We were back in the sewers within fifteen minutes. Bray was still scooping up the last beans in a tin with a fork, and we both had a bag containing a few tins and some bottles of water for Trudy. In Bray's pack there was also a folded blanket; in mine was a clean towel, just in case she was already in labour by the time we reached her. Dal joined us weilding the broken pipe in case we came across any trouble.
Bray led the way through the sewers to the entrance he'd come in by, a manhole that opened out at the back of a building near the train yard; I'd not realised how far we'd walked underground.
The long grass was still damp with dew. I remained alert as we tramped across it, then crossed a narrow footbridge and scooted around the trainyard. Jack had told me it was Demon Dog territory but the Locos wanted it. Thankfully, it wasn't long before we reached a tunnel that went into the hill. Out of sight, we moved more quickly, able to jog now that there wasn't a threat of being overheard.
The tunnel wasn't long. Soon we approached the other end and there, partly hidden by the overhanging branches of some sort of fern, was Trudy. Her face lit up when she saw us.
"Bray! You found somewhere?"
"Yes. Do you remember Faye from school? And this is Dal. They live in the Mall. It's safe there."
Trudy smiled. We helped her stand up and made our slow way back to the Mall. Lex and Ryan arrived back at the manhole into the sewers just as we did.
"What's going on?" Lex demanded to know.
"There weren't any Locos in the sewer," I said. "Just Bray. He's a friend."
"Yeah? It doesn't seem very friendly spying on us all day."
"And it doesn't seem friendly trying to steal our food and threaten us, Lex," I said pointedly. "I know Bray from before the virus. I trust him. Trudy too, who in case you hadn't noticed is pregnant, so let's get her inside so she can eat and rest."
"What? We don't want a screaming baby around the Mall."
"I bet it's a girl," Ryan said quietly, a simple smile on his face. He held out his hand to help Trudy balance as she descended the ladder into the sewer.
"Lex, you are hardly in a position to decide who or what we want in the Mall. You've only been here since yesterday afternoon, and you've spent most of that time trapped in the cage. I reckon I'm the one who should be making decisions like that, I've been here longest. So shut up."
He glowered at me but thankfully did as I suggested. I followed Trudy down the ladder.
A lot happened in that first week. The baby was born, as Ryan had guessed, a girl. The kittens grew to like Bob, but Snowflake stayed well clear of the labrador. Cloe found a calf – goodness knows where – then went missing to turn up a day later with an odd spiritual girl by the name of Taisan. Trudy fell ill and Dal braved the overrun streets to get medicine for her from his father's surgery. Amber wrote a chores rota which was largely adhered to, with a little nagging. Bray vanished for a while to return with nappies and power milk.
For a while I missed the quietness I'd become so used to, but I was happy, even when people argued. Slowly, we became a tribe. Taisan insisted on a ceremony, at which Lex suggested a tribe name – Mallrats. It stuck; and so after nine months living in the Mall, most of that alone, I became part of something, a tribe. We weren't perfect, far from it, but it worked in a way.
