Resurgence (18 page)

‘What then?’

‘Then my mum told me off because I was soaked through. You were fine because you had my top on, but she was rushing around for a towel, saying, “What am I going to do with you?
You’re supposed to be a man now.” You sat in the corner, watching and smiling, laughing at me.’

‘It was funny . . .’

‘And then we shared a cake.’

I breathe in and can still smell it, the caramelised sugar that made the air feel thick because it was so syrupy. The slightly warm currants that were bitter but sweet at the same time. It was
one bun that we cut in half. Everyone else refused to have even a crumb, leaving Opie and I to fight it out.

‘I can still taste it,’ I say.

‘I’m not surprised. You had your half and then half of mine.’

‘I did not.’

‘You definitely had more than half. You’d eaten most of yours and then I saw you turn the plate around when you thought I wasn’t watching.’

I’d forgotten but it is now so vivid that I have no idea how it slipped from my memory. I’d eaten around three-quarters of my piece and he’d had half of his. When he looked up
to say something to his mum, I craftily twisted the plate around and ate his half. I felt really guilty about it afterwards, thinking I’d tricked him, when it turned out he had let me do
it.

‘I’m sorry for stealing your cake.’

He laughs and I open my eyes. The sight, the smell, the taste of Martindale evaporates as the dim room underneath the church swims back into view.

‘It’s all right,’ he says. ‘I don’t really like currants anyway.’

Our eyes lock and he smiles. Not in the way that changes his face into a thing of beauty, but sadly and softly. He is asking me who could have predicted all of this a year ago; remembering his
father.

‘Think about
next
year,’ I say. ‘Our eighteenths.’

‘What do you want to do?’

‘Do you remember when we started walking across that field outside Martindale, wanting to know what was on the far side?’

‘Of course. You gave up and made me give you a piggyback the whole way home. It was our first kiss.’

I can still feel it. The summer, the sun, the grass. Opie.

‘Let’s do it properly. This time we’ll walk until we find something.’

‘Haven’t you done enough walking?’

‘Okay then, you can give me a piggyback until we find something.’

He laughs, even though it’s not that funny, but I find myself giggling so much that my chest hurts.

‘Thank you for remembering,’ I say when we have calmed down, and then, stupidly, uncontrollably, I spoil everything by kissing him.

* * *

Knave has assembled everyone into the biggest room underneath the church. It is where the people who have lived here for years sleep and they have pushed all of the beds to the
back. It’s not ideal but it is the largest space in the underground quarters. The young Offerings we rescued are being shushed by Pietra as Jela chats to Frank. Imrin is next to the doctor,
standing and tapping one of his feet as if desperate to be off doing something. Opie and Hart are whispering to each other, probably plotting which weapons they’re going to hit each other
with next.

I stand with Knave at the front, facing them. We have things to say but as he clears his throat, I touch him on the arm, whispering in his ear that we should leave everybody for a few minutes.
It’s good to see them mingling, talking and smiling. I listen to snippets of the conversations and can sense hope in the air. They aren’t simply talking about the King; they’re
talking about their lives.

Eventually, I relent and Knave gets everyone’s attention – only to invite them all to sing me ‘Happy Birthday’. I can walk into a crowd of thousands and face down the
most powerful person in the country, but now I bury my face in my hands at the sight of people I actually know and care for, smiling and singing to me. A rapturous round of applause ends the song,
with Opie front and centre, sitting on the ground and enjoying my discomfort. Imrin is next to him and it seems somehow worse that they have become apparent friends.

I have to look away but only end up catching Vez’s gaze as he stands next to the door, a knowing grin on his face.

‘Make sure you don’t end up losing them both.’

I wish I’d never asked him how he got his scar.

I start to turn but he scratches his face and the light catches the silver on his painted fingernail. Looking around the room I realise that everyone has done the same, even Opie and Imrin. The
craze seems to have spread overnight.

Everyone is facing me and even the younger children are quiet, waiting expectantly to find out why we are here together.

‘Thanks for squeezing in here,’ I say. ‘I know a lot of you have been asking what happens now and the truth is I hadn’t thought too far ahead. This was never something I
expected. I didn’t want to be a part of some rebellion or revolution. I just wanted my friends to be safe.’

My throat feels dry. This is the first time I have addressed a group of people as if I am their leader. I still don’t feel like one, even if that is how I am acting.

‘We’ve heard the reports of uprisings and of whole towns rebelling. If there is ever going to be a time to fight back, then now is it.’

A murmur of approval.

I glance towards Imrin. ‘Yesterday was . . . hard but people around the country are beginning to understand. I didn’t want to think of this as a war because we’ve all seen
those images of what war is. It’s death, it’s destruction. It’s everything that’s above us in the rest of the country. But war doesn’t have to be about that.
We’re not going to defeat anyone by marching on Windsor, we’ll be massacred.’

I pause to let it sink in but people seem slightly confused. I know many thought this would be a rallying call for us to head into battle.

‘This isn’t about fighting physically, it’s about making people realise what their lives are missing. It’s about words, not weapons. It’s time to make a proper
statement, to stand up and show that this isn’t some small underground movement. The reason we look and feel weak is because we as a people say nothing. We’re in the Southern Realm
– but how many of you have ever spoken to people in the North before you came to this shelter? We don’t know how strong we can be because we never communicated.’

I indicate Jela, Pietra, Imrin and Hart. ‘When we escaped from Windsor Castle, it was because we worked together. At the moment, everyone above ground is divided, but we need to change
that.’

People around the room are starting to nod.

‘The reason I’m here is that I’ve got used to running off and doing things on my own, or with a small group of people. But there’s no point in me preaching about
communicating if I don’t do it myself. The first Minister Prime was a man named Xyalis. I met him and he told me there are four broadcast points that link the country together. They help to
compile the results of the Reckoning but they also make sure your screens turn on and ensure that the King’s broadcasts are seen everywhere. There’s one in each of the four towers in
Middle England. We’re going to take them over and broadcast our own message.’

One of the men at the back claps loudly and a few others join in. I have to hold up a hand to win back their attention. Vez grins; the broadcast part of it was his idea.

‘It’s very dangerous because we need people in all four towers at the same time.’ I point to those who will be there. ‘Hart, Opie and Knave are going to come with me. So
are Jela and Pietra because I need them to help me actually broadcast the message. That’s six of us.’ I nod towards the door. ‘Vez wanted to come but we need someone to stay here
to be on top of any communication from other rebel groups. If you need anything, go through him.’

One of the Offerings, a little boy, puts his hand up. He is chewing on his bottom lip. ‘Yes?’ I say.

‘Are you going to be high up?’

I laugh and nod. ‘There are ninety floors and we’re going to be on the eighty-ninth.’

His eyes widen. ‘Wow . . .’

When I spoke to Rom over the radio earlier, he didn’t exactly approve of my plan, but he didn’t object. He’s still in Middle England and says security is very tight. The
communication floor is between his on the eighty-eighth and the Chief Minister’s on floor ninety.

‘We’ll only get one go at this,’ I continue. ‘It’s very dangerous but we have a plan to get in and out again. We’ll be leaving tonight and hopefully returning
safely in a day or two.’

One of the women puts her hand up. ‘How can we help?’

‘The one thing we need more than anything else is to blend in. Most people in Middle England wear formal clothes – black trousers or skirts, white shirts, black jackets. We’ve
gone through the spare clothing you have. There is something I can wear and Knave has a suit that fits but we need something for Opie and Hart. If you want to, it would be helpful if you can head
to your usual scavenging areas and see if there are any other clothes that might be suitable.’

Many heads nod in time around the room, agreeing.

‘We’re leaving after dark, so I’ll see you all back here then.’

With everyone energised and heading out to do their bit, my first job is to appease Imrin. I lead him back to the medical area and tuck him into the bed, telling him he has to rest. He insists
he feels fine. ‘That’s not the point,’ I say, stroking around his damaged eye, which is still half-closed. ‘This time yesterday you were still captured. That syringe cures
illnesses, not wounds. You’ll feel fine but it doesn’t mean you’re healed yet. That’s going to take a while.’

‘I want to do something.’

‘You can – by getting yourself better. This is going to be the start and there’s so much you can do in the future.’

He looks around the room. ‘I can’t stay here for three days.’

‘Go for a walk around the corridors if you get bored, but I have my spies – there’ll be trouble if I find out you’ve been doing anything too strenuous.’

He sighs but doesn’t complain. ‘You are coming back, aren’t you?’

‘We’re all coming back.’

‘I like the way you said you wanted to communicate with everyone and then subtly managed to not tell us any specifics at all – like how you’re getting in and out.’

‘I knew you’d spot that.’

He takes my hand and squeezes, hard at first to show that he can, before relaxing. We interlock our fingers. ‘Do you know what you’re going to say to everyone when you get on
screen?’

‘More or less.’

‘Do you remember what I said to you about Opie’s father?’

I recall it perfectly. Imrin never used the word ‘manipulate’ but he knew I would understand because I was a step ahead of everyone except him.

‘Yes.’

‘I was angry that day, annoyed about Opie because I didn’t know who he was and what was going on between you.’

‘I’m sorry . . .’

He doesn’t let me finish, waving his free hand to stop me. ‘I’ve wanted to say I’m sorry ever since then. I was annoyed and knew it would hurt you if I said what I did.
You did what you had to.’

I shake my head. ‘You were right. Opie’s father sacrificed himself to get the rest of us out of the village hall in Martindale. I wonder if everything he did relates back to that
day.’

‘You can’t think like that.’

‘But I do . . .’

‘When you’re in Middle England and everything has gone perfectly getting into the tower, you don’t
need
to try to manipulate people, say anything untrue, or even
exaggerate. Just talk about yourself. Tell them what you’ve seen, what you’ve done and why you’ve done it.’

‘They don’t want to hear about me.’

He laughs but it turns into a cough and he pounds his chest in annoyance. When his voice clears, he squeezes my hand harder. ‘You’re
all
they want to hear about.’

I don’t want to argue, so I agree, even though I’m not sure he’s right. He tells me to make sure I say goodbye before I head out and then I find the others. We spend hours
talking through each detail of the plan, making sure we know how things should work. Then it’s time to play with my birthday present.

‘We’ve had these for a while,’ Knave says, as I remove the earpieces from the wrapped blue box. ‘The batteries are really low and we never used them because we
didn’t know how long they’d last. Frank had a look a few days ago and says we should get an hour or so of talk time if we turn them off after speaking.’

I clip the first of the quartet of earpieces over my left ear and hand the others to Knave, Hart and Opie. ‘If the batteries are that bad, we’ll have to use them only for
emergencies. We’ll tell each other when we enter each of the four towers and again when we get to the eighty-ninth floor. I’ll say when we’re ready. If anyone is in trouble, give
the call. We might not be able to do much but we’ll know where you are.’

They all nod and clip the devices on. They are small, transparent and hook over the top of the ear, only really visible if someone is looking for them.

‘We’ll give it a quick test,’ I say.

Opie grins. ‘I thought you wanted to save the batteries?’

‘Yeah, but it’s my birthday and if I want to have a play, then who’s going to stop me?’

We each head to a far corner of the underground area, with walls and the earth separating us, and the reception is better than I thought. We can hear each other perfectly and, reluctantly, I
have to say we should stop messing around, so as not to exhaust the batteries.

Pietra and Jela help to dye the silver part of my hair using some boot polish so it is almost the same black as the rest of my hair. Soon after, the scavenging party returns with four
combinations of trousers, shirts and jackets for Hart and Opie to choose from. They also have a few more cans of food but say how they were almost caught by four Kingsmen patrolling the streets.
Knave is worried but they assure him they weren’t followed.

As the day ends, we gather everyone together and tell them we’ll be back as soon as we can, exiting the hatch just as the sun is setting. The coordinates for Middle England are easy to
find via my thinkwatch and I programme them into the teleporter, before pressing the transmit button. Opie and Hart go first, then Pietra and Jela.