“They have Snake!” Chiu says, gleefully.

Farah appears. She hands me a new T-shirt that she’s fetched from the Marks and Spencer on the opposite side of the food court. She doesn’t say anything. She waits while I put it on and then she sits next to me.

“He killed him,” I say.

“Who?” Farah asks.

“Just … somebody. I couldn’t stop him.”

I can feel myself crying. I don’t want to cry in front of Farah, I don’t want to cry in front of anyone, but the tears keep coming. I feel Farah’s arm reach around my shoulder and I lean my head against hers and she leans her head against mine.

“You’ll be OK,” I hear Jonah say. “A bit of a shock the first time, that’s all.”

“Why?” I say. “Why did you—”

“People get stuck here sometimes. I help them on their way,” Jonah says.

“It’s murder,” Farah breathes.

“It’s God’s work,” Jonah replies.

“That’s bullshit,” I spit.

“Now, now, let’s be nice,” Jonah warns. “God has a plan for me, Kyle. Big plans. And you can be a part of them if you pull yourself together.”

I shake my head slightly. “Never.”

“Oh, come on.” Jonah looks disappointed. “You did good today. You felt it, didn’t you? You felt it watching us? Tell me you did.” I don’t answer. “This place isn’t further from reality, you know,” Jonah continues. “It’s closer. You know that, don’t you? The things we do here matter more. When we kill, it doesn’t go unnoticed. This place can make you strong, Kyle. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To feel strong? I can help you with that.”

He turns away.

Did you feel it?

Yes, I felt it.

I felt something close by. I felt its gaze. I couldn’t see its face, but I could feel it watching us, curious, like it was trying to make sense of us. Noticing us.

But I’m not going to tell Jonah that.

Jonah cracks another beer and flaps his hand to tell Levi to hurry up and start playing. Farah’s eyes burn into me. She hates me, I think. Of course she does. I let Jonah murder someone, right in front of me. Farah wouldn’t have done that. She’d have stopped him. She’d have tried, at least. But I didn’t have the guts.

That’s what you want, isn’t it? To feel strong? I can help you with that.

Jonah is dancing more energetically now, bare-chested, lost in whatever this ritual is to him. Levi is lost too, heaving rhythmically on the bellows, his fingers dancing on the keys, his eyes blank and unsettling. Tongue, I notice, has taken himself to his roll mat.

What is the hold Jonah has over them? I wonder.

“Why does he do it?” Farah says. “Why is he searching for people?”

“He’s a collector,” Ose replies.

“A what?”

“He collects people like us, people with skills who can be useful to him. If they’re not useful to him, he … helps them.”

I remember all the questions Jonah was asking the man. Are you a builder? Are you a technical person?

“He was asking about guns,” I say.

The word gun somehow cuts through the music and Levi glances in our direction. Ose tenses. He waits until Levi is once again distracted by his music before he says in a low voice: “You think Jonah is happy with motorbikes, table lamps and an accordion player?”

“What will he do if he finds somebody who can work a gun?” Farah says.

Ose shrugs. “Take over. We’re not the only ones here, you know. Not everyone is hiding in their beds and we come across other groups like ours sometimes. Jonah has big plans for this place. He wants us to get organized. Imagine what a man like Jonah could do if he had weapons.”

A shiver runs through me. Imagine Jonah building his gang, raising an army, ready and waiting for every poor sod who wakes up in this place.

“Why are you with him?” Farah says.

“We were dead men,” Ose says. “Jonah taught us how to live here.”

“This isn’t living.”

The weight of the fruit knife presses against my leg. I got us into this mess because I was too scared to run before, so now it’s up to me to get us out.

“I’ll kill him,” I say.

“You wouldn’t stand a chance,” Ose replies.

“I’ll wait until he’s asleep.”

Ose shakes his head. “When he said this place makes you strong, he meant it.”

“Strong how?”

Ose glances at Levi. He’s saying too much, but a part of him needs to get it out. “Like I say, sometimes we run into other people. Sometimes we fight. But with Jonah, it’s not really a fight. He’s ready for them, always. He smells them coming. They hit him and it’s like they’re nowhere near him. Like he chooses not to be hit. Then he hits them and they fall apart. What he does here, the killing, it makes him powerful. It attracts attention.”

“Attention? From who?” I say.

Ose shakes his head slightly. I’m half relieved he won’t answer.

“What are we supposed to do then?” Farah says.

“Don’t cross him,” Ose says. “You’re important to him, Kyle. That’s the only thing keeping the three of you alive.”

TWENTY-FIVE