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‘Why was that?’ asks the Moth.

‘I dunno, I just felt – and I know how this’ll sound – but it was like I knew him.’

Johnson gets slowly to his feet. He pulls his jeans a little higher on his snake hips. ‘So you think you knew this burned guy?’

I nod.

‘OK.’ Johnson eases back against the edge of the table and his long legs stretch out in front of him.

‘Where’d the burned man come from?’ the Moth asks.

‘A lorry. Out back of the supermarket. It’s where he got burned. In the driver’s cabin.’ I show them some of my burns. ‘I got these climbing up there.’

The burns are really sore now and I have been ignoring them as best I can. But, looking down at my arms, I can see they are raw and peeling and need attention.

‘So Rev Two knows the man,’ says the Moth.

‘But
our
Rev also knows him,’ adds Billie.

‘I only think I do,’ I say.

‘Yeah, but if that Rev is getting the same feeling you had . . .’ the Moth says and then trails off to give this some more thought. ‘Only hers is stronger, her feeling is much
more potent.’ The Moth becomes more animated. ‘She’s crying because she knows him. She’s holding him because . . . Because—’

‘She loves him,’ finishes Johnson.

We take a moment to digest this.

‘So who do you love, Rev?’ asks Carrie instantly. ‘If you can tell us that, then we can work out who he is, and maybe where he came from.’

Everyone’s eyes are on me.

‘Who do you love, Rev?’ Johnson asks.

‘Well . . .’

I look at Johnson and realise I can’t bring myself to say. It’s the last thing I want to tell him.

‘Kyle,’ I say in a really tiny weak voice, as if that’s going to stop the sound travelling far enough to reach Johnson. But it does and he hears it all too clearly because I
see him shift slightly. It’s the tiniest movement, but it still says too much.
Oh my God
, I think.
It wasn’t just the painkillers making me giddy. It was him.
Johnson
.

‘Her boyfriend,’ Billie explains a little louder than I’d have liked.

Johnson has fallen silent and I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not but I swear he looks disappointed. I can feel the rapport between us disintegrating.

‘So, that’s Kyle lying there.’ Carrie’s voice breaks as she says this. ‘Kyle,’ she repeats for good measure.

Johnson isn’t even looking at me any more and turns his focus entirely on Billie now.

‘Do you think it was Kyle?’

‘It could be—’

‘But I wouldn’t cry like that,’ I butt in. ‘I wouldn’t. In fact I didn’t.’ I don’t know if this outburst makes it ten times better or ten times
worse. Johnson probably thinks I’m the most heartless unfeeling cow in the world now. ‘What I mean is, I don’t know if I do love Kyle.’

‘What a bitch,’ sneers Carrie. ‘Burns himself to death and all you can do is wonder about your feelings for him.’

‘It wasn’t him!’ I say. ‘It wasn’t!’

‘So if it’s not Kyle, who else do you love?’ the Moth asks.

My eyes flick straight to Johnson but he is pretending to be deep in thought.

‘Brother, father?’ the Moth presses.

‘There’s my dad. But I never really knew him.’ To my surprise that simple statement brings a croak in my voice. A memory comes with it. A four-year-old version of me sitting in
my dad’s lap while he typed on a computer. My father’s arms had to reach past me, and I could feel his chin resting on the top of my head as he typed. His fingers were long and thin and
I used to imagine that we were playing a piano together. He walked out on Mum and me over twelve years ago. No word, no letter, just a man who never came back. A man I’ve still never
forgiven.

‘So process of elimination says that if it’s anyone, it’s your dad,’ the Moth concludes.

Everyone falls quiet.

‘No,’ I say, ‘I told you, I don’t even know him.’

‘But what if it’s
her
dad?’ says Billie. ‘Rev Two’s dad.’

‘How could that even be possible?’

‘How’s it possible the entire population have gone missing?’ shrugs the Moth.

‘Good point, Hawkings,’ says Carrie and the Moth lets a small smile escape from his lips.

Johnson stands, mind made up. ‘It’s Rev Two’s dad. Has to be,’ he says calmly and then speaks to the Ape. ‘You can’t kill her, Ape.’

‘But I’ve got this great weapon.’

‘Listen to me.’ There’s steel in Johnson’s voice now. ‘We’re coming back. We need to talk to Rev Two. She knows the burned guy’s her dad and if she
knows that, then she might know a whole load of other stuff, including how we get out of this mess. Talking to her is our only chance. Everyone agreed?’

Everyone murmurs a yes, though equally no one’s that crazy about confronting a possibly violent supercharged version of me.

‘Zoom back in on her and we’ll be right there,’ says Johnson.

‘Zooming now,’ comes the response.

Johnson ends the call and there is a palpable sense of unease in the carriage. It seems we can’t run, we can’t hide and, for good or bad, we’re destined to always return to a
small market town in Hertfordshire.

Johnson looks at me for the first time in what seems like ages. ‘You OK?’

‘No.’ Which is the absolute truth on so many levels now.

The slow reversal into town is made in a stunted silence. Sometimes words just won’t come, and this goes for all of us until the Moth, his brow burrowed deep in thought,
speaks.

‘Who was your dad, Rev?’ he asks.

‘What do you mean?’

‘What did he do? What was his job? Only if they are copies of us, then maybe their families are the same as the ones we have.’

‘So?’ Carrie stifles a yawn. As soon as she does, it reminds me of how strung out and battered we are. I have run out of painkillers and still don’t know how to tell Johnson
that I could really do with his medical touch.

‘
Ding ding
, this is your captain speaking.’ GG’s voice echoes through the carriages. ‘We’ll be arriving at our destination in the next couple of minutes,
please collect all your belongings, failure to do so will result in a million-pound fine.’ GG’s sing-song voice makes me smile and Billie follows suit.

‘He is such a nut,’ she says.

‘D’you know anything about your dad at all?’ the Moth persists.

‘He was a scientist,’ I shrug.

‘A scientist?’ The Moth straightens up at this. ‘What field?’

‘She said a scientist, not a farmer.’ Carrie yawns again and her joke is as tired as she is.

‘I dunno. He wrote a scientific thesis though. About space and stuff. I don’t really know much about it.’

The Moth seems to have come alive now. ‘Is it well known?’

‘I don’t think anyone read it. Apparently he was on the verge of publishing this amazing paper but my mum said it was suddenly withdrawn. That’s what sent my dad off the rails,
or so she said. The fact that he put all his life’s work into it and then it was just gone. Snatched away.’

‘You have a copy?’

‘Somewhere in our flat, I think.’

Johnson regards the Moth. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘If Rev’s dad is a scientist then wouldn’t Rev Two’s dad be one as well?’

We’re all thinking about this when the train stops its gentle movement. But we’re not at the train station yet.

‘
Ding ding.
I just popped my head out of the window and I’m afraid there’s something rather large on the line.’ GG’s voice is barely a whisper.

Everyone instantly freezes at this and even Carrie shrugs off her fatigue and sits bolt upright. Johnson moves quickly into the empty driver’s cabin at the front. He is peering down the
track and when I join him I see the last thing in the world I ever want to set eyes on.

It’s the Ape. Only it’s not the Ape. It’s Non-Ape and he is big. Huge. A rhino walking upright. And he’s heading straight towards our train.

‘Everyone get down!’ Johnson urges.

Carrie hits the deck and I come face to face with her under a table as Billie slips out of sight under her table.

‘People!’ The Moth’s whiny petrified voice breaks through and I realise that he can’t get down from his seat without help. I can’t believe we keep forgetting about
him.

Johnson gets back up into a crouch and unceremoniously drags the Moth to the floor just as the Non-Ape’s face peers through one of the windows.

The sunlight and grime on the window makes it difficult for the Non-Ape to see clearly so he cups his massive hands around his face and screws up his empty soulless eyes to try to get a better
look.

‘Anyone there?’ His voice is a deep rumble that I swear makes the window vibrate.

I am holding my breath as tight as tight.

A slab of meaty hand thumps on the train window. ‘Anyone?’

He sounds as slow and dense as our Ape and I hope to God that his brain can compute that because there is no response, there might not be anyone on the train. I glance across the aisle at
Johnson and he puts a finger to his lips.

‘Hey!’ The Non-Ape is so strong that he shakes the train carriage and I am about to fly out into the open aisle when Carrie catches my wrist and hauls me back. I’m amazed at
how strong she is and that she actually helped me.

‘He sees you, he’ll see us all,’ she whispers coldly.

The Non-Ape shakes the carriage again. ‘Anyone?’ It’s taking him an eternity to work out that no response means that nobody is home.

Billie is wide-eyed with fear and the Moth grips the metal leg of the table Johnson has shoved him under as the carriage rattles back and forth.

‘Anyone home?’ He shakes the carriage again. ‘Anyone?’

After a long silence the Non-Ape heads off to the next carriage.

No one moves.

Carrie makes as if to speak, but the Moth stretches over and stops her, clamping his hand over her mouth and shaking his head vehemently.

Billie looks at me, paralysed with fear.

‘It’s OK,’ I mouth to her ‘It’ll be OK.’

We hear the lumbering footsteps of the Non-Ape as he walks all around the train and I hope to God GG is well hidden in the driver’s cabin. The footsteps then stop at the window above where
I’m hiding. He is trying to look in the carriage again.

‘Anyone?’

I want desperately to breathe, but I’m scared he’ll have super-hearing or something.

The world falls silent as the Non-Ape waits for a response. It’s hard to believe but I think he might be even stupider than our Ape. Surely he should have got the message by now. But his
face squashes up against the window as his eyes continue to search the carriage. I can see the shadow of his massive head blocking out the sunlight. He is right above me now and I don’t know
if I can hold my breath much longer. The shadow stays over me until the Non-Ape finally steps away from the window and I dare to let myself breathe.

The Moth lets his hand slip from Carrie’s mouth and Johnson dares to move his leg, which is curled up and cramped under him.

‘Has he gone?’ whispers Carrie.

The Non-Ape suddenly punches the train and the indentation he makes erupts towards me. The side of the carriage caves inwards under the massive blow and, as the metal screeches under the impact,
I am propelled into the aisle. I quickly scurry across it and hide under the table opposite me. I go as fast as I can but have no idea if the Non-Ape has seen me.

‘Hey!’ he bellows.

I am mute with terror now.

Johnson tries to signal to me to stay hidden, but the carriage is shaken violently again and this time it’s harder than ever to hold on. The Non-Ape punches the carriage again and
there’s another screech of metal as the carriage bows inwards. He’s the same destroyer that our Ape is, not caring if anyone is here or not, just wanting to break something. His great
fist comes clean through one of the windows and showers Carrie and the Moth in glass. I can see she’s on the verge of screaming and the Moth has to launch himself on top of her to stop her,
which is a considerable feat considering he can’t use his legs. He manages to shield her under him as another window is punched clean out.

More glass spills into the carriage and it rains down on Billie this time – she tries her best to squirm out of sight as the Non-Ape laughs above her head. He sounds just like the real
Ape, only deeper and more earth trembling. Another window is punched clean out and I scramble under the chairs now. It’s nigh on impossible, but I stretch as thin as I can.

The Non-Ape’s head thrusts through one of the broken windows. ‘Tickets please,’ he says.

I almost squeal when I realise he must be able to see us. Johnson quietly takes the emergency hammer from his back pocket. I didn’t even know he had kept it. The Non-Ape’s head is
almost directly over Johnson and he must be thinking of smashing him in the face with the hammer. I start shaking my head.
Please don’t do that
, I think,
please don’t think
you can fight him
.
No
, I try and tell him telepathically,
no
.

Johnson silently manoeuvres the hammer into his hand, taking a tight grip.

‘Tickets!’ The Non-Ape’s voice booms around the carriage. He follows it with a laugh and it starts to dawn on me that he hasn’t spotted us at all – he’s just
saying words for his own amusement.

But Johnson is unfolding himself from his hiding place. He’s going to try and hit the Non-Ape, which I absolutely know won’t have any effect.

‘Tickets!’ The Non-Ape is still bellowing with laughter at his infantile joke.

Johnson is ready to launch himself at the Non-Ape’s big fat stupid head and I am caving in on myself because I need Johnson to survive, to be there for us so that he can make all of this
somehow better. He’s the only one who can. I know it. I so, so know it.

Before Johnson can move, the Non-Ape withdraws his head from the window. He punches the carriage one last time and then lumbers away, heading back down the railway line.

‘Where is everyone?’ he bellows at the top of his great voice.

I can’t believe it. He’s gone. We survived.

It’s Carrie who speaks first, whispering to the Moth. ‘Want to get off me?’