Hamlet's survival was eventually concluded to be a fairly high possibility. The pronouncement wasgiven by an unhappy Dr. Mercer, who really just wanted to stay in h<strong>is</strong> room with a good book ra<strong>the</strong>r thanprovide free health services for th<strong>is</strong> bunch of freaks whose ex<strong>is</strong>tence he preferred to pretend not toknow about. He wouldn't even have come out of h<strong>is</strong> room, if not for <strong>the</strong> fact that repeated loud doorbanging and cries of, "OI, JULIAN!" could get tiresome after a while.It wasn't long before not-Tim once again found himself being largely avoided and ignored. Most of <strong>the</strong>o<strong>the</strong>rs had d<strong>is</strong>covered that being in h<strong>is</strong> vicinity seriously threatened <strong>the</strong>ir already-overly-fragile sense ofidentity, and a stable sense of identity was a vital commodity in Kenselton Hotel. Some still hadquestions, but <strong>the</strong>y could wait.<strong>Not</strong>-Tim wandered off sadly.The telev<strong>is</strong>ion set was showing Spongebob Squarepants, and nobody quite knew why. Kevin Lomaxwas mortified to real<strong>is</strong>e that he found <strong>the</strong> talking yellow sponge strangely amusing to watch. Nelson didlikew<strong>is</strong>e but pretended he was not interested, sneaking surreptitious glances in <strong>the</strong> direction of <strong>the</strong> TVfrom behind <strong>the</strong> cover of a book.The regular card-playing group of Perry, Jjaks, Shane and Conor had meanwhile hijacked <strong>the</strong> commonroom's table and shifted it to a more central location, whereupon <strong>the</strong>y sat around playing poker forunnatural lengths of time. More enthusiasm in <strong>the</strong> gambling aspect was involved now; while previously<strong>the</strong>re had been an unspoken assumption that none of <strong>the</strong>m were ever getting out and would thus haveno use for cash, <strong>the</strong> revelation of not-Tim in <strong>the</strong>ir midst had – despite <strong>the</strong> overall negative reception of<strong>the</strong> actor – seemed to re-kindle that dying hope. Some were once more thinking of home as a placethat <strong>the</strong>y might yet see again.Alex had d<strong>is</strong>covered a comfortable corner and was engrossed in a book he had pulled off <strong>the</strong> shelf.Most of <strong>the</strong> teenagers had grouped up and run off to <strong>the</strong> games arcade, with <strong>the</strong> notable exception ofTed, who had got it into h<strong>is</strong> head that it would be tremendously fun to follow Neo around."Stop following me," Neo said, annoyed at h<strong>is</strong> inability to execute a perfect U-turn without Ted getting in<strong>the</strong> way.Ted looked d<strong>is</strong>appointed. He trudged off in search of not-Tim, whom he d<strong>is</strong>covered sitting in <strong>the</strong> broomcupboard thinking about life."Dude, what are you doing in <strong>the</strong>re?"<strong>Not</strong>-Tim looked at Ted for a long time in <strong>the</strong> way that an alien might contemplate its latest humanspecimen."Sitting," he finally answered. "Want to join me?"Ted blinked.<strong>Not</strong>-Tim shifted h<strong>is</strong> legs out of <strong>the</strong> broom cupboard to make room for Ted. Seeing nothing better to do,Ted got down next to him.Time passed in silence. There aren't many things that one can do in an open broom cupboard, and Tedquickly grew bored. He had <strong>the</strong> feeling that he should say something, but he didn't know what. <strong>Not</strong>-Timmeanwhile seemed perfectly content to just sit and stare into space and occasionally at Ted.Ted found a dead cockroach in <strong>the</strong> broom cupboard. It made him sad. He wondered how it had died,and if Hamlet had killed it, and if its family m<strong>is</strong>sed it, and-"I wouldn't touch that, if I were you."Ted's fingers stopped in <strong>the</strong>ir path towards <strong>the</strong> dearly departed. He withdrew h<strong>is</strong> hand with a sigh."What are we doing in here?" he asked."Sitting," came not-Tim's prompt reply, packaged with a smile in its wake.The answer wasn't helping. Ted considered just getting up and leaving, but that would probably be kindof rude. He regretted ever sitting down in <strong>the</strong> first place.
The stairwell door opened and <strong>the</strong> bulk of <strong>the</strong> fourth floor's resident teenagers stumbled through, bru<strong>is</strong>edand bleeding in several locations as <strong>the</strong> result of a gang fight in <strong>the</strong> games arcade which <strong>the</strong>y had lost.They managed to make <strong>the</strong>ir way into <strong>the</strong> common room, where <strong>the</strong>y found a nice secret place behind ashelf to d<strong>is</strong>cuss new and better fighting strategies that might or might not involve using <strong>the</strong> remainingrum to make Molotov cocktails.**Neo typed furiously away at <strong>the</strong> computer, trying to erase <strong>the</strong> evidence of h<strong>is</strong> trigger-happy hackingexploits. He re-channelled <strong>the</strong> cash that he had generously donated all over <strong>the</strong> world back into KeanuReeves' bank account and hoped that <strong>the</strong> once-benefactors wouldn't mind.The bank balance in Mr. Reeves' account no longer reading 42 cents, Neo allowed himself to brea<strong>the</strong> alittle. Now for <strong>the</strong> fake MySpace pro<strong>file</strong>s...After second thought, he handed <strong>the</strong> passwords to a random guy he found on <strong>the</strong> Internet. Theaccounts had since been friended by people; he didn't like <strong>the</strong> idea of d<strong>is</strong>appointing <strong>the</strong>m. EspeciallyTom, who looked like a nice guy and shared <strong>the</strong> same first name as him.
- Page 5:
"Your behaviour these past few mont
- Page 9 and 10:
Neo sank down on the sofa.He looked
- Page 11: "By a friend of one of the others w
- Page 14 and 15: Next morning62nd Floor. Arrival Lob
- Page 16 and 17: It is in fact at the cafeteria that
- Page 18 and 19: 'There is no exit here', read the h
- Page 20 and 21: Back from his breakfast, Griffin sa
- Page 22 and 23: Griffin glanced back at the three p
- Page 24 and 25: Alex looked up."...That's Paul, tha
- Page 26 and 27: The floor hackers stared at their l
- Page 28 and 29: "Okay," Conor continued. "Situation
- Page 30 and 31: "We want to get out as much as you
- Page 32 and 33: Yawning, Paul pushed open the door
- Page 35 and 36: Jack lunged at his neck. Both of th
- Page 37 and 38: Then they fell silent again as Neo
- Page 39 and 40: "I did you a favour, Jack," Griffin
- Page 41 and 42: "That's one," Neo said helpfully, p
- Page 43 and 44: New guy gave a start. "Uh," he said
- Page 45 and 46: His mom made better waffles than th
- Page 47 and 48: Tommy reluctantly handed over the b
- Page 49 and 50: It is after a day or two living at
- Page 51 and 52: There had existed for a time an Ame
- Page 53 and 54: he was pretty sure was a broken nos
- Page 55 and 56: Night. A shortage of actual beds me
- Page 57 and 58: Neo yanked his finger away to safet
- Page 59 and 60: Neo sat by himself in the cafeteria
- Page 61: Splash.The sudden rush of cold shoc
- Page 65 and 66: "Get everyone in here in fifteen mi
- Page 67 and 68: Human beings have a strange tendenc
- Page 69 and 70: Jack shrugged. "Suit yourself." He
- Page 71 and 72: "-but we won't know for sure either
- Page 73 and 74: **"We were just trying to get home!
- Page 75 and 76: "It's John, assholes."John Constant
- Page 77 and 78: The mob surged through both doors o
- Page 79 and 80: "What?"A sudden telepathic message
- Page 81 and 82: At the rear, not-Tim turned to face
- Page 83 and 84: The lift dinged and opened its door
- Page 85 and 86: Group B: Shane, Perry, Jjaks, Chris
- Page 87 and 88: "Nah," Jesse said. "Might n-... - h
- Page 89 and 90: The teen shrugged. "I don't know."
- Page 91 and 92: "NO!" Shane yelled, running towards
- Page 93 and 94: He smiled and vanished; leaving not
- Page 95 and 96: "That wasn't really nice of y-" Dem
- Page 97 and 98: "What? Hey, I just woke up.""...Dav
- Page 99 and 100: "What-" Conor said, surveying the s
- Page 101 and 102: "D'you have any food to spare? We'r
- Page 103 and 104: Group C: Griffin, Kevin, Scott, Jul
- Page 105 and 106: "...Er," said Dem. He put the most
- Page 107 and 108: Group D: Neo, EddieStanding about d
- Page 109 and 110: The cornflakes guy looked at him.Je
- Page 111 and 112: "At least it meant we had heat," Ha
- Page 113 and 114:
Group B: Shane, Perry, Tommy, Chris
- Page 115 and 116:
"I can't bring them back to life,"
- Page 117 and 118:
Someone running after him from behi
- Page 119 and 120:
Then a ripple in the air; and sudde
- Page 121 and 122:
Nelson smirked and walked on to the
- Page 123 and 124:
"Yes sir," Ludlow hissed into his e
- Page 125 and 126:
Alex got slowly to his feet. He dim
- Page 127 and 128:
The face that looked up at him held
- Page 129 and 130:
First Combined MeetingThomas Ludlow
- Page 131 and 132:
- Reeves clears throat.- Utah shuts
- Page 133 and 134:
Griffin isn't the only one in the r
- Page 135 and 136:
He realised that he was not standin
- Page 137 and 138:
Ludlow smirked. "Thank you. Now I k
- Page 139 and 140:
Seventeen suspicious-looking, mostl
- Page 141 and 142:
Scott emerged from the alley he had
- Page 143 and 144:
Julian finished the stitches, close
- Page 145 and 146:
Stuck in House: Chris Townsend, Mat
- Page 147 and 148:
Loose in Kenselton Holding Facility
- Page 149 and 150:
Paul and the kids stared back at hi
- Page 151 and 152:
"Arctor, Robert," Dem said. "Get on
- Page 153 and 154:
With measured reluctance he tries t
- Page 155:
0704270/006/GRA"There are two kinds