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Another bomb. The third this week since the first two. Not two hundred yards away from us this time.
"Bitches," I hear Davy spit, getting to his own feet and looking back down the road.
My ears are ringing and my body's shaking as I get to my feet. The bombs've come at different times of day and night, at different spots in the city. Once it was an aqueduct that fed water to the western part of town, once it was the two main bridges to the farmlands north of the river. Today, it's--
"That's that café," Davy says, trying to stop Deadfall/ Acorn from bolting. "Where the soldiers eat." He gets Deadfall to heel and climbs back up on the saddle. "Come on!" he barks. "We'll go see if they need help."
I put my hands on Angharrad who's still frightened, still saying boy colt boy colt over and over again. I say her name a buncha times and finally get back up on her.
"Don't you go getting no fu
Cuz that's also how life's gone since the bombs started.
Davy with a gun on me, every waking minute of every waking day.
So I can't never go looking for her.
"The women certainly aren't helping their own cause any," says Mayor Ledger, mouth filled with chicken.
I don't say nothing, just eat my own di
It's all really pissing off Mayor Prentiss.
I don't hardly see him no more, not since the day of my arm break, not since the day I sorta got to see Viola again. Mayor Ledger says he's arresting people and stuffing 'em in prisons west of town but not getting the knowledge he wants out of 'em. Mr. Morgan, Mr. O'Hare, and Mr. Tate are leading parts of the army off into the hills west of town looking for the camps of the bomb - planters, who are all these women who disappeared the night of the first bombs.
But the army ain't finding nothing and the Mayor just gets madder and madder, making more and more curfews, taking away more and more cure from his soldiers.
New Prentisstown gets louder by the day.
"The Mayor's denying the Answer even exists," I say.
"Well, the President can say anything he likes." Mayor Ledger pokes at his di
In addishun to the mattresses wedged in on the tower ledges, they've put in a basin with fresh water every morning and a little chemical toilet back in the darkest corner. We're also getting better food, brought to us by Mr. Collins, who then locks us back inside.
Ker - thunk.
That's where I am, locked up here every minute I'm not with Davy. The Mayor obviously don't want me out looking for Viola, despite what he says about trust.
"We don't know it's just women," I say, trying to keep her outta my Noise. "We don't know for sure."
"A group calling themselves the Answer played a role in the Spackle War, Todd. Covert bombing, nighttime operations, that sort of thing."
"And?"
"And it was all women. No Noise to be heard by the enemy, you see." He shakes his head. "But they got out of hand at the end, became a law unto themselves. After the peace, they even attacked our own city. We were finally forced to execute some of them. A nasty business."
"But if you executed them, how can it be them?"
"Because an idea lives on after the death of the person." He burps quietly. "I don't know what they think they're going to accomplish, though. It's only a matter of time before the President finds them."
"Men have gone missing, too," I say, cuz it's true but what I'm thinking is--
(did she go with em?)
I lick my lips. "These healing houses where women work," I say, "are they marked somehow? Some way to tell what they are?"
He takes a sip of his water, watching me over his cup. "Why do you want to know a thing like that?"
I rustle my Noise a little to hide anything that might give me away. "No reason," I say. "Never mind." I set my di
I lay back on my bed and face the wall. The last of the setting sun's coming thru the openings in the tower. There ain't no glass in the openings and winter's coming. I don't know how we're go
But then a picture comes floating from his Noise, floating right over to me, a picture of an outstretched hand, painted in blue.
I turn to look at him. I've seen the hand on at least two different buildings on the way to the monastery.
"There are five of them," he says, his voice low. "I can tell you where they are. If you want."
I look into his Noise. He looks into mine. We're both covering something, hiding something beneath all the other strands of our thoughts. All these days locked together and we're still wondering if we can trust each other.
"Tell me," I say.
"1017," I read out to Davy as he spins the bolting tool around, latching the band to a Spackle who instantly becomes 1017.
"That's enough for today," Davy says, tossing the bolting tool in the bag.
"We've still got-"
"I said that's enough." He limps back over to our bottle of water and takes a swig. His leg should be healed by now. My arm is, but he still limps.
"We were sposed to be done with this in a week," I say. "We're going on two now."
"I don't see no one hurrying us along." He spits out some water. "Do you?"
"No, but-"
"And no further instruckshuns and no new jobs ..." He trails off, takes another swig of water, and spits some more. He glares to my left. "What're you looking at?"
1017 is still standing there, holding the band with one hand and staring at us. I think it's a male and I think it's young, not quite an adult. It clicks at us once and then once again and even tho it ain't got Noise the click sure sounds like something rude. D avy thinks so, too. "Oh, yeah?" He reaches for the rifle slung on his back, his Noise firing it again and again at fleeing Spackle.
1017 stands his ground. He looks me in the eye and clicks again.
Yeah, definitely rude.
He backs off, walking away but still staring at us, one hand rubbing his metal band. I turn to Davy, who's got his rifle up and pointed at 1017 as he goes.
"Don't," I say.
"Why not?" Davy says. "Who's go
The bombs have come every third or fourth day. No one knows where they'll be or how they're planted, but BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The evening of the sixth bomb, a small fission reactor this time, Mayor Ledger comes in with a blackened eye and a swollen nose. "What happened?" I ask.
"Soldiers." He spits. He takes up his di
His Noise rises a little and he turns an angry eye on me. "I didn't do anything."