Not going to give the excuses of why this is so late. So sorry but I think it's worth the wait.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 10

VIOLA POV

The sun is starting to go down and I'm starting to worry. All of the search parties have reported back except for Todd's. And when I tried his COMM it said he was 'offline'. I don't think Todd knows how to turn the comm off. So something was definitely wrong. I couldn't leave though. Bradley has me and Lee taking people to a safe zone. I don't tell him that if the bombs did go off there wouldn't be anywhere that would be safe.

"He'll come back, Viola." Lee tells me four the millionth time. He can sense my anxiousness. We're huddled on the cart as people load their belongings onto it. It feels like Winter is coming.

"Ben hasn't though. Something could have happened to both of them. You would think Bradley would send another group to look for them."

"Everyone is evacuating."

"So, there should be someone doing something about it!" I exclaim. Lee shrugs.

"ANYONE ELSE FOR GROUP 4?" He hollers over the noise. "OK!" He drives the cart a ways up the road.

"Doesn't it bother you though?" I ask chewing my nail a little. "I mean, he could at least call."

"Can we please not talk about Todd?"

"Ok ok!" I gave in.

Silence. Except for the muttering of Lee's noise. You love her. I hear him say and I pretend not to care. Crack. What was that?

TODD POV

My hands are bound with a rough rope. I'm tied to a pole or something. Blindfolded. But I can smell smoke.

Hello?

Hello?!

"Shut up." I hear a gruff voice say and I get smacked across the cheek. I grit my teeth.

"What the eff-"

"I said shut up." The gruff voice said again. He stomped off. Almost sunrise. His noise said. I focus real hard on it and then I can see everything. He's looking out over the hill at the stars. Over in the corner are the missiles sitting in a dome thing made of sticks. It would be easy to make him untie me. Untie me.

"Hey…what are you…get out of my head…." He trails off. I pull myself out of his mind. And pant.

I ain't the mayor.

I ain't the mayor.

Holy shit.

There was footsteps. New ones. And a smooth voice said: "Almost time. We just need-Oh. You got one."

"Todd." I hear her say and my body goes cold. Viola. I call out through the binding in my mouth and struggle harder than ever. Let her go!

"Take off the kid's blindfold, Paul." The gruff voice said. And the guy with the smooth voice, Paul rips off my blindfold. My eyes search for Viola. Of course. It's always her and me ain't it. Always is, always will be. "And his gag."

"Todd." She says again grimacing. I see blood running down her forehead.

"What did you do to her!"

"Shut up!" Paul says shoving the gag back into my mouth.

"Let him go." I see Viola beg.

"No way." The guy holding her said. "Our boss was specific. He wanted both of you. "

"Where's Wilf?" She asked trying to move her head around.

"Oh that idiot?" Paul interjected. He was over a few feet away putting another stake into the ground to tie Viola to. "He's tied up a few miles away. Lucky if you find him alive by now"

"You monster." She spat towards him. My heart swelled with pride a little.

Viola…

VIOLA

"Hey stop that yelling!" The man holding Viola threw her down and turned and faced me. "That's not going to work on me. So just shut up." I glared at him preparing another strike this one would be aimed right into his head.

"Todd, stop." Viola sighed.

"Hello, Todd. Hello Viola." A new voice joined the clearing. I recognized it. Mr. Tate. "long time no see."

"Tate?"

"Yes todd." He kneeled down close to my face and smiled. Something was wrong with his noise. It was so loud. Chaotic. "You hear this? This is what you did to me."

"What?"

"All that time he wasn't just teaching you. You're wrong, boy."

"Mayor Prentiss?"

"Yeah." Tate stood up "That man wanted everybody to be able to hear what he did. And when he died he left it with us. His crazy noise. I can't control it like he could. I've tried but something…it's different."

"Different?" Viola interjected trying to twist her body to see Tate. Tate smiled again and suddenly the air exploded. It was like getting caught in a storm. I couldn't see anything even though my eyes were open, and I couldn't feel the ground anymore. Thunder was in my ears. VIOLA?

"TODD! WHERE ARE YOU!"

"YOU SEE NOW?!" Tate screamed over his own noise. "THIS IS EVERYTHING. EVERY MOVEMENT IN THE WHOLE PLANET. IT'S ALL IN MY HEAD. I WANT TO DESTROY IT!"

"STOP THIS!" I yell. "STOP THIS!"

"TODD!"

"AHHHHH!" Tate screamed and suddenly it was all pulled back. The sun blinded my eyes and my ears tingled. The air settled back to normal. I look over at Viola who is shaking and blinking her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

Tate was on the ground shaking. Twitching.

"Boss." Paul approached him and tried to shake him.

"Leave me please." Tate whispered.

"What should we do, boss." The gruff voiced guy asked.

"Garret, prepare the missiles. Paul I want you to bring me the communicators you found on the girl. It's time to end this once and for all."

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