Monsters of Men

“No, it ain’t,” I say, starting to boil. “My ma wouldn’t do that to me. Ben said–”

“I can’t convince you, Todd,” he says, frowning sadly. “There’s nothing I can say that ever will, I know that. And I’m certain I made mistakes back then, maybe even mistakes that led to worse consequences than I’d ever intended. Maybe that’s even true.” He leans forward. “But that was before, Todd. That’s not now.”

My eyes are still wet, thinking of my ma, signing off.

Being afraid of what was to come.

Whatever it was.

Cuz the answer ain’t there. What really happened ain’t there. I know as much about the Mayor as before.

“I am a bad man, Todd,” the Mayor says. “But I’m getting better.”

I touch my fingertips to the cover of my ma’s journal, feeling along the knife mark. I don’t believe his verzhun of the story, I just don’t and never will.

I believe he believes it tho.

I believe he might even be sorry.

“If you ever hurt Viola,” I say, “you know I’d kill you.”

“One of the many reasons why I never would.”

I swallow. “The cure will make her well? It’ll save her life?”

“Yes, Todd, it will.” And that’s all he says.

I look up into the sky, into another freezing night, cloudy still, but no snow yet. Another night with little or no sleep, the night before the first big council meeting. The night before we start making the new world for real.

Just like my ma said.

“Bring me the bandages,” I say. “I’ll put ’em on her myself.”

He makes a low sound, almost as if in his Noise, and his face is holding back a smile, a real, true and feeling smile.

“Thank you, Todd,” he says.

And he sounds like he means it.

I wait a long time before I say it–

But I do finally say it.

“Yer welcome.”

“Mr President?” we hear. Mr O’Hare’s come up to us, waiting to interrupt.

“What is it, Captain?” the Mayor says, still looking at me.

“There’s a man here,” Mr O’Hare says, “been hassling the men all night about a meeting with you. Wants to pledge his support.”

The Mayor don’t even try to hide his impayshunce. “If I have to listen to every man on this planet pledge his support–”

“Said to tell you his name is Ivan Farrow,” Mr O’Hare says.

And the Mayor looks surprised.

And then he gets a different kinda smile on his face.

Ivan Farrow. Who goes where the power is.

{VIOLA}

“Look how beautiful,” Simone says over the comm system as we feel the scout ship rise slowly into the air. There’s a click and all the screens in the healing room show the sun, rising pink over the far ocean.

It’s only there for a brief moment before the clouds cover it away again.

“Sunrise,” Bradley says, his Noise reaching out to Lee to show it to him.

“A good omen,” Lee says. “Sun peeking through on a grey morning.”

“We fly down to make a new world,” Bradley says, his Noise warm and excited. “A real new world this time.” He smiles and the room fills up with it.

Wilf is the only one not with us, because he’s riding Acorn down to town for me and will meet us there. Mistress Coyle is sitting on the chair next to my bed. She was gone all night, no doubt off thinking of the best way to get back on top in her fight with the Mayor.

Or maybe accepting her defeat.

Which makes me surprisingly sad.

“Have you decided if you’ll take the cure yet, Viola?” she asks, just to me, keeping her voice low.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I’ll talk to Todd about it. But it won’t be because I’m trying to spite you. It doesn’t have to change anything–”

“But it will, my girl.” She turns to me. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’ve made my peace with it. Part of being a leader is knowing when to hand over the reins.”

I try and sit up. “I don’t want to take anyone’s reins–”

“You’ve got the people’s goodwill, Viola. With a little skill, you could easily turn that into strength.”

I cough. “I’m not really feeling up to–”

“This world needs you, my girl,” she says. “If you’re the face of opposition, then that’s fine with me. As long as the opposition has a face.”

“I’m just trying to make the best world we can.”

“Well, you keep on doing that,” she says, “and everything will be fine.”

She doesn’t say anything more, and we land shortly after, the ramp dropping down into the square, the ROAR of the crowd rising up to greet us.

“The Spackle are expecting us at midday,” Simone says as we walk out, Bradley helping me along. “The President’s promised horses for us all and good time this morning to talk through the agenda.”

“Todd says the Mayor’s agreed to keep the speeches to the crowd short,” I say, turning to Mistress Coyle. “And to make sure you’ve got a chance to say something this time.”

“Thank you very much, my girl,” she says. “Though you might also want to think of what you’re pla

“Me?” I say. “But I don’t–”

“And there he is,” she says, looking down the ramp.

Todd is coming towards us through the crowd.

And he’s carrying a roll of bandages under his arm.

Under her breath, I hear Mistress Coyle say, “So be it.”

[TODD]

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” I say, unrolling the bandages the Mayor gave me.

“You just wrap them round like a cloth,” Viola says. “Tight, but not too tight.”

We’re in my tent, sitting on my cot and the world outside is going on with its loud, ROARing business. The Mayor and Mistress Coyle and Bradley and Simone and Wilf and Lee, who’s sorta invited himself on the council, too, are all arguing about who’s go

“What are you thinking?” Viola asks, staring at me hard.

I smile a little. “I’m thinking, I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

She smiles a little back. “If this is you now, I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”

“You don’t hate it no more?”

“Yeah, but that’s my problem, not yours.”

“I’m still me,” I say. “I’m still Todd.”

She looks away, letting her eyes fall to the bandages. “Are you sure about this?” she asks. “You’re sure none of this is a lie?”

“He knows I’d kill him if he hurt you,” I say. “And the way he’s been acting-”

She looks up. “But it probably is just acting–”

“I think I’m the one changing him, Viola,” I say. “Enough for him to want to save you for me, anyway.”

She keeps looking, keeps trying to read me.

I don’t know what she sees.

And after a minute, she holds out her arm.

“Okay,” I say. “Here we go.”

I start unwinding the old bandages still on the wound. I take off one, then another, and then there’s the band, 1391, exposed to the air. It looks bad, worse than I even expected, the skin around it red and raw and pulled tight in an ugly-looking way and the skin beyond is darkened in wrong shades of purple and yellow and there’s a smell, too, a smell of sickness and badness.

“Jesus, Viola,” I whisper.

She don’t say nothing but I see her swallow so I just take the first new bandage and wrap it right over the top of the band. She gives out a little gasp as the first jolt of medicine enters her system.

“Does it hurt?” I say.

She bites her lip and nods quickly, then gestures for me to do more. I unroll the second bandage and the third, wrapping them round the edges of the first like the Mayor told me, and she gasps again.

“Look, Todd,” she says, her breathing fast and shallow. The bruises and darkness on her arm are already fading and you can actually see the medicine moving thru her, doing battle with the infeckshun right there under her skin.

“How does it feel?” I ask.

“Like burning knives,” she says, a tear dropping from each eye–