The Future's Mine (31 page)

She pointed towards Grimmy and Matthias. Not a shred of recognition passed her face as she looked at Grimmy. ‘They are misguided. They do not allow the love of the Metropole in. They are not evil but they still do not see the light. They are normal townsfolk like you. They
are
you. You are them. After this ceremony, they will be taken to be rehabilitated. I hope you will join with them, with me, with us and accept the love of the Metropole with open arms. I hope you will find the light with me.’

Confusion rippled through the crowd.
This is Regina – she must be right. She was a rebel but she has found the light. Maybe we can, too?

Hexhevan came to the front of the crowd and said, ‘Thank you, darling.’ He might as well have patted her on the head, his voice was oozing with so much patronising paternalism. He was a master pleased that his pet has performed her trick. ‘You see how kind we are to the misguided. You can be helped. Please let us help you,’ he urged with a sad smile.

He walked over to the Mayor and indicated that he should stand up. The Mayor heaved his bulk out of his throne where he had been sitting like an immovable boulder. No-one was going to take his power away from him now. ‘Mayor Harpick. You have long been the stalwart for the Metropole on this island. We are so grateful for your effort and your loyalty. You have tried your best to train the misguided and punish the evil doers. However, under my father’s reign, sometimes the punishments did not lend themselves to the eradication of the evil. Sometimes, evil remained despite your best efforts to get rid of it. But no longer. No longer will you toil for so few results. I am here to say to you today, I give you permission to address this issue once and for all. I give you permission to eradicate evil,
permanently
.’

The screens showed the shocked faces of the crowds. The people of Brigadus might not have been particularly educated but they were no morons. They understood. They understood that the Mayor had just been given permission to wage genocide against his own people. Anyone who refused to be ‘rehabilitated’, anyone who questioned the Mayor or wasn’t quick enough to obey would be branded evil and dealt with swiftly.

‘Starting with you,’ said the Mayor, turning to Noah.

Noah refused to drop his gaze and looked him directly in the eyes. It was a challenge and the Mayor hated to be challenged. The snake thought he had finally cornered his prey but he hadn’t banked on his prey fighting back. The Mayor’s smug grin faltered slightly. ‘The Council of Nobles, the Bluebloods, are the last remaining obstacle in our way,’ said the Mayor with an edge of flint in his voice. ‘Too long have they looked down on us. Too long have they separated themselves off from us. Do you know what they think of you, townsfolk? They think you’re stupid. They laugh at you. They make a mockery of your hard work with their family money, their lifestyle, their houses. How is that fair? I ask you, how is that fair?’

Confused looks were exchanged. They hated the Mayor more than anything but the Bluebloods came a close second. Who would they side with? The Mayor, who was akin to the devil incarnate, or the Bluebloods, who were as cold as ice?

 I heard a teenage girl next to me say, ‘But that man’s so old. They wouldn’t kill him, would they?’

Noah’s grandfather quietly wept in front of his noose. The Duchess reached for his hand but a Parrot slapped it away.

‘He is my husband and he is frightened,’ she said loudly. Her voice was as sharp and piercing as a bullet. It hit its target. The crowd audibly grumbled at the thought of someone so old being punished in such a degrading way. The crowd shifted restlessly and pressed forward.

‘These people cannot be rehabilitated. These people will stop you from finding the light and embracing the Metropole. A few days ago, we discovered a plot. They had been plotting to put themselves back in power. They were going to throw off the Metropole and make you all slaves. They were going to deny you finding the light and force you into the darkness again. These people are
evil
,’ the Mayor said quickly. He walked over to Noah’s grandfather and spat at his feet. This caused outrage in the crowd.

A male voice called out, ‘Oi, now that’s not right!’

A chorus of agreement went up in the crowd. The people of Brigadus might be hard in some aspects but they used that hardness to protect the vulnerable. Beads of sweat appeared on the Mayor’s forehead as he realised that he had put a foot wrong. His bulk was shaking in anger as he recognized that he was beginning to lose the sympathy of his audience.

Someone called ‘Coward!’ from the crowd and a jeer rose up amongst the masses.

‘They are
evil
and they will die. They will be
punished.
’ He was yelling and jabbing his finger indiscriminately between the crowd and Noah’s family as the noise from the crowd got louder. He was unsure who his enemy was now. ‘What’s wrong with you idiots?’ he yelled at the crowd. ‘Can’t you see I’m doing you a favour? They hate you! They hate me! They cannot be allowed to live!’

The Parrots grabbed truncheons from their belts and held them aloft threateningly. The crowd quailed slightly.

‘Let my family live,’ came a voice from the stage.

The crowd stopped pushing at the introduction of this new, calm voice. Noah shook off his guard and stepped from behind his noose to face the Mayor.

‘I said, let my family live. They are not evil. They have done nothing but lived the life they have been dealt. Can anyone be evil for simply playing the hand dealt to them? Killing them will achieve nothing but the smearing of blood on every person’s hands here.’

He turned to address the crowd. ‘If you allow my grandfather to die here today at the Metropole’s doing, you will be responsible for the murder of an innocent. This man is innocent of any crimes. You will all be cold-blooded murderers if you allow this. You will be worthy of the name evil. If you really need a sacrifice, a symbol, pick me. I am willing to die so that my family get to live. My death will absolve them of all their past follies and allow them to start again with you. But,
please,
you cannot kill these people. They are misguided but certainly not evil. I
urge
you to believe this and reject the alternative offered by the Metropole and the Mayor. Their idea of evil is just a ploy to massacre people who disagree with them.’

The crowd cried in anger and shouted its objections at the Mayor. A female voice shouted, ‘Let the granddad go!’

Hexhevan wheeled around in panic and signalled to a Parrot. The Parrot marched to Noah and tried to bundle him back to the gallows. A heavy fist met Noah’s stomach when he refused and the crowd cried out in disgust. Noah’s grandfather was pitifully wailing like a baby and struggling against the noose being tightened hastily around his neck. The Mayor stalked across the stage, roaring in rage. He didn’t even bother to try to hide his true nature now. It was laid bare for all to see.

His fingers closed around Noah’s hair and he yanked with as much force as he could muster. Noah struggled as he was dragged to the gallows but it was useless. The Mayor’s fury was volcanic, his face as red as an inferno. He dragged Noah easily, as though he weighed no more than Edie. The crowd began to throw grenades made from the shrapnel of everyday life at the Parrot barricade: bottles, shoes, pipes. Anything they could get their angry fists on.

The crowd carried me forward and I surfed to the front of the stage on a wave of townsfolk’s anger and hatred. The warriors punched, kicked, and barged a route through the truncheons of the Parrots. I was thrown on stage by them just as the Mayor tightened the noose around Noah’s neck and was about to give the signal for the lever to be pulled. My gunshot rang out over the crowd like a death knell. The Mayor turned to find my gun pointed directly at his heart. The crowd fell silent.

‘Stop right there,’ I said.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Facing him down was like standing still whilst a bull hurtled towards you at full speed. It took all my resolve not to run. It took all my strength to stand there in the blazing fire of his gaze.

‘You,’ he said.

The Highlanders had climbed onto the stage, hauling each other up, and now struggled to hold back the Parrots and the Metropole officials. The Parrots squawked nervously, unsure what to do, awaiting instruction from their master. The Mayor gave them none. I noted with relief out of the corner of my eye that Noah and his family had been rescued from the gallows. They were hidden behind a wall of Highlanders with Matthias and Grimmy. Regina and Hexhaven had been pushed to the back of the stage. The way had been made clear for our showdown.

‘People of Brigadus, people of the Empire,’ I said. My gun remained trained on its target. ‘You have been lied to. The Metropole and the Officials have been lying to you all these years. The Mayor has deceived you, kept you ignorant. Not only that, he has colluded in killing thousands. He has colluded in your misery. He has deliberately ruined your lives for his own gain. And still he colludes. We are all in grave danger because of the actions of the Metropole. And I have proof.’

I signalled to Edie and Aiden who had scaled the rig and invaded the technical booth. I saw Mhareen holding a knife to the technical man’s throat as Edie and Aiden moved to press play. The giant screen behind us went black. I prayed that the tape worked. My breath stopped in my throat. Images burst onto the screen; a shower of light and noise. I breathed in relief and watched as the crackly images haphazardly tumbled one after another onto the screen.

The Metropolites shooting a bullet into the sky. The rolling wave of darkness engulfing the land. The Mayor dancing in the rain. The images were jaggedly spliced together like a movie that was playing in fast forward. More rain, hurtling to the ground, blurring the picture. A close-up of a Metropolite’s mouth as he said, ‘The real device is much bigger.’

Snatches of pictures and dialogue were patch-worked together to form a grotesque portrait of their deception. It was the imaginings of Iris’s brain – a mad and confused nightmare ratcheted together into something truly horrific. Image upon image, piecing together the jigsaw. The earthquake came next; a grainy, shaky image of the deer park. The trees swayed and the ground rumbled. A giant rift was cleaved down the centre of the earth, swallowing grass and soil down a black hole.

The audience gasped. Someone shouted, ‘The earthquake!’

The Metropolites and the Mayor were clinking glasses of claret. ‘To the new method,’ they cheered.

The Mayor receiving the phone call to go to higher ground. ‘How many will die?’ he asked.

‘Enough,’ came the reply.

Then the Flood. Oh, the Flood. It was more terrible than I ever imagined. A wall of water. Dark skies filmed from the Complex roof. Far-off cries for help left unanswered. The coast completely submerged. The film cut indoors. The Mayor was receiving a golden plate from a Metropolite. ‘As a token of our thanks.’

The Mayor’s fingers closing around it greedily. ‘The ice?’

‘All gone,’ was the smug reply. ‘It was easier than we thought. The oil will be extracted soon. Thank you for letting us test the method. Your help has been invaluable. You will be rewarded.’

Iris zoomed in on the Mayor’s eyes, cold as a snake’s. The final images, of rain, floodwater, thunder clouds, the rift, flashed across the screen in a frenzied flurry. The screen went black once more. It became as quiet as the eye of a storm.

A rock sailed through the air silently. I watched it fly from deep in the audience and make a sickening sound as it made contact with the Mayor’s head. Its impact was the catalyst for an explosion of fury. The townsfolk went wild with rage.

‘What have you done?’ screamed a woman.

Fists, feet, teeth; the townsfolk used their bodies as weapons against the Parrots who struggled to keep control. The mob surged forward, trying to take back what was theirs; their land, their freedom, their dignity. The Highlanders fought to keep hold of Officials and Metropolites, unwilling to let them sneak off in the fray. The Mayor crouched on the floor, fighting against the effects of concussion. The rock had torn a gash near his hair line and blood dripped down his face.

I took the opportunity to speak into the camera, to contact the world, to call for help.

‘People! What you have seen is true. The Metropolites melted the ice caps on purpose to get the oil and gas underneath. They have killed millions and will kill millions more. They are dangerously close to causing an underwater earthquake in the Arctic.’

The crowd quietened and turned to listen to me.

‘They are using a method called deep mantle fracking. It causes earthquakes like the one that destroyed so many homes here before the Flood. They are damaging the seabed. If they don’t stop soon, there could be a terrible earthquake. A wave will come. It will be another Flood. We have to stop them now, before it’s too late. People of the world! Listen to us! Help us!’

An anguished scream left my throat as pain fired through my ribs. A Parrot had broken loose from the Highlanders and had bowled headlong into my damaged side. I sprawled on the floor. The slippery golden gun left my hand and arched through the air. It landed with a tinkle and skidded to a stop next to a pair of feet. Tentative hands reached down to pick it up.

The gun had chosen Regina.

She looked at it, turning it over in her hands. Silence and stillness. Everyone stopped their struggles to see what this strange woman would do with her weapon.

Shakily, she held it out in front of her. With slow feline steps, she stalked across the stage.

Hexhaven whispered, ‘Do it my love. Do your duty.’

‘My duty?’ she repeated. ‘My
duty.
’

She seemed to ponder the meaning of this before nodding her head. Her eyes glazed over and her face became lifeless. With gun grasped in her cold hand, she motioned towards Noah. ‘You. Come forward, boy.’

No, no, not Noah.
My stomach lurched with fear. My chest burnt with the pain of my heart breaking.
Not him, please.

Noah kissed his grandfather’s head and whispered, ‘It’ll be OK. It’s nearly over.’

He straightened up and lifted his chin defiantly. He walked to the centre of the stage exuding a calmness only available to those who have embraced their fate. Why fight against it? Embrace it, it cannot be changed. His tearless eyes fixed on the gun, as though he was welcoming an old friend. I realised with horror his plan. He was willing to do what Regina did not finish eighteen years ago. He was willing to give the townsfolk what they needed. A reason, a cause, a sacrifice, a martyr.

‘Noah!’ I cried but the Parrot covered my mouth, rendering me speechless. I would have to watch him die with nothing but silent tears to comfort me.

Regina pulled the catch back. It clicked with a finality that echoed in my chest. I could hear my own heartbeat and it frightened me. Perhaps it would be better if my heart stopped now – it would stop when I lost him anyway. I wanted to escape but had to drink in every last second with him. I couldn’t tear my eyes from him but I so desperately wanted to look away. Regina shook her head and raised the gun. Noah’s eyes found mine. I would be the last thing he ever saw and he would be the first thing I saw when I closed my eyes. Every day. Forever and always. I couldn’t let him down. I couldn’t turn my face away and be a coward. I couldn’t abandon him.

‘We’ll walk together down the line; and see the sun begin to shine;

the past is dead, our joy divine; our dream is won, the future’s mine.’

The haunting lyrics drifted across the stage. Regina gasped as the words danced around her. ‘Who sang that?’ she cried. ‘Where are you?’

Grimmy stepped from behind a Highlander. His face was glowing. He had shed eighteen hard years of worry from his shoulders. His hunchbacked slouch was replaced by a straightened, tall posture. He radiated a happiness that came from deep within him, a place he had never shown anyone since she had left. It was a part of him that had been cut out and thrown away when he had lost Regina. But now it had been carefully sewn back in. ‘Regina, it’s Dylan,’ he said.

A groan escaped her lips and her shaking hands reached automatically for her scorch marks. ‘I don’t … I don’t understand,’ she said.

‘It’s OK,’ he soothed. ‘I’m here now.’

He moved slowly to her. ‘
Put your hand in my hand, together as one. We’ll march together, ‘til we reach the sun
.’

‘I know … I know that,’ she whispered.

‘It’s your song, Regina. Remember?
No rest until our job is done; the future’s mine, our dream is won.
’

‘No, no, no,’ she muttered. Her fingers felt for her scorch marks frantically and she began whimpering.

‘Put the gun down, Regina,’ Grimmy said.

‘Shoot him, you imbecile!’ cried Hexhaven. ‘Shoot him!’

‘I don’t … I don’t …’ She was in the midst of a meltdown. Memories and feelings that had been dormant under a layer of lies rose to the surface catastrophically. Hexhaven and Grimmy both shouted encouragements of a different sort at her.

‘Don’t do this, Regina.’

‘Shoot him,
now!
’

‘You’re confusing me!’ she cried.

Grimmy suddenly decided that it was time he intervened and he strode towards her, intending to wrestle the gun from her grip.

‘Get back!’ she screamed, turning the gun on him.

He raised his arms in a gesture of surrender and backed away, muttering, ‘OK, OK. Let’s all calm down.’

She turned the gun back on Noah. She advanced towards him. ‘You! All of you! I’m sick of being your pawn. I’m sick of having you control me.
I
make my future from now on. The future’s mine. I decide what will happen. I will decide what happens to you all. And I should’ve done this a long time ago.’

My eyes never left Noah’s eyes, even as metal met flesh. The gunshot reverberated in my ears and still I did not look away. I didn’t even look away as he fell to his knees. Our eyes said all we needed to. We knew there was no other way. This had to be done. There had to be a reason, a sacrifice. There had to be a martyr. And now the townsfolk had got one.