Chaos Walking: The Complete Trilogy (151 page)

But here it is as bright as the falling flakes of ice–

A future where the Clearing keeps its word and stays within its borders and where the body of the Land that surrounds us now on this hilltop can live unbothered by war–

But one where the Clearing can learn to speak the voice of the Land, too, one where understanding is not only possible, but desired–

A future where I work by the Sky’s side, learning what it is to be a leader–

A future where he guides and teaches me–

A future of sunlight and rest–

A future with no more death–

The Sky’s hand squeezes my shoulder ever so slightly.

The Return has no father,
he shows.
The Sky has no son.

And I understand what he is saying, what he is asking–

And he sees my indecision–

Because if he was lost to me like my one in particular–

It is one possible future,
he shows, warmth still in his voice.
There may be others.
He looks up.
And here one arrives now.

The Source leads them, happiness and optimism in his voice preceding him and greeting us as he crests the hill. The Clearing man is second, “Bradley” in their language, his own voice louder and harsher and much less far-reaching than the Source.

And finally her. The Knife’s one in particular.

Viola.

She rides up over the hill, her steed leaving hoofprints in the gathered white of the ice. She looks far healthier than before, almost well, and I wonder for a moment at the change, I wonder if they have found a cure for the band, the one that still stings and burns on my own arm–

But before I can ask, before the Sky can properly greet them, a
crack
resounds over the valley, strangely muffled under the blanket of white.

A
crack
that is unmistakable.

The Knife’s one in particular turns around quickly in her saddle.

“Was that a gunshot?” she asks.

A cloud immediately comes over the voice of the Source and the man of the Clearing, too.

And the Sky.
It could be nothing,
he shows.

“When has it ever been nothing in this place?” the man of the Clearing says.

The Source turns to the Sky.
Can our eyes see it?
he asks.
Are we near enough to see?

“What do you mean?” the man of the Clearing asks. “See what?’

Wait a moment,
the Sky says.

The Knife’s one in particular is holding a small box she has taken from her pocket. “Todd?” she says into it. “Todd, are you there?”

But there is no answer.

Not before we all hear a familiar sound–

“That’s the
ship
!” the man from the Clearing says, spinning his steed round to see the vessel rising from the valley floor.

“Todd!” the Knife’s one in particular yells into the metal box–

But again there is no answer.

What is happening?
shows the Sky, command in his voice.
We thought the pilot of the ship was killed
–

“She
was,
” the man from the Clearing says. “And I’m the only other one who knows how to fly it–”

But there it is, lumbering into the air from the centre of their city–

And beginning to fly right towards us–

With increasing speed–

“Todd!” the Knife’s one in particular is saying in increasing panic. “Answer me!”

It’s Prentiss,
the Source shows to the Sky.
It can only be him.

“But
how
?” the man from the Clearing demands.

It doesn’t matter now,
the Source shows.
If it’s the Mayor
–

We need to run,
finishes the Sky, turning to the Land and sending out the order instantly, run and run and
RUN
–

And there is a
whisking
sound from the vessel, the vessel that is almost upon us, a
whisking
sound that makes us turn from where we have already started to flee–

The vessel has fired its biggest weapons–

Fired them right at us–

[T
ODD
]

“Wake up, Todd,”
says the Mayor’s voice over the comm system.
“You’ll want to see this.”

I groan and roll over–

And bump into the body of Ivan, streaks of his blood spilling cross the floor as the ship rocks and rolls–

As the ship
rocks–

I look up at the monitors. We’re in the air. We’re up in the bloody
air–

“What the
hell
?!” I yell–

The Mayor’s face pops up on one of the screens.
“How do you like my flying?”
he says.

“
How?
” I say, getting to my feet. “How do you know–?’

“The exchange of knowledge, Todd,”
he says and I see him adjust some controls.
“Did you not listen to anything I told you? Once you’re connected to the voice, you know everything
it
knows.”

“Bradley,” I say, realizing. “You reached into him and took out how to fly the ship.”

“Quite so,”
he says and there’s that smile again.
“It’s surprisingly easy. Once you know the knack.”

“Put us down!” I shout. “Put us down right now–”

“Or you’ll do what, Todd?”
he asks.
“You made your choice. Made it perfectly clear.”

“It ain’t about
choosing
! Ben’s the only father I ever had–”

Which, as soon as it’s outta my mouth, I know is the wrong thing to say cuz the Mayor’s eyes go darker than I ever seen ’em, and when he speaks, it’s like the black beyond coming down from above and outta his mouth.

“I was your father, too,”
he says.
“I formed you and taught you and you would not be who you are today if it weren’t for me, Todd Hewitt.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I say. “I didn’t mean to hurt nobody–”

“Intentions do not matter, Todd. Only actions. Like this one, for instance–”

He reaches forward and presses a blue button.

“Watch now,”
he says–

“No!” I shout–

“Watch the end of this New World–”

And in the other screens–

I see two missiles fired outta the side of the scout ship–

Fired right at the top of the hill–

Right where
she
is–

“Viola!” I scream. “VIOLA!’

{V
IOLA
}

There’s no place to run, nowhere we can possibly get away from the missiles
whooshing
towards us at impossible speed, streaks of steam through the falling snow–

Todd,
I have a split second to think–

And then they hit with two huge
cracks
and the Spackle Noise screams and debris flies into the air–

And–

And–

And we’re still here–

No waves of heat and death, no top of the hill obliterated with us still standing on it–

What happened?
Ben asks as we all lift our heads again.

There’s a gash in the riverbed and some smoke from where the missile hit but–

“It didn’t explode,” I say.

“Nor that one,” Bradley says, pointing to the hillside, where a streak of brush and shrubs has been torn out but where you can also see the casing from the missile broken up into pieces.

Broken up by the impact with the rock,
not
by an explosion.

“They can’t be duds,” I say, “not both of them.” I look at Bradley and feel a rush of excitement. “You disconnected the warheads!”

“Not me,” he says, looking back up to the scout ship, hovering there, the Mayor no doubt wondering as much as we are how we’re all still standing here. “Simone,” Bradley says. He looks back at me. “We never quite got over me having Noise and I thought she was too close to Mistress Coyle, but . . .” He looks back up at the scout ship. “She must have seen the potential harm.” I can see his Noise choking up. “She saved us.”

The Sky and 1017 are watching, too, and you can hear their surprise that the missiles didn’t kill everyone.

Are those the only weapons on the ship?
Ben asks.

I look back up and the scout ship is already turning in the air–

“The hoopers,” I say, remembering–

[T
ODD
]

“What the HELL?”
the Mayor growls–

But I’m watching the screens that show the hilltop–

Where the missiles ain’t exploded–

They just crashed and that was that, causing no more damage than throwing a really big rock–

“Todd!”
the Mayor shouts into the camera.
“What do you know of this?”

“You fired at
VIOLA
!” I shout back. “Yer life ain’t worth nothing, you hear me? NOTHING!”