The End by Charlie Higson Page A

made most of it himself. He’d been fired up ever since rumours had got out that there was a grown-up army camped out up in Kilburn. All the talk now was about the London kids needing to build their own army. Paddy wanted to make the Youngbloods intoa proper fightingunit, although Blue and Maxie had already made it very clear to Sam that if there was any fighting he would be nowhere near it. He was going to be safely guarded behind the lines.
    There was no harm in learning how to fight, though. In the short time he’d been at the Tower of London he’d done some regular combat practice and had learnt a bit. Not that he could remember much of itnow. The training at the Tower had been well organized, and run by kids who really knew what they were doing. This was different.
    The Youngbloods were hopeless.
    The next half-hour was mad – kids running and climbing and shouting, swiping at the dummies and each other with the wooden poles wrapped in rubber tubing that Paddy had given them to use as weapons.
    Bill sat on thesteps and played with his lump of Blu-tack, moulding it into all sorts of complicated shapes, his fingers working away too fast to follow, and then just as quickly he’d squash his little models and shape them into something else. Wiki and Jibber-jabber stood off to one side, talking about something in a very serious way. Froggie broke off to play with Bright Eyes. Sam did his bestto join in, but the fighting wasn’t really organized and he was small and not very strong and he kept getting whacked. Once on his fingers, which made him cry. He decided he was better at hiding than he was at fighting.
    The Kid really went for it, charging about and yelling and swinging his weapon like he was in some kind of pole display team. Yo-Yo turned out to be pretty good.Twice she let The Kid exhaust himself, waving his pole like a maniac, and then just thumped him with her own pole. And each time The Kid went into a fancy dying routine.
    ‘Aaargh, I am killed! My lifeblood ebbs away. You slay me, daddio. Bury my heart at wounded knee …’
    After they’d been at it for some time, and Sam was thinking of giving up, he heard laughter and looked overto see Jackson and Achilleus watching them.
    ‘You’re gonna really scare them grown-ups, Paddy,’ said Achilleus. ‘They’ll be filling their nappies in fright.’
    Achilleus was holding a pile of gear. Armour and weapons and clothing. Sam knew that he and some other kids had been over to the Victoria and Albert Museum to pick up equipment. Sam spotted an enclosed iron helmet,big and ugly and mean-looking.
    ‘It’s only our first day,’ said Paddy. ‘You wait and see, Akkie. We’re gonna be the best-trained unit here.’
    ‘I’m sure you will, caddie.’ Achilleus walked over and plonked the helmet on Paddy’s head. It was way too big and way too heavy. Sam saw Paddy sort of sag down. It was like someone had put a giant bucket on his shoulders.
    ‘I can’tsee anything,’ he said, his voice muffled.
    ‘You look great,’ said Achilleus. ‘A proper warrior.’ He whacked the helmet with his spear and it made a dull clonk .
    Paddy said, ‘Ow,’ and took the helmet off. He studied it, grinning.
    ‘Cool bucket helm,’ he said.
    ‘Actually it’s called a sallet,’ said Wiki, who knew everything. ‘Fifteenth century.’
    They were joined by Ollieand some of his missile team, Lettis tagging along behind, looking sad and far away. She reminded Sam a little of his sister, Ella. Paddy had tried to get her to join his Youngbloods, but she’d refused, and when he’d tried to push it Ollie had told him to get lost.
    Ollie’s guys were carrying stuff as well – bulging bags and bundles of sticks.
    ‘Arrows,’ said Ollie, droppinghis bundle to the ground. ‘You lot can do something useful and help us make them. We need as many as possible. I’ll show you how to do it.’
    Wiki and Jibber-jabber hurried over. This was more their thing. Soon half the kids were