CHAPTER 46
10 years AC
O2 Arena - ‘Safety Zone 4’, London
Jacob looked up at the young man, flanked on either side by two others. All three of them wore tatty neon orange waistcoats with the word ‘staff’ stencilled across them in fading white. He’d seen others like them walking in pairs around the edge of the huge plantation outside, observing the people tending the crops.
‘Security,’ Nathan had said; the Zone’s ‘police’ keeping the peace.
‘My name’s Snoop,’ said the middle one. His smile revealed a gold tooth. ‘Heard you was up and walkin’ about. So the Chief wants to talk with you.’
‘Right now?’ asked Nathan.
Snoop nodded. ‘Now.’
They were led out of the infirmary and along the boulevard. The canvas ‘sky’ above was beginning to dim as the sun outside set and the tall, high-street fa?ades on either side cast a deep violet shadow between them.
‘Lights should be comin’ on any sec,’ said Snoop.
They were entering the open area of the entrance foyer when a distant chugging sound started up and almost immediately a floodlight atop a tall tripod kicked in, bathing the floor with a cold clinical glare.
‘This way,’ said Snoop.
To their left was the main entrance. Through the glass front wall Jacob could see the acres of green outside and an approaching stream of workers coming in for the evening. To their right - the direction they were being led - a large sign invited them to enter the O2 Arena. Nathan had pointed that out to him earlier today and told him the central stadium area of the dome was off limits to everyone but staff - the guys wearing orange jackets. Jacob had asked why and Nathan had shrugged, saying he guessed it was where all the supplies, medicines and guns were kept.
They entered an archway and pushed through a turnstile that clacked noisily as it admitted each one of them in turn. Jacob could hear - actually feel - the steady bass thump of something coming from ahead of them. They climbed a short flight of steps and found themselves emerging onto an aisle between endless rows of pale blue flip-down auditorium seats that arced in both directions around a circular stage ahead of them.
Both Jacob and Nathan gasped at the sight. The stage at the centre of the O2 Arena was an Aladdin’s cave of flickering, pulsating lights and jangling noise. The floor covered with criss-crossing nests of power cables, pinball and arcade machines.
Above the stage, on a circular lighting rig, spotlights of different colours spun and flashed on and off.
Nathan shook his head, his jaw hanging loose from a thread. ‘Oh, man, you’re shittin’ me!’
Snoop turned back to look at them both, amused by their reaction. ‘F*ckin’ wicked, uh? Tonight’s Party Night. Chief puts the light show and arcade on for us one night every two weeks.’
Jacob watched as dozens of boys played the machines, moving from one to another in lively groups, laughing giddily, popping to the bass-heavy music pumping out over the sound system.
‘Come on,’ said Snoop. ‘Can’t keep the Chief waiting.’
He led them down the central aisle towards the stage, around the bottom of it towards the rear, both Jacob and Nathan’s eyes glued on the fun and games going on around them. Finally they came to an entrance beyond the last block of seats and a ramp leading down to double doors with the words ‘Back’ on one and ‘Stage’ stencilled on the other.
Beside the doors stood another young lad in an orange staff vest. Snoop casually raised his fist and knuckle-kissed.
‘Hey, Trix, we good to go in?’
The boy nodded deferentially to Snoop. He pushed through the heavy doors into a dimly lit area beyond. Burgundy carpet lined the walls and dim recessed spotlights in the ceiling reminded Jacob of a plush cinema he once went to as a kid.
‘Chief!’ called out Snoop. ‘I got here the newbs we picked up.’
‘Thank you, Edward, you and your boys can go join the party if you want whilst I have a chat with them.’
Snoop made a face. Jacob guessed he preferred to be called Snoop rather than Edward. He turned nonchalantly on his heels, casually flicking his wrists at the other two to follow him. They turned and left, pushing through the heavy, acoustically shielded doors which let in a momentary cacophony of jangling arcade bells and pumping dance music before swinging shut and muting the noise to little more than a muffled rhythmic thud.
Stepping into the pool of light cast from a spot in the ceiling, a white man in his late fifties emerged; stocky and short, a face like a grizzled East-End barrow boy, pockmarked skin barely covered by a silver and grey close-clipped beard that was never going to look anything other than patchy.
‘All right?’ He extended a hand. ‘I’m Alan Maxwell.’
He sounded just like he looked: like an ill-tempered sales manager.
Nathan grabbed his hand and shook it. ‘I’m Nathan Williams and this is Jacob Sutherland.’
Jacob smiled as they shook. ‘I just want to thank you very much for taking us both in—’
Maxwell waved him silent impatiently. ‘Sit down. I want to have a chat with you.’
Both boys did as they were told at once. There was something about his gruff commanding voice that told them he didn’t stand on ceremony, he didn’t swallow bullshit, nor did he take ‘no’ for an answer.
‘So? You like the place so far?’
‘You kidding?’ Jacob grinned. ‘It’s amazing. All those games machines and the disco lights and everything. It’s brilliant!’
Nathan just nodded. Playing it cool.
‘Safety Zone Four. One of twenty-seven regional emergency rallying points in the UK,’ said Maxwell. ‘And the only one to survive.’ They nodded silently. Maxwell tidied away a folder of papers he’d been scribbling notes on when they’d entered.
‘It survived because I made a deliberate choice to disobey the emergency authorities’ instructions during the crash. This place should have taken in about sixty thousand civilians and provided them with food and water for twelve weeks.’ A dry half-smile on his lips. ‘Twelve weeks . . . that’s a bloody laugh. That’s how long they reckoned it would take to tidy the streets and get everything back the way it was.’
He looked at them both, locking them down, in turn, with a long uncomfortable stare. ‘I allowed in just under two thousand lucky people. Then I stopped.’ He shrugged. ‘I suppose the other fifty-eight thousand I should have let in are all probably dead somewhere. But I’m okay with that. I sleep all right.’
He shrugged. ‘Sounds harsh but that’s the way it is. Bottom line . . . I turned out to be right. The world didn’t fix itself. The supplies in the other safety zones ran out and they ended up in a complete bloody mess.’
He stroked his clipped salt-and-pepper beard thoughtfully. ‘Anyway that explains why we’re still here. I asked Edward to bring you over so we can talk. I do this with any new waifs and strays we take in nowadays. It doesn’t happen quite so often.’
‘There are still people out there,’ said Jacob. ‘In fact there’s dozens of kids living in that exhibition place across the river.’
‘Them? Oh, they’re feral,’ said Maxwell. ‘No more than wild bloody animals now.’ He looked at the expression on their faces. ‘Don’t feel sorry for them. Most of them can barely talk. Many of them were small children when it happened and they still are in a way.’
‘I don’t feel sorry,’ said Nathan. ‘They nearly killed us.’
Maxwell nodded. ‘Every now and then we come across packs of them and have to scare ’em away. Otherwise they’d be trying to get in. Anyway,’ he continued, ‘the pair of you clearly haven’t gone feral so I’m guessing you’ve come from somewhere else that’s managed to sort itself out.’
‘Yeah,’ said Jacob. ‘But not as big or as cool as this place.’
Maxwell shrugged. ‘Unfortunately, that’s what I suspect - that this is probably, by far, the largest going concern in the country. Where’ve you two come from?’
‘Norfolk,’ said Nathan. ‘A place in Norfolk.’
‘You walked down?’
‘No we got some bicycles.’
‘What’s it like out there? Did you come across many people?’
Jacob made a face. ‘Nothing really. It’s just lots of empty towns.’
‘Yeah, we was hoping we’d see other groups an’ things. But it was just a load of rotting buildings an’ stuff,’ added Nathan.
‘So, what about where you came from in Norfolk?’
‘Well actually it’s off the north-east coast,’ said Jacob. ‘On a bunch of gas rigs.’
Maxwell’s frown lifted ever so slightly. ‘Really?’
Nathan nodded. ‘But it’s rubbish up there. It’s always wet and cold, ain’t it?’
Jacob nodded.
‘Shit,’ nodded Maxwell, ‘it must get very cold out there.’
‘Oh, but we got heaters in some places,’ said Jacob. ‘And the gas gives us some electric anyway.’
‘How many people living there?’
They looked at each other. ‘I think it’s about four hundred and fifty now, isn’t it?’ said Jacob.
Nathan shrugged. ‘About that.’
Maxwell’s eyebrows arched. Impressed.
‘So, where’d you get all your ‘lectric from?’ asked Nathan, nodding towards the double doors and the soft, insistent pump of a dance beat from beyond.
‘Ahh, well we have a sizeable reserve of diesel here and four emergency generators. I put all the lights and the arcade machines on for my boys once a fortnight. It keeps them happy.’
Jacob frowned. My boys?
Maxwell noted that. ‘The staff . . . the ones in orange vests? They like to call themselves praetorians.’
‘Pry-tory . . . ?’
‘Praetorians, like the Roman soldiers that used to guard the emperor,’ said Maxwell. ‘They think of themselves as my bodyguards. I suppose they’re sort of that. But they’re also the security here. The zone’s police, if you want.’
‘But they’re . . . some of them look young. I mean, younger even than me and Nathan.’
‘Yes . . . yes, I suppose some of them are.’
Nathan cocked his head. ‘You got kids in charge here?’
‘Bollocks to that,’ Maxwell huffed. The closest, it seemed, he was going to come to a laugh. ‘No, I’m in charge here. But they’re my police force. And in exchange for the work they get special privileges.’
‘Privileges?’
‘You know, I treat ’em.’
‘Like the arcade machines outside?’ asked Jacob.
‘Yeah. We’ve got all sorts of things for my boys; arcade machines, Xboxes and PlayStations, a little cinema. Other treats. Every other Saturday night I crank up the second and third generators and they get all that.’
Jacob and Nathan exchanged a glance.
Maxwell’s lips stretched far enough to almost call it a smile. ‘If you’re a good pair of lads then you might be able to join them. I’m always after boys I can trust. Young lads I can rely on.’
They both grinned. ‘We’d like that,’ said Jacob.
‘Well, we’ll see. For now you can stay on probation until I’m sure you’re not going to be troublemakers.’
‘Oh, we ain’t troublemakers,’ said Nathan. ‘We came looking for something exactly like this. That’s why we came to London, isn’t it, Jay?’
He nodded eagerly.
‘We just knew there had to be something like this here. Somebody getting things sorted. A new beginning an’ stuff.’
‘Yeah and we were—’
Maxwell silenced them both with a hand. ‘You’ll be on probation. And I’ll talk to Edward about you . . . see what he thinks. See if you’ve got the stuff to make it as praetorians.’
Both boys grinned.
‘But for now you’ll remain with the civilians outside. Edward will find you somewhere to sleep and assign you to a work group.’ He waved a hand towards the doors. ‘Off you go then. We’ll talk again soon, I’m sure.’
Jacob and Nathan rose from the seats.
‘Thank you,’ said Jacob again.
‘Yes, all right,’ said Maxwell impatiently. ‘Go find Edward, he’ll take you back to the workers’ area.’