The sun is down now but the sky is still pink, the Noise of the town still ROARs, there’s another Boom! in the distance as the Answer approaches, and the ship must have landed by now. Its doors must be opening. Someone, probably Simone Watkin or Bradley Tench, people I know, people who know me, must be looking out, wondering what sort of place they’ve landed in.
And Todd kneels over the body of Davy Prentiss.
And then Todd looks up–
His Noise is boiling and burning and I can hear the grief in it and the shame and the rage–
And he gets to his feet–
And he raises his rifle–
I see myself in his Noise, I see the Mayor there, too, behind me, rifle pointed, eyes glinting with triumph.
And I know exactly what Todd is going to do.
“Do it,” I say, my stomach dropping but it’s right right right–
And Todd raises the rifle to his eye–
“Do it!”
And the Mayor shoves me hard, sending lightnings of pain up my legs, and I can’t help it and I scream out and fall forward, forward towards Todd, forward towards the ground–
And the Mayor does it again–
Uses me to control Todd–
Because Todd can’t help it either–
He jumps to catch me–
To catch me when I’m falling–
And the Mayor attacks.
[TODD]
My brain explodes, burning and raging with everything he fires at it and it ain’t nothing like a slap at all, it’s like fiery metal poked right into the centre of who I am, and as I jump forward to catch Viola, it hits me so hard my head snaps back and here it comes again, the Mayor’s voice but somehow my voice, too, somehow hers as well and all of ’em saying YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING–
Our bodies are still moving together and I feel us tumble into one another, feel the top of her skull crack into my mouth, and YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING she falls into my chest and my fumbling arms and we twist down onto the rubble together, a siren ripping off the roof of my head YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING and I feel the rifle fall and bounce away and I feel the weight of her against me and I hear her as if from the other side of the moons and she’s calling my name and YER NOTHING she’s saying “Todd” YER NOTHING YER NOTHING she’s saying “Todd!” and it’s as if I’m watching her from under water and I see her try to rise up on her hands to protect me but the Mayor’s above her and swinging his rifle by the barrel and smacking her across the back of her head and she’s falling to one side–
And my brain is boiling–
My brain is boiling–
My brain is boiling–
YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING–
And I see her eyes as they’re closing–
And I feel her against me–
And I think Viola–
I think VIOLA!
I think VIOLA!!!!
And the Mayor steps away from me like he’s been stung.
“Whoo,” he says, shaking his head as I blink away the buzz still rocketing from my brain, as my eyes refocus and my thoughts are mine again. “Told you you had some power in you, boy.”
And his eyes are wide and bright and eager.
And he hits me again with his Noise.
I fling my hands up to my ears (not holding the gun, not holding the gun) as if that’ll stop it but it ain’t thru yer ears that you hear Noise and he’s in there, inside my head, inside my self, invading it like I don’t have any self at all YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING my own Noise swept up and hit against me, like I’m punching myself with my own fists YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING–
Viola, I think but I’m disappearing, I’m falling deeper into it, I’m weaker and my brain is rattling–
Viola–
{VIOLA}
Viola, I hear, as if from the bottom of a canyon. My head is aching and bleeding from the Mayor’s blow and my face is in the dust and my eyes are half-open but they aren’t seeing anything–
Viola, I hear again.
I open my eyes wide.
Todd’s scooting back into the rocks, his hands over his ears, eyes squeezed shut–
And the Mayor is standing over him and I can hear the same shouting as before, the same kind of clanging, laser-bright Noise firing right at him and–
Viola, I hear in amongst all the clatter–
And I open my mouth–
And I shout–
[TODD]
“TODD!” I hear screamed from somewhere out there–
And it’s her–
It’s her–
It’s her–
And she’s alive–
And her voice is coming for me–
Viola–
Viola–
VIOLA–
I hear a grunt and the Noise in my head stops again and I open my eyes and the Mayor is staggering back, one hand up to his ear, the same reflex that everyone does–
That everyone does when they hear an attack of Noise.
VIOLA, I think again, right at him, but he ducks his head and raises the rifle at me. I think it again–
VIOLA
And again–
VIOLA
And he steps back and stumbles over Davy’s body, falling backwards along it and down into the rubble–
I push myself up–
And I run to her–
{VIOLA}
He runs to me, his hands open and reaching for me, taking my shoulders and rolling me up to a sitting position and saying, “Are you hurt, are you hurt, are you hurt–”
And I’m saying, “He’s still got the gun–”
And Todd turns–
[TODD]
And I turn and the Mayor’s getting to his feet and he’s looking at me and here comes his Noise again and I roll outta the way and I hear it following me as I scramble over rocks, scramble back to where I dropped my rifle and–
And there’s a gunshot–
And dust flies up in the air in front of my hands–
Hands that were reaching for the rifle–
And I stop–
And I look up–
And he’s staring right back at me–
And I hear her call my name again–
And I know she’s understanding–
Understanding that I need to hear her say my name–
And that way I can use hers as a weapon–
“Don’t try it, Todd,” the Mayor says, looking down the barrel at me–