collapsed leaving the wet body lying on the concrete. She could hear the woman issuing orders.
'Get this stuff cleared out,' she said. 'I want this place looking like nothing happened.'
'What about Naylor,' one of them asked.
'Take the body and dump it somewhere no one will find it.'
Here was a mumbled protest Alex didn't hear.
'I don't care,' she replied. 'You reaped the reward you deserved. You're lucky she didn't drown the lot of you. Naylor was an arrogant fool and mean with it. I, for one, will not mourn his loss.'
Alex was guided up to what looked like a cross between an apartment and a warehouse. They steered her to a sofa where she sat on the edge and shivered. She kept thinking about what had almost happened, and all the things she could have done. Why hadn't she done any of them? She could have drowned them in their own spittle, sucked all the water from their blood — any number of things. They wouldn't have even known she was there if she didn't want them to. Why hadn't she done any of them?
The young man with the blanket brought a throw from one of the other sofas and handed it to her. 'You're shaking like a leaf, girl. Here, put this over your legs.'
He sat down beside her.
'I'm Mark,' he said offering his hand, 'but you can call me Sparky. That's Chipper. He don't say much.' Chipper lifted a hand and then went back to looking out of the window.
Alex untangled her hand from the blanket and shook his. It seemed an odd formality given the situation, but he gave her a toothy grin.
'Wh… wh… who's…' She couldn't stop shivering. Clinging to the blanket, she wrapped herself tighter, trying to stop her teeth chattering.
'Eve? Don't mind her. She's a bossy boots, but she knows some stuff. She must like you though. She don't take to strangers normally.'
'Wha… wha… this place?'
'Oh, it used to be a squat, somewhere to chill out, you know? They used to do raves and stuff here, but Eve cleared them out. It was attracting too much attention.'
'You're from P… P… Porton Down?' She was finally warming up and getting the shivering under control.
'That's where we met Eve. She knew Gina, and Gina came up with this place, except there was a bust up about them nicking some of Eve's stuff. As they say, Gina don't live here any more.'
'Where is she now, do you know?'
'Gina had an accident,' Eve spoke from the stairway. 'She bit off more than she could chew.'
'You killed her,' said Alex.
'She took something that wasn't for her. I simply took it back.'
'And you killed her for that?'
'You killed Naylor,' Eve pointed out.
'He was going to rape me!'
'Sometimes it's kill or be killed. I would have thought you'd understand that.'
'She was one of us,' said Alex. 'She was at Porton Down.'
'She was there, but she definitely wasn't one of us. You don't steal from your friends. You don't sell you friends out for drugs, money, sex or whatever else you want. We look after each other, because no one else looks after us.' She walked over to stand in front of Alex. 'And what about you Alexandre?'
'We didn't meet at Porton Down, did we? No one calls me Alexandre, except maybe my mum,' she challenged.
'We did meet, or at least I saw you there. Three girls dead. It was in your file. That's quite a tally.'
'That was an accident. How did you get access to my file?'
'Those girls, you drowned them, like you accidentally drowned Naylor?' asked Eve.
'How do you know about that?' asked Alex.
Eve studied her for a moment. 'When everyone else ran, I stayed. While others screamed and died I went through files looking for what I needed. Why were you looking for Gina?'
'I dunno. I guess 'cause we're the same. We all went through the same things. I thought maybe she'd have somewhere I could hang out for a bit until I get my shit together.'
'Why don't you go home to mummy?'
'Can't, can I? Burned that bridge.'
Eve turned away and went to stand behind Chipper, looking over his shoulder out onto the desolate estate. She stood so close that Alex wondered whether they were an item.
'I need someone,' she said, still staring out the window. 'Gina died, not because she stole — though that was reason enough, but because she knew things — she'd done things. Through her treachery she proved that she would sell us out for a fix, or a bottle, or something she wanted, sooner or later. We couldn't risk that and she paid the price for her indiscretion.'
She turned away from Chipper without touching him. No brush of affection, not even a sidelong look. 'If you would even dream of selling us out, Alexandre, you would be better to leave now, while you can.'
'Are you offering me a place to stay?'
'Here? No. This place is compromised. We only came back to retrieve certain items. We'll be gone soon and you won't be able to follow us.'
'So where are you going?' asked Alex.
'We move around, but there are places that can provide what we need. The rules, as I think you already know, do not apply to us. Do what you wilt shall be the whole of the law.'
'That's a line from a movie isn't it?' said Alex.
'Hardly,' said Eve. 'We are engaged in a struggle that goes beyond anarchism and political structure. We will change the world itself. Our goal is more fundamental than tinkering with the system. All of that will be swept away.'
'Are you a bit bonkers?'
Eve turned on her like a snake, her eyes narrow, her voice squeezed out between her teeth.
'There are some who cannot encompass the vision of what we will do, and they may think it outlandish or impossible, but they are limited by their feeble imagination and stagnant ability. They are bound by convention and compromised by their own wants and needs. We are none of that, and we will change the world.'
There was a fervour in her eyes that alarmed Alex, but she could hear that Eve believed it. She glanced sideways at Sparky. He shrugged, as if it was obviously true.
'What kind of change?' she asked.
Eve smiled. 'This world was not made for us. We do not fit. We are not accepted in any part of it. We are alien and unwanted, rejected at a fundamental level. But what if that could be changed? What if we could remake this world as we want it?'
'I don't understand,' said Alex.
'You don't need to,' said Eve, 'you just need to want it enough to be prepared to act. Sacrifices will need to be made. The only decision is which end of the sacrifice do you want to be on — the one making the sacrifice, or the one being sacrificed?'
'Is that a threat?'
'You can't change the world without changing everything,' said Eve. 'But you can decide which side of the change you're on. The world will change whether you like it or not. Work with us and you can be part of it.'
Alex turned to Sparky. 'Is she for real?'
He shrugged again. 'I've seen some weird shit. Hell I've done some of it, but she's right. We don't fit. They're not going to change the world for us, so we have to change it for ourselves.'
'This is your decision, Alexandre,' said Eve. 'You can walk away now and what will happen will happen. But if you stay, you're part of it.'
Alex looked from Sparky, to Eve, to Chipper, who still stared resolutely out of the window.
'OK,' said Alex. 'I'm in.'
