Them or Us

bullshit.
    “Llewellyn says you can hold the Hate.”
    “For what it’s worth,” I answer. “Not much call for it these days, now the Unchanged are gone.”
    “True, but having that ability says something about the kind of person you are. It shows that you’re less impulsive than most, that you’ve got self-control and willpower. Tell me, Danny, where did you learn to do it?”
    “Came across a guy called Sahota. Or rather, he came across me.”
    “Ahh … Sahota! I had a feeling you were one of his.”
    “One of his?”
    “From his ‘reeducation’ programs.”
    “Is that what he called them?”
    “So you were sent into one of the refugee camps?”
    My mind suddenly fills with unwanted memories of those nightmare days last summer.
    “I’ve never been through anything like it,” I tell him. “It was incredible … horrific…”
    “Even so, you did it,” he says, “and you survived it. No matter how bad an ordeal it was, you managed to get through it and come out the other side, and in relatively decent shape, too, considering what happened. Seems to me, Danny, that if you managed to get out of that almighty mess in one piece, then Llewellyn’s right, you’re definitely someone worth having on our side.”
    His smooth talk is really starting to unnerve me.
    “Look, just cut the crap, what do you want?”
    Ankin grins at me and avoids answering yet another question.
    “We were just talking about how much the world’s changed, and how it feels like everything’s become smaller and more confined. Our needs and priorities have changed, too. I think that as a race we’ve reached a pivotal point in our development and—”
    “Spare me the bullshit and get to the point.”
    He sighs. “I think we’ve reached a make-or-break moment. You told me that all you know now is Lowestoft. Well, let me broaden your horizons a little.”
    “Go on.”
    “When the enemy refugee camps imploded, then exploded, much of the country became uninhabitable. Virtually every major city center was destroyed, most of them completely vaporized, some by us, some by them. As you’d expect, the radiation and pollution have spread since then. Even more people have died, and even more of the land has been contaminated. I’ve been trying to coordinate what’s left and ascertain how much of the country is actually still inhabitable.”
    “And how much is that?”
    “Less than you might have thought. It’s pretty much just the extremities now. Apart from Edinburgh and Glasgow, much of Scotland escaped the worst of it, and parts of North Wales, too. Cornwall and some parts of Devon are livable, but pretty much everything else, from Leeds and Manchester down all the way to the south coast, is dead. Now, all that might not be as big a problem as it sounds, because as you’ve probably noticed, there aren’t that many of us left alive. There’s no way of knowing exactly how many, but our best estimations are a million at most, maybe only half that number. So what I’m trying to do is unify the remaining population and bring it together.”
    “Good luck with that.” I laugh, not even bothering to try to hide my skepticism. “You’d be the first person in history to manage it.”
    He ignores me and continues. “The radiation makes travel difficult at best, and getting cross-country is next to impossible. You either need to fly, go the long way around, or choose one of the less polluted regions and move through it damn fast. Sahota’s actually over on the west coast as we speak, negotiating with the Welsh.”
    “Negotiating with the Welsh! Christ, it all sounds a bit tribal.”
    “Yes, that’s exactly how things will be if we don’t do something about it. Someone needs to make a stand and try to bring some order to what’s left before we completely lose control, and that’s why I’m here. London and the southeast is dead, but where we are now, from the outermost edge of the East Midlands across to the east coast, and from Hull right down to Cambridge, is one of the largest inhabitable areas remaining. We’re in control of most of it now.”
    “Try telling that to Hinchcliffe.”
    “Exactly, and that’s my problem. We’ve known about him for a while and we’ve been happy to let him get on with what he’s been doing. He’s managed to build up quite a little empire for himself.”
    “He has, and he’s not about to let anyone come in and take it over. You do realize that, don’t you?”
    “Of course