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‘Rev?’ he calls out, indicating he needs my help, but also that he wants me away from Other-Johnson.

I start to move, but Other-Johnson grips my hand tighter and all but pulls me back. ‘I mean it,’ he whispers. ‘I’m lost to you.’

I try to ignore the violent flip my heart makes and ease my hand from his.

‘How do I know?’
I ask him silently
. ‘Maybe these feelings are the feelings you have for your Rev. You’re just confused. I make you think of
her.’

‘You make me think of you,’
he tells me in no uncertain terms.
‘I wish you didn’t, but you do.’

He doesn’t take his eyes off me as I help to put Billie gently on the luggage trolley.

‘We should get a key card, find a room and put her in it,’ Johnson says, his eyes avoiding mine.

‘Uh, hang on.’ I head back behind the reception and glance at the CCTV screen. The only movement is GG and the Moth locking the rear entrance. They have found an electronically
operated grille that slides slowly down. It should make me feel safe and reassured, but I’m not convinced. The hotel feels more like a prison now.

But as I see the grille coming down I remember that the Ape is still outside and we really can’t lock him out with whatever else is out there. As soon as I think of him my phone vibrates.
It’s like he has a sixth sense, because when I answer the Ape’s voice booms out, almost deafening me.

‘I’m not coming back.’

‘Ape!’ I’m so relieved to hear his voice.

‘EVER,’ he shouts. ‘NOT EVER.’

‘Why are you shouting?’

‘Why shouldn’t I?’

‘Where are you?’

‘Like you care.’

‘Course I do.’

‘Didn’t come after me.’

‘Ape, I wanted to—’

‘It’s not Ape, it’s Dazza.’

‘Dazza, please.’

‘I don’t care that you all hate me.’

‘We don’t. You’re a part of the gang.’

‘Don’t care. The gang’s dead to me.’

‘Well I care that you don’t care,’ I say, then regret it because it might confuse him. ‘Come back.’

‘Nope.’

‘We’re a team, you and me. Remember?’

‘No we’re not.’

‘I need you. We got attacked, Carrie got . . . She didn’t make it.’

The Ape falls silent.

‘And she was attacked because she went out to find you. She was going to try and get you to come back. Because you’re one of us, that was what she said. Her last thought was worrying
about you.’

‘You’re only saying that.’

‘I was on my way to get you as well. Because I’m the same. I care too.’

The Ape takes a few seconds to formulate a response. ‘How much?’

I laugh to myself. ‘This much.’ I hold my hands apart. Not that he can see me do it.

But he takes this on board and I’m hoping I’ve made some headway.

‘Billie was just stressed,’ I tell him. ‘And there’s something not right about her. She’s, I dunno, she’s changing.’ Saying it out loud seems to make it
all the more real and I lose my way for a moment.

The Ape tightens up at the mention of Billie. I can hear it in his voice. ‘I liked her.’

‘I know.’

‘We clicked.’

‘You two, you were like a house on fire.’ I know he’s delusional to think he had a chance with Billie but I need to lure him back to the hotel. ‘Ape, c’mon. Come
back.’

‘Thing is, Rev, I got some thoughts together. And you know what?’

‘What?’

‘I like it here. Even if I don’t know where here is.’

I take a moment, imagining there’s more. ‘OK,’ I say eventually.

‘I’m staying.’

He trails off again. I wait. He doesn’t speak again for a good thirty seconds. When he does, he lowers his voice and I wonder if he’s hiding some feeling of upset. ‘You lot can
go back home. I’ll be all right on my own.’

‘You’d get bored. No one to beat up.’

‘I’ll get a boat, sail somewhere.’

‘There’s no one else anywhere. It’s empty.’

‘You’ve got something to go back to. I haven’t.’

‘You’ve got plenty.’

‘Like what?’

I rack my brains, wishing I could think of something.

We both fall silent as Johnson comes over. ‘You found a key card yet?’ he asks me.

‘It’s the Ape,’ I tell him.

‘Dazza,’ corrects the Ape.

‘Dazza,’ I repeat.

Johnson nods and takes the phone from me. ‘We need you back here,’ he says to the Ape before handing it back to me and looking for a room key.

‘We’re locking the hotel up so you need to come back now,’ I tell the Ape.

Johnson finds a drawer with key cards scattered inside it. He grabs a handful and heads back to help Billie.

‘Dazza? You still there? You don’t want to be locked on the outside.’

‘I’m on the outside even if I’m inside.’ Which is a way more insightful thought than I would ever give the Ape credit for. ‘So name me one thing I should come back
for,’ he adds.

I rack my brains wondering how I can get through to his big thick brain. Then it hits me. ‘For the fight,’ I tell him eventually.

Again he falls silent. The moment expands and for a second I get scared that he’s hung up. But then I hear him clear his throat.

‘I’ll get you home, Rev,’ he says. ‘But after that I’m staying here.’

My heart sinks. I really can’t leave him here, not the Ape. I silently vow to find a way to persuade him before it’s too late.

‘That mean you’re coming back to the hotel?’

‘I guess.’

I breathe a huge sigh of relief. ‘Good, because I know Carrie’s dead but I really don’t want anyone else to die.’

‘Stick insect isn’t dead.’

‘Uh, yeah, she is. I told you, remember?’

‘I just saw her.’

My eyes immediately go to Other-Johnson. He’s obviously been listening in as he is back in my head in an instant.

‘
Did she see him?’
he asks me.

‘Did she see you?’ I ask the Ape.

‘Dunno.’

‘Did he speak to her?
’

‘Did you talk to her?’

‘I’m not talking to no one. Well. I’m talking now, to you, but right then I wasn’t talking to anyone.’

‘Where is she now?’ I ask the Ape.

‘Dunno.’

‘Tell him to go really careful.’

‘That’s not the real Carrie, so listen, OK?
Listen.
You mustn’t let her see you. And you can’t talk to her and, please, don’t go and pick a fight with her
either.’

‘He’s got to be silent,’
whispers Other-Johnson in my head.
‘Totally silent.’

‘Silently as you can.’ I lower my voice so much, I doubt the Ape can hear me.

‘I got it. I’m not stupid.’

‘Did I say you were?’

I wait for a response and when none comes I try again. ‘Don’t go anywhere near her.’

The phone call ends abruptly. I look at my phone and it just tells me how long I have been speaking for. I press redial but it goes straight to answerphone. The Ape’s message is
accompanied by ‘Eye of the Tiger’. ‘
Yowza to the yowza. Leave your skinny words and the Dazman will pump you right back.
’

‘Ape? Where did you go? Ape?’ I say into the machine.

I hang up and stare at my phone, willing it to vibrate with a call from the Ape. I walk back towards the doorway that Other-Johnson is still slumped in.

‘Are the others out there?’ I ask him.

He shrugs. ‘I can’t tell.’

‘Thought you could see into people?’

‘I’m kind of struggling with that right now. Doing what I did to GG wiped me out.’

‘You just talked to me in my head.’

‘You’re close.’ He thinks for a second. ‘And you’re also you. We’ve got a . . . bond.’

‘What about the other Rev? Your Rev? You have a bond with her, right?’

‘I think you broke it.’

My phone vibrates and I immediately answer. ‘Ape?’

‘Told you, it’s Dazza.’

‘Where’d you go?’

‘Had to stay quiet, like you said.’

‘You see Carrie again?’

‘Nah. But I saw me.’

‘You?’

‘Yeah.’

I look to the Other-Johnson and take in his battered body. ‘Get here quick,’ I tell the Ape.

The Ape ends the call and I go to the CCTV screens and study each one of them in turn. There’s no sign of the Non-Ape or Carrie Two. GG and the Moth have closed a side entrance now. More
metal grilles guard against entry. I briefly wonder if that’s like putting out a big sign saying ‘WE’RE IN HERE!’ but it’s done now and all we can do is wait this
out.

Other-Johnson tries to get to his feet but he’s too weak and sinks back down to the floor again.

‘Will Billie do it?’ I ask him. ‘Bring my dad – or the other Rev’s dad – back to life?’

‘She’ll do enough to get him jump-started,’ he says. ‘But it won’t be enough to bring your –
or Rev’s
– father back to full life. They
still need the Moth to make that happen. They can get him fixed up properly back home. Billie’ll be worn out from putting Lucas back together for a second time.’

‘If they’ve found him.’

‘Good point. Let’s hope they haven’t, considering what I did to him.’

I get a scary thought. ‘Wouldn’t that mean you can’t go back with them?’

His eyes meet mine full on. ‘Who said I was planning to?’

The searing intensity of his words make me take a metaphorical step back.

He can’t stop looking at me and I can’t stop looking at him.

‘But you have to.’

‘Why?’ There’s a daring look in his eye. ‘Who says?’

I am lost for words. He’s basically telling me he’s going to cross a universe to be with me. At least I think he is.

Johnson returns and walks over to us. ‘Billie’s in room seven,’ he says and bends to help get Other-Johnson to his feet. ‘Seems like you could do with a rest too. Want me
to show you to a room?’

‘I’d be delighted.’ Other-Johnson manages a smile at his double. Or is it Johnson’s double? I can’t figure it out any more.

‘Word of warning.’ Other-Johnson looks back at me. ‘If you thought GG was bad, you haven’t seen what Carrie can do. And the worst thing is, you won’t even know
she’s done it till it’s too late.’

‘Does she hate me? Like in my world?’

Other-Johnson avoids my look and doesn’t want to say, but that’s an answer in itself.
That’s great
, I think –
that’s really just the icing on a
miserable cake
.

I watch them pass the reception desk and it dawns on me that I really need to move Carrie and Evil-GG’s bodies. But I don’t know if I can bring myself to touch them. Blankets will
have to do. The unconscious Evil-GG isn’t really going to pose much of a threat now that he’s trapped inside Carrie’s brittle, bloodless body. She/he hasn’t moved since I
hit her/him with the chair and I can only presume the body he’s inside is completely dead now.

The thought doesn’t fill me with much in the way of self-esteem. Battering someone who was already dead is the lowest of the low.

A movement on the CCTV screen grabs my attention. The Ape is lumbering towards the front of the hotel and I go quickly to meet him.

He walks in, more subdued than usual, but I need him at his best.

‘We’ve got stuff to do. The others are out there and we need to make sure we’re safe,’ I say, trying to rally him.

‘Let’s get it done.’ He winces and I wonder if his ribs still hurt.

‘You OK?’

‘You calling me a wuss?’

The Ape helps me close the last entrance grille and we stand together, watching it slowly lower to the floor.

‘Fort Knox,’ I say.

‘What’s that?’

‘A big bank. Lots of gold.’

‘I want to go there.’

The Moth and GG arrive back in the lobby after sealing every door and window they could find. GG is trailing two large duvets and he stops by his doppelganger before laying a duvet over him. The
Moth wheels over towards Carrie’s body and he almost can’t bring himself to lay a duvet over her. GG joins him and attempts a prayer.

‘Dear God, please take Carrie and make sure she eats something up there. Despite what she was like and how she sometimes came across as a total bitch, she was one of us, God, so take care
of her.’

‘That’s not Carrie,’ I say meekly. ‘What I mean is, she’s not in that body any more.’

‘Oh, I’m hopeless. You’re right. Moth, this way,’ GG says and strides back to Evil-GG. He points emphatically. ‘That’s her.’

The bewildered Moth whirrs round to face Evil-GG’s body. He looks ready to implode with bewilderment. ‘But that’s her.’ He points back to Carrie’s body.
‘Isn’t it?’

Even his brilliant brain is continuing its struggle to cope and he looks cruelly lost.

‘Wait,’ says GG weighing it up. ‘Let’s do eenie meenie.’

The Moth howls and GG is quick to try and placate him.

‘Joking!
This
is definitely Carrie.’ GG points to Evil-GG’s body.

‘Definitely?’

‘Definitely.’

‘OK.’ The Moth tries to brace himself. ‘That’s her. Right. Got it.’ He wipes his red-rimmed eyes as he gathers himself and adds to GG’s earlier prayer.
‘I liked her, God. I hope you like her too.’

I fight that now familiar swelling lump in my throat as GG stands beside the Moth’s motorised wheelchair in a deeply respectful silence.

I check on the Ape to see if he’s holding up but he’s not even watching.

‘Ape.’ I nudge him quietly.

‘Listen,’ he says.

I fall silent, but can’t hear anything.

‘Another great thing about me is my hearing,’ says the Ape.

I listen hard, but there’s still nothing.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

GG and the Moth have stopped because they have now heard something too.

‘He’s outside,’ whispers the Ape.

‘Non-Ape?’

He nods.

And now I hear it. Lumbering footsteps passing right outside.

GG and the Moth don’t move a hair as we stand stock-still, waiting for the Non-Ape to walk all the way past the front of the hotel.

One footstep after the other, plodding but thunderous. And then they stop, right outside the entrance grille.

Silence descends.

Then the grille is shaken.

GG can’t help it and a sharp intake of breath squeaks out of him.

The grille immediately stops shaking.