Free Viridian by Susan Gates Page B

‘You can come with me if you like. I’m off to find Dad. Then there’ll be three Polluters together. Us against the world!’
    He stroked the fur on the dog’s head. It lunged and bit him. Snarling savagely, it clung on, trying to take a piece out of his hand.
    â€˜Hey!’ shouted Jay, in shock and pain, trying to wrestle his hand free. But the family pet had gone feral, forced to hunt for food. And humans were just bigger, meatier prey.
    Jay grabbed the dog’s collar with his free hand, twisting it tight. The dog had to open its mouth to breathe and Jay snatched his hand away.
    He leapt up, looked round for a weapon in case the dog attacked again. He grabbed a stone garden gnome from beside the doorstep and raised it high above his head like a club. For a few seconds Jay and the dog snarled at each other like two wild beasts. Then the dog whimpered and slunk away into the bushes.
    Panting, Jay found himself alone, holding a garden gnome high above his head. Suddenly embarrassed, even though there was no-one to see, he put the gnome carefully back beside the doorstep.
    He looked at his hand and swore. Blood was trickling from two puncture wounds in the soft flesh between his thumb and first finger.
    Red blood would give him away as human immediately. There was plenty of water around after the recent torrential rain, so Jay washed his hand in an overflowing bird bath. He went back into the kitchen and, wincing, wrapped up his injured hand in a tea towel.
    He looked in the kitchen cupboards for food but there was nothing. So he ripped open a can of beans from his backpack and wolfed down the contents. He’d get more from the shipping container.
    He checked himself in the hall mirror, made sure the hoodie top hid his face and the long sleeves his hands. Then he went out again onto those spooky, empty streets, heading towards Franklin town centre.
    Jay took a short cut through an old graveyard. It seemed perfect for Verdans, with all its neglected corners choked with stinging nettles and huge willow trees shedding dead leaves in yellow drifts all over the tombs. But the graveyard, like everywhere else, was deserted.
    Maybe the Verdans have moved out of town, to the countryside
, thought Jay.
Maybe they’re living in the woods and forests now.
    But he couldn’t think where the humans had gone.
    He turned left down an alley and emerged in the High Street. At last, he knew where he was. He was sure he’d see Verdans sitting at tables outside the Mineral Café, and maybe a few humans scattered around.
    But there was no-one in the main street either. No-one sitting at the Mineral Café’s tables sipping nutrient smoothies. The Café had a ‘Closed’ sign on its door.
    Jay felt like the guy in a horror film who wakes from a coma and finds he’s the only survivor in a creepily empty town where the road and buildings are crumbling andeverything is gradually returning to wilderness.
    Then he heard a growling of engines. He shrank back into the doorway of the Mineral Café. Three black armoured Humvees sped past in convoy, the first one flying a green flag on the bonnet. The convoy made a left turn, into a cobbled lane that led into the main square.
    That was the way Jay was going. Before he reached the end of the cobbled lane Jay could see a sea of bobbing green heads. When he turned into the square, he murmured, ‘So this is where they all are.’
    Every Verdan in Franklin seemed to be assembled here, in front of the town hall. Jay couldn’t see any humans at all.
    He thought:
Surely I can’t be the only one left?
    Jay ducked back into the street he’d come down. He’d totally underestimated the Verdan takeover. Now even his hoodie didn’t make him feel safe. It concealed his skin colour, the red-stained towel. But he still looked different. Verdans never covered their heads; they liked to soak up as much light as possible.
    Jay peeped