The Declaration

own life from the sidelines, never fully taking part.
    As she switched off her engine, though, she frowned. Something wasn’t quite right. The light in the kitchen – she hadn’t left that on, had she? She never left lights on; no one did.
    Taking the key out of the ignition, she turned to open her car door, but before she could do so, it opened for her. Surprised, she looked up, and then her face went white when she saw who it was.
    ‘Ah, Mrs Sharpe. Back from a drive, I see. Identicard, please.’
    Julia silently dug her identity card out of her handbag and watched as it was scanned.
    Then the man smiled icily. ‘And would you mind telling me where it is you’ve been?’
    It felt like they had walked all night.
    They hadn’t, though, Anna realised, looking at her wrist and discovering that it was only a quarter past midnight. It felt much later. And there was so much adrenaline pumping around her body that she felt vaguely unreal, as though it wasn’t her hiding in the shadows, but someone else completely.
    Every corner they turned could have a Catcher behind it. Every time someone looked at them, she was convinced that it was all over. Several times they thought they were being followed and had to duck into alleyways, or down steps into basements, not knowing if they would be cornered and captured, and even when there was no one there at all, Anna kept imagining that there was.
    And all the while they didn’t dare speak because they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves and, anyway, there was nothing to say. Instead, Anna watched Peter in silent admiration as he worked out their direction of travel, choosing routes that enabled them to stay hidden, as invisible to the Legals walking around as Surpluses were expected to be in their employers’ homes.
    As they walked, Peter’s eyes darted around madly, reminding Anna of the first time she’d seen him, back at Grange Hall a few weeks ago. It felt like months ago, years even.
    Every so often, he would stop and check a road sign or some other pointer, would think for a moment, and then nod, as if agreeing with himself on something important, before motioning the way they would go and charging off. Anna could only follow, abandoning any desire for control, for knowledge, for security, and doing all she could to ignore her pounding head and aching feet as they traversed the outskirts of London.
    As the city lights grew brighter and the roads more populated, they found a small area of green with bushes and trees, and hid for a couple of hours until once again the streets were almost deserted and they started to walk again, hugging closely to walls, heads cast downwards, like shadows, like the walking dead.
    Then suddenly, when Anna had stopped even caring about her feet feeling like they were going to fall off, Peter stopped and turned to her.
    ‘We’re here.’
    Anna looked up in shock. She’d been so deep in thought she’d barely noticed the last hour of walking, hadn’t noticed Peter’s pace picking up and his chin lifting as he realised how close to home they were.
    Quickly, he pulled Anna into the shadows and she watched as he knocked on a window just below their feet. He knocked once, twice, then waited a few seconds and knocked again. Immediately a face appeared, then another, and then a door opened at the bottom of a flight of stone steps, similar to the ones they’d been ducking into on the way across London. In a matter of seconds, Anna found herself being bundled through it into a kitchen and arms closing around her. She could hear muffled cries of ‘My baby, my baby!’ and someone sobbing, and she could barely breathe, and it was all she could do to say Peter’s name before her head rocked back and everything went suddenly black.
    Julia tried to smile, but already she could feel her hands shaking. Breaking the law suddenly seemed a less attractive proposition than it had before.
    The man blocking her way was Mr Roper, the Chief Catcher. She’d seen him on the news before, but never in person.
    Be calm , she told herself. They’ve got nothing on you at all. They don’t know a thing.
    ‘I went to see a friend in London,’ she said quickly. ‘Such a cold night, isn’t it? And I haven’t used the car for so long . . . energy coupons, you know. I thought it might be a good idea to take it for a run.’
    Her voice trailed off uncertainly.
    ‘That’s very interesting. I’ll get my men to check that, shall I?’
    Mr Roper’s