Monsters of Men

“Who has killed to protect us,” Mistress Coyle says. “Killed and killed and killed.”

And there’s uncomfortable murmuring from the crowd, rising higher.

“She thinks this is the end, Viola,” Todd says, alarm entering his voice. “She thinks this is the end.”

And I turn back to the stage.

And I understand, too late, what Mistress Coyle has done.

[TODD]

I’m running before I even know exactly why, just knowing that I gotta get to the stage, gotta get there before–

“Todd!” I hear Viola call out behind me and I turn as I’m running to see Bradley grabbing her shoulder to hold her back and Simone and Wilf are running after me, running towards the stage–

Running to where Mistress Coyle’s speech ain’t going down too well with the crowd–

“A peace bathed in blood,” she’s saying into the microphone. “A peace paved with the corpses of women–”

The crowd’s booing now and I reach the back edge of the platform–

The Mayor’s smiling at Mistress Coyle and it’s a dangerous smile, a smile I know all too well, a smile that’s gonna let her go ahead and make things worse and worse for herself–

But that ain’t the idea that’s dawning in me–

And I’m leaping onto the back of the platform, Mistress Coyle on my right, the Mayor on my left–

And Simone’s jumping up after me on my right, Wilf behind her–

“A peace,” Mistress Coyle says, “that he’s seized with two bloody fists–”

And the Mayor looks to see what I’m doing–

Just as Mistress Coyle is turning towards him–

Saying, “But there are still those of us who care too much for this world to let that happen–”

And she’s opening the buttons of her coat–

Exposing the bomb she’s got strapped round her waist–

{VIOLA}

“Let me go!” I yell, still trying to twist away from Bradley as Todd leaps onto the platform, Simone and Wilf right behind him.

Because I’m getting it, too–

You’d be surprised at how powerful a martyr can be, Mistress Coyle once told me–

How strongly people will fight in the name of the dead–

And I hear the gasp of the crowd as they see the projection–

As Bradley and I see it, too–

Mistress Coyle, large as life, face as calm as a saucer of milk, opening her coat to show the bomb she’s wearing, draped around her torso like a corset, enough explosives to kill her, kill the Mayor–

Kill Todd–

“TODD!” I scream–

[TODD]

“TODD!” I hear Viola scream from behind us–

But we’re too far from Mistress Coyle–

There’s too many steps across the platform to stop her–

As her hand moves to a button on the bomb–

“JUMP!” I scream. “GET OFF THE CART!”

And I’m jumping as I scream it–

Jumping outta the way–

Over the side–

Grabbing Simone’s jacket to take her with me–

“For a New World,” Mistress Coyle says, the microphone still booming. “For a better future.”

And she presses the button–

{VIOLA}

Flames explode out from Mistress Coyle in all directions, so fast the heat blows me right back into Bradley who hisses in pain as my skull hits his chin but I’m keeping to my feet and pressing forward into the blast wave, seeing the fire cascading out and I’m screaming, “TODD!” because I saw him jumping off the cart, dragging someone with him, and oh please oh please oh please and the initial blast’s billowing up into the air in smoke and fire and the cart’s burning and people are screaming and the Noise of it all and I’m breaking free from Bradley and I’m running–

“TODD!”

[TODD]

“TODD!” I hear again, my ears ringing, my clothes hot and burning–

But I’m thinking about Simone–

I grabbed her and threw us both off the side of the cart as the fire whooshed round us but we spun as we fell and I know she got the brunt of it, the fire hitting her full on and I’m patting her clothes to put ’em out and the smoke’s blinding me and I’m yelling, “Simone! Are you all right? Simone!”

And a voice, grunting with pain, says, “Todd?”

And–

And it ain’t Simone’s voice.

The smoke starts to clear.

It ain’t Simone.

“You saved me, Todd,” says the Mayor, lying there, bad burns all over his face and hands, his clothes smoking like a brush fire. “You saved my life.”

And his eyes are full of the wonder of it–

That in the rush of the explozhun the person I chose to save–

The one I chose without even thinking–

(without there even being time for him to control me–)

(no time for him to make me do it–)

Was the Mayor.

“TODD!” I hear Viola shout–

And I turn round to look–

Wilf is struggling to his feet from where he jumped off the back of the cart–

And there’s Viola, still running–

Looking at me and the Mayor on the ground, the Mayor still breathing, still talking–

“I think I need a healer, Todd,” he’s saying–

And Simone’s nowhere to be found–

Simone who was standing right in front of Mistress Coyle when the bomb went off–

Simone who was within my reach–

“Todd?” Viola asks, stopping a bit away from us, Wilf coughing but staring, too, Bradley running up behind ’em–

Everyone seeing that I saved the Mayor–

And not Simone–

And Viola says it again–

“Todd?”

And she’s never looked farther away from me.

The Source

(THE RETURN)

Through the circle of the Pathways’ End around us, we see a brief glimpse of pink sun rising in the east before it disappears behind the blanket of grey cloud that has hung over us for the past two days.

Hung over me and the Source, as we waited for the council of peace.

This was the Sky’s wish while he prepared for the council meeting, for me to stay here, bringing the Source his food and getting him to his feet again to regain the strength to walk after his long sleep, getting him washed and clothed and shaved in the Clearing fashion, and all the while showing him everything that happened while he served as the Source for the Land.