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the way he tried to keep track of all his children — and that is how he thinks of us.
    ‘When there was an outbreak of zombies in my village, troops moved in to contain it. We were sealed off from the world and those who had been infectedwere executed. Oystein made sure that I was not killed. He had me isolated and fed. My guardians were issued with strict instructions not to harm me.
    ‘I took almost five months to revitalise. Most people would have given up on me. Not Oystein. He hates abandoning any of us.’
    ‘But it’s got to be a problem for you,’ I mutter. ‘How can you believe in him if you don’t believe he really speaks with God?’
    ‘It is not an issue,’ Zhang insists. ‘He has never asked me to accept his beliefs. He has only asked me to fight, which is all he is asking of you too.’
    Zhang returns to his cups and bowls and begins to tidy them away. ‘It is very straightforward in my view,’ he says. ‘A war to decide the future of this planet is being fought. We must choose sides or pretend it is not happening. Assuming you do not go down the road of blind ignorance, and are not on the side of evil, you must back Oystein, regardless of whatever flaws you perceive in him, or look for another leader to support.’
    ‘Do you think there are others out there?’
    ‘I am sure there are. But they will have flaws too. You must ask yourself which is worse — a leader firmly rooted in reality who thirsts for power and control, or a truly good-hearted man who might be a touch delusional.
    ‘I do not think that God exists,’ Zhang says, heading for the door. ‘But there are certainly godly people on this planet, and I am honoured that one of them has deemed me worthy of his friendship and support. You should be too, as I doubt there are many pure people in this world who would see goodness within
you
.’ He looks at me with a probing expression. ‘Do you even see it within yourself?’
    I think of the bad things I have done. Of my racist past. Of Tyler Bayor.
    And I can’t say a word.
    ‘I will see you tomorrow for training,’ Zhang says softly, and shuts the door with a heel, leaving me even more confused and unsure than I was when I came in.

FOUR
    I head back to my room, taking my time, creeping through the deserted corridors of County Hall, thinking about all that I’ve been told. As I’m passing one of the building’s many chambers, I hear a strange moaning noise. I slow down and the noise comes again. It sounds like someone in pain. Worried, I open the door. The room is pitch-black.
    ‘Hello?’ I call out nervously, wary of a trap.
    ‘Who’s that?’ a girl snaps.
    ‘B,’ I reply, relaxing now that I’ve placed the voice.
    There’s a pause. Then the girl says, ‘Come in and close the door.’
    Shutting the door behind me, I shuffle forward into darkness. I’m about to ask for directions when a dim light is switched on. I spot the twins, Awnya and Cian, in a corner. Awnya is sitting against a wall. Cian is lying on the floor, his head buried in his sister’s lap. He’s trembling and moaning into his hands, which are covering his face. Awnya is stroking the back of her brother’s head with one hand, holding a small torch with the other.
    I cross the room and squat beside Awnya. ‘What’s going on?’ I whisper as Cian makes a low-pitched weeping noise, his body shaking violently. ‘Is he sick?’
    ‘Only sick of this world,’ Awnya says quietly. She looks at me with a pained expression. ‘We often come to a quiet place like this. We feel so lonely and we’ve seen so many horrors … Sometimes it gets too much for us and we have to break down and cry.’
    ‘Zombies can’t cry,’ I remind her.
    ‘Not the normal way,’ she agrees, ‘but we can cry in our own fashion.’ She strokes Cian’s head again.‘We take it in turns to comfort one another. We can’t both break down at the same time or we might never recover. One of us always looks out for the