The Legacy

choice. They won’t take me away in a van. They won’t take you. I want us to grow old together. Even if we’re only old for a few weeks, days even.’
    ‘Die? Get old?’ Anthony shook his head. ‘Julia, will you please listen to me? I told you, the Authorities have made it clear that –’
    He was trembling. ‘You’re wrong, Julia. The Authorities are clear that everything is under control.’
    ‘And you believe them? You believe what you have been told?’ Julia demanded, her eyes gripping his, her voice quivering with emotion. ‘Really?’
    He swallowed, looked away. ‘The Authorities’ line is that –’
    ‘There are bodies piling up, Anthony,’ Julia cut in. ‘I saw them with my own eyes. When I left the hairdressers, I walked and walked. They can’t collect all the bodies, can they? Tell me the truth, Anthony.’
    ‘It’s not my job to know the truth,’ her husband said hesitantly. ‘My job is to follow the rules, to manage efficiently, to ensure that protocol is adhered to . . .’
    ‘And what if it doesn’t matter any more?’ Julia said. ‘What then?’
    ‘I . . . I . . .’ He looked at her helplessly. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. She led him to a chair, where he sat down, let his head hang forward. Then he sat up again, his eyes wide. He looked at Julia mournfully; suddenly he seemed very tired. ‘They’re digging up land,’ he said, his voice barely audible. ‘The file states that it is for vegetable farming. But they are digging trenches two metres deep. Four in some places. Vegetables aren’t planted four metres underground.’
    ‘No, they’re not,’ Julia said, stroking his head.
    ‘And so many people collected for seditious activity,’ he continued desperately. ‘Hundreds of thousands of names. But there aren’t that many prison places. I asked where they had all been taken but no one could answer me. They’ve just . . . disappeared.’
    Anthony sat up, pulled her towards him so that she was sitting on his knee. She hadn’t been there for decades. ‘I love you, Julia,’ he said, burying his face in her neck. ‘I have always loved you.’
    ‘And I love you.’ Julia smiled, tears in her eyes. ‘I love you very much, Anthony.’
    They sat in silence for a few minutes.
    ‘How many days?’ he asked eventually.
    ‘They say it can be weeks,’ Julia said, smiling through her tears.
    ‘Take some today, then,’ her husband said, looking at her fervently. ‘We’ll stop together. Wait for me. We’ll stop together, we’ll go at the same time. We’ll shut the door, we’ll hole in. We’ll do this our way.’
    ‘Yes.’ Julia nodded happily, tears now cascading down her cheeks. ‘We’ll do it our way. Together. It’s time to start saying goodbye.’

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    Chapter Twenty
     
    Derek Samuels sat on the edge of his chair waiting. Soon. Soon it would be time. Everything was in place. The children locked away downstairs. Pip. Jude would arrive before long, bringing Peter and the girl, Sheila, with him.
    Finally, Derek would wreak his revenge. He had waited a long time. Too long.
    But soon it would be over.
    Soon it would all be over.
    A few minutes later Jude and Peter emerged on to a grubby London street, their collars up, their hats pulled down low. Jude’s hands, thrust in his trouser pockets, belied the urgency in his walk. Since he had joined the Underground he had known that the streets all carried danger, but now it was different. Now it wasn’t just Catchers or Authorities police he was fearful of, it was everyone. Everything. Death and the fear of death had changed everything, had changed everyone. Now it was each man for himself and anger erupted easily, devastatingly.
    The street itself was largely empty; Jude soon realised why. In several doorways lay bodies – some alive, some dead – that had not been picked up yet, their diseased and rotting flesh attracting flies, creating a stench that forced passers-by on to the other side of the road. Jude tried to pull Peter away, but he didn’t do it in time. He watched uncomfortably as his half-brother registered the bodies, then he turned to look away and pretended he didn’t notice Peter retching into the gutter.
    ‘That was pretty grim,’ Peter said a few seconds later as they turned into another side street.
    Jude nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he agreed. ‘So, look, let me fill you in on what’s been going on.’
    As they walked, Jude told him everything – about his grandfather, about the