The Future of London Box Set

by Mark Gillespie

  He was sitting on the floor on one side of the classroom. Achilles, Pax, Nadia and Pearl had brought four chairs into the room and set them up on the other side. They’d positioned themselves in front of the teacher’s desk, like they were about to give a class presentation. The four Giants were wrapped up in their black coats, clutching their own mugs of tea, but still waiting to be convinced by Walker.

  These first moments were the all-important ones. While all eyes were upon him, Walker had to act like nothing else in the world existed – nothing but the plastic container of warm mushroom tea in his hands. He continued to hold the mug close to his chest, like a precious relic that he was guarding from thieves. Walker acted – to the best of his abilities – like a man who was building a self-contained psilocybin bubble, one that would keep the rest of the world out.

  He brought the mug to his lips for a second time. He drank, keeping his lips sealed as tight as possible so that only a little of the tea would seep through when he tipped it back.

  Walker let out a primal grunt of appreciation. He imagined that he’d just tasted the nectar of the gods. He visualised waves of ecstasy in his heart and mind. Somehow he hoped that by conjuring up this manufactured bliss, it would reflect upon his face.

  He pretended to swallow the tea with an exaggerated gulp. Then he closed his eyes, his lips stretching out into a half-smile.

  For the next minute, Walker sat there in silence, holding what little tea he’d tipped into his mouth underneath his tongue.

  Finally he glanced over at the others.

  Achilles was watching him. Slowly the Giant’s intense expression broke and a rapturous grin spread out across his face. Without saying anything, he raised the mug in his hands and brought it towards his lips. Then he poured it down, draining at least half the contents in one go.

  “Somebody wants to get high,” Achilles said, pointing a finger at Walker. He took another swig of mushroom tea and let out a long sigh.

  The others started drinking along with their leader.

  “My God, that’s good,” Achilles said, wiping his chin dry. “Isn’t that good Walker?” His shoulders slumped as he sat at ease, like a man who’d just realised his shift was over and now he was off-duty and free to party.

  Walker didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. His mouth was full of warm, disgusting liquid. If they’d forced him to speak in that moment then it would be over. It felt like his tongue was getting numb too, but he didn’t want to ignore Achilles and risk pissing him off so he nodded quickly in response to the man’s question, remaining as attentive as possible.

  He wrapped his lips around the rim of the mug. This time he didn’t drink anything – he just held it there, watching the four Giants on the other side of the room, slowly disappearing down the rabbit hole. Nobody was watching him anymore. They were slipping away slowly, all of them on their way to Disneyland.

  When he was certain nobody was looking at him, Walker let the tea in his mouth drop back into the cup. He did this quickly and as quietly as he could. Then he slid a hand over the rim of the mug to shield the evidence.

  He took a few more exaggerated slurps but no more tea entered his mouth. Then he laid his head against the cold wall and closed his eyes. He pretended to be high. Warm colours, friendly faces, snowy mountain peaks, and magical worlds – that’s what he imagined dancing in front of him. Each and every manufactured frame was magnificent and as he watched them go by, he laughed softly to himself.

  It was an illusion of contentment.

  The Giants were talking on the other side of the room. It was mostly Achilles and Pax, conjuring up conversations that as time passed, grew more and more nonsensical. They were talking about everything. Walker heard them blabbering on about the possibility of UFOs hovering over London. Pax was convinced that the Mothership – a four thousand mile wide disc – was sitting above Earth right now. Of course, they said – it had been aliens who’d sealed off London. It made perfect sense that they were turning the major cities of the world into colonies one at a time. This led them onto a conversation about The X-Files and both Achilles and Pax spent some time discussing the attractiveness of the red-haired woman in the show. Neither man could recall whether it was Mulder or Scully they wanted to fuck.

  Walker sat in the far corner of the room, biding his time.

  Pearl was sitting on her chair like a statue, staring into empty space. Her eyes were two black holes, a million miles away from Croydon. Walker wondered if she was thinking about her long-lost fiancée – what was his name? Izzy? Dizzy? Maybe she was thinking about New York, about home.

  Nadia was leaning back on the seat, her head slumped forward and swaying from side to side like it was hanging on by a thread. She’d drifted off into a light sleep and was snoring lightly. One hand was resting on her bandaged leg.

  Finally, all conversation amongst the Giants fizzled out into a welcome silence. Walker still watched them, rarely taking his eyes off the two men in particular.

  Pax’s face was grim. Now he leaned forward in his seat, doubled over, his face buried deep in the palms of his hands. Walker heard some muffled wailing, followed by a volley of curse words spewing out of his mouth like bullets from a gun.

  Achilles tried to comfort his friend. The Giants’ leader patted Pax sluggishly on the back, a gesture of support that seemed to be happening in slow motion.

  “C’mon man,” Achilles said. “Don’t fuck up the trip for the rest of us. We’ve got to stay on top of this, right? Soop’s gone man, he’s gone. We’ll get through it though, we will mate. Don’t crumble on me – I need you to be strong. The Giants need you to be strong.”

  Pearl leapt to her feet, having noticed Pax’s distress. She went over and knelt in front of his chair, squeezing him gently on the arm like a concerned parent trying to get a response out of a distressed child.

  Nadia was still fast asleep, oblivious to everything else.

  “Sooper wouldn’t want this,” Pearl said. “He loved you Pax, he wouldn’t want this for you.”

  “You’re alright mate,” Achilles said. His arm was stuck in a never-ending loop, patting Pax on the back with all the feeling of a mechanical doll. “Sooper’s not in pain anymore mate,” he said. “Wherever he is now, he’s happy. He’s out of this shithole at the very least, right?”

  “This is NOT what Sooper would want,” Pearl said.

  Pax lifted his head and looked at the others. His eyes were damp and bloodshot.

  “He was just a little kid when I met him,” he said. “What a boy – he was forced to grow up in this place surrounded by all this horrible shit. Knowing that the world outside didn’t want him. He never got to do all those things you’re supposed to do when you’re nineteen. Girls and football matches and parties and – LIFE! At least we had a taste of that before it all went tits up. But not Soop. I’m sorry little brother.”

  Pax broke down, while the others moved into comfort him.

  It went back and forth like that for a while – Pax reminiscing about Sooper and then breaking down into a flood of tears. Walker couldn’t believe how much water could pour out of one man’s eyes – or was it mushroom tea?

  Still, Walker was starting to get worried. Too much time was passing by and the Giants were stuck in a loop, comforting Pax and doing little else that afforded him the opportunity of escape.

  How long did have?

  Walker thought about using blunt force. He could charge at the others in the hope that they were too far gone to stop him. But it was a big risk – they were still carrying their swords and he was unarmed. Four against one, he didn’t want to face those odds until no other options were left to him.

  “Look Pax,” Achilles said, standing up at long last. “You need to take your mind off things.”

  Walker’s heart skipped a beat. He sat on the floor watching as Achilles reached a fumbling hand into the pocket of his dark jeans. A moment later he was holding a phone in his hand, waving it aloft like it was something he�
��d just found.

  There was a silly grin on his face as he spoke.

  “Let’s do something eh?” he said, looking at his companions. “It’s no good all of us being cooped up in here. What I mean is – it’s bloody depressing. C’mon Pax. You need to get up, move around – know what I mean? How about a game of something? C’mon son – what about a round of Magic Birds. Level Seven, that’s the one you said you were stuck on right? Level Eight? And there’s bound to be a new version of the game ready for download. C’mon people, let’s do something. Right Pearl?”

  “Yeah,” Pearl said, sounding genuinely enthusiastic. “I wanna play. What d’ya say Pax?”

  Pax glanced at Pearl. He wiped the tears off his face with the back of his hand.

  “Yeah,” he said, pointing at Achilles’ phone. “Let’s hunt some fucking birds man. Let’s kill something.”

  Pax laughed hysterically – a cackling bird-like sound that woke Nadia up out of her slumber. As Nadia’s eyes shot open, her hands leapt out in front of her, like she was blocking the attack of an invisible monster.

  “What the fuck?” she said, her eyes darting back and forth across the room. “What’s going on?”

  Walker’s heart was pounding. At last, he could see a way out of this place – he could see it and almost touch it. It was going to be easy. Their mushroom minds were going to allow him the opportunity to escape and when it came, he would grab it with both hands.

  He pinned his back up against the wall.

  Across the room, the Giants were huddled together, their heads buried deep in a circle of phones as they tried to load the game on each of their devices. There was a sense of excitement bubbling in the air, like a group of kids waiting in line to go into a pop concert.

  Walker heard the familiar electronic jingles of the phones waking up. He saw the bright colours leaping out of the screens.

  He waited. Any second now, they would go. And so would he.

  Pax grunted – an animalistic expression of confusion. It was like watching Neanderthal man trying to get to grips with twenty-first century technology. Walker looked over and saw Pax frowning, looking at his phone and shaking his head. He gave the phone a hard slap and then looked at the screen again.

  “Signal’s no good in here man,” he said. “It ain’t showing us where the fucking birds are hiding out.”

  “No shit,” Pearl said. “I’m not getting anything.”

  “C’mon,” Pax said. “We’ll get a better signal outside. I need to get out this room anyway. There’s bad vibes in this building, I’m telling ya.”

  “Yeah,” Achilles said. “Let’s move out soldiers.”

  The Giants began filing towards the door.

  Walker didn’t dare move. He didn’t dare blink in case they heard him doing so. He just sat there on the floor, watching the four Giants moving out like a pack of drunks shuffling towards the pub exit at closing time. Pearl walked beside Nadia, allowing her friend to lean on her shoulder as she limped out of the classroom.

  “C’mon ladies.”

  Achilles held the door open for Nadia and Pearl, allowing them to exit ahead of the two men. Pax followed closely behind, still wrestling with the dilemma of his phone. He disappeared into the corridor without a word.

  Walker felt the cold air seeping through the gap in the doorway.

  Achilles lingered at the door, a silent shape facing the corridor. He took a step forward, like he was about to follow on the heels of Pax. Then he stopped again.

  He turned his face towards Walker.

  “You too,” he said, curling his index finger in a come hither gesture. “You’re coming with us friend.”

  Walker’s heart sank but only briefly. It wasn’t over, at least not yet. He was getting out of this room and that was progress. He didn’t argue with Achilles and he got back to his feet quickly, staggering across the room as if he was floating in a mushroom haze like the rest of them.

  “Coming,” he said.

  Walker hurried past Achilles, stepping out into the freezing corridor. Immediately he shivered and then wrapped his long, dark coat around his body. The cold air drifting in from the playground was an icy claw and it was reaching out for him.

  With the Giants’ leader at his back, Walker followed the others down the corridor towards the door. It was a short walk but it felt like forever before he stepped onto the playground.

  Walker pulled the hood over his head, burying his face behind the worn fabric. Looking up, the sky was a blanket of thick, grey clouds, which along with the freezing temperatures, hinted at the promise of snow.

  Pax ran onto the playground ahead of the others. He started pacing back and forth, lifting his phone towards the sky in search of a reception. When he brought the phone back down to check its status, he growled like an angry dog.

  “There’s still no signal!” he yelled back to the others. “What the fuck is going on here?”

  Achilles stormed across the playground like a man possessed. He did the same thing as Pax – held his phone aloft and howled in dismay when he didn’t get anywhere. Pearl and Nadia followed him out too. They scattered themselves across the playground and tried desperately to load up the game.

  Walker noticed the look on their faces – a look of fear and anger combined.

  “I’m not getting anything!” Nadia said. “Pearl?”

  “Nada,” Pearl said. “Not a fucking thing. Why is this happening?”

  Walker stood at the door watching them; it was like he was hypnotised by this bizarre scene unfolding in front of him. He couldn’t help but feel that he was looking at a strange painting that had come to life, a piece of 3D modern artwork that was trying to convey some hidden message.

  Go. Run.

  Walker took several steps backwards. He moved quietly towards the school building. He kept his eyes in front of him, on the Giants still wandering around like lost souls. Reaching a hand behind him, he found the icy metal handle and opened the door. Then he slipped discreetly back inside the school.

  Go. Run.

  Walker ran. He raced down the corridor towards the Living Room. He didn’t look back over his shoulder, not once. Throwing the door open, he charged into the empty room that was still basking in the warm afterglow of the electric heater.

  He pulled the hood down and looked to his left. The long-handled axe was still lying on the floor where the Giants had left it. He hurried over and picked up the weapon. To Walker’s surprise, his body shook with relief as he held the axe in his hands.

  He felt whole again.

  Escape would be easy now. It was inevitable. All he had to do was sneak out the back door and leave the Sleeping Giants behind forever. He would miss Kojiro of course, there was no doubt of that. Walker was certain that his sparring partner had played no part in this deception. And Kojiro would surely lament the loss of Walker too; someone who had given him hope for the future of the Giants.

  But it was time to move on.

  Walker was about to leave the Living Room when he caught sight of himself in the broken mirror on the wall. His short black hair was as dark as the winter mornings. His skin was ghostly white, almost otherworldly. There was nothing of the young Mack Walker left in those eyes, those black eyes that looked back at him from the other side of the shattered glass.

  Go. Run.

  I will not. Not yet.

  Walker turned away from the mirror and slowly, he stepped back out into the corridor. Without thinking, he found himself walking along the narrow passageway that led towards the front door.

  Towards the Giants.

  He opened the door and stepped outside onto the playground. Once more, he pulled the black hood over his head. Then he strolled onto the playground like a man without a care in the world.

  They didn’t see him, not at first. The Sleeping Giants were still at war with their phones, still battling with the injustice of having their toys taken away from them for whatever reason.

  Walker took several steps f
orward and then he stopped. He grimaced as a distant voice at the back of his mind fought to be heard.

  What are you doing? Go. Run.

  Fragile snowflakes dropped from the greyish gloom above.

  I will not. Not yet.

  Walker adjusted his grip on the long handle of the axe, spacing his hands a couple of inches apart. That was the one he liked best so far – that was the grip that came to him naturally.

  Achilles saw him first. When the Giants’ leader spotted the axe in Walker’s hands, his face lit up. There was a crazed look in his eye like he’d just seen the Devil walking straight towards him.

  “No!” he yelled. “No!”

  Achilles dropped his phone. He reached down to his waist and pulled the short sword out of the scabbard. Then with reckless abandon, he charged at Walker.

  But Achilles was drugged and clumsy. He was swinging when he was well out of range, convinced that he was hitting more than just thin air.

  Walker heard the others shouting in the distance. He’d have to be quick. He stepped forward and swung the axe over his head. He planted his feet, digging down as best he could on the slippery playground. He felt nothing as the axe came down, a lighting quick slashing motion that sliced clean through Achilles’ upper body, tearing its way downward with ease. It wasn’t a deep cut but it was a long vertical wound that offered little hope for the man on the wrong end of the blade.

  Achilles didn’t cry out as the axe cut him open. There was only a brief wheezing sound, like a dying man gasping for air. Then he went down, his body crashing to the earth like a demolished tower block building.

  Walker heard a woman screaming.

  He looked up and saw Pearl running towards him. She had her sword drawn.

  “You motherfucker!” she yelled. Her face was distorted with rage. “How could you?”