Them or Us

believe anything they tell you. There’s always a hidden agenda.”
    “Ankin was the one who spread the messages, though, remember? The one who coordinated the attacks on the cities.”
    “There you go, my point exactly. He’s got you completely suckered in. I thought you were smarter than that, Dan. Nobody really coordinated those attacks, they occurred naturally. What happened in the cities was inevitable, and only someone who had either something to prove or something to hide would try to take credit for them.”
    “Does that really matter now? Fact is, they’re marching on Lowestoft.”
    Hinchcliffe walks away, shaking his head. He sits down in his deckchair in the center of the roof and starts scanning the horizon through a pair of binoculars.
    “So do you think I should be worried?”
    “What kind of a question is that? Of course you should be worried. Haven’t you been listening to anything I said, there’s a fucking army marching on Lowestoft and they want you out. Doesn’t matter how big it is, it’s a fucking army!”
    He continues to stare into the distance, looking back now in the direction from which Llewellyn and I approached a short while ago. Even from up here I can see signs of activity in the streets around the compound.
    “Are they well armed?”
    “They’ve got more than you have. Tanks and all sorts…”
    “Probably haven’t got a lot of ammo, though.”
    “So? A tank’s a tank. They’ll drive straight through the gates, Hinchcliffe.”
    “And what’s been the reaction of the good folk of Lowestoft so far?”
    “I’ve seen some trying to fight, some just keeping out of the way. Most seem to be doing whatever they’re told to do. You know the score, Hinchcliffe. It’s like Llewellyn used to say, always get in good with the person with the biggest gun.”
    “So why here?”
    “What?”
    “That’s the thing I don’t understand. Why are they so interested in Lowestoft?” he asks. He genuinely has no idea. “Surely someone who’s as powerful as this Ankin guy claims to be could take their pick of anywhere. Why here? Are they just trying to prove a point?”
    “They’re here because this place is all that’s left. Ankin figures this is pretty much the population center of the country now.”
    For a few seconds Hinchcliffe is quiet. He has a bemused expression on his face, and I can see him trying to come to terms with what I’ve just told him.
    “Fuck me…”
    “That’s what I said when I found out—but I think it’s true, Hinchcliffe, everywhere else is dead.”
    “So why did you come back here, Danny? It’s out of the frying pan, into the fire for you, isn’t it?”
    “Because they made me” is my immediate answer. “When I refused, the bastards drugged me and chained me up inside a van. I didn’t have any choice. Believe me, I’d rather be anywhere but here.”
    He looks puzzled. “Strange. Why go to all that effort?”
    “Because I’m supposed to be a decoy. I was supposed to keep you busy while Llewellyn spread the word around town that you were under attack.”
    “And he thought that was going to work? Jesus Christ, Llewellyn was more of an idiot than I thought. My fighters might be hard as nails, but they’ll run like everybody else if their necks are on the line.”
    “I tried to tell him. I said you wouldn’t listen.”
    He pauses to think again. I’m numb with cold and I want to get off this roof, but Hinchcliffe hasn’t finished with me yet.
    “Tell me, Dan,” he continues, “what would you do? If you were standing in my shoes right now, what would you do?”
    “For a start, I would never be in your shoes,” I answer quickly, deciding that there’s no point being anything other than honest with him. “I’m not like you. It’s stupid bastards like you who caused all this mess.”
    “Now, now,” he says, remaining unsettlingly calm, “no need for name-calling.”
    “I’m through with fighting, and I’m through with you, Hinchcliffe. I’d have turned my back on this place and all the grief that goes with it a long time ago, but if I really was in your position right now, I’d be seriously thinking about slipping out through the back door and letting Ankin get on with it.”
    Hinchcliffe nods thoughtfully. “So you think I should give up control of Lowestoft just like that?”
    “I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t care. The way I see it, the whole world has been destroyed by this war, Hinchcliffe. I don’t