders us.

“Sure thing,” we murmur – unbreakable habit.

We trudge up the stairs and into the bathrooms. There are

only two.

“I’m fine with a shower,” I offer.

“Ok,” Tango smiles, “you have a shower; I have a bath –

deal?”

“Deal.”

The bathroom we picked is revolting. There is a wall

separating the shower and the toilet from the bath and the

sink. Convenient at the moment but an ugly touch. Not

that it matters. Even without the wall, the bathroom is still

an ugly affair. It has wallpaper that looks like it was made

in the twentieth century.

Then again, most of her house looks like it was made in

the twentieth century.

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We take quick showers and bathes.

Aunt Doreen is busy fussing over Louie when we walk in.

“Hello, dears. The water for tea is just boiling and I’m just

cooking the toast.”

“Do you have any biscuits or cake?” Nick asks impatiently.

“No, why?”

“Oh, jus’ wondering ‘cos I can smell cake cooking.”

“No, that’s toast, dear.”

“Nope, I’m pretty sure it’s cake.”

I can see Doreen getting wound up. Go Nick! Her face is

turning red and her cheeks are puffing up. I can see her

straightening up and getting in battle position. Ooh. This

will be fun.

“So, where’s the cake?” Nick asks again.

“There is no cake.”

“Oh, I bet there is.”

“Then you will lose that bet.”

“I’m waiting for that cake.”

“Then you will have to wait until I bake one.”

“Oh, spill the beans already - you have a cake so give it

here.”

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“I have no cake, dearest.”

Oh, she’s mad. She only says dearest when she’s livid. I

think Nick might be out of his depth here.

“Hand over the cake, Doreen.”

“I DO NOT HAVE A CAKE!”

That’s it. Doreen’s patience has gone and she’s finally got

angry. Woo-hoo! Like, finally.

“Yikes! Cool it, woman.” Nick smirks.

He won.

Doreen blushes and goes back to combing Louie’s hair.

The kettle clicks.

“That will be the tea,” Doreen excuses herself.

“Where’s the cake, Doreen?” Ray mimics Nick.

Nick shrugs and Ray raises his eyebrows. I whistle through

my teeth.

“Jinxx! No whistling – that noise is unbearable.” Doreen

moans.

Geez, woman, no whistling? Get a life. The others roll their

eyes – all except Louie.

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Suddenly, Ninny comes bounding in from the kitchen.

She’s a Golden Retriever. Her blonde coat jiggles as she

moves.

“Hi, Ninny.” I greet her.

“Ninny?” The others look at me ludicrously.

“What? It’s her name.” I defend myself.

They don’t seem too surprised.

Doreen trots in and gives us each a slice of toast and a cup

of tea.

“I don’t drink tea,” I object.

She passes me a cold glass of water. I gulp it down

gratefully. Then shudder as the cold runs down me.

“Now, everyone, take yourselves upstairs and look in the

loft – some of Timmy’s and my clothes are in there. Help

yourselves to them and then bring your clothes down here

for washing. Let me just make dinner and then you will all

have an early night – no arguments.”

We don’t argue. Ray and Nick hoist Tango and I into the

attic and we pull down a trunk of clothes.

“Who’s Timmy?” Ray asks.

“Our dead Uncle.” Louie tells him.

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“Then why does Doreen keep his clothes?”

I decide to cut in. “Because she’s a nutcase.”

Everyone except Louie laughs.

We all take the decent clothes for normal clothes and

leave the rest for pyjamas. Doreen calls us down.

“Dinner is ready!” She shouts.

We plod downstairs.

Dinner is roast potatoes, beef and vegetables. There goes

pasta and a chocolate bar.

As we chew, Doreen queries us about our little ‘adventure’

as she puts it.

“We just walked from London to here,” we shrug

nonchalantly.

“Why?” She presses.

“Because we want you to look after Pippin for us.” I

explained simply.

“And the rest of you,” she adds.

“Sure,” I mumble, my hands suddenly very interesting.

“Now, now! There will be plenty of time for chitchat

tomorrow so, for now, I want you girls to go outside and

look for a petrol station. When you find one,” – I notice how

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she thinks we’ll definitely find one – “take lots of

vegetables. Don’t take junk food! No nutrients in that!

Some yogurts would be nice, too. Low fat. Preferably sugar

free.”

“Anything else to add on the list of a million and one

things?” I hiss under my breath.

“Don’t take that tone with me, young lady!” Doreen snaps

sharply.

“Geez, geez, clam down.”

**********************************************************

We got her stuff and are on our way back.

I can see a shadow. A big shadow. And a metallic gleam.

One that looks like it’s coming from an eye.

“Tango,” I hiss, “look over there.”

I point to what I see and feel Tango shudder.

“Is that . . . ?”

“I think so,” I whisper.

The shadow moves towards us and the metallic gleam

turns, as if the Wretc is turning his head.

“Geez,” I whisper.

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“We’ve got to keep away from the house,” Tango hisses.

“And get a weapon.” I add.

“It won’t have any effect.” She sighs.

“I know!” I growl.

Suicidally, I take my shovel from my backpack and charge

at the demon. It turns with incomprehensible speed and

leaves me confused. Not for long.

Tango races in to help and swipes at the Wretc head. The

Wretc ducks and I whack it. Hard. It bashes me with its

long, hard tail and I fly against the road.

I cuss and jump back up. I sense another presence next to

me and a swing unthinkingly. I hit Tango in the leg.

“Aah!” She shrieks as she falls.

I apologize quickly and take another swing at the Wretc. I

miss by, like, an inch. The Wretc clamps its jaws around

my and I hear the bone snap. I gasp out loud and, instead

of fear, a raw fury fills me.

I hiss and cuss. Tango jumps up beside me and we both

start to hack at the monster. I’m guessing we’re making

about six out of ten hits.

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Wretc are butt ugly. They have transparent, leathery skin

and on top of their skin are usually blood boils. These are

big spots where the blood – or whatever pus they have

inside of them – clogs up and turns into a sort of parasite.

It feeds under the skin and causes the Wretc great pain.

I see a particularly big blood boil, which is in range of my

teeth, having no other way of getting to it, it bite it.

Pus explodes everywhere – including in my mouth – and I

spit all over the Wretc. Tango hobbles over and brings the

shovel down on a beating blood boil. It explodes again and

the Wretc screeches in pain. He shakes himself and Tango

and I are both flung aside like two ragdolls.

Ouch.

I force myself to get back up and, ignoring the pain in my

arm, whack the Wretc with the shovel.

“Tango!” I cry. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know!” She screams, charging at the Wretc.

She flies back.

“On three?” I suggest.

“Sure.”

“One . . . Two . . . Three.”

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We charge at the Wretc, which is momentarily caught by

surprise. I find a blood boil under its chin.

“Tango!” I call. “This blood boil is huge! Look at it!”

“Oh,” She gasps, her hands shaking.

I point to it and count down on my fingers. Tango bites her

lip.

On three, we hurl the shovels at the blood boil. It pops and

pus explodes everywhere. All over my hair! What will

Doreen say about that?

The Wretc screeches and collapses to the floor. I prod it

with my shovel. It writhes and splutters pus. Then it falls

still and the air fills with an eerie silence . . .

Chapter 7 – The Wretc is dead

The Wretc is dead. I am suddenly shattered.

“Should we . . . ?” I begin.

“Yeah, let’s.”

We stagger back to Doreen’s house, Wretc pus all over us.

**********************************************************
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“What have you been doing?! You look a mess! You smell .

. . well, let’s just say you are definitely taking a long bath.

And, plus, that trip should’ve only taken you twenty

minutes – it took you an hour! I was out of my mind with

worry!”

We trudge in silently and the twins give us an ‘upstairs

now’ look.

“Um, Doreen, we need to . . .” Tango starts.

“We need to change our clothes and do our hair,” I fill in

quickly.

Tango shoots me a ‘thank you’ glance. I smile back.

“Ok, then.”

We race up the stairs to get bombarded by the twins.

“What happened?”

“You look a mess!”

I usher them quiet and haul myself into the attic. Everyone

else follows.

“We were attacked by a Wretc.” I explain shortly.

“WHAT?” The twins ask incredulously.

“We were attacked by a Wretc.”

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“How can you sound so . . . so calm?”

“Because we killed it.”

“WHAT?”

“Because we killed it.”

“What . . . How . . . Where . . . ?”

“Well, we were walking back and a Wretc jumped us so we

hit its blood boils with our shovels and it lost a lot of blood

– sorry, pus – and we found a really big one, which we hit,

causing it to die.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.”

They gape at us, jaws hanging open.

“Better shut your mouth before bugs fly into it,” Tango

murmurs.

We all smile unwillingly.

The twins lean back against a wooden beam, which is

covered with cobwebs. In the dim light of the attic, I can

see loads of spiders’ homes. I grin at the thought of Louie

freaking out over them.

The others look at me and give me a ‘what?’ glance. I just

smile to myself.

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Suddenly, Louie jumps into the attic, landing on his belly

with a big thud. He looks red in the face and we can see

his face is squeaky clean – Doreen’s been at him.

Don’t get me wrong, he loves the attention. He loves being

spoilt. He loves Doreen. And so do I (love Doreen – not the

rest) it’s just that I can’t put up with her for a long time.

He looks at us in turn and I can see he’s been thinking

about something.

“Spit it out.” I murmur.

“Fine!” He snaps, “I just want to know what you’re doing

here and why I’m not invited and why you’re so mean and

why you won’t stay here with Doreen!”

“Are you done yet?” I moan, rolling my eyes.

He glowers at me and sits down by a box.

“So . . .” Tango says.

“So what?” Louie snaps.

Tango immediately bristles. Her hand clenches and her

eyes are dark and stormy.

“Don’t you DARE take that tone with me, Louie! Do you

know what we – Jinxx and I – have just been through and

done? No? Well, then maybe you should shut up! We only

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came up here because the twins were considerate enough

to ask what was wrong with us. Could you do that? No? Of

course not. You were too busy being pampered by lovely

Doreen.”

Louie goes a deeper shade of red and his eyes fill up. I

don’t care. Let him cry, the dumb baby.

“So do you want to know or not?” I hiss coldly.

“Know what?” Louie sobs, great tears shamelessly rolling

down his face.

“Oh, see that? He doesn’t even care enough to notice,” I

hiss at Tango, venom in my voice.

“Well, then, he doesn’t want to know, does he?” She

snaps.

“Well, I don’t care what he wants – if he wants to act like

that, then he won’t get our story anyway.”

The twins just sit on the sidelines, watching.

“Well. I’m going downstairs.” Louie snuffles miserably.

“Thank you,” I mutter, loud enough that he can hear.

He turns his head and sniffs loudly.

**********************************************************

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I’m lying in bed, the covers pulled over my head. Tango is

reading and the twins are talking in the other room. Louie

and Pippin are sharing the second biggest bedroom. Let

him wake up to a wet bed.

As softly as possible, I knock on the wall and hear the

twins knock back. I tiptoe out of our room and walk silently

into theirs. I needn’t have bothered. They came to meet

me.

“What’s wrong?” They ask, concerned.

“Nothing, but tonight’s the night.”

“For what?”

“Our escape.”

They look taken aback for a moment, before recovering

their emotionless masks and nodding.

“Ok.”

I usher them into our room and Tango looks up, surprised.

“What are they doing here?” She whispers, confused.

“We’re escaping.” I answer simply.

She immediately sits up and throws off her duvet.

“Now?” She asks.

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“Yes,” we all answer simultaneously.

We keep doing that – spooky.

As quickly as possible, we pack our stuff and some of

Doreen’s old clothes. I scribble an untidy note for Pippin:

Dearest Pippin,

I hope you understand why we’re leaving you with

Aunt Doreen. We just want you to be safe and we

know that unfortunately that won’t happen if you’re

travelling with us.

We promise to come back and visit as soon as we can

but that might not be for a while so don’t worry, Ok?

Be good for Doreen and carry on doing your work.

So sorry about leaving you with Louie but it couldn’t

be helped. I’ve left your stuff on the table for you.

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 Give our love and thanks to Doreen and tell Louie that

he missed his ticket out of here.

Love you loads,

Jinxx

XXX

I leave the note on the table, the way they do in movies,

and creep over Ninny. Unexpectedly, she jumps up and

starts barking. I stroke her and feed her a treat.

“It’s Ok, Ninny girl. It’s Ok. It’s only me, Jinxx. Ssh.”

Eventually, Ninny calms down and falls back asleep.

The others step over her warily and we take our coats and

backs. Luckily, Doreen hasn’t taken our food or any of our

supplies so we’re already packed.

We unlatch the back door and step into the garden. The

wind is cold against my pyjamas. I shiver. My hair blows in

the wind. The others are cold, too.

“Let’s get moving for a while and then we’ll make a fire

and get warm.” I suggest.

“We’ll stop when we get to a petrol station,” Ray adds.

“Deal,” Nick smiles.

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“Deal,” Tango agrees.

“Deal,” I chuckle.

We all run around and laugh, enjoying our new freedom.

Suddenly, a harsh wind blows past us. We all shudder.

“Let’s go,” the twins smile.

“Lead the way.”

We walk for about two and a half hours before we pass a

petrol station. It’s a mini Tesco’s.

We break our way in and take food and drink. Nick picks

up a pack of twelve lighters.

“What? Our lighter fuel supply is getting low.”

I take some biscuits and some chocolate. Yum. I also take

some carrots and some cucumber. The others raise their

eyebrows.

“Well, if we’re going to be doing all this walking, we might

as well be a tad healthy.”

“Fruit’s nicer than veg.” Tango argues.

“Yeah, but it goes off quicker, too.”

“I guess.”

We settle in the vicinity by the motorway. We light a fire in

one of the pan and cook some pasta and baked beans.

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We can see the light rapidly disappearing. It must be about

eleven now.

We’ve taken off our coats and have laid down our stolen

macs on the ground. The fire is warming our coats. It

rained at around seven so we got a bit muddy on the way

here. Tomorrow, we’ll wash all the mud off and let it dry.

Or maybe I’ll wake up extra early to do that.

Our pyjamas are flimsy, dirty and – more annoyingly than

anything – cold. I’m shivering on top of my make shift bed.

The others are all asleep. Lucky them.

I shift closer to the fire and study the flames. I warm

myself up and then lie back down.

I toss and turn for what seems like eternity but is probably

only an hour or so.

When sleep finally comes, I drift towards it and welcome it

in . . .

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Chapter 8 – Road sweet Road

We’ve been walking for a week now. You do the math and

work out the date. I’m busy walking.

“There should be a hotel about two miles ahead,” Nick

informs us.

We’ve passed three run-down, low rated hotels on the way

and we didn’t stop at any of them – even wanderers have

standards, y’know.

“What rating?” I ask curiously.

“Um, three and a half stars.” Ray replies.

“You want to stop there?” I ask everyone.

“Let’s check it out first.” Tango smiles.

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Our feet are sore and we don’t really have an aim

anymore. I prefer it this way. Rest when we want. Eat

when we want Sleep when we want.

This couldn’t have happened if Louie was here. To be

honest, I do miss him; however I’m much happier now that

we’ve left him. I think the others are too. We don’t have a

leader. We don’t need – or want – one, either.

My only complaint is that we haven’t passed any clothes

shops. Now, I really don’t care about shopping; but we’re

running low on clothes.

I can see a tiny village up ahead and I point it out to the

others. We decide to pay the villagers a visit and set off.

**********************************************************

The village is silent and I’m guessing everyone’s

evacuated because I don’t think they’re throwing us a

surprise party.

As we wander in, we see a man lying on the street. We

don’t take any notice because that’s what we do so we

can’t talk.

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I’m growing hungry so I tell the others I’m going to look for

food.

“Yeah, I’m going to look for some more clothes – I’m

running out.” Tango says.

We all agree and ask her to get us some.

I run over to what looks like a village supermarket and see

something that makes my blood run cold: a corpse. I am

too terrified to move so I do the natural thing and scream.

Suddenly, a hand is clamped over my mouth.

“Ssh! If they hear us, we’re dead!” A worried sounding boy

hisses urgently.

I obediently shut up and elbow whoever it is in the ribs.

They cuss loudly.

“What did you do that for?!” The person – I think it’s a boy

– yelps.

I shrug and slide into an alleyway.

As I look at my attacker, I see that there are in fact three

people a little taller than me standing behind me. They

look scruffy and dirty like they’ve been rolling around in a

stable.

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I guess I probably look worse. The smallest one looks

about ten and the tallest about thirteen. The middle one is

hidden behind them so I can’t tell.

“What was that about?!” I demand.

“Hey!” The smallest one cries. “We just saved your life,

miss.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“Who are you, anyway?” The tallest one asks.

“What’s it to you?” I hiss venomously.

As if hearing something terrible, they all stiffen and turn in

the direction of the nearest exit of the alleyway. They

gesture for me to follow so I do. They race onto the main

street and I see a scene that belongs in Saw.

Dozens of corpses are lying scattered on the floor and the

cobbled streets are soaked with blood. The corpses’

throats have been ripped out and their insides are lying on

the ground.

I straighten out and pull out my shovel. My attackers raise

their eyebrows. I bare my teeth at them and snarl:

“The Wretc can be killed – believe me, I should know –

there’s a big blood boil under their chin, which when hit

Mia Middleditch 109

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causes them to lose the pus inside of them resulting in

them dying.”

My attackers gape at me.

“What?” I hiss.

They shrug and run down towards a clothes shop. I can see

the twins and Tango in there.

“Quick!” I shout. “In here.”

They run in without thinking about it and everyone rushes

to see what the commotion is.

“Jinxx! Where have you been? And who are they?” Tango

asks quickly, a frown creasing her forehead.

“I honestly don’t know who they are.” I tell her.

“I’m Kieran,” says the tallest one, “the small one’s Rick

and the middle one’s Philii.”

“I’m Tango,” Tango introduces herself, “you’ve already

met Jinxx and these two are the twins – Nick and Ray.”

“Nice to meet you,” the twins and I say simultaneously.

Kieran, Rick and Philii look baffled and Tango shakes her

head mockingly.

“They’re always like this - well, Jinxx isn’t usually but the

twins are.”

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We grin.

The newcomers smile.

Unexpectedly, the door breaks down and a slimy Wretc

bursts in. The newcomers shrink back and Tango and I

step forward. The twins hesitate and step forwards to join

us. I smile weakly.

Leaving me feeling dizzy, the Wretc flicks its tail at the

ground where I was standing about two seconds ago. I

swing the shovel with my good arm and miss by a whole

hand span.

Tango goes in for the kill. She whacks a beating blood boil

on top of the Wretc head and I clamber onto its back. I

grab its neck in my arm and yank its head up – a clear shot

for the blood boil on the chin. Tango aims at it; but the

Wretc moves with breathtaking speed and flings her into

the wall. I hang on with my bad arm – yikes! – and pop the

blood boil with my good one.

The Wretc collapses on the ground and I fall on my bad

arm. I grimace and haul myself up.

“Wow,” I mutter through clenched teeth, “I could write a

handbook on how not to kill a Wretc.”

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“Jinxx!” Tango cries, wrapping her arms around me.

“Yes?” I ask, surprised by the sudden hug.

“Your arm isn’t killing you?”

“How do you know about my arm?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes, it hurts. Now answer mine.”

“I was there when the Wretc bit you.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“And I saw.”

“Oh.”

The twins stare at us, a mystified look on their face.

“A Wretc bit my arm when we fought it back at Doreen’s.”

I explain quickly.

“And you didn’t tell us!”

“Well, there was no need! And if you knew then Doreen

would’ve known and then we never would’ve gotten out of

there!”

“But you could’ve told us!”

Yeah, yeah, whatever, I feel like saying but I bite my

tongue.

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Rick, Philii and Kieran look at us like we’re crazy. I feel like

screaming at them; however Tango beats me to the

punch.

“So! What do you want? We’ve saved your skins and not

even a simple thank you! Typical!”

The three boys glare at Tango I touch her shoulder lightly

but she shrugs me off.

“So? What do you want?” She demands angrily.

“We don’t want anything!” Philii shouts, flinging his hands

down on his legs. “All we wanted was to be safe – we

saved this girl here and she saw you and told us to come.”

“It’s true.” I say.

Tango glares at me and sighs. She only wants something

to take her frustration out on. So do I. This whole stupid

thing is because of the Wretc. The dumb Wretc.

I trudge over to the Wretc body and kick it. It stays

perfectly still. I guess I kind of expected it to jump up alive

again like in Resident Evil. I hit it square in its eyes and

stamp on its belly. I can see where all the muscles and

organs squish when I hit them. Yuck. It’s worse than my

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mother’s cooking. Something I wouldn’t have thought

possible.

Everyone stares at me like I’m some sort of a madman.

“What? Would you prefer it if I hit you?” I snap.

The others grin.

“Can we get out of this graveyard?” I sigh. “It gives me the

creeps.”

“You give me the creeps.” Kieran mutters.

“We’ll get along just fine,” the twins smile broadly, holding

out their hands.

The three boys shake their hands eagerly and hold out

their hands to us. I shake them and Tango does too,

though admittedly a bit reluctant.

“So I’m guessing we have another three travelers?” I say

slowly.

Rick, Philii and Kieran shrug and nod.

“Let’s get going then.” Tango huffs, blatantly annoyed.

**********************************************************

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The sun is setting and I feel drained already. My arm is

throbbing again and I have to hold it gingerly with my

other one. This doesn’t escape the others’ notice.

“Is your arm Ok?” The twins ask frequently.

“Yep. Well, no. But it’s durable – maybe I’ll nick some

painkillers from a petrol station.”

Worry is etched into their features.

“I’m fine,” I assure them quickly.

They turn away and talk to Tango quietly. I raise my

eyebrows and Rick walks over to me.

“Hi.” I say.

He looks at my arm and exhales sharply.

“That must hurt.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll tell the others.”

“You won’t! I can still stop you with one good arm – heck, I

defeated the Wretc with one good arm.”

He shrugs and sighs.

“Whatever. Are you guys always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re about to go to a party.”

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“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re so . . . happy. Like none of this matters to

you.”

“Well, of course it does! We just think that it won’t do us

any good to mope about all day.”

He looks at me speculatively.

“What?”

“It’s just that you remind me of someone.”

“Who?”

“My big sister, Emmy.”

We both fall silent.

“Who did you lose?” He asks me after what seems like an

age.

“Parents, grandparents, a sister, an aunt, an uncle and the

whole of my mum’s side of the family.” I sigh sadly. “You?”

“Parents. Both sisters. The rest of my family is in the

country.”

“Maybe you could go stay with them?”

“Nah – I prefer wandering with Kieran and Philii.”

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“So that village wasn’t your home?”

“Nope – yours?”

‘Nah, I lived in London.”

“I lived in Mitcham.”

“Cool.”

We are silent then. Remembering the good old days. Geez,

I sound like a nanny!

Kieran walks over and smiles weakly.

“So you kill Wretc?”

“Oh, yeah, we kill them and make a profit of about ten

million pounds. Hell, no. Geez, we’re running from trouble

– not fighting with it.”

“So what do you do?”

“Dunno. Wander round mostly.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

“Sounds pretty boring.”

I grin.

“You’d be surprised.”

“So are you heading anywhere?”

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“Um, no. But we’re on the lookout for a nice hotel, which

has electricity and stuff in it. Then we think we’ll settle

down and wait for the U.S government to make a weapon.”

“You do know it was them who created the Wretc?”

“What? Those . . . those dumb, stupid, meddling twerps!

And we’ve been waiting for them to make weapon to kill

them!”

“They’ll still make a weapon to make it look like they were

the heroes – politics and stuff.”

“If I get my hands on those dumb scientists . . . well, let’s

just say that I would be behind bars for the rest of my life.”

Kieran grins.

Suddenly, my arm throbs and I gasp. As soon as I gasp, the

twins come rushing to my aid.

“I’m fine,” I wheeze weakly.

“Shut up, Jinxx.” They moan.

I roll my eyes. My knees give out and I collapse on the

ground. And guess what? I land on my bad arm. Typical.

“Let us look at it,” Tango orders me.

The others bend down and I haul myself into a sitting

position. I shrink out of my coat and roll the sleeve of my

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shirt up. The bite is black and bleeding – badly. It’s

surrounded by blackish blue bruises and the flesh around it

is peeling back

It looks terrible and is throbbing terribly. What a lot of

terrible stuff. The others stare at it and Tango gasps. I

smile weakly. The others raise their eyebrows and only

Rick and Kieran return the smile.

“Hold still,” Nick instructs me.

“Well, I’m not really in a position to move,” I grunt through

my teeth as he sprays my wound with disinfectant from in

the first aid kit.

I twitch and clench my fist. Ray sits down next to me and

chats to me. Trying desperately to take my mind off the

wound. I chuckle at his attempts. Everyone gapes at me.

“What? Ray’s funny.”

Kieran laughs. Then Rick does. Philii doesn’t. I haven’t

talked to him or heard him laugh.

Nick smiles and Ray smiles too. Tango grimaces and sets

herself down on my leg.

“Are you Ok?” She asks.

“Yeah, sure.”

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I lean back and sigh. Suddenly, I feel very sleepy and

mumble something about going to sleep to the others.

“Have a sleep until we get you some painkillers,” they say.

I gratefully drift into the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness

...

Chapter 9 - Lemme walk

I’m being carried by Philii. I open my eyes only to be told

to go back to sleep by Rick. I sink back to sleep.

**********************************************************

I’m having a vivid dream. I’m standing at a crossroad and I

can see different people at each turn – Louie and Pippin on

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one path, the twins, Tango, Rick, Philii and Kieran on the

other.

Everyone is beckoning me and I’m torn. Instinctively, I run

towards my friends to pull them towards Louie and Pippin;

however Louie and Pippin turn away and race down the

road.

I leave my friends and chase after them but my friends

turn away too. I find myself alone at the point of the

crossroad until everyone returns and stares at me. They all

utter one word:

“Choose.”

**********************************************************

I wake up gasping. Ray is carrying me.

“Hi, Jinxx,” he grins.

“Hi, Ray,” I grin back.

He runs down a corridor to Nick, me jostling in his arms.

“Can I get down?”

“Nope.”

“Aw, please?”

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“Hmm . . . no.”

I growl playfully at him and he smiles.

“You were chattering in your sleep.” He informs me.

“Great,” I mutter sarcastically.

“You were having a very clear dream. Very interesting to

listen to.”

“Shut up!”

“You said Tango had a huge nose and that I was

handsome.”

“Well, now I know you’re lying.”

“You’re right. You said Nick was handsome.”

“When are you going to tell me what you heard?”

“Never. I’m just going to torment you with what you

might’ve said.”

“Well, too bad – I can remember my dream.”

“Aw! That just ruined my game.”

“Good.”

He reaches Nick then and Nick chuckles. Ray hands me

over to him.

“You Ok, Jinxx?”

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“Hell, no. You’re brother has been messing with me and

no-one will let me walk! Put me down!”

Nick laughs and Tango hobbles over. She’s limping slightly.

“What happened to your leg?” I ask.

“We were attacked by loads – and I mean loads – of

Wretc,” she begins, pausing to glance at the twins. They

nod. “We fought but, well, there were too many to kill

without getting injured.”

I glance at Nick. He has a scratch all down his arm. A

bleeding scratch. It isn’t bruised so I’m guessing the Wretc

probably just trailed its claw across him.

“Did you get bitten?” I ask.

Nick stiffens and Tango blushes. Her eyes fill up.

“No . . .” She begins, tears freely falling now.

“What’s wrong?” I demand.

“You tell her Nick,” she sobs helplessly.

Nick sighs.

“We had lain you down on some grass and formed a circle

around you so you were protected but a Wretc closed in on

Tango. It was a very big one and she got scared so she

threw you out in front of her.”

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He pauses, looking down on me to see how I’m reacting. I

don’t think Tango would do that.

“Carry on,” I prompt.

“The Wretc smelled fear and thought it was coming from

you so it attacked. It got your legs and bit them both. You

woke up temporarily, grabbed the blood boil under its chin

and it died. Then we got you back in the circle and told you

to go back to sleep.”

“I don’t remember any of that.” I say, confused.

“You were only awake for a few seconds,” Tango whispers,

“and yet what you did in a matter of a few seconds I

couldn’t do in a few minutes.”

I reach out to her and she pulls me into her arms. I wrap

my arms around her and tell her it’s Ok.

The others seem genuinely taken aback that I can accept

all this so easily.

“So is that why I can’t walk?” I ask after a while.

“Yeah.”

“But my legs don’t hurt.”

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“That’s because you’re completely dosed out on

painkillers.”

“Oh. But that still doesn’t explain why Tango is limping.”

“A Wretc flung a shovel into her leg.”

“Oh! Are you Ok?”

“Yeah,” Tango says, lying me down on the floor.

I look around me. We’re in a hotel. The hotel? It’s not very

grand – in fact it’s quite grimy. There’s damp on the walls

and it smells faintly. The paint work is a sickly vomit

colour. Chewing gum is stuck to the floor, which is

splintery wood.

I raise my eyebrows and the others chuckle lightly.

Rick, Philii and Kieran walk in. They see me sitting on the

floor and Kieran picks me up.

“Ugh! Why can’t I walk?”

“We just told you why!” Tango exclaims.

“Yeah, well, I really don’t care about having sore legs – I’ll

be fine.”

“Well, I ain’t putting you down,” Kieran says.

“Then I’ll let myself down.” I sigh, swinging my legs over

his arms.

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I drop onto the floor and my legs start to burn. Ouch. I

grind my teeth together and roll up my jeans.

I gasp as I see my legs.

The skin from my knee up is shredded – literally shredded.

It hangs in black-purple strips off my leg. The skin below

there is bruised everywhere. Unless I always look like a

plum and no-one thought to tell me.

The others look awkward and shuffle from side to side.

“I look like a plum!” I complain.

The others snigger in spite of themselves. I smile at them.

“Is there any clothes here?” I ask.

“Um, yeah. The hotel was fully occupied when the Wretc

attacked – clothes and stuff are still here.” Rick tells me.

“Then goodbye because I’m going to get changed.” I

declare.

I walk up the stairs before calling:

“Where am I going, exactly?”

The others laugh from downstairs and Kieran shouts some

instructions.

**********************************************************

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I put on some loose shorts and a short sleeved plain black

shirt. All my bruises and cuts show, which is exactly what I

want. Any unexplained wounds and I know where to go.

As it happens, everything’s in order. Not an unexplained

scratch.

I race downstairs and receive smiles and raised eyebrows.

“Not a word.” I hiss.

Everyone laughs.

“So how long are we staying here?” I ask.

“Until you feel ready to leave,” Tango answers.

“Let’s go then.” I smile.

“Jinxx,” Kieran begins, “have you seen your leg?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you know that you aren’t in a state for walking.”

“Sure I am.”

“Whatever.”

My stomach rumbles, reminding me that I am ravenous.

“Lunch?” I ask hopefully.

“More like dinner,” Philii answers.

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I am momentarily surprised that he actually spoke to me

and, judging by the expression on everyone’s faces, the

others are too.

“I’m cooking.” I say.

“Great.”

I raise my eyebrows and exhale sharply.

**********************************************************

I make a fire and cook the way we usually do. I cook pasta

and, thanks to a fully stocked kitchen, sausages. The

others gulp it down quickly and we have a pudding of hot

water.

“There goes the days of chocolate pancakes.” I murmur as

I drink my water.

“We could make some,” Rick suggests.

“Nah, not worth it. Waste a whole load of resources.”

“Did you used to make chocolate pancakes, then?”

“Yeah, once or twice.”

“Yum.”

“Totally.”

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We eat quickly and chat some more before Tango suggests

we all go to bed.

“Do we have to? I ain’t tired.” Kieran protests.

“No, you don’t have to – it was just a suggestion.”

We all just mill about for about ten minutes before Tango

goes to bed. The twins put out the fire and I pack up the

dishes and wash them with the spare water. Rick chats to

Philii and Kieran chats to the twins.

Unexpectedly, Philii comes over and says hi.

“How’s your leg?” He asks.

“It’s about to fall off.”

“Right. So why are you wandering round anyway?”

“Because everyone’s dead and I don’t want to live in a

cemetery because I was dumb enough to stay still.”

“Because of ghosts?”

“Because I’d get bored.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Idiot.”

“Talk about yourself.”

“Talking about you, though.”

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We carry on like that for ages until Philii gets tired and

goes to bed.

Kieran walks over and talks to me.

“Do you really not mind that Tango threw you out in front

of her?” He asks, curiosity burning behind his voice.

“Well, duh I mind. But most people would’ve done the

same thing so I ain’t going to hold it against her.”

“Right.”

“What is it with you three and the word ‘right’?! It is

seriously annoying.”

“So are you.”

I punch him on the arm with all the force I can muster.

“Ow.”

“Good.”

He laughs and asks me why I’m here. I sigh and tell him to

mind his own business. Then I ask him why he’s here.

“Mind your own business.” He mimics me.

“You’re story for mine?” I ask.

“Sure – tomorrow. I’m shattered.”

“Deal.”

“Shake on it?”

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“Yeah, sure.”

We shake hands then go to bed.

**********************************************************

It is three a.m. It’s also freezing. My teeth are chattering

and goosebumps are rising on top of my bruises. I tiptoe

across the room to get a dressing gown.

Tango shoots up.

“Jinxx! It’s three o’ clock in the morning! I’m tired! Keep it

down!” She shouts.

The boys come racing in. They look a sight! I giggle. They

are wearing tracksuit bottoms and loose shirts – it’s their

hair that looks the worst. All sticky-out.

They raise their eyebrows.

“You don’t look a sight either,” Ray laughs.

I look down at myself. Ripped tracksuit bottoms, fluffy

dressing gown and most probably haystack hair. I giggle.

“Quit laughing!” Moans Philii.

I laugh louder and longer. He rolls his eyes and punches

me on my good arm. I laugh again and hit him back.

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“Ow!”

“Goodbye,” I say as I usher them out the door.

“’Night,” they say as they leave.

“And good riddance,” Tango groans as she pulls the covers

over her head.

“I can’t sleep,” I complain to her, jumping on my bed.

“Go get some water then.”

“Fine.”

“’Night.”

“’Night.”

I pad downstairs silently – or as silently as I can. I almost

have a heart attack when I see Kieran getting as drink.

“Why . . . ?” I ask.

“Can’t sleep. Been up for about two hours. You?”

“Can’t sleep and have an extremely un-talkative

roommate.”

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

“You want to tell me how you ended up here?”

“You want to tell me how you ended up here?”

“You first.”

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“Fine. We went to play afterschool and it started raining so

we went into an abandoned pub and the Wretc attacked.

Then I went home and found that my little sister, Pippin,

was still alive so we went to Aunt Doreen’s and dropped

her off. But when we escaped we decided to leave my

cousin there and then we came to where we met you lot

and then we went here. Done. Now it’s your turn.”

“I was playing football with Philii and my brother, Ashton,

when they attacked. My brother told us to run so we did.

He followed us up until we got to the corner. The Wretc

had caught up with us and my brother wanted to survive

so he threw us in front of him so the Wretc would eat him. I

wasn’t scared – just angry. The Wretc could feel that I was

only angry so it didn’t go for me. Philii was whacking my

brother so I’m guessing he was angry too. Doesn’t really

matter. Anyway, the Wretc went for my brother and Philii

and I ran. We met Rick on the motorway and asked him to

join us. We’d been walking for a month when you found

us.”

“Whoa.”

“No big deal, really.”

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“Right. No big deal. Of course not. Duh. How could I think

such a thing?”

“Well you lot kill Wretc so, compared to my story, you

might as well be a celebrity.”

“Where did you get celebrities from?”

“They’re supposed to be cool.”

“I guess so.”

Kieran yawns.

“’Night.” I say, already halfway up the stairs.

“’Night.”

I wonder what tomorrow will throw at me and whether I’ll

want to strangle it for doing so . . .

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Chapter 11 – If we have a plan then I’m

smart

I wake up aching all over. The painkillers have worn off and

I groan with the utter unfairness of it all. I really feel like

hitting something, which isn’t really unlike me because I

am usually quite a violent person. Don’t knock me, though.

It’s because I’m so tough that I have survived.

I have a quick wash and yank on the loosest things I can

find.

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When I go downstairs, all the others are waiting for me,

grinning.

“What?” I ask.

“One . . . Two . . . Three . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JINXX!”

Everyone cheers.

“What?” I repeat, completely confused.

My birthday wasn’t yet. It was . . . Oh my god! I forgot my

birthday!

“Um . . . thanks?”

“You don’t sound too sure,” Rick teases me.

“I’m not,” I mutter.

Everyone is more encouraged by my obvious lack of

enthusiasm.

“We’d give you birthday beats – but you’ll just kill us for

hitting you.” Kieran jokes.

“You’d better be serious,” I hiss.

I run a hand through my matted hair.

“Ugh! Why?” I demand.

“Because we were bored and we had nothing better to

do,” the twins grin, rushing up to give me a hug.

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“Well, I’m glad I mean that much to you that you think of

me when you have nothing better to do.”

“Oh, you know you’re our best friend.”

I laugh in spite of myself.

“We got a cake and all,” Philii grins.

“Couldn’t you wait till Christmas?” I sulk half-heartedly.

“Nope,” Kieran laughs.

I sigh and say I’m going back to bed – just to get dragged

back by Tango.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” I protest.

“Well, yeah, but I switched sides for today.”

“Well, yeah, but I switched best friends for today.” I

mutter.

Everyone laughs.

Suddenly, Tango disappears and comes back with a huge

chocolate cake with twelve candles on it. Yum. Just looking

at it makes my mouth water.

Totally contradicting myself, I gaze at the cake.

“Mm. Cake . . . chocolate . . . yum.” Are the only intelligible

words I make – unless gurgles count?

Everyone laughs and my hair gets ruffled by Ray.

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“As if it wasn’t messy enough!” I huff, messing his hair up

as well.

“So can we cut it or what?” I ask impatiently.

“Well, I’m guessing you’d be upset if I said ‘or what’ so I

guess we’ll say we’ll cut it.” Rick smiles.

“You know it,” I grin.

We cut the cake into big slices and eat a slice eat.

“Shall we save some for later?” I ask, halfway into my first

slice.

Everyone looks at each other and says:

“Nah.”

“You creeps,” I mutter.

We demolish the cake quickly and I stretch.

“So do we have to stay here any longer?” Tango asks.

“Don’t see why.” I answer her honestly – geez, this place is

the dumps.

“Why don’t we stay here for a few more days – give us a

chance to heal?” Kieran suggests.

“Because this place is worse than Louie’s face, as Jinxx

would put it,” Nick replies morosely.

“Who’s Louie?” Philii asks curiously.

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“And what’s wrong with his face?” Rick adds.

“Louie is my cousin,” I explain hurriedly, “and he’s butt

ugly.”

Everyone sniggers.

I turn away and run up the stairs to gather my stuff.

“So can we leave?” I ask.

“Whatever. According to the map there is a hotel twenty

miles away.” Ray smiles.

“So let’s get going.”

*******************************************************

Don’t be surprised or anything, but it’s snowing. Not

heavily or anything, but still.

We’re all kitted up and ready. Rick, Philii and Kieran seem

surprised that we’re so organized – but what did they

expect? It’s not like we get accepted into people’s homes

is it? Well, I can’t really answer that ‘cos we ain’t tried. And

we ain’t about to, either.

“What rating is the hotel?” Tango asks.

“Four and a half stars.” Ray replies happily.

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“Finally. A decent hotel.”

“Abandoned?” I ask.

“Um, the area around there was attacked a month ago –

mum told me.” Kieran replies quickly.

“So not enough time for electric and water companies to

cut off the supply?”

“Well, yes but if you thought your client was dead then you

wouldn’t give their hotel supplies,” he answers, grasping

my plan.

“So if we managed to pay the bill then they might carry on

supplying electric and water?”

“Well, yeah – but I don’t even think they would’ve cut

them yet anyway.”

“Don’t most people pay from their accounts?”

“Well, yeah but we don’t know the owner’s account

details.”

“But he must’ve been loaded if he had one four and a half

star hotel.”

“He had other hotels as well – most three stars or under.”

“Then he was almost certainly loaded.”

“Forget the almost certainly – this guy was a millionaire,

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maybe even a billionaire.”

“Where were his other hotels?”

“Europe. But he sold them when the Wretc first attacked

and came over here. He decided to focus on the hotel

we’re heading when he was killed.”

“How do you know this?”

“People like to gossip – especially over the phone.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you sometime.”

“You better.”

“So you reckon that if someone was to use the electricity

and water that they would take the guy’s money and

supply the stuff?”

“I guess.”

“Hmm.”

The others watch our exchange in silence. I tell them that

we might as well wait till tomorrow to leave.

“Finally!” Rick laughs. “She talks some sense.”

**********************************************************

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I’m lying in bed pondering over my plan.

I think that we might as well use this guy’s hotel as a

home. He can pay for electric, water and gas. We can live

there. Geez, it ain’t going to do the old man any harm – I

mean, it’s not like he’s alive.

Another thing is that I was wondering whether we could

like get loads of kids together and bring them all to this

hotel – set it up like some sort of base. Then we could go

round killing the Wretc and sit tight till the dumb

Americans could make this weapon they’re going on

about.

I wonder what the others will think of my plan. If it is a

plan. It’s kind of just a suggestion.

My arm and my legs throb painfully and I look at my Wretc

bite on my arm. It is definitely healing. I touch the bruises

and can’t even feel them anymore. Nevertheless, they

won’t go away.

The cuts all over my legs are healing but there is one that

has healed as a scar. It runs from my ankle to my thigh.

And it hurts. The ripped shreds of flesh wiggle about and

don’t do much except for sting when they touch stuff.

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I get up and stretch. I sigh quietly and think over the bad

points of my plan. So far I’ve come up with these:

∗ It’s dangerous

∗ People everywhere know that the guy is dead

∗ Kids won’t come

∗ Why do we need electricity and water anyway?

∗ It’s a stupid plan

They all seem like valid points – especially the last one;

however sitting down doing nothing doesn’t seem like

much fun. Then again, being ripped apart by Wretc doesn’t

either.

I mentally scrap that plan and think of a new one. Maybe

we could just go to this hotel and sit tight until this weapon

comes? No, too boring. Maybe we could try making a

weapon ourselves? No, way out of our depth there. I don’t

actually know what we could do. Maybe we could look for

orphaned kids on the road and take them in? That doesn’t

seem too dangerous or ambitious or stupid. Ok, so maybe

it does, but still.

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At this particular moment in time, Jinxx Luck is out of

ideas.

I trudge up to the dressing table in our room. There is a

notepad for writing down comments about the hotel.

That’s dumb. Who’s going to write a notepad full of

comments about this rubbishy hotel anyway?

I tear a few pages out and take the occupant’s eyeliner. I

write out the beginnings of my un-ingenious plan

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 Commentary Note Paper

Possibilities

1. Commit suicide.
2. Wait for weapon
3. Go to hotel and kill loads of Wretc
4. Go to hotel and be bored senseless
5. Carry on travelling
6. Sit here and do nothing
7. Kill each other

Reasons why

1. Life ain’t worth living

2. That’s the only way to save our skins
3. Because it might make us feel good
4. Because we’d be safer
5. Because it’s fun
6. Because we’d be safer
7. Life ain’t worth living

Reasons why not

1. There’s always hope

2. We might be dead before it comes
3. We’d probably die trying
4. We’d be bored senseless
5. We’d be susceptible for attack
6. We’d be bored
7. There’s always hope

I look down at my plans. I pick number three on my

possibilities list.

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Tango stirs and rolls over.

“What time is it?” She groans sleepily.

“Half one in the morning.”

She sits up and looks at what I’m doing.

“A famous Jinxx Luck ingenious plan, I’m guessing.”

“Nope, I’m totally stuck.”

“I like number three.”

“So do I but I don’t know if the others will.”

“You’d be surprised.”

I sigh unhappily.

Tango stands up and yanks on a dressing gown.

“I’m going to get a drink and some fruit – you coming?”

“What fruit?” I ask.

“Whatever frozen fruit there is,” she shrugs nonchalantly.

“Yeah, alright.”

**********************************************************

Tango’s gone back to bed and I’m nibbling at my fruit –

blackberries and cherries – when someone knocks on the

door.

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“What?” I ask.

“Can I come in?” It’s Philii.

“Yeah, sure.”

He walks in and I can see that he is shattered.

“You look a sight,” I inform him casually.

“I know.”

“So what exactly do you want?”

“Some answers.”

“To what?”

“Everything.”

“Then ask your maker – not me.”

“You have to know something.”

“Ask Kieran. He seems to know loads about the Wretc.”

“He’s asleep.”

“And you couldn’t wait because?”

“Dunno. I was bored and I heard something downstairs so I

guessed you girls were up and I came to chat.”

“Well, ask away.”

“Who are you?”

“Jinxx Aphrodite Luck.”

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“Why Aphrodite?”

“Who knows what adults are thinking?”

“It doesn’t really fit.”

“I kind of know that so I just go by Jinxx Luck.”

‘Next. Who is Tango?”

“Ask her that later.”

“Fine. Do you like being stuck here?”

“Not at all. Next?”

“Do you want me to go away?”

“Absolutely.”

With that, I push him out the door and crawl back into bed.

I wonder if my leg will kill me when I’m walking tomorrow. I

don’t really care. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to

it.

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Chapter 12 – Have we made it?

It’s cold. My feet hurt.

We can see the hotel – not too grand. Not too shabby

either. It is white and has marble columns by the door,

which is an oak and brass affair. The garden lining up to

the hotel is in good condition and looks like it was trimmed

quite recently. There are still cars in the car park – and two

limos.

Despite the fact our limbs are on fire, we sprint the rest of

the way. My leg is throbbing and my arm is aching. But I

ain’t going to tell the others that.

To our surprise, the door is unlocked when we reach the

hotel; but, to be honest, it’s a hotel so it should be open.

“Well,” Kieran begins, “it looks Ok. Can we stay here for a

while?”

“Um, yeah,” Nick says.

“But we should probably go to the lobby.”

“We are in the lobby.”

Mia Middleditch 149
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“No, we’re in the garage.”

“Oh, yeah.”

We follow the signs to the lobby and are surprised at what

we see.

Boxes. Rows and rows of boxes, piled high. There isn’t any

furniture except for a marble counter and a sophisticated

sculpture by the window – well, to me it’s sophisticated.

“It looks like he had just started unpacking,” I comment

lightly.

“Yeah,” Tango agrees.

“I wonder if the rooms are like this?”

“Probably.”

“Should we unpack the stuff? It’ll be fun.”

“Tomorrow – today I want to rest.”

I laugh and check the time on my watch: half eleven at

night. I yawn involuntarily.

“Someone tired?” Rick asks jokingly.

“And aching, as well.” I add.

We all laugh.

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“Shall we get some rest, then? Just unpack the bed – if it

isn’t already unpacked – and if you can’t sleep on the floor

somewhere.” Kieran says.

We all agree with him and march off to bed.

I pick the room on the top floor, an en suite with a really

big balcony. Cool! The walls are covered in plain white

wallpaper and the floor is covered in a soft white carpet.

There are boxes piled high in every corner of the room but

the guy was decent enough to put up a bed. A bouncy bed

with a memory foam mattress topper. Mm, comfy.

I jump onto my bed and set my stuff down beside me. It’s

not so cold in this room. I wonder why? Getting my

pyjamas on, I pad over to the window. There is a radiator

underneath it. And it’s warm!

I lean back against it and sigh. What have I done to

deserve this whole miserable life? I didn’t do anything,

there’s your answer.

I clamber into my new bed, look around the room and shut

my eyes.

**********************************************************

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It’s light. And warm – sort of.

I yawn and roll out of bed. Ouch. My leg throbs and I

collapse awkwardly. I gasp in pain.

Unexpectedly, a knock comes on my door.

“Come in,” I croak.

Philii ambles in and sees me lying on the floor. He raises

his eyebrows.

“Need a hand?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

He shrugs then smirks. I hiss weakly and force myself into

a sitting position.

“What?” I demand.

“I’m curious.”

“You’re always curious.”

“Yes but I have a reason today.”

“Shoot.”

“How come you get the good room?”

“Because I’m a V.I.P. Next.”

“Can you come down and cook breakfast?”

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“Fine – give me a minute.”

“Thanks. We’re starving.”

“Typical pigs.”

“I never heard that.”

“I’m betting you did.”

“You’d lose that bet.”

“Goodbye, now.”

Philii takes the not so subtle hint and leaves me in peace.

I try to haul myself into a standing position and fail

miserably. I just end up back on my backside and cry out

in pain. Great.

Kieran pokes his head round the door.

“You Ok? I heard you cry out.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. I just landed on my leg.”

“Ouch – want a hand?”

“If you’re offering.”

He lifts me up off the floor and sits me on my bed.

“There you go.”

“Thanks – I don’t think I could’ve gotten up without a bit of

help.”

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“Do you want me to make breakfast?”

“If you’re offering.”

“Lazy girl.”

“Annoying pig.”

He laughs at that.

“What?” I demand.

“Why a pig?”

“Because that’s how mum used to describe boys – as

pigs.”

He smiles but doesn’t laugh – he wouldn’t dare.

“Breakfast?” I ask hopefully.

“Fine,” he sighs, his eyes rolling.

He leaves. Only to be replaced by Nick.

“Morning.” He greets me.

“You look a mess.”

“You don’t exactly live up to your middle name, either.”

We both laugh.

“My third visitor – how popular am I?”

“You Ok?”

“No, not really.”

“Want some help?”

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“Nah, I’ll be Ok.”

“Ok, well, see you later.”

“Bye.”

I hobble over to the balcony and catch myself just as my

leg buckles. I’m going to need to do something about that.

I face the breeze and let goosebumps rise on my arms

before returning inside.

I yank on some clothes and limp downstairs.

**********************************************************

We’re unpacking the stuff in the lobby and trying to

arrange it in a semi-decent way. Needless to say, we are

probably not doing the best job ever.

I took some painkillers about an hour ago and they are just

starting to kick in. Thank you. I also have to lean on a

walking stick that was in one of the boxes. I’ll look for

crutches next time we look for supplies. There is a downer,

however. There is no food in the kitchen. That is kind of

dumb, don’t you think? Like, they have a restaurant and

everything but not one bit of food. Like, what way was that

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man’s head screwed on? Well, I guess it doesn’t really

matter because we’ll go searching for food soon anyway.

It’s one o’ clock. I’ve lost track of the date. It’s sunny but

misty and the temperature plummeted from the warm

temperature it was this morning to the cold temperature it

is now.

The lobby doesn’t look too bad. I mean, it could look way

worse. We looked in the hotel cellar and found countless

items - sofas, TVs, computers, phones and other little

gadgets. Specifically, we found three sleek black leather

sofas and a glass table, which, in our opinion, look quite

good together.

We also took the time to install the computers and lay

some phones around. A seriously great addition to all this

is that we have a flat screen TV! This man was into his

gadgets.

So, overall, I’d rate the lobby a five out of five. I’m sitting

here pondering this when Rick interrupts my thoughts.

“Should we do the restaurant?”

“I’m up for it,” I say.

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We are all busy agreeing when Tango suggests:

“How about Jinxx and I unpack the stuff and you guys get

food and stuff?”

“Actually, that’s a very good idea. Jinxx is hardly able to

walk without falling over – she’d just slow us down,” Ray

smiles, winking at me.

I snort and giggle.

“Well, I don’t mind because I’d be saving myself a whole

lot of pain by staying here so I really wouldn’t mind.”

We all agree that Tango is right and that Tango and I

should stay here. They decide not to waste any time and

set off straight away. Tango and I march over to the

restaurant.

Every now and then, I catch Tango glance at my leg and I

can almost hear her saying: I’m so sorry, Jinxx. All that

pain is my fault because I’m selfish and stupid and

unreliable and . . . and . . . and I don’t know! All I know is

that it’s my entire fault! If she said that aloud she knows

that I’d talk some sense into her – why won’t she just let

me?

We work in silence. Unpacking, unpacking, unpacking.

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Two hours, seven paper cuts and forty five boxes later, we

begin setting the restaurant up. Every table has six chairs

and the counter, which we have decided to use as a drinks

bar, has eight stools surrounding it.

On each table, we have put artificial flowers and cutlery. It

looks Ok, y’know.

**********************************************************

The others come back bloodied and weathered.

They are shaking and look terrible. Absolutely hideous, in

fact. Worse than Louie! (A feat that, before this day, I

never would’ve thought possible!) Most of them have cuts

all over their faces and I can see that Rick has to cling to

Kieran for support. Tango and I are speechless. There is

nothing to say.

**********************************************************

I have made hot chocolate and we are sitting in the lobby.

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The others are still a bit shaken; however it looks like they

escaped lightly. Rick has a sprained ankle and the twins

have scratch marks on their arms. Kieran’s ear has been

bitten half off and he is taking loads of painkillers.

We are all silent. As I said, there is nothing to say. I keep

dozing off and Nick has to keep nudging me lightly. My

eyelids are droopy and my limbs feel heavy. I drift closer

to unconsciousness . . .

Nudge, nudge, nudge. Ray nudges me and grins. I yawn

and stretch, momentarily forgetting that my best friends

had encountered a Wretc.

Everyone looks up from their thoughts and I blush. That

makes some people laugh.

“Who died?” I ask cheerfully.

“Half of my ear,” Kieran answers soberly.

“Well, look at the bright side.”

“What bright side?”

“It wasn’t me!”

Everyone groans. I guess that was one of my less loved

famous Jinxx Luck jokes. Hardcore humour. Thank you very

much.

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Everyone wanders off to their rooms and I head to the

restaurant. I set about preparing some pasta and sweet

corn when I remember that we have a wider variety of

food.

I look in the cupboards then give up – who needs healthy

food anyway?

I trudge back up to my room and write a letter to Pippin –

maybe I’ll write one every so often and when I next see

her I’ll give them to her so that she doesn’t feel alone.

Dearest Pippin,

How are you? Coping with Doreen Ok? Coping with Louie

Ok? We hooked up with some new kids – Rick, Philii and

Kieran – and then we made our way to this hotel.

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It’s quite a nice hotel. Much nicer than Doreen’s place.

Have you started school? Do they have a school? I never

bothered to ask. I didn’t see one; but I never looked either

so I guess it doesn’t really count.

Today, the boys went out and got attacked by a Wretc

(one of those ugly things that ate Anna) and Kieran’s ear

was almost bitten off! Tango is fine, maybe a little cautious

but aren’t we all?

Well, I’m missing you loads, sis, so don’t you forget that –

or me, either – I just want you to know.

Lots of love,

Jinxx

XXX

I’m just reading and re-reading my letter and hoping that I

will actually be able to send it, when the twins walk in. I

stare at them and walk onto my balcony. They follow.

“What are you doing?” They ask me.

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“Nothing – just breathing, pumping blood around, being a

home to bacteria. Your average stuff.”

“What’s this?” They ask.

“A letter to Pippin. Read it if you want.”

They scan it quickly. Their eyes fill up as they read.

“Should we have left them?” They whisper, almost

inaudibly.

“Yes. They would’ve slowed us down.”

“But Louie? And we know you miss Pippin.”

“And?”

“And nothing. What’s done is done. I will see Pippin again. I

will give her this letter and I won’t die – yet.”

“If you say so.”

We smile at each other.

Tango walks out here and sits on the edge of the balcony.

She doesn’t say anything. Just gazes at the horizon.

Rick and Kieran walk out and smile. They stand by us and

nod to us in acknowledgement. I turn away from them all

and lean over the balcony railing.

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Chapter 13 – Now that ain’t fair!

We have unpacked the whole hotel.

Would you believe I’m bored? Well, you better because it’s

true. Yeah, yeah, I know that we’re safe and happy and

together and all that. (I don’t need that lecture.) But still.
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It’s boring. No purpose. No drive. Nothing to do. Y’know

how desperate I am? I even read a book! How unlike me!

The others are bored senseless too. We all mill about and

chat about nothing all day – not exactly the best existence

I can think of. To top things off, there is no news about the

US weapon. Like, how long do they expect us to wait? I bet

there’s some sadistic suicide bomber just waiting to blow

themselves up to smithereens, who is happy to do the job

for them, anyway.

It has snowed again. But it settled this time. Good for

about two seconds. Bad for as long as it lasts.

Another good thing is that this guy had a camera. Ok, I

know a camera isn’t exactly what you’d call lifesaving

equipment, but still.

We’ve been snapping at anything we feel like taking a shot

at. We must have at least half a dozen photos of ourselves.

And of everything else. Tango even took a shot of a flower.

Like, yawn.

“Breakfast lady!” Kieran calls from down the corridor.

“What?”

“Breakfast.”

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“Get it yourselves!”

“But you’re the breakfast lady!”

“And the lunch lady and the dinner lady. But whatever.”

I trudge downstairs to cook.

**********************************************************

“Jingle bells,

Our teacher smells,

The kids all run away,

The old fat tart,

Is hardly smart,

Did she get taught the easy way?

Hey!” Rick chants cheerfully.

“Our version was way different but I kind of agree with this

one,” I comment.

He laughs.

We’re sitting in the restaurant doing nothing much –

Kieran, Rick, Tango, Ray and I. Nick and Philii are out

foraging. It’ll be Tango and I afterwards. Ugh.

“So what’s with the singing?” I ask casually.

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“It’s Christmas Eve.” Tango replies.

“What!?”

“Well, we don’t know exactly but we’re guessing it’s

Christmas Eve. Maybe it isn’t exactly but it’s around that

date.”

“Geez. Who was keeping track?”

“Kieran.”

I raise an eyebrow quizzically at him.

“I keep track of the time.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

I laugh it off. He is so weird.

“So can I cook a Christmas dinner?” I ask.

“Do you know how to?” Tango asks.

“Nope but I’ll give it a shot.”

“Then fine.”

I walk out of the restaurant and into the lobby. The twins

and Philii are sitting there chatting.

“Merry Christmas!” I cheer.

“Happy Hanukah!” Ray grins strangely.

“Ray, we’re not in America.”

“Oh, yeah. But I like saying Hanukah – it sounds funny.”

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“You sound, look and are funny. Does that mean I make

you talk all the time?”

“Well, it would be kind of strange if you did.”

“Well, you are kind of strange.”

“So, are you going to make Christmas dinner or what?”

“I’m going to try.”

Philii sniggers shamelessly and I turn to him.

“What?” I demand.

“You . . . are . . . going . . . to . . . cook . . . Christmas . . .

dinner? . . . Well . . . good . . . luck . . . with . . . that.” He

chokes out between giggles. Maniac.

We are all laughing when Tango walks in.

“Christmas has, unfortunately, come and gone.” S he

reports gravely.

“Oh,” I sigh, dejected, “no Christmas dinner?”

“No Christmas dinner.”

“Oh.”

“I know, I know. But we can still have an after Christmas

party.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

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She smiles sympathetically and everyone slumps against

the wall. No Christmas. We missed it. Y’know what the

annoying thing is? That this time a few years ago we would

never have forgotten Christmas. Never. Now we would.

How sad.

Whatever. Get over it. Geez, this time a few years ago I

wouldn’t condone killing any animal. Even a butt ugly,

idiotic animal like a Wretc. (If it’s an animal at all.) Now I

really wouldn’t bat an eyelid. Deal with it. Actually, I’ve

changed my mind. I would bat an eyelid at an animal being

murdered but Wretc don’t count. They’re demons.

Maniacs. Idiots. Psychopaths. Whatever you want to call

them.

We all smile at each other. Scrap Christmas. Who cares

about the thing, anyway?

“Roast dinner?” Nick asks.

“Nope – barbeque.” I reply quickly.

“Do we have a barbeque?”

“Yeah. In the shed in the gardens by the car park

entrance.”

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“Barbeque it is, then.”

“Like when we were on the road.”

We all fall silent then. Remembering.

I get up and walk to my room.

**********************************************************

I’m setting up the barbeque. It’s nine thirty p.m. Oh, and

it’s absolutely freezing. Just saying.

Everyone is sitting around talking happily. I’m emptying a

bag of coal into the barbeque. As Tango reaches for a bag,

I throw a lump of coal at her. It hits her in her stomach,

leaving a huge smudge over her shirt. She gasps in

surprise and hurls the coal back. It misses me by inches.

“Sausages?” I ask, holding out my hand expectantly.

Kieran passes me the sausages and Rick passes me the

burgers before I can ask.

I flick my lighter and set the coal on fire. The barbeque is

ready for action. I lay the sausages and the burgers on it

and warm my hands. The others crowd round and talk. I

join the chatter absentmindedly.

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All of a sudden, a dark shape flits behind the barbeque.

The flames momentarily die and then roar back to life

defiantly. Holding my breath, I edge away from the

barbeque. Tango gasps loudly, breaking the tense silence.

Ray cusses and Nick ushers for her to shut up. If only she

would. As it happens, she doesn’t. Her gasp quickly turns

to a scream and Philii has to clamp his hand over her

mouth. I move my hands to draw my shovel before I

remember that it’s upstairs. Mental note: never leave my

shovel. Let’s hope I actually live to be able to tell the tale

of how I almost died because I left it. Not that I will live.

Everyone stands up and turns to run to the hotel. I shake

my head – we would never make it in time. I stare around

me and look for something to fight with. Geez, why haven’t

they just attacked yet? Suddenly, it hits me. Fire. They

were coming from the direction of the barbeque. They

didn’t pass the barbeque. They must be scared of fire.

Before I can pass this revelation on, something happens. I

don’t know what happened. Just something. A kind of

feeling – a bit like when you know something is coming.

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Tango screams. Philii screams. Ray screams. The rest of us

don’t.

“Fire!” I screech, hoping that they will understand.

No one answers me so I do the natural thing – panic.

Adrenaline pulsing through my veins, I tip the barbeque

over and throw coal in every direction. I get my lighter and

set it all alight. I can hear someone (Tango?) scream. Then

come the screeches. Inhuman screeches. Wretc screeches.

Without thinking about it, I grab people closest to me

(Nick, Ray and Rick) and shout for the others to run.

“Meet us by the car park!” I call desperately.

“We’ll try!” Everyone answers.

Fire licks at me. Smoke clogs my lungs. I can’t breathe.

Each breath is hurting me. My leg buckles and I gasp as I

fall to the floor. Rick hauls me up effortlessly and drags me

through the flames. I slump. I’m burnt. Badly. Slipping

down . . . Losing consciousness . . . Trying to breathe . . .

Breathe, Jinxx, breathe . . . So tired . . . Going to sleep . . .

Hearing Nick and Ray.

“Stay awake, Jinxx, awake!” They’re calling.

So faint . . .

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**********************************************************

I wake up to sobbing.

I cough and jerk upwards. I’m violently sick. Tango flings

her arms around me and I flinch involuntarily. I’m burnt.

And sore. Being hugged isn’t helping.

“Sorry,” Tango sobs miserably.

“It’s alright. It was just a surprise.”

She collapses into sobs. I look at the others. They all look

pretty burnt. Nick is the worst. Almost all of his lovely,

sleek hair is burnt off and the ends are singed. It’s now

only up to his shoulder instead of halfway down his back.

His face is slightly burnt and strips of flesh are hanging off

of it. Ray looks tortured as he looks at his twin.

Ray doesn’t look perfect either. His blonde hair is ashy and

he has minor burns across his cheeks. His hands are

bleeding badly and the skin that isn’t bleeding is as red as

tomatoes.

I look down at myself. Ouch. My already bad leg is now

absolutely horrific. The thin layer of skin that has just

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grown over the top of the cuts has been burnt off. Thanks

a lot. Ash is covering most of me so I can’t see much of

myself.

“Can I have a bath?” I ask.

“Well, no. The hotel got burnt down – your little stunt

made sure of that,” Philii says.

He looks unscathed.

“Yeah, well, my little stunt just saved us. None of us were

armed. None of us was really in any fit state to fight so I

thought: what the hell? Geez, we didn’t have anything to

lose.”

He sighs and rubs his head.

“I know. Sorry, I’m just angry.”

“Why? You don’t look burnt.”

He lifts his shirt of and shows me his back.

Geez! Every inch is covered with a burn. None of it bleeds.

It looks like someone got the skin of his back, crunched it

up into a little ball and opened it back out.

“Ouch.” I comment quietly.

“Yeah.”

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“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“Well, I started the fire. Sorry, everyone.”

“Yeah, but we would be dead if you hadn’t have started

the fire.”

“We would’ve figured something out.”

“Yeah, while we were halfway through being eaten.”

I shrug and lie back down.

“So what’s the plan?” Rick asks, sitting next to me.

“Ask Ray – he makes good plans.” I moan.

“Ray, what’s the plan?”

“Same as before,” Ray answers simply. “We find a nice,

abandoned hotel and wait there until the U.S make a

weapon.”

“If they make a weapon.” Kieran mutters darkly.

“What do you mean?” I demand.

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that they’re just

waiting for the whole of the U.K to be overthrown so that

they can just say it’s not worth making a weapon for a

bunch of corpses.”

“They wouldn’t . . . “

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“Sure they would.”

We all lapse into miserable silence.

“Well, it won’t do us no good to sit round here all day,” I

declare eventually.

“Right.”

Everyone stands up and we brush ourselves down.

It’s cold and the remnants of the hotel are just shadows in

the distance. How long was I out for? My clothes are singed

and tatty. Next time we come to a town, I’ll nick myself

some new ones.

We take one last look at what we had begun to think of as

home, take a deep breath and start to walk towards

whatever fate has planned for us next.

**********************************************************

To be continued in Book Two: Fall of humanity

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