‘Wait,’ I croaked.
Of course, no one heard me. I tried again.
‘Wait!’
Monroe glanced at me. ‘What is it?’
The first wave was almost at the shadow beast. Theo and Felicity were already on top of the barricade and facing it down. I shook my head. This was all wrong. I reached down inside myself and pulled on everything I had, using the last of the magical energy I could muster to bolster my voice and carry it to everyone. ‘Wait!’
This time I was more than loud enough. My scream echoed round the streets and most people clamped their hands over their ears. Some threw themselves to the ground.
‘Don’t touch the shadow beast!’ I yelled. My voice was becoming weak and scratchy again. I cursed and pulled myself forward. Everyone, even the beast itself, stared at me. I shook my head in warning at Felicity and Theo.
‘It’s not going to hurt us,’ I whispered. I turned to Monroe, who understood straight away. He muttered something to one of the wolves nearest him. I continued dragging myself towards the beast. Every step was excruciating but I made it. I got there. I clambered on top of the barricade.
‘Charley,’ Felicity said, ‘with all due respect, this isn’t the time for a speech.’
Next to her, Theo frowned. ‘Why’s the monster not doing anything?’ he asked.
‘Because,’ I gasped, ‘it’s not here for us. And it’s not really a monster. It’s more afraid of us than we are of it.’
Something tugged at my ankle. I turned as Monroe raised a squeaking Lucy into my arms. The large beast in front of us roared again, nearly making me topple backwards. Felicity grabbed me and held me firm. Then, while I used her for balance, I lifted up Lucy. Her squeaking increased but she wasn’t scared. She was excited.
The shadow beast lowered its body and moved one massive paw. Lucy wriggled free and leapt towards it, her black body almost disappearing as she landed. The shadow beast blinked at me.
‘I’m sorry that we killed your friend,’ I said. I touched my chest where my heart was. ‘I truly am sorry.’
It blinked again.
‘Pull back,’ I said quietly to Theo and Felicity.
‘I’m not sure that’s…’
‘Pull back.’
I twisted round, glad that Monroe was waiting beneath me as I slid ungracefully down the barricade. Then I shuffled away with him beside me. Fortunately, everyone else followed suit.
‘All it wants is Lucy,’ I murmured.
‘Why now?’ Theo asked. ‘None of them cared about her before.’
‘Can’t you feel it?’ I felt an odd tug of sadness. ‘It’s in the air. It’s all around us. We’re on the cusp of change and even the shadow beasts can sense it. Manchester is evolving once again. The shadow beast doesn’t want to fight any more than we do. Sometimes you have to put aside your fear of what is other.’
‘You’re really weird sometimes.’ Felicity sighed heavily. ‘This has been the strangest fucking day.’
Lucy let out a distant, muffled squeak. The air crackled and, from the large house nearby, there was a sudden glow of light followed by the sound of a familiar voice booming from a television set.
‘My name is Julie Chivers. I have come from Manchester. And I’m here to tell you what’s really going on inside those walls. It’ll blow your socks off, darlings.’
I smiled, acting like I’d been expecting this all along. ‘Boom.’
Epilogue
I’d never seen Jodie look quite so irritated and that was saying something. She marched over, clutching a paper bag, before reaching inside it and pulling out item after item.
‘Have you seen this shit?’ she demanded. ‘A tea towel. A car sticker.’ She reached in again. ‘A bloody action figure.’ She waved it in my face. I had to admit it wasn’t a bad likeness. ‘And all of them have Julie Chivers’ face plastered all over them. For the rest of my life, I’m going to be that person who once knew the saviour of Manchester. No one seems to care that all this was almost her fault in the first place.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Julie fucking Chivers. I went out in that tunnel, too, you know. I risked everything too.’
‘You did,’ I soothed. ‘You’re as much of a hero as she is. But remember, the apocalypse wasn’t Julie’s fault,’ I said, for about the millionth time. ‘And we can’t even call it the apocalypse. It’s not the end of the world. Far from it.’
Most of the walls around the city had already come down. Instead of shiny steel and barbed wire, what greeted our eyes were the distant green hills, blue skies and rolling countryside dappled with sunshine.
It had taken longer than I’d thought to get to this point. There had been numerous visits made by government officials and military scientists and official dignitaries. Of course, they had to be sure and there would always be doubters and naysayers. There always were. But the research Barrett’s company had already conducted had stood us in good stead and hurried things along.
From the masses of people waiting for final approval, there were more than enough believers who wanted to see this new Manchester for themselves. Most of them were waiting just a hundred yards away. We’d already had a ridiculous number of requests to re-home the hell hounds. The Kennel Club was fast at work designating a brand-new pedigree for them. Whether they’d ever be house trained or not was another matter, but I wisely kept that thought to myself.
Yes, there were other dangerous beasties within the city but, with more food coming in, they seemed content to stick to their own territory. All the riskier areas were marked off and there was a strict curfew in place across several neighbourhoods. The shadow beasts, the canal monster, Cuddles, Nimue – they had as much right to be here as any of us did. As long as they were respected, I reckoned things would turn out alright. Manchester was no longer
