London Eye: 1 (Toxic City)(69)

“So aren't these all Irregulars?” he asked.

“Yes. Everyone in London now is an Irregular, apart from the Choppers and those in their employ. But they came in after Doomsday. Those of us who survived the Evolve virus…yes, all changed.”

“So what do they do?”

His mother pointed at an old man on a bed close to them. “Richard was a Pleader. In the right conditions, he could exert his will and desires on the chaos around us, and coax it in a certain direction.”

“Change the future?”

“In small leaps, and on a very small scale. But no more. Whatever he has is killing him.” She sounded very sad. “Over there, that big lady, she had hearing better than a dog's. Massive audio range. She's deaf, now.”

“Is it the same illness that Richard has?”

“It looks the same, but I just don't know. I'm no doctor, and it was Doomsday that made me a healer.”

“We saw people out on the streets, naked and raving. Like animals.”

“The same,” his mother said. “We're seeing it more and more.”

“The Irregulars are starting to die,” Jack whispered, and his mother said nothing to contradict.

Emily ran up to them from where Jenna and Sparky were standing. Jack looked at Richard and the other dying people, treasuring their reunion even more.

“We met the Nomad,” he mentioned, thinking of how she had picked on him and the taste of her finger in his mouth. He felt his mother tense.

“You really saw her?” she said, aghast.

“She said that was her name. And she was…strange.”

Susan shook her head. “Most people don't really believe in her, even now.”

“Jenna does. She's collected all the stories. She think she's Angelina Walker, the woman who crashed into the Eye and released Evolve.”

“The first vector.”

“That's what she called herself, yeah.”

“What did she do? What did she say?”

Jack was not sure why he lied. But when he said, “Nothing, really,” and glancing down at Emily, his sister gave him a little smile. He knew then that he'd made the correct decision.

“Strange,” his mother said.

“Huh!” Jack said. “Strange? Did I tell you about the lioness? And the wolves we heard, and the flowers in Tooting?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, but I'm sure you're going to.”

“I want Emily to tell you, Mum. I want her to show you.” He held Emily's hand. They'd already talked about this, and now the physical contact gave him double the strength he needed. “I want you and Emily to get out, the way we got in. Rosemary's already said she'll take you. She has a gun, and knows where she can get more.”

“Guns, Jack?” She used her old scolding voice, and Jack almost smiled. Almost.

“For the dogs, Mum. And…anything else that might try to stop you.”

“And you?” Her voice quavered. She's afraid of losing me again, he thought. And he understood. The temptation to leave was there, but he had to preserve faith in their father, a faith he could never lose without at least trying.

“I've already told you what I'll be doing, Mum.”

“I like that word,” she said. “‘Mum.’ It's a good word.”

“I always knew I'd get to use it again.”

“And Dad,” Emily said. “That's another good word. Jack says it has power.”

His mother's eyes opened wider, and he saw something that might have been hope. Or if not that, then acceptance of his need to try. She came to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Be very, very careful,” she said. Pleaded.

“I will, Mum. Sparky and Jenna are coming with me.”

“Are they special forces?”

He laughed. “Not quite. But we're a good team.”

She nodded, squeezed his hand, and then parted. “I have to speak to my friends down here, tell them…something. Not the truth. I couldn't do that to them.”

“Will leaving…?”

“Compared to everything else we've been through?” She looked around, smiling at a patient walking with the aid of a wheeled frame. “It'll be sad, rather than hard.”

“Sis, you look after Mum, won't you?”