Heading for his spear–
Has his fingers on the end–
And all my hate erupts into me like a volcano at full bright red —
And I fall on him–
And I punch the knife into his chest.
It crunches as it goes in, turning to the side as it hits a bone and the Spackle screams the most terrible, terrible sound and dark red blood (red, it’s red, they bleed red) sprays outta the wound and he brings a long arm up and scratches across my face and I pull back my arm and I stab him again and a long screeching breath comes outta his mouth with a loud gurgle and his arms and legs still scramble around him and he looks at me with his black, black eyes and his Noise filled with pain and bafflement and fear–
And I twist the knife–
And he won’t die and he won’t die and he won’t die–
And in a moan and a shudder he dies.
And his Noise stops altogether.
I gag in my throat and I yank out the knife and paddle my way back along the mud.
I look at my hands, at the knife. There’s blood all over everything. The knife is covered with it, even all over the handle, and both my hands and arms and the front of my clothes and a splash on my face that I wipe away mingling with my own blood from the scratch.
Even with the rain coming down on me now there’s more of it than seems possible.
The Spackle lays where I–
Where I killed him.
I hear Viola make a choking and gasping sound and I look up to her and when I do she flinches back from me.
“You don’t know!” I shout at her. “You don’t know anything! They started the war. They killed my ma! All of it, everything that’s happened, is their fault!”
And then I throw up.
And I keep throwing up.
And when my Noise starts to calm I throw up all over again.
I keep my head to the ground.
The world has stopped.
The world is still stopped.
I don’t hear nothing from Viola but her silence. I feel my rucksack digging into the back of my neck as I lean forward. I don’t look over at the Spackle.
“He woulda killed us,” I finally say, talking into the ground.
Viola don’t say nothing.
“He woulda killed us,” I say again.
“He was terrified!” Viola cries, her voice breaking. “Even I could see how scared he was.”
“He went for his spear,” I say, lifting my head.
“Because you came after him with a knife!” I can see her now. Her eyes are wide and growing more blank, like they did when she closed up on herself and started rocking.
“They killed everyone on New World,” I say.
She shakes her head, fiercely. “You idiot! You stupid f**king IDIOT!”
She don’t say effing.
“How many times have you found out that what you’ve been told isn’t true?” she says, backing away from me even further, her face twisting. “How many times?”
“Viola–”
“Weren’t all the Spackle killed in the war?” she says and my God how I hate how frightened her voice sounds. “Huh? Weren’t they?”
And the last of my anger drops outta my Noise as I realize how I’ve been the fool again–
And I turn round to the Spackle–
And I see the campsite–
And I see the fish on the lines–
And (no no no no no) I see the fear that was coming from his Noise–
(No no no, please no.)
And there’s nothing left for me to throw up but I heave anyway–
And I’m a killer–
I’m a killer–
I’m a killer–
(Oh, please no) I’m a killer.
I start to shake. I start to shake so bad I can’t stand up. I find I’m saying “No” over and over again and the fear in his Noise keeps echoing around mine and there’s nowhere to run from it, it’s just there and there and there and I’m shaking so bad I can’t even stay on my hands and knees and I fall into the mud and I can still see the blood everywhere and the rain’s not washing it off.
I squeeze my eyes shut tight.
And there’s only blackness.
Only blackness and nothing.
One more time, I’ve ruined everything. One more time, I’ve done everything wrong.
From a long way away I can hear Viola saying my name.
But it’s so far away.
And I’m alone. Here and always, alone.
I hear my name again.
From a far, far distance I feel a pull on my arm.
It’s only when I hear a squib of Noise not my own that I open my eyes.
“I think there’s more of them out there,” Viola whispers down near my ear.
I raise my head. My own Noise is so filled with junk and horror that it’s hard to hear clearly and the rain is still falling, heavy as ever, and I take a stupid moment to wonder if we’ll ever get dry again and then I hear it, murmuring and indistinct in the trees, impossible to pin down but definitely out there.
“If they didn’t want to kill us before,” Viola says, “they’ll sure want to do it now.”
“We need to go.” I try to get to my feet. I’m still shaking and it takes a try or two, but I do.
I’m still holding the knife. It’s sticky with blood.
I throw it to the ground.
Viola’s face is a terrible thing, grieved and scared and horrified, all at me, all at me, but as ever we ain’t got no choice so I just say again, “We need to go,” and I go to pick up Manchee from where she’d set him down in the dry lee of the Spackle’s outcropping.
He’s still sleeping and shivering from the cold when I pick him up and I bury my face in his fur and breathe in his familiar doggy stink.
“Hurry,” Viola says.
And I turn back to her to see her looking all around, the Noise still whispering all around thru the woods and the rain, the fear still on her face.
She returns her gaze to me and I find it impossible to hold and so I look away.
But as I’m looking away, I see movement behind her.
I see the bushes part behind where she’s standing.
And I see her see my face changing.
And she turns in time to see Aaron coming outta the woods behind her.
And he’s grabbing her by the neck with one hand and smashing a cloth over her nose and mouth with the other and as I call out and take a step forward I hear her scream from beneath it and she tries to fight with her hands but Aaron’s holding her tight and by the time I’ve taken my second and third steps she’s already swooning from whatever’s on the cloth and on my fourth and fifth steps he’s dropping her to the ground and Manchee is still in my arms and on my sixth step he’s reaching behind his back and I don’t have my knife and I have Manchee with me and I can only run towards him and on my seventh step I see him bring around a wooden staff that’s been strapped to his back and it swings thru the air and strikes me full on the side of my head with a