Chapter 2

Anni found her way down to the basement with little difficulty: she had been there once with Cat to see Old Henry. Although the place had given her the creeps then, right now anything was better than taking orders from Say: she was in organisational mode and, once she started a job, however large, she wouldn't let up until it was finished and finished right. Anni wondered if her friend's single-mindedness was, at least in part, due to the effect of the virus: Say was the oldest of them, not only of the three of them in the mall, but of all their friends, left alive. She worried that perhaps Say's determination to get everything in the mall set up and working in record time was down to a fear of living on borrowed time. It was a fear they all had, but as the virus targeted the adults, it must be that little bit greater for those closer to that line: the line between being a grown up and just getting there. There didn't even seem to be any fixed age at which the virus struck: it had taken many young children, but purely because they were young and weak, and most people over the age of twenty-one. Say had had her twenty-first birthday six months ago: they had all been at the party.

A pang of guilt creapt into Anni's heart and mind: maybe she shouldn't have let her lazy side get the better of her; maybe she should have stayed and made the most of what time there was left. But she reminded herself that her excuse was a valid one, Cat [i]had[/i] been gone a long time, and she couldn't spend her life worrying over things that might never happen. As she reached the open basement door, Anni was relieved to find there was a light coming from somewhere, but noted that the usual hum of the generators was absent.

"C-Cat?" she called, hesitantly.

"Down here," came the faint reply, "by the desk."

Anni made her way, slowly and cautiously, through the silent, towering generators until she saw Cat standing next to Old Henry's desk. Her arms were at her sides, though they were held slightly away from her body: something that Anni recognised as Cat's familiar "do-not-mess-with-me-I'm-faster-than-you-are" pose. Anni followed her friend's fixed gaze and, as she advanced, saw another girl become visible round the corner of one of the generators. This girl was tall, with blonde and blue hair and stood with her arms folded across her chest and a grimace on her face that said "do-not-mess-with-me-I'm-bigger-than-you-are". Anni stopped and rolled her eyes.

"What's going on?" she asked, wearily.

"We have an intruder," Cat answered, plainly.

"Who says you own this mall?" the other girl replied, vehemently, "I don't see your names above the door!"

"We have keys!" Cat replied.

"We also have plenty room," Anni cut in, "Tell us who you are and, if it's okay with Say, you can stay here too."

"Hey!" Cat cried, "Don't I get a say in this? And what about all the others?"

"They others aren't here yet and we don't know if they ever will be. We've plenty room in here and if Say agrees, you're out-voted!"

"Sounds fair," the girl agreed, "My name's Dee. I was a student at university before all this happened."

"Huh, it would sound fair to you!" Cat growled.

"Oh, go fix the Jennies!" Anni scolded, "Say wants to cook lunch soon!"

"Well, tough!" Cat replied, "It'll take me ages to get all of them up and running: it's gotta be done manually. She'll just have to use my Trangia: it's in my bag."

"Which one? And what is a trangia?"

"It's a camping stove. It's in the top of the big rucksack."

"I'll give you a hand with the generators if you like," Dee offered.

"I'd rather work alone," Cat answered sullenly.

Anni rolled her eyes and sighed: it was just like Cat to go into one of her moods. She'd be fine once she'd worked it off, though. Taking Dee's arm, Anni led the taller girl back through the generators and up the stairs to the mall.

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Across the Highland Line, a funeral pyre burned by the banks of Loch Lomond. Two girls stood silently, side by side. As the fire burned out, one of the girls fell to her knees, weeping uncontrolably.

"Ssh, Bobbi, ssh," the other girl sank down to put her arms round her friend and hug her, "She's at peace now. Nothing can hurt her now."

"She was all the family I had, Amy!" Bobbi cried through her tears, "Now she's gone! I'm alone again. Just like I was before!"

"You're not alone!" Amy reproached her, "You have me. And Anni will be back at the flat, waiting for us. And all of our other friends, back in the city. You're not alone. Believe me."