The Fear, released on September 15th, 2011, is the third novel in a series by Charlie Higson. The Enemy is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel which book takes place in London after a worldwide sickness has infected adults turning them into something akin to zombies.
Plot
The Fear starts 5 days before Small Sam and The Kid arrive at the tower at the end of The Dead.
A prologue introduces a new sicko named "The Collector" who collects toys (kids) and eats them. He finds two children and adds them to his collection.
The real story begins at the tower where DogNut and Courtney are setting off to find Brooke, who they lost contact with during the fire of South London and The Battle of Lambeth Bridge. They are joined by Olivia - who is going to find her brother Paul, Jessica - who just went as she broke up with her boyfriend, Finn - who is looking for friends, Al - who is looking for his sister Maria, Marco and Felix who were with DogNut at the Imperial War Museum.
After a quick row upriver, they end up at the Houses of Parliament where they find Nicola and her group. She tells them none of their friends are here but lets them know about David King at Buckingham Palace. During the journey, the group is attacked by the 'gym bunnies', a group sickos who due to their good physical condition are harder to kill, corner DogNut's crew. About to go in for the kill, they are interrupted by a brutal group of hunters led by Ryan.
They guide DogNut's crew to the Palace where Al is reunited with his sister. Later, the group realises that David isn't all that he seems; mainly lying about Brooke who is staying at the Natural History Museum. They head to the museum at night, without Al who stays with his sister and Jessica who is too scared to continue. As it is night, the sickos are out in larger numbers and the gang gets chased to a house where they think kids are living in. Instead it turns out to be the Collector's lair. The group encounters the large monster and make a run for it. Without realising, Olivia gets left behind and kills herself before the Collector gets her. They group later arrives at the Natural History Museum where they meet Brooke, Robbie (their Head of Security), Justin (the leader) and Paul (Olivia's brother). Paul asks for Olivia but is told by Courtney that she was killed by the Collector.
Meanwhile, a boy named Shadowman spies on the John's settlement in St. James's Park.
Back at the museum, Paul is hysterical after finding out Olivia's death - he is determined to kill the Collector. DogNut's group, Robbie, Jackson (a friend of Robbie), Ryan's hunters and a couple of others from the museum join with Paul to kill the Collector. The large group coax the Collector out of his lair onto the road, where they savagely kill him.
Upon returning, Justin gives DogNut a tour of the place. He shows DogNut the experiments that they've been carrying out to investigate the disease and to find a cure - this included taking samples from 3 sickos that they've locked up in the Tesco lorry. He explains to DogNut of the large number of sickos residing in the basement of the museum where they obtain their test subjects from. They have found out so far that UV light (sunlight) rapidly increases the speed of the disease causing a sicko to die if exposed to too much sunlight. However, they also found that sickos could also build up resistance to the sunlight by exposing them to a fixed amount of sunlight each day until they were fully able to roam about in the day time. Afterwards, Paul has lost his mind and starts to threaten and blame everyone for Olivia's death. Brooke calms him down. DogNut decides to head back to the Tower first thing next morning but is persuaded by Justin to stay longer to write his and his group's story into a book in which Chris is writing in the library.
At the Palace, David and Nicola meet secretly. David proposes that the two groups form an alliance - a step into helping with his plan of taking over London. Nicola is reluctant, but ends up creating a deal that involves removing the 'squatters' at St James Park as they pose a threat to her group at the House of Parliament. Until then, she won't officially agree to the alliance. David accepts and immediately asks for Jester to go and recruit children who can fight.
Shadowman visits Jester in Buckingham Palace who convinces him to join on an expedition to recruit more children to join them at the Palace. The small group of Jester, Shadowman, Tom, Kate and Alfie begin walking up North until they encountered a group of sickos. They run away and end up at Kings Cross Station. The group fights off some sickos before Shadowman is hit accidentally by Jester, leaving him with a slight concussion. Jester, Alfie, Tom and Kate abandon Shadowman and are then split with Jester and Alfie together and Tom and Kate being together. Shadowman passes out when a group of sickos are upon him.
Jester and Alfie find refuge in a building until a group of sickos finds them. In creating a plan of escape, Jester tricks Alfie and abandons him, escaping by himself. Alfie is killed by the sickos. Jester runs and discovers the Morrison's supermarket but is denied entry. He then finds the Waitrose supermarket where he is rescued by Arran's group (described in The Enemy).
Shadowman wakes up and finds himself at the Emirates Stadium. He learns that the sicko, St. George, is much smarter than the rest of the sickos as he is creating an army in the stadium. Shadowman escapes the army of sickos when a fire lights up in the stands (most likely Small Sam escaping as told in The Enemy). He takes refuge in a nearby apartment building where he discovers boxes of weapons and food. He sees this as a sign to follow St. George's army, to learn about them before returning to London city. While watching their movement, he sees Tom, Kate and Callum (a boy from The Enemy) get killed by the army. Dozing off to sleep, he is suddenly woken up by sickos that found his hiding spot - including one of St. George's right-hand men (One-Armed Bandit). Shadowman manages to kill them all and plans to kill every single of St. George's right-hand men, including St. George himself and Jester for betraying him.
All the while, DogNut, Courtney, Marco and Felix who are at the museum, are preparing to head back to the Tower. Finn decides to stay while Brooke joins the group. Robbie and Jackson join the group but are only escorting them part of the way. They set off to the Tower until they are ambushed by the 'gym bunnies'. Everyone is killed except for Jackson and Robbie who manage to escape the battle and Brooke who is saved by the Holloway crew (as described in The Enemy). She is taken to Buckingham Palace with the Holloway crew and is revealed that she is the quiet and heavily bandaged girl in the sick bay. Like in The Enemy, she tells Maxie and Blue about the museum and that David is a liar.
Meanwhile, Paul, who is still crazed, secretly leaves the museum for Buckingham Palace. He meets with David and Jester who take advantage of his mental state, and tell him a fake story that everyone was plotting against him. This causes Paul to take revenge on everyone. David convinces him to return to the museum and release all the sickos who are in the basement. Paul agrees and returns to the museum. He kills a boy named Jamie who was on duty at the lower levels of the museum. Just before his death, Paul reveals to Jamie that he was bitten by one of the sickos in the lorry.
Characters
- DogNut - The leader of the Tower group who set out to find Brooke. Killed in final battle with 'gym bunnies'.
- Courtney - Part of the Tower crew. She has a love interest in DogNut. Killed in final battle with 'gym bunnies'.
- Marco - Part of the Tower crew. Killed in final battle with 'gym bunnies'.
- Felix - Part of the Tower crew. Killed in final battle with 'gym bunnies'.
- Olivia - Part of the Tower crew. Killed by the first encounter with the Collector.
- Al - Part of the Tower crew. Stayed with his sister, Maria at Buckingham Palace.
- Jessica - Part of the Tower crew stayed at Buckingham Palace.
- Finn - Part of the Tower crew stayed at the Natural History Museum.
- Brooke - Lives at the Natural History Museum but leaves with DogNut's crew for the Tower. After, she survives the final battle with 'gym bunnies' as she is saved by the Holloway crew. She is the girl who tells Maxie and Blue about museum.
- Justin - Leader at the Natural History Museum.
- Robbie - Head of security at the museum. Saved by Jackson but is seriously injured from the final battle with the 'gym bunnies'.
- Jackson - A strong girl fighter at the museum who gets Robbie back to the museum.
- Paul - Olivia's brother who doesn't take her death very well and loses his mind. He releases the sickos in the basement of the museum because of wanting revenge. It is revealed that he was bitten by the sicko in the lorry.
- Just John - The leader of the squatters in St. James's Park.
- Carl - A pirate-looking boy who is John's second in command.
- Jester - David King's right-hand man. He is the leader of the small group to find fighters to deal with the squatters.
- David King - A power-mad teenager. He is the leader of Buckingham Palace and plans to restore law and order in London with him being on top. Has a love interest in Nicola.
- Tom and Kate - Part of Jester's crew killed by St. George's army.
- Alfie - Part of Jester's crew and is killed after Jester abandons him.
- Shadowman - A boy who spies on settlements over London. He becomes part of Jester's crew but is soon abandoned by Jester. He starts to follow St George to learn about his army.
- Nicola - Prime Minister staying the House of Parliament. She tells David of the raids that the squatters have been doing against her base. Creates a deal with David that if he removes the Squatters, she will create an alliance with him.
- Ryan - The brutal leader of the hunters who cuts off the ears of sickos and wears them as trophies.
- St George - The sicko in the St. George shirt who was previously known as Greg from The Dead. He is far more intelligent than most adults, even to the extent of being able to remember some words and to plan. Toward the end of the book it is revealed that he is capable of thought and has a plan to hunt down and devour all children.
LIST OF DEATHS IN ORDER:
- Leo (Pre start)
- Olivia Channing
- The Collector
- Alfie
- Tom
- Kate
- Marco
- Felix
- Courtney
- Leader of the Gym Bunnies
- DogNut
- One-armed Bandit
- Jamie
- Paul Channing (supposedly)