Concentr8 Read online

  For Darren, wherever you are

  CONTENTS

  DAY ONE

  TROY

  FEMI

  KAREN

  DAY TWO

  THE MAYOR

  THE JOURNALIST

  FEMI

  THE HOSTAGE

  TROY

  LEE

  KAREN

  THE NEGOTIATOR

  THE JOURNALIST

  TROY

  THE HOSTAGE

  DAY THREE

  THE MAYOR

  TROY

  FEMI

  THE JOURNALIST

  KAREN

  DAY FOUR

  TROY

  THE HOSTAGE

  TROY

  FEMI

  THE JOURNALIST

  LEE

  BLAZE

  DAY FIVE

  THE JOURNALIST

  KAREN

  FEMI

  TROY

  DAY SIX

  THE NEGOTIATOR

  LEE

  TROY

  THE HOSTAGE

  KAREN

  FEMI

  THE JOURNALIST

  TROY

  Acknowledgements

  Sources

  A Note on the Author

  By the Same Author

  Praise for THE WALL

  DAY ONE

  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is supposed to affect up to 10 per cent of young children (mainly boys). The ‘disorder’ is characterised by poor school performance and an inability to concentrate in class or to be controlled by parents, and is supposed to be a consequence of disorderly brain function . . . The prescribed treatment is an amphetamine-like drug called Ritalin. There is an increasing world-wide epidemic of Ritalin use. Untreated children are said to be likely to be more at risk of becoming criminals.

  Steven Rose, The 21st Century Brain

  TROY

  You want to know how I got famous? This is how.

  Weren’t proper famous. Didn’t last more than a few days. Weren’t popular famous neither. I mean most famous is we-love-you famous or you-done-something-good famous – this was the opposite. For a few days me and Blaze and the others was the official scumbags of the universe. But what I’m saying is – we ain’t. We ain’t and we weren’t.

  Taking a guy off the street and tying him to a radiator and keeping him sounds psycho but if you knew me – if you knew my whole life what happened up to that day – you’d get it. I mean you probably still wouldn’t like me – so what that don’t mean nothing anyway – but you’d know I ain’t a nutter or evil or any of that other stuff what they said about me.

  Don’t nobody want to see it that way though. Not now. Listen it started when London was totally flipped – I mean the whole city had just gone mental – lost it – and I’m not saying I knew what was going to happen but when things did kick off I weren’t surprised. It was the way the madness got so big so fast – the way everyone took it up – the way the police seemed to give in and leave us to it that’s what was so wild. It’s like suddenly anything was allowed literally anything – stuff you can’t even imagine till it’s right there in front of you. Stealing burning smashing places up and that’s just the start – cause when you actually see looting with your own eyes it’s hard to believe – it’s insane sort of like all the shops are open and everything’s free and people are just losing their minds – running in taking whatever they can carry and running out again with a look on their face that says this can’t be happening but it is!

  When they took away Concentr8 they must have known it was like shaking up a Coke can and flipping the ring pull – they knew it but they didn’t care and blaming us for what we did is like blaming the Coke for squirting you in the face. They made it happen so there ain’t no excuse for them acting all surprised.

  In those last few normal days we all knew something was different like when the air goes thick before a storm. You could feel it everywhere. On the estate – in the streets – just looking in the eyes of other kids there was a crackle like everyone knew all it would take was one spark to set the whole place on fire.

  I missed the beginning but people are saying now it’s the kids what started it – going mad for Concentr8 – but then on the second night all them other people angry about all them other things joined in and it just rolled on – got bigger and bigger till it felt like it was everyone out there on the streets howling it out like wild dogs – letting rip – everything bursting out just a river of anger flooding from everywhere so nothing could stop it. Funny thing is when anger comes out – when it’s been boxed up and boxed up then it explodes – it feels like a happy thing like a celebration like a party – don’t know why it just does. It’s like anger and the opposite of anger mixed together out there on the streets tearing it up – half party half war.

  If you opened all the doors on all the cages at London Zoo you’d get the exact same thing – playtime for the animals and everyone else shitting bricks. It’d be the zookeepers that’d get eaten first – ain’t that the truth.

  There was one moment – and this is later after what I’m trying to tell you about – one moment when me and Blaze was walking along and it was early evening. Things was just getting going and we had our ballys round our necks – not up yet but ready for when things started – and there was this guy sitting in a restaurant eating a meal. He saw us walking past and he looked at us the way people like that always do – with a sneer kind of disgust on his face like just our clothes and the way we walk makes us scum. I don’t go out of my yard much – ain’t safe – but if we do we get that look all the time and we’re used to it so I didn’t even notice anything unusual. Blaze is different though. He saw that look just like I did – but he knew the feds was busy – knew everything was going crazy and there was no rules no more – all that shit was on pause – and he lifted a foot and kicked the window in. Just like that. Karate style with his heel. The glass shattered and fell everywhere on the floor on to the guy’s table on to his plate and over his lap and you should have seen the look on his face. Like he couldn’t believe what just happened – like he thought he was about to die – like one minute he’s watching a war movie on TV then suddenly the TV explodes and guys burst out firing real guns at him.

  It was beautiful. He felt so safe behind that glass then suddenly quick as it takes to flick off a light he realised that anything could happen to him – that he weren’t in a different world looking down on us from miles up – we was right there in front of him in the same place and if we wanted to we could jump through the broken window and do anything. I swear one minute he’s the big man in a suit eating his fancy meal then the next second he’s like a naked baby quivering totally helpless not a clue in his head what’s going to happen to him – more scared than you ever seen anyone.

  For a second we looked at each other through the jaggedy hole – all three stuck in position by the madness of what just happened. I stood there feeling the buzz – a waft of chilled restaurant air brushing my hot cheeks – then we just laughed and walked off leaving that guy in front of his glass-covered meal probably sitting in a puddle of his own piss. The look on his face – funniest thing I ever seen.

  It was Blaze that told me it was starting – Blaze that messaged me to get off my arse and come taste the magic. I go round his place and I thought he’d be pumped like me but he’s well calm – chilling in his room. It’s even hotter in there than outside – the air sweet and thick with smoke and heavy like every mouthful has been breathed over and over. He fills me in – tells me he was out the night before when things flipped and how gangs of kids squared off to the feds chucking stuff on and on half the night and how he thought that was it – but now it’s all going off again but bigger much bigger and I got to see it. It
’s wild and beautiful he says. Them’s the words he uses. Wild and beautiful.

  He reminds me to be careful to keep my bally up to stay away from cameras to avoid anywhere I might be cornered. No dead-end streets no shops without a back door. He asks me what I want. Trainers? Phones? He says it with a smirk like he’s taking the piss and I feel like any answer will sound stupid so I just bounce the question back at him. That’s when he tells me he got a plan – says he’s going to do something big and asks me if I want to join him.

  When Blaze asks you a question like that it ain’t really a question. You can’t say no – nobody says no to Blaze. Not cause we’re scared of him – at least I ain’t – but because you just want to go where he goes and do what he does. The alternative is to be in the wrong place away from the action. Ain’t no option but to go along for the ride. I don’t even say nothing but he knows I’m in.

  When we set off from Blaze’s flat it ain’t even dark yet but there’s already people streaming back into the estate carrying armfuls of stuff. There’s one guy has a stack of Foot Locker shoeboxes up to his chin and he’s trying to run but he can’t. He drops one but don’t even stop for it. We call after him but he just says we can have them.

  We have a look but they’re the wrong size and a shit brand so we head on. There’s people with heaps of clothes still on hangers. There’s a lady with three huge boxes of washing powder. There’s others hauling wheelie bins filled with god knows what but so heavy it takes two to pull – all surging in on a hot wind funnelling through the towers almost like off a hand dryer. A bloke goes past with three plastic bags in each hand stuffed with fags – all wild eyes and a massive grin like he can’t believe his luck.

  I want to run before everything goes. I can’t believe we’re only a bit late and already it feels like all the good stuff might have gone – but Blaze don’t even quicken his step so I stay with him cause it’s Blaze – and fact is me and him is always side by side. Now more than any other day I don’t want to lose him. Ain’t saying I need him – just saying we’re a team stronger together cause some places whoever you is you ain’t safe on your own.

  Blaze must have been messaging the others cause there’s six of us all together by the time we walk out into the unbelievable mayhem on the high street – into the drifting smoke – into the non-stop wail of more sirens than you can count – alarms ringing everywhere – breaking glass – surges of shouting and cheering as something catches fire or smashes or as a new shutter gets lifted. Just the minute you smell it and hear it you know you ain’t never felt proper chaos till now. Gives you a tingle as you walk into it – like some incredible movie coming alive all around you in 3D and you’re actually in it – able to pick stuff up and touch and throw and run. It’s like all your life you know what’s fantasy and what’s solid then suddenly you find yourself in a place where the two are mashed up together and you don’t know what’s what – cause however much you stare and blink this kind of shit just don’t seem real.

  I seen end-of-the-world stuff on DVD hundreds of times. Every other movie you see ends with something like this. But now I know they got it wrong every single time cause I ain’t never heard no sound like this – ain’t never heard nothing so wild what kicks you in the stomach with some weird kind of terror that you got to run towards not away from. It’s huge it swallows you up this sound of every single person out on the street knowing there ain’t no police no fear no consequences and you can do anything.

  Never even realised half the things you ain’t allowed to do till I saw what it looks like when suddenly everyone can do whatever they want. It’s something you got to see to believe and I swear if you die without ever living it that’s almost as bad as dying a virgin.

  So the six of us walk along – feeling it swimming in it with our eyes bulging out at the craziness everywhere. No cars just people on the streets with ballys up covering their faces and even though it’s insane everyone seems to know where they’re going. People are running. People are carrying piles of stuff from the shops – pushing whole TVs around in supermarket trolleys – just staggering with bags and bags of shit from everywhere with spaced-out drugged-up eyes as if looting is the biggest high they ever had.

  It looks like Foot Locker’s the first place everyone’s gone for. The shutter’s twisted up bent to one side and inside it’s been picked bare – you can see the last people coming out all disappointed cause there ain’t nothing left.

  Next door five blokes are trying to take out a cash machine. A few doors down from that there’s a swarm of people heaving at a metal grille over the door of Currys. They’re going at it with crowbars and hammers and bricks and even a plank of wood. One guy’s shouting at everyone trying to get them organised to work together but half the people are ignoring him just trying to batter it in. Three guys together are dropping a paving stone again and again on to the padlock. There’s a cheer as it snaps. The shutter goes up and the doors give way a few seconds later. Like water down the plughole people flood in pushing against each other – elbows and fists everywhere. It gets a bit nasty when people start running out with boxes of TVs and laptops and printers while more people are trying to fight their way in. A woman gets knocked over and a few people coming out just tread on her – maybe cause they can’t see over what they’re carrying or maybe because they don’t give a shit. Someone pulls the woman off the ground and punches a guy that trod on her and a fight starts but most people just ignore the fight and go round it – in and out of the shop.

  Blaze ain’t moved. He stares just calm like normal – no excitement no panic nothing – cold hard eyes watching everything but his whole body totally still – not even a flicker – and cause he ain’t going in none of us do it either.

  Eventually Karen says what are we waiting for?

  So quiet you can hardly even hear it over all the noise Blaze just says go if you want.

  Nobody moves.

  Look at this shit says Femi. There’s everything!

  Go ahead says Blaze.

  Femi looks at Karen and she looks back at him but they don’t leave.

  If we stay here everything’ll be gone. Are we going to just watch everyone else get it all? says Jay.

  I ain’t a thief says Blaze. I don’t know why he says that cause he is – I mean not often but we all done it sometimes. Ain’t easy to contradict Blaze though so I know nobody’s going to say yes you is.

  They steal from us! says Jay.

  Who does?

  It’s a weird conversation because we’re all standing in a line not looking at each other just staring straight ahead watching a huge shop being emptied out by swarms of people. The look of disbelief on their faces as they come out carrying armfuls of stuff is almost hilarious but also not. It’s like there’s the beginnings of a quicksand sucking underfoot and I feel myself wondering for the first time how far this can be pushed because beyond a certain point chaos might not be so cool. If it becomes OK for anyone to rob anything pretty soon no one’s safe. After the shops are empty what’s going to be next? Houses? Council flats? Kids on the street?

  All of them! says Jay. They’re all at it. The feds the politicians the bankers they’re all crooks and they just get away with it so why shouldn’t we?

  Suit yourself says Blaze.

  Sort of reluctant but too proud to back off Jay walks towards Currys. He has to stop for two guys who are carrying a washing machine. You coming or what? he says.

  I can feel that Karen and Femi want to go with him. They both look at Blaze but Blaze just walks off down the road. I follow him. Been still so long I got to unsquelch my trainers from the hot tarmac. After a moment Karen and Femi and Lee are with us. I turn and watch Jay disappear into the swirl of people funnelling through the shop door.

  Last moment I see him pops out at me like a flash photo cause I get the feeling it’s a fork in the road and now his life’s going one way mine another. Don’t know why I just feel it. And turns out I’m right but not in the way I
thought cause it ain’t him that’s walking off the edge of a cliff it’s me.

  There’s fires up ahead and everything’s getting louder busier angrier. We’re walking right towards the middle of it all – towards the boom boom boom from a corner that’s filled with feds wearing helmets and banging their shields – looking like the last stand of some army that knows it’s finished.

  A building’s almost disappeared inside flames which are roaring and snapping out the windows and up the roof – lighting everyone’s faces orange. I can feel the heat halfway down the street. The noise of it is a growl you can feel in your chest and there’s also what sounds like a shootout from inside as things crack and shatter and fall. There’s fire engines lined up behind the police but they can’t get to it. Feels like it ain’t going to be long before the whole thing comes down.

  I look at Blaze and he ain’t smiling or frowning or nothing. The fire’s awesome – a hundred times bigger than any fire I seen before. Huge orange swirls are billowing out and the smoke looks like some kind of dark flood shoving upwards into the sky. I always thought smoke wafted and drifted but this stuff’s different it’s thick and heavy and you can see that one lungful would kill you. There’s no way anyone left in there is coming out alive.

  Everyone knows the whole city burnt down once hundreds of years ago but that always felt like almost a fairy story till now. Now I can imagine it. This whole building’s just gone and it’s hard to see what could stop it taking the next one along and the next one after that.

  People are chucking bricks and traffic cones and bits of glass and anything they can find towards the feds. There’s a skip by the side of the road. Two guys are inside it passing stuff out and it’s all getting chucked over the empty strip of road in front of the fire towards the feds. Nobody seems angry. It feels more like a laugh like the wildest party there’s ever been.

  Part of me is twitching to run up and throw stuff. We all been stopped and searched so many times – treated like scum by feds who’s just looking for any opportunity to screw us over – and the idea of chucking a brick that might get one of them is beautiful. They get off on reminding us we’re nothing. It’s obvious in the way they look at us and talk to us and mess us around even when they know we ain’t doing nothing bad. So why wouldn’t we get off on letting them know they’re wrong – letting them know we’re here and we ain’t nothing and we can fight back? If someone’s bullying you and there’s nothing you can do to stop them you dream of hurting them back and of doing all the things you can’t in reality. You just do. And now the dream is alive and there’s rows of them cowering and there’s hundreds of us and we’re winning – man it’s one of the sweetest things I ever seen. Concentr8 was just the start. The dam’s broke and now everyone’s angry about everything – I mean the anger ain’t new it’s letting it out that’s new. Don’t got words to describe it cause it’s vicious and brutal but also innocent like a kid what lets out every feeling without even meaning to.