“In that case count yourself lucky.”
Flakes of snow purred down, seemingly from nowhere, endlessly manufactured somewhere in the churning emptiness of the grey sky. Snowflakes clung to the hats and coats and eyelashes of the pale-faced pedestrians that were calmly emptying from the square. Saskia held out a blue arm to halt a young woman with strands of blond hair curling down from her black fur hat.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Chris is attacking,” replied the young woman. “He has seeded Dark Plants somewhere close by.”
“Chris?” said Judy, swiftly moving to stand between Saskia and the young woman. “Did you say Chris?”
The young woman gave a tight smile, then pointed along the road, in the direction from which she had just come.
“The source is back down there. Follow me. We might be able to outrun it.”
Calmly, she removed Saskia’s hand from her arm and resumed her steady pace along the street.
“Why does nobody run?” Saskia asked, looking puzzledly at the stately stream of pedestrians flowing along the street.
“Because it’s safer that way,” said Maurice. “It stops there being a stampede and people getting hurt.”
“Well, that’s sensible I suppose,” Saskia said. “But it doesn’t seem natural.”
“You’re telling me. Don’t slow down.”
The snow was thickening. The tops of the lighthouses loomed dimly over the peaks of the surrounding buildings, their honey bands now totally black.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it,” said the young woman with the blond hair, who now walked alongside Saskia. “My name is Anna, by the way.”
“I’m Saskia. What do you mean we’re not going to make it?”
“The watch towers are blind now. The Watcher does not want to gaze upon any Dark Seeds. That means that the BVBs will be spreading freely.”
Snowflakes twinkled prettily on the ends of Anna’s long dark eyelashes. She brushed them clear with a black velvet glove.
“I already have two BVBs on my left arm,” Anna said matter-of-factly. “Still, I was lucky. My father died of asphyxiation when BVBs formed around his lungs.”
“How much longer, dear?” Miss Rose asked. “I’m getting tired.”
“Another five minutes should decide it,” Anna said. “Would you like me to take a turn helping your elderly friend, Saskia?”
“I’ll be all right,” Saskia said. “What’s this?”
Someone in a yellow-and-black striped tabard was jogging along past the line of pedestrians. He seemed to be counting as he went along.
“Not good,” Anna said, “there must be a blockage ahead. Maybe another Dark Plant.”
The runner jogged past them, Saskia heard him gasping a total, counting up in fives “four hundred and seventy, four seventy-five, four eighty…” and then he was past. She turned and saw him come to a halt just a few places down the line behind them. He held up his hands to bring a halt to the line of people just behind Saskia. Saskia marched on, turning all the while to see the people back there who stood to calm attention, pale faces watching Saskia and the rest walking on. Two children back there were separated from their father. They stood just there, twin girls in woolen hats with pink bobbles, white mittens on a string emerging from their pink-striped coats.
“What are they all waiting there for?” asked Saskia.
“There must be a blockage ahead,” said Anna. “Other people converging on our escape path. There will not be room for all of us to get through before the Watcher sterilizes this area.”
“Sterilizes…?” The word was an icicle plunged into her heart. Saskia knew, with cold certainty what Anna
