Monsters of Men

I turn away, spurring Acorn again with my ankles out of pure fright. His mouth is spitting foam from the effort–

“Come on, boy,” I say between his ears. “Come on!”

But he doesn’t answer me, just runs and runs and we’re through the square and past the cathedral and onto the road out of town and I sneak another look behind me and see the wall of water smash through the buildings at the far edge of the square–

“We’re not going to make it!” I yell to Bradley–

He looks at me and then back behind me–

And his face tells me I’m right–

[TODD]

Outta the corner of my eye, I see a screen showing that we’re landing on the shore and there’s snow and sand and endless water, waves crashing in and dark shadows moving thru ’em just under the surface–

But my attenshun is on the probe following Viola and Bradley–

Following ’em as they ride thru the square, thru the people left behind, past the cathedral and onto the road outta town–

But the water’s too fast, too high, too powerful–

They ain’t go

“No,” I say, my heart just ripping in my chest. “Come on! Come on!”

And the wall of water slams into the ruins of the cathedral, finally knocking over the bell tower that stood on its own–

It disappears in a flash of water and brick–

And I’m realizing something–

The water’s slowing–

As it tears thru New Prentisstown, as it erases New Prentisstown, all the junk and the buildings are slowing it down, just a little, just a bit, making the wall of water a little bit shorter, a little bit slower–

“But not nearly enough,” the Mayor says–

And he’s in the room behind me–

I whirl round to face him–

“I’m sorry that she’ll die, Todd,” he says. “I truly am.”

And I hit him with a VIOLA that’s packed with everything I got–

{VIOLA}

“No,” I feel myself whispering as New Prentisstown is torn to pieces behind us, as the wall of water is now filled with timber and brick and trees and who knows how many bodies–

And I’m looking back–

And it’s slowing down–

Choking some on all the debris–

But not enough–

It’s reached the stretch of road just behind us, still coming quick, still coming full and hard and brutal–

Todd, I think–

“Viola!” Bradley calls back to me, his face twisted–

And there’s no way–

There’s just no way–

Girl colt, I hear–

“Acorn?”

Girl colt, he says, his Noise ragged with the force he’s putting out–

Angharrad, too, I can hear her ahead–

Follow! she says–

“What do you mean, follow?” I say, alarmed, looking back at the water not a hundred metres behind us–

Ninety–

Girl colt, Acorn says again.

“Bradley?” I call but I see him gripping Angharrad’s mane tight just as I’m grabbing Acorn’s–

And Follow! she bellows again–

Follow! Acorn answers–

HOLD! they yell together–

And I’m nearly knocked off his back by an impossible burst of speed–

A burst of speed that can only be tearing the muscles in his legs, that can only be bursting his lungs–

But we’re doing it–

I look back–

We’re outru

[TODD]

VIOLA! I think right at him–

Hitting him with all the rage that she’s in so much danger, all the rage that I don’t know what’s happened to her, all the rage that she might be–

All that rage–

VIOLA!

And the Mayor flinches and rocks back on his heels–

But doesn’t fall–

“I told you you’ve got stronger, Todd,” he says, steadying himself and giving me a smile. “Not strong enough, though.”

And there’s a flash of Noise in my head so hard I fall back over a bed and crumple to the floor, the world reduced to nothing but the Noise echoing thru me, YER NOTHING YER NOTHING YER NOTHING and everything shrinks to just that sound–

But then I think Viola–

I think of her out there–

And I push it back–

I feel my hands on the floor–

I use them to rise to my knees–

I lift my head–

To see the Mayor’s surprised face only a metre or so away, coming towards me, something in his hand–

“Goodness,” he says, sounding almost cheerful. “Even stronger than I thought.”

And I know another blast’s coming so I do it the old-fashioned way before he can gather himself–

I jump at him, pushing hard with my feet and leaping out–

He ain’t expecting it and I hit him about waist-height, knocking us back into the screens–

(where the river’s still shooting down the valley–)

(where Viola ain’t nowhere to be seen–)

And he slams into ’em with a grunt, my weight against him, and I pull back my fist to punch him–

And there’s a light tap on my neck–

Just light as a touch–

And there’s something sticking to me and I put my hand to it–

A bandage–

The thing he was carrying–

“Sleep tight,” he grins down at me–

And I fall to the floor and the screens full of water are the last things I see–

{VIOLA}

“Acorn!” I shout into his mane–

But he ignores me, just keeps up his insane run, Angharrad, too, with Bradley up ahead–

And it’s working, we’ve reached a curve in the road and the river behind us is still coming, still full of wreckage and trees–

But it’s slowing more, lowering its height some, keeping more to the riverbed–

And still the horses run–

Down the road and away, a rushing fog reaching out to us, its tendrils licking at the horses’ tails–

And the river still coming–

But getting farther behind–

“We’re doing it!” Bradley shouts back to me–

“A little farther, Acorn,” I say between his ears. “We’re almost out of it.”

He doesn’t say anything back, just keeps ru

The road is becoming thicker with trees, half of them burning, slowing down the river even more, and I recognize where we’re getting to. We’re nearing the old house of healing where I was kept for so long, the house of healing I ran from–

And found the hilltop with the communications tower–

The hilltop where the army’s marching somewhere ahead of us–

Maybe already even there–

“I know a back way!” I shout. I point up the road, to a little farm off to the right, up a hill with a forest above it where the fire hasn’t reached. “Up there!”

Girl colt, I hear Acorn say in acknowledgement and the horses turn for it, skirting the corner and shooting up the drive, heading for the narrow path I know is there through the woods–

There’s a huge crash behind us as the river comes pounding down the road we just left, sloshing water and trees and debris everywhere, dowsing the fire but drowning everything else, surging up the drive behind us, swallowing the little farmhouse–

But we’re in the woods and branches are smacking my face and I hear Bradley cry out once but he doesn’t let go of Angharrad–

And it’s up a hill to a flat–

And then another uphill–

And through some shrubs–

And then we’re sailing into the clearing, hooves thumping into the crowd, scattering screaming people this way and that, taking in the scene in a flash–

Seeing the probe cameras still projected on the sides of tents–

They know what’s been happening–

They know what’s coming–

“Viola!” I hear shouted in surprise as the horses race through the camp.

“Get people off the drive up the hill, Wilf! The river–!”

“There’s an army!” Jane shouts next to him, pointing across the clearing to the entrance–

Where we can see Captain Tate leading what must be nearly the entire army–

Marching up the hill–

Their guns raised, ready to attack–