How It All Goes Down
The Hunting Ground
- Our story opens with London chasing a mining town across a dried-out seabed.
- You read that right: London. Chasing a town. Picture the whole city of London somehow mating with a tank. Its illicit lovechild would be the London of this book. Got it? Moving on.
- One of our young heroes, Tom Natsworthy, is cleaning museum exhibits when the chase gets into high gear. He sneaks off the job to witness the big catch.
- Standing with the beautiful Clytie Potts and the jerk-weed Herbert Melliphant, Tom watches Municipal Darwinism in action: London's "huge hydraulic Jaws came slamming shut" on the helpless mining town.
- Everyone cheers—except for Herbert Melliphant, who is too busy tossing jeers in Tom's direction.
- Tom punches him right in the face. Melliphant, ever the fair fighter, knees Tom in the bollocks—we're feeling all London-y already!
- While Tom writhes around in pain, his boss, Chudleigh Pomeroy, shows up. Busted.