The Future of London Box Set

by Mark Gillespie

Amanda-L: Extremists running amok in London, eh? Maybe the Lady (or is it Sonic the Hedgehog?) is right. Maybe they need to take the bloody phones off the Londoners, especially if Chester George fanatics are going to clog up my Live and Unfiltered stream.

  MildMax5000: Are you mad? Take ’em off ’em? What are they supposed to do without Magic Birds? Bloody hell girl. And you say I’m sick?

  Chapter 16

  Walker was first in the playground the next morning.

  He stood in the dark, his fingers like ten blocks of ice wrapped around the handle of the new axe. It wasn’t the ideal conditions to get to grips with the weapon but nonetheless he persevered. While most of the other Giants slept, he was a silent, solitary figure, experimenting with a variety of two-handed grips, exploring new possibilities of distance, and killing methods.

  When he’d warmed up a little, he even tried to twirl the handle round at speed like a Kung-Fu master wielding a bo staff; it was the sort of eye-catching trick he’d seen in those old Shaw Brothers movies that they used to show on TV at three o’clock in the morning. But Walker had a long way to go; he dropped the axe every time and when it crashed on the ground it was loud enough to wake up the entire city.

  Kojiro joined him shortly afterwards. They sparred and Walker felt like a rank amateur as he tried to compete with the expert swordsman. At least with the smaller axe he’d been able to make a fight of it. Now his mind was too busy adjusting to the change of weapon. It wasn’t just the fact that his muscle memory wasn’t yet programmed to deal with the new axe – his thoughts were getting in the way. He could hear himself thinking about range, dealing with the extra weight, about his grip, about possible strategies – and all the while Kojiro could have struck him down a thousand times.

  “Monkey mind,” Kojiro said, taking a step back and returning the short sword to the scabbard after his fifth successive victory. “That’s what they call it. Your thoughts are like hundreds of monkeys flinging themselves from branch to branch, jumping around and chattering to one another ceaselessly.”

  “I can’t tame the monkeys,” Walker said, breathing heavy. He looked at the axe like it was a stranger who’d just barged into his home. “There are more instructions with this one – a lot more – and I haven’t even got through page one yet.”

  Kojiro stepped forward. In the early morning moonlight, the swordsman looked like an apparition floating in the mist.

  “You’ve got time,” he said. “There’s no great rush now. Is there?”

  Walker nodded and smiled. “Thank God for that.”

  By the time they returned to the school, the rest of the Sleeping Giants were in the Living Room eating breakfast.

  Walker was overjoyed to see no human meat leftovers in the morning meal. As he walked into the Living Room, Nadia and Sooper were handing out plastic bowls mixed with a variety of fruit and flimsy salad leaves that had seen better days. There was a large plate with shortbread biscuits lying in the middle of the Giants’ circle. Another one had a mixture of nuts – almonds, walnuts, and some others.

  “Help yourselves,” Nadia said, to Walker and Kojiro.

  The Ostrich, mute as ever, was working his way around the circle. He was pouring tea from the kettle into the plastic mugs sitting at everyone’s feet. Due to his short-sightedness, he performed this task with all the grace of a hunchback with butterfingers.

  Breakfast was plain but Walker had long since become accustomed to eating simple food over the last nine years. His mind and body were satisfied with such habits and in general, he craved little besides that which would keep him alive.

  The box heater that Walker and Kojiro had brought back from the Ministry of Sound was sitting underneath the window, pointing its face towards the circle of Giants. It was spraying blessed heat throughout the room and the circle was a little smaller that morning as everyone tried to get closer to the warmth.

  A gust of delicious warm air landed on Walker’s face as he stepped further into the room. His freezing cold skin began to thaw immediately.

  Pearl shifted to her right – an invitation for Walker to sit down beside her. Neither one of them had said much about what happened a couple of nights back. Walker was clueless as to what he was supposed to do with a woman in those circumstances. Was he supposed to say something? Tell her that he wanted to do it again? Tell her that he loved her, even though he didn’t?

  Silence was the best option, at least for now.

  Walker leaned his axe up against the wall. Once more, he looked at it like a complex puzzle that was waiting to be solved. With a sigh, he dropped down onto the pile of blankets on the floor; the fabric felt warmer and more inviting than usual.

  He felt a slight twinge in his biceps on both arms, a souvenir of that morning’s practice.

  Pearl slid a bowl of food towards him. Walker smiled awkwardly, avoiding any prolonged eye contact. Then he poked his fork inside the bowl, looking for traces of red meat hiding in there. When he was convinced that there was nothing unpleasant waiting for him, he shovelled the food into his mouth and chewed slowly.

  The Ostrich leaned over him, pouring tea into Walker’s cup.

  “Thanks,” Walker said, looking up.

  The Ostrich nodded and although he didn’t speak, Walker saw something in the man’s eyes that resonated with him – a silent shining, a hint of a deeply intelligent being lurking within that awkward form. There was something more buried deep down within the clumsy mute. Walker felt sorry for the man. Clearly the Ostrich wasn’t designed for this kind of life. He should have been somewhere else, living in a little flat somewhere outside the superwalls, working a day job as the ultimate tech guy and then turning into a nighthawk after dark. The sort of geek who ate too many takeaways, didn’t have a girlfriend, and who’d work fastidiously on his little electronic bits and pieces, his gadgets and inventions, long into the wee hours while everyone else was asleep.

  “Is it warm in here or is just me?” Achilles said, grinning from ear to ear.

  The Giants’ leader was chewing ferociously on a fat slice of red apple. As he spoke, he sprayed apple juice onto the floor like his mouth was a sprinkler. “When I saw you two samurais leaving yesterday,” he said, looking between Walker and Kojiro, “I didn’t know what to think. But I’ll be damned if I thought you were doing our Christmas shopping. You did good soldiers.”

  Pax looked at Kojiro. “Hey man,” he said. “Why didn’t you bring me and Soop along yesterday?” There was a genuine look of hurt in Pax’s eyes as he spoke. “We could’ve bagged a couple more of these heaters – what if this one breaks, yeah?”

  Kojiro looked at Pax. “Don’t be greedy,” he said. “More people means more chance of being caught.”

  Pax’s face took on a bewildered expression. “Greedy?” he said. “What’s greed got to do with it? Why should those skull-fuckers up there get all the heaters while we freeze our arses off down here? They’re no better than us. What happened to your ambition Kojiro?”

  “Shut up Pax,” Achilles said. “The boys did good.”

  Walker continued to eat his breakfast in silence.

  “You okay honey?” Pearl asked, squeezing up beside him.

  “Aye,” he said, feeling her warmth pouring into him. “Just tired.”

  “I’ll bet man,” she said. “Sure wish I had your discipline. I don’t know how the hell you do it, out there practising all the time.”

  On the other side of the circle, Pax was grinning like a gargoyle. A few specks of mangled salad leaves were stuck to his front teeth.

  “You guys are so cute,” he said, pointing at Walker and Pearl. “Love is in the air, right Soop?”

  “Yeah,” Sooper said. “Love is in the air. Right.”

  Walker pointed a finger at Pax in return, and then Sooper.

  “I could say the same thing,” he said. “Now that’s cute.”

  Muffled laughter broke out within the Giants’ circle. But Pax wasn’t amused. The skin on his neck turned a violent an
d angry pinkish-red. For a second, it looked like he was about to go all Incredible Hulk and lunge at Walker from across the room. Walker imagined a green-skinned muscled up version of the Giants’ loudmouth tearing up the Living Room.

  He laughed, but to himself.

  It was one of those rare occasions when Pax had nothing to say. He just sat there, glaring at Walker with cold hatred in his eyes.

  Walker returned to poking a fork listlessly around his breakfast bowl.

  “Are we doing anything today?” Kojiro asked, looking at Achilles.

  Achilles was concentrating on something else at that moment. Using his thumb and forefinger, he snapped several hairs off his beard at the chin. He then brought the hairs closer to his face for examination, grinning triumphantly as he pulled out a crumb of something that had gotten lost during breakfast. Achilles flicked the mutilated hairs over his shoulder and popped the crumb into his mouth.

  Walker dropped his bowl onto the floor. He was done eating.

  “Ferals,” Achilles said, looking over at Kojiro. “We’ve got to do something about the Ferals. It’s Drop Day coming up and we need to flush these little monsters out of our turf once and for all. We’re going to chase them, harass them, and yes, kill the little bastards if we have to. You got that Walker?”

  Walker didn’t answer.

  “I think Walker understands,” Kojiro said. “Let’s not question his worth. You’re enjoying that heater he brought back, right? You’re warm today, aren’t you?”

  Achilles’s eyes burned with anger. “Oh yes,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m warm alright.”

  “Feral hunting,” Pax said. “I’m well up for that – it’s been too boring around here lately. Let’s string the little buggers up across the neighbourhood. That’ll send out the right message to anyone who thinks it’s okay to steal from the Sleeping Giants.”

  “String them up?” Nadia said, looking outraged. “You’re a fucking arsehole, do you know that? We only kill them if we have to. If our lives are at risk.”

  “Nadia’s right,” Achilles said. “You’re a bloody savage Pax, I’ll give you that. But let’s do it the easiest way we can. Let’s scare the shit out of them. If we can’t keep the Ferals out of our territory, what will the other gangs think of us? You saw the look in Gary’s eyes when I told him about our Feral problem the other day. He thinks we’re a bunch of imbeciles.”

  Achilles glanced over at Sooper, who had pulled his phone out of his coat pocket. The boy was leaning forwards, his fingers pushing up and down the screen.

  “Soop,” Achilles said. “If you’re done with breakfast, go take that bag of rubbish in the kitchen and put it outside will you? Bloody corridors were stinking this morning with rotten food. We’ll take it with us when we go out later and dump it in the skip. For now, just put it in the playground. Right?”

  “Yeah,” Sooper said, looking up at Achilles. The teenage boy jumped to his feet, then hurried out the room, one impatient step after the other.

  “Bloody hell it’s freezing out ’ere,” he yelled when he was out in the corridor.

  Some of them laughed.

  Achilles slurped at his tea. Then he propped his back up against the wall and let out a long, contented sigh. One arm dangled limply in front of the heater.

  “That’s nice,” he said. “That’s so bloody nice.”

  “Isn’t it?” Kojiro said, a steely gaze pointed at Achilles. “Perhaps now you’ll be warm enough to get out of bed earlier. Perhaps now…”

  “Don’t start Kojiro,” Achilles said, shaking his head. “You’re spoiling the mood. I practice with the sword in my own time. I’m not a morning person like you, just bloody deal with it mate.”

  Walker saw a brief flicker of irritation in Kojiro’s eyes.

  Pax looked over at Kojiro and let out a snort of disgust.

  “Man I don’t need to practice,” he said. “I’m a fucking ninja with that sword you gave me. I’m telling you for real Kojiro – you might have the Japanese heritage and the samurai blood flowing through your veins but when I wield that fucking sword I’m like a demon possessed. Heaven help the man, woman or child who gets in my way. I’ll show you later when we catch up with the Ferals.”

  Pax leapt to his feet like he’d just received an electric shock. He thrust the imaginary sword in his hand towards the other side of the room, pointing it at Walker with a wicked grin.

  “When you’re as good as I am…”

  But Pax didn’t get to finish the sentence.

  Someone was running down the school corridor towards the Living Room. Everyone in the circle turned their head towards the door. Nobody spoke. The sound of panicky feet slapping off the corridor floor came closer by the second.

  “What the hell?” Achilles said, looking at the door.

  The door was pushed open from the outside, so hard that it almost came off at the hinges. Sooper came charging into the Living Room, bringing a violent gust of cold air with him. His face was bright red and he was breathing hard. In his hand, he was holding an A4 sized piece of paper.

  “I found this outside,” he said, offering it to anyone who would take it.

  Pax jumped to his feet and grabbed the paper out of Sooper’s hands. He looked at it and scrunched his brow in confusion.

  “Motherfuckers,” he said.

  Kojiro stood up. Achilles did likewise.

  “What is it?” Kojiro said, moving towards Pax and Sooper.

  Pax looked at Kojiro, a blank expression on his face.

  “Wasn’t such a successful trip after all boys,” he said. He looked at Walker, shaking his head in disbelief. “We’ve just been handed our obituary.”

  “What?” Achilles said, walking towards them.

  “There’s more of that outside,” Sooper said, pointing at the paper in Pax’s hand. “They’re on the walls, the windows, the fences across the street. They’ve probably plastered them all over the neighbourhood.”

  “Read the fucking thing!” Achilles said, snapping at Pax. “What does it say?”

  Pax read in a slow, careful voice.

  “The Sleeping Giants – a small, insignificant gang based out of the Hole – died on December 21st 2020, in St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School.

  The Giants weren’t much of a gang in their time. They were irrelevant and unspectacular in their short existence. Nobody but them knew how long they’ve been around and the truth is nobody cared. In fact, nobody had even given the Giants much thought until recently when two of their members saw fit to break into the home of another gang and steal their equipment – equipment that was vital in keeping this other gang warm over what promises to be a hard winter.

  The Sleeping Giants are survived by no one. They are now extinct and will quickly be forgotten.

  No memorial service will be held.”

  Pax looked up. “That’s it. That’s everything.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Pearl said, getting to her feet. “That’s creepy as fuck. What do we do now?”

  Walker saw a fire burning deep in Kojiro’s brown eyes. He had a feeling that it wasn’t so much the death threats that bothered his sparring partner. It was the suggestion that the Sleeping Giants were insignificant.

  Irrelevant.

  “They insult us,” Kojiro said through gritted teeth.

  “They saw you yesterday,” Achilles said, dismay creeping into his voice. “How could that happen? That’s not like you to be so sloppy.”

  Kojiro looked at Achilles, shaking his head. “The Obituaries were gone,” he said. “All of them – I counted nine of them yesterday when they left the Ministry of Sound. But yes, somebody else saw us – we thought it was a Feral. I don’t know who it was, but they must have recognised our clothing.”

  Walker pushed his bowl out of the way and got to his feet. Without a word, he walked over to the back of the room, his black coat flowing behind him like a vampire cloak. He grabbed the long-handled axe propped up against the Living Room wall and
looked at it with a sigh.

  Necessity would dictate that he’d have to be ready today.

  “Fuck it,” he said, walking over to the others. “It’s done now. We have the heater and they want it back. That’s all there is to this situation. You want to keep the heater? You want to stay warm? You’re going to have to fight for it. If you ever want the Sleeping Giants to be worth anything, then you’re going to have to step up to the challenge. It starts today.”

  Kojiro looked at Walker, giving him a brief nod of approval.

  Walker turned to Pax.

  “You’re going to wish you’d practiced more,” he said.

  Pax screwed up his face, looking at Walker in disgust.

  “You don’t tell us what to do,” he said, pointing a stabbing finger at Walker’s face.

  Kojiro slapped Pax’s hand away. For a moment, Pax looked stunned beyond words. He was a wounded child who’d just been told off by a beloved parent.

  Kojiro looked at everyone in the room and then he spoke in a quiet voice.

  “Get your swords.”

  Everyone hurried towards the door.

  Kojiro knelt down and grabbed his sword belt off the floor. He carefully wrapped the belt around his waist, ensuring that the scabbard was hanging down at just the correct position on his left side.

  He looked at Walker and shook his head sadly. Walker saw the frustration in his eyes. He wasn’t sure if Kojiro was pissed off because they’d failed yesterday or if it was because the time had come for the Giants to prove themselves and he knew that they weren’t ready.

  A few minutes later, everyone was back in the Living Room. Now they were armed.

  “I heard a window being smashed,” Sooper said. “When I went back to my quarters. Anyone else?”

  “I heard it too,” Nadia said. “This isn’t looking good people.”

  “Oh shit,” Pax said. “Are they coming inside or what?”

  “Well let’s get out there and find out,” Achilles said. He stepped forward, inviting the others to follow him towards the door. “What are we waiting for? They’re going to break all the windows and this place is going to be fucking freezing all winter. They’re trying to drive us out. Well, let’s get out there, meet them in the playground and crack some heads. Kojiro?”