much to do really,’ said Justin. ‘Since our tame sickos got out we don’t have any specimens to take samples from.’
‘Then find some more,’ said Einstein airily, waving his hand in the air as if all Justin had to do was go and pick some up at the local shops. ‘I don’t know why you didn’t just get them to catch one on the lower level while they were down there.’
‘I asked them to. They were too wild, though, apparently, too sick. It was too dangerous.’
‘Tell you what then,’ said Einstein. ‘We’ll bring you some back from our trip. OK?’
‘Don’t be funny, Einstein.’
‘I’m not being funny. I’ll pick you out some nice ripe ones and ship them back here. That way it’ll be a proper expedition. Like capturing chimpanzees in the wild.’
‘Einstein, you can’t treat this as a big joke. It’s going tobe dangerous. You haven’t left the museum in months. You missed what happened the other night when they broke in. And it’s not just you. The other kids who are going with you – they could get hurt.’
‘Isn’t that what we want?’
‘What?’
Einstein leant closer to Justin, his breath warm on his face.
‘For our experiments. How are we ever going to know if the disease can be passed on from adults to children if one of us doesn’t get bitten?’
‘Christ’s sake, Einstein. You can’t want someone to be bitten!’
‘That’s exactly what I want. We could develop an antidote. Using infected blood. But for that we need a kid who’s survived a bite. That’s the thing we need most right now.’
‘You’re nuts, you know that? They don’t just bite you, they bloody well eat you.’
‘I may be nuts, but I’m not stupid, Justin. I know what sickos can do. But we’ve got the mighty morons to protect us now, haven’t we! So, if you will excuse me, we need to get a move on.’
‘Einstein …’ Justin called out lamely after him.
‘Everything’s going to be all right!’ Einstein shouted back without turning round.
20
Paul was leaning over the edge of one of the water-storage tanks in the roof of the museum. He could see himself and a patch of the ceiling reflected in the water’s glassy surface. He looked bad. Too thin. Eyes red. Skin yellow. Lips cracked and dry.
He needed to look after himself better.
He’d climbed down from the roof in the night and taken a chicken from one of the coops. Had eaten it raw back in his den, leaving feathers and gizzards and crap everywhere. It had taken the edge off his hunger, but he still had a raging thirst. And the thirst was worse than the hunger. If he didn’t keep drinking he would quickly start to feel faint and weak. Confused. He’d collected some old bottles, a discarded kettle. Was going to fill them all up and keep them close.
He wriggled further over the edge of the tank and leant down as far as he dared. The tank was huge and he didn’t want to fall in. He got into a position from where he could reach down and scoop water up to his mouth with one hand, holding on to the tank with the other. As he reached out, his fingers broke the reflection and sent it shimmering off in all directions, the water no longer glassy but dancing, crazed. He brought his hand back up to his mouth, lapped water from his palm. It was cool, clean. Tasted of nothing.
It hurt to swallow. His throat felt like there were razor blades embedded in it. His whole head was bunged up and burning. Thick mucus filled his nose and ears and he was forever coughing up sticky green gobbets streaked with red.
The edge of the tank hurt where it cut into his belly. His guts were rumbling, churning. He dipped his hand in again, managed to scoop more water up this time. He drank it down greedily then belched and nearly threw up. That wouldn’t do. He didn’t want to poison his water supply. He held the puke down and splashed up more water, sucking it from his dirty fingers. He tried not to think about how sick he felt, how much his stomach hurt,
‘Then find some more,’ said Einstein airily, waving his hand in the air as if all Justin had to do was go and pick some up at the local shops. ‘I don’t know why you didn’t just get them to catch one on the lower level while they were down there.’
‘I asked them to. They were too wild, though, apparently, too sick. It was too dangerous.’
‘Tell you what then,’ said Einstein. ‘We’ll bring you some back from our trip. OK?’
‘Don’t be funny, Einstein.’
‘I’m not being funny. I’ll pick you out some nice ripe ones and ship them back here. That way it’ll be a proper expedition. Like capturing chimpanzees in the wild.’
‘Einstein, you can’t treat this as a big joke. It’s going tobe dangerous. You haven’t left the museum in months. You missed what happened the other night when they broke in. And it’s not just you. The other kids who are going with you – they could get hurt.’
‘Isn’t that what we want?’
‘What?’
Einstein leant closer to Justin, his breath warm on his face.
‘For our experiments. How are we ever going to know if the disease can be passed on from adults to children if one of us doesn’t get bitten?’
‘Christ’s sake, Einstein. You can’t want someone to be bitten!’
‘That’s exactly what I want. We could develop an antidote. Using infected blood. But for that we need a kid who’s survived a bite. That’s the thing we need most right now.’
‘You’re nuts, you know that? They don’t just bite you, they bloody well eat you.’
‘I may be nuts, but I’m not stupid, Justin. I know what sickos can do. But we’ve got the mighty morons to protect us now, haven’t we! So, if you will excuse me, we need to get a move on.’
‘Einstein …’ Justin called out lamely after him.
‘Everything’s going to be all right!’ Einstein shouted back without turning round.
20
Paul was leaning over the edge of one of the water-storage tanks in the roof of the museum. He could see himself and a patch of the ceiling reflected in the water’s glassy surface. He looked bad. Too thin. Eyes red. Skin yellow. Lips cracked and dry.
He needed to look after himself better.
He’d climbed down from the roof in the night and taken a chicken from one of the coops. Had eaten it raw back in his den, leaving feathers and gizzards and crap everywhere. It had taken the edge off his hunger, but he still had a raging thirst. And the thirst was worse than the hunger. If he didn’t keep drinking he would quickly start to feel faint and weak. Confused. He’d collected some old bottles, a discarded kettle. Was going to fill them all up and keep them close.
He wriggled further over the edge of the tank and leant down as far as he dared. The tank was huge and he didn’t want to fall in. He got into a position from where he could reach down and scoop water up to his mouth with one hand, holding on to the tank with the other. As he reached out, his fingers broke the reflection and sent it shimmering off in all directions, the water no longer glassy but dancing, crazed. He brought his hand back up to his mouth, lapped water from his palm. It was cool, clean. Tasted of nothing.
It hurt to swallow. His throat felt like there were razor blades embedded in it. His whole head was bunged up and burning. Thick mucus filled his nose and ears and he was forever coughing up sticky green gobbets streaked with red.
The edge of the tank hurt where it cut into his belly. His guts were rumbling, churning. He dipped his hand in again, managed to scoop more water up this time. He drank it down greedily then belched and nearly threw up. That wouldn’t do. He didn’t want to poison his water supply. He held the puke down and splashed up more water, sucking it from his dirty fingers. He tried not to think about how sick he felt, how much his stomach hurt,
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