Monsters of Men (25 page)

“What are you doing, Todd?” he says, swatting away at the front of his face like he’s batting back a fly.

“Water,” I say. “
Now
.”

And I can feel the
buzz
coming, feel it flailing about in the air–

I’m sweating now, even in the cold–

And I can see him sweating, too–

Sweating and looking confused–

He furrows his brow. “Todd?”

And he says it in such a sad way, a way that sounds, I don’t know,
betrayed,
like I reached inside him and messed him about, that I almost stop right there. I almost stop concentrating, I almost stop reaching out to him–

But only almost.

“I’ll get her plenty of water,” he says, his eyes dazed. “I’ll get some right now.”

And off he goes, back towards the water tank.

I take a second to catch my breath.

I did it.

I did it again.

And it felt
good
.

It felt
powerful
.

“Oh, help,” I whisper under my breath, and I’m shaking so hard I have to sit down.

{VIOLA}

I find Mistress Coyle in a small group of women near the healing tents, her back to me.

“Hey!” I call, stomping over. My voice is
very
loud after what just happened with Lee, but I’m also feeling fainter than seems plausible and I wonder if I’m about to fall flat on my face.

Mistress Coyle turns and I see three women with her. Mistress Nadari and Mistress Braithwaite, neither of whom have even bothered to say a word to me since the Answer came to the hilltop, but I’m not looking at them.

I’m looking at Simone.

“You should be in bed, my girl,” Mistress Coyle says.

I glare at her. “You don’t just ask if I’m ready for something then
walk off
.”

Mistress Coyle looks at the others, including Simone, who nods. “Very well, my girl. If you’re that committed to knowing.”

I’m still breathing heavy and realizing from her tone that I’m probably not going to like this at all when she holds out her hand in a way that asks if she can take my arm. I don’t let her, but I go with her as she walks away from the healing tents, the other two mistresses and Simone walking behind us like bodyguards.

“We’ve been working on a theory,” Mistress Coyle says.

“We?” I say, looking again at Simone, who still says nothing.

“One that makes more sense as the days go by, I’m afraid,” Mistress Coyle says.

“Can you get to the point, please?” I say. “It’s been a long day and I don’t feel good.”

She nods, once. “All right then, my girl.” She stops and faces me. “We’re starting to think that there may be no cure for the bands.”

I put my hand up to my arm without thinking. “What?”

“We’ve had them for
decades,
” she says. “We had them on Old World, for heaven’s sake, and of course there’ve been instances of cruelty or pranks when humans have been banded. But we couldn’t find a single other case, not even Simone in your very extensive database, of this sort of infection.”

“But how–?”

And then I stop. Because I realize what she’s hinting at.

“You think the Mayor put something extra on them.”

“It’d be a way for him to harm a huge number of women without anyone knowing the real agenda.”

“But we would have heard,” I say. “With all the Noise of the men, there’d have been rumours–”

“Think about it, my girl,” Mistress Coyle says. “Think about his history. Think about the extermination of the women in old Prentisstown.”

“He says it was suicide,” I say, knowing how weak it sounds.

“We’ve found chemicals even I can’t identify, Viola,” Simone says. “There’s real danger here. Real implications.”

I get a sick feeling in my stomach at the way she says
implications
. “Since when have you been listening to the mistresses so closely?”

“Since I found out you and all the banded women might be in real danger from that man,” she says.

“You be careful,” I say. “She’s got a way of getting people to do what she wants.” I look at Mistress Coyle. “A way of getting people to sit in half-circles of judgment on the rest of us.”

“My girl,”
Mistress Coyle says,
“I did not–”

“What do you want with
me
?” I ask. “What do you want me to do about it?”

Mistress Coyle sighs angrily. “We want to know if your Todd knows anything, if there’s something he’s not telling us.”

I’m already shaking my head. “He would have told me. The second he saw it on my arm.”

“But can he find out, my girl?” Her voice is taut. “Would he help us find out?”

And it takes a moment to sink in. But when it does–

“Oh,
now
I get it.”

“Get what?” Mistress Coyle says.

“You want a spy.” My voice gets stronger as I get madder. “It’s the same old tricks, isn’t it? The same old Mistress Coyle, looking for every edge to give yourself more power.”

“No, my girl,” Mistress Coyle says. “We’ve found chemicals–”

“You’re up to something,” I say. “All this time, refusing to tell me how you made the first truce, waiting for the Mayor to
make his move,
and now you’re trying to use Todd like you used–”

“It’s fatal, my girl,” she says. “The infection is
fatal
.”

[T
ODD
]

“The shame disappears, Todd,” the Mayor says, appearing behind me in that way he does as I watch James make his way thru the army camp to get Angharrad’s extra water.

“You did this to me,” I say, still trembling. “You put it in my head and
made
me–”

“I did no such thing,” he says. “I merely showed you the path. You walked down it all by yourself.”

I don’t say nothing. Cuz I know it’s true.

(but that
hum
I hear–)

(that
hum
I pretend ain’t there–)

“I’m not controlling you, Todd,” he says. “That was part of our agreement, which I’m keeping to. All that’s happened is you’ve found the power I’ve repeatedly said was in you. It’s desire, you see. You
wanted
it to happen. That’s the secret to it all.”

“No, it ain’t,” I say. “Everyone’s got desire, but they don’t go round being able to control folks.”

“That’s because the desire of most
folks
is to be told what to do.” He looks back across the square, covered in tents and soldiers and townsfolk all huddled together. “People say they want freedom, but what they really want is freedom from worry. If I take care of their problems, they don’t mind being told what to do.”

“
Some
people,” I say. “Not everyone.”

“No,” he says. “Not you. Which paradoxically makes you all the better at controlling others. There are two kinds of people in this world, Todd. Them.” He gestures at the army. “And us.”

“Don’t you include me in no
us
.”

But he just grins again. “Are you sure about that? I believe the Spackle are connected by their Noise, all bound up in one voice. What makes you think that men aren’t? What connects me and you, Todd, is that we know how to use that voice.”

“I ain’t gonna be like you,” I say. “I ain’t
never
gonna be like you.”

“No,” he says, his eyes flashing. “I think you’ll be
better
.”

And then there’s a sudden pulse of light–

Brighter than any electric light we’ve got anywhere–

Blazing cross the square–

As near the army as you can get without being in the middle of it–

“The water tank,” the Mayor says, already moving. “They’ve attacked the water tank!”

{VIOLA}

“Fatal?” I say.

“Four women so far,” Mistress Coyle says. “Another seven that won’t last the week. We’re keeping it quiet because we don’t want a panic.”

“That’s only ten or so out of a thousand,” I say. “Ones who were weak and ill anyway–”

“Are you willing to risk that belief on your own life? On the life of every banded woman here? Even amputating their
arms
didn’t work, Viola. Does that seem like a normal infection to you?”

“If you’re asking me if I believe you’d lie to get me to do exactly what you want, then what do you
think
my answer’s going to be?”

Mistress Coyle takes a slow deep breath, like she’s trying to keep her temper. “I’m the best healer here, my girl,” she says, her voice fierce with feeling, “and I could not stop those women from dying.” Her eyes fall to the bandages on my arm. “I might not be able to stop it for anyone with a band.”

I put my hand lightly to my arm again and feel the throb of it.

“Viola,” Simone says quietly. “The women are really sick.”

But no, I’m thinking.
No
–

“You don’t understand,” I say, shaking my head. “This is how she works. She turns a small truth into a bigger lie to get you to do what she wants–”

“Viola,”
Mistress Coyle says–

“No,” I say, louder, because I’m thinking more. “I can’t risk you being right, can I? If it’s a lie, it’s a clever one, because if I’m wrong, we all die, so yeah, okay, I’ll see what I can find out from Todd.”

“
Thank
you,” Mistress Coyle says hotly.

“But,” I say, “I will
not
ask him to spy for you and you
will
do something for me in return.”

Mistress Coyle’s eyes light all over my face, seeing how much I mean it.

“Do what?” she finally says.

“You’ll quit putting me off and tell me, step by step, everything you did to make peace with the Spackle,” I say. “And then you’ll help me start the process up again. No more delays, no more waiting. We’ll start tomorrow.”

I can see her brain working, crafting whatever advantage she can get out of this. “I’ll tell you what–”

“No deals,” I say. “You do everything I ask or you get nothing.”

There’s only the smallest of pauses this time. “Agreed.”

And there’s a shout from the scout ship. Bradley’s running down the ramp, his Noise roaring. “Something’s happening in the town!”

[T
ODD
]

We run towards the water tank, the soldiers in front of us parting to make way, even if their backs are turned–

And I can hear the Mayor working in their heads, telling ’em to move, telling ’em to get outta his way–

And as we get there, we can see it–

The water tank is teetering–

One leg has been nearly blown off, maybe even by one of those spinning fire things shot from close range, cuz sticky, white flames are spreading over the wood of the tank almost like liquid itself–

And there are Spackle everywhere–

Rifles are firing in all direkshuns and the Spackle are firing their white sticks and men are falling and Spackle are falling but that ain’t the worst problem–

“THE FIRE!” the Mayor screams, hitting it inside the head of everyone standing round him. “GET THAT FIRE OUT!”

And the men start to move–

But then something goes wrong, something goes
really
wrong–

Soldiers on the front line start dropping their rifles to get buckets of water–

Soldiers who were in mid-fire, soldiers who were right next to Spackle–

They just turn and leave like they’re suddenly blinded to the battle they were just fighting–

But the
Spackle
ain’t blinded and men start dying in bigger numbers, not even looking at who’s killing ’em–

W
AIT!
I hear the Mayor think.
K
EEP FIGHTING
!

But there’s some kind of catch in it now, and some soldiers who dropped their guns pick ’em up again but others just stand there sorta frozen, not knowing which to do–

And then they fall to the ground, too, hit by Spackle weapons–

And I see the Mayor’s face, see it nearly splitting with concentrayshun, trying to get some men to do one thing, other men to do another, and it’s all adding up to no one doing nothing and more men are dying and the water tank is gonna
fall
–

“Mr President?!” Mr O’Hare yells, storming in with his rifle and almost immediately struck dumb by the Mayor’s messed-up control–

And the Spackle see that the army’s confused, that we’re not doing what we should be doing, that only some soldiers are firing, but others are just standing there and we’re letting the fire spread to the foodstore–

And I can
feel
it in the Spackle Noise, even if I don’t know the words, they’re smelling a victory bigger than they thought possible, maybe the
final
victory–

And all the while, I ain’t frozen–

I don’t know why but I’m the only one who don’t seem to be stuck under the Mayor’s control–

Maybe he ain’t in my head after all–

But I can’t stop to think about what that means–

And I grab my rifle by the barrel and swing it hard right into the Mayor’s ear–

He calls out and stumbles sideways–

The soldiers nearby yell, too, as if someone punched ’em–