Monsters of Men

BOY COLT! she shouts–

“TODD!” I yell–

But the waves are crashing too loud and huge–

And I swear I hear something, Noise coming from the ocean, and I get a glimpse through the crashing water of dark shapes moving beneath–

But I keep my eyes ahead, shouting, “TODD!” over and over again–

And I see–

He’s battling the Mayor, across some kind of sand-covered square in front of what looks like a chapel–

And I get a sinking feeling of how many terrible things have happened to me and Todd in churches–

“TODD!” I call again–

And I see one of them staggering back from what must be a Noise hit–

And then the other jumping away but grabbing his head–

But I can’t tell which is which from this distance–

They’re wearing those stupid uniforms–

And I’m seeing again how tall Todd’s grown–

So tall it’s hard to tell him and the Mayor apart–

And worry clenches my chest even harder–

Angharrad feels it, too–

Boy colt! she calls–

And we race even faster–

[TODD]

Get back, I think at the Mayor and I see him take a step back but just the one and another flash of Noise comes back at me and I grunt with pain and I stumble to one side and I see a broken hunk of concrete in the sand and I grab it and spin round to throw it at him–

“Drop it,” he buzzes.

And I drop it–

“No weapons, Todd,” he says. “You don’t see me armed, do you?”

And I realize I don’t, he ain’t carrying a gun and the scout ship’s too far away to be of use. He wants us to just fight with our Noises–

“Exactly,” he says, “and may the stronger man win.”

And he hits me again–

I grunt and hit him back with a VIOLA and take off running cross the little square, slipping on the snow and heading for one of the wrecked wooden houses–

“I don’t think so,” the Mayor buzzes–

And my feet stop running–

But then I pick up one–

And then the other–

And I’m running for it again–

I hear the Mayor laugh behind me. “Well done,” he says.

I scramble behind a pile of old wood, laying down low so he can’t see me, tho I know that don’t have no effect, but I need a second to think–

“We’re well-matched,” says the Mayor. I can hear him clearly despite the surf, despite the river, despite everything that should be blocking him out. He’s talking right inside my head.

Like he always has.

“You were always my best disciple, Todd,” he says.

“You SHUT UP with that talk,” I shout back, looking round the wood pile, seeing if there’s anything, anything at all that’ll help–

“You control your Noise better than any man but me,” he keeps saying, getting closer. “You control other men with it. You use it as a weapon. I’ve said from the very beginning that your power would outstrip mine.”

And he hits me again harder than ever and the world goes white but I keep thinking Viola in my head and grip the planks of wood and I pull myself to my feet and I think with the heaviest buzz I can muster, GET BACK!

And he steps back.

“Whoo, Todd,” he says, still acting impressed.

“I ain’t taking yer place,” I say, stepping out from the wreckage. “No matter what.”

And he takes another step back, even tho I didn’t tell him to.

“Someone has to,” he says. “Someone has to control the Noise, to tell people how to use it, tell them what to do.”

“Nobody has to tell nobody nothing,” I say, taking another step forward.

“You never were a poet, were you, Todd?” he says. He takes another step back. He’s on the edge of the sandy square now, still holding out his broken wrist, a bloody bone poking out thru the skin, but it don’t look like he’s feeling no pain. The only thing behind him is a long slope down to the waves and the dark shapes lurking beneath–

And I see how black the eyes of the Mayor are, how echoey his voice is becoming–

“This world is eating me alive, Todd,” he says. “This world and the information in it. It’s too much. Too much to control.”

“Then stop trying,” I say and I hit him with a VIOLA.

He flinches but don’t fall down. “I can’t,” he says with a smile. “It’s not in my nature. But you, Todd. You’re stronger than I am. You could handle it. You could rule this world.”

“This world don’t need me,” I say. “For the last time, I ain’t you.”

He looks down at my uniform. “Are you sure about that?”

I feel a rush of anger and hit him hard again with another VIOLA.

He flinches again but don’t step back and hits me with his own blast. I grit my teeth and ready another one, ready to fling it into his stupid smiling face–

“We could stand here all afternoon blasting each other into gibbering wrecks,” he says. “So let me tell you the stakes, Todd.”

“Shut up–”

“If you win, you take over the world–”

“I don’t want–”

“But if I win–”

And suddenly he’s showing me his Noise–

The first time I’ve seen it, seen all of it, in I don’t know how long, maybe even old Prentisstown, maybe not ever–

And it’s cold, colder even than this freezing beach–

And it’s empty–

The voice of the world surrounds him like the black beyond coming in to crush him under an impossible weight–

Knowing me made it bearable for him for a while but now–

He wants to destroy it, destroy everything–

And I realize that’s what he wants–

That’s what he wants more than anything–

To hear nothing–

And the hate of it, the hate in his Noise, of his Noise, is so strong, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to beat it, he’s stronger than me, he’s always been stronger, and I’m looking straight into the emptiness of him, the emptiness that lets him destroy and destroy and I don’t know if–

“Todd!”

I look away and the Mayor calls out as if I’ve ripped something from him–

“TODD!”

And there, thru the snow, riding my horse, riding my bloody great horse–