The Battle for Perfect

by Helena Duggan

  She reached into her other pocket and handed over the page describing the Divided Soul. Jack scanned it, then turned over the paper and read the back before looking up.

  “But this is madness, Violet, it’s crazy!”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t matter! Powick believes it and so does Tom. It’s all she’s ever told him. It’s why she took him from the orphanage. It all makes a weird kind of sense now, Jack. She thinks Tom is the twin who can raise the dead and make Arnold great again. But if it’s to look like Arnold’s machine actually worked, then Tom needs to kill Boy before Hugo steps out of the DeathDefier so he can be given some of that Elixir—”

  A thought hit her.

  “My parents, the Committee…” She looked over at the stand. “They might know where William’s been taken.”

  “But they’re surrounded by Watchers, Violet…”

  “Not completely,” she said, checking the street.

  Without another word, Violet slipped from behind the hoarding and ran for cover under the stand. The structure was held together with lots of metal bars which were easy to scale if she didn’t look down. Then she clambered over the top to the empty back row of seating, ducking just as one of the Watchers glanced up towards her.

  Slowly she snaked her way down until she was just behind her parents.

  “Mam, Dad,” she hissed, “don’t turn around.”

  “Violet!” her mother squealed before Eugene pinched her arm.

  Her mother twitched then sat stiff and motionless as she forced herself not to glance over her shoulder.

  “Violet, you’re okay!” her dad whispered, relieved, staring straight ahead.

  “Do you know where they took William? Boy is missing and I need to find him. I think he’s gone to save William, but if Powick catches him she’s going to kill him, Dad!”

  “What…?” Rose gasped, almost swivelling round before Eugene stopped her.

  “They took him to the Town Hall, Violet. I think I heard them mention the dungeons.” Her father spoke quickly.

  “Thanks, Dad.” She paused, ready to slip away before she could be spotted. “We’re fighting back, the plan’s still in place!”

  “Be careful, pet…” Rose quivered as Violet disappeared up the steps.

  She was just climbing out over the back seats when the music changed to a drum roll. The sound beat through the air, mimicking Violet’s racing heart.

  Turning quickly, she caught sight of George Archer ducking inside the Brain. All the eye plants then stood to order and looked towards the front of the stage, where Edward Archer pranced out from behind one of the red-velvet curtains.

  “Welcome one and welcome all to the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’!” he announced.

  Suddenly the stand began to vibrate. Everyone was panicking as they held on to each other. Violet gripped a seat as the vibrations grew deeper and the structure started to rattle. One of the Committee members jumped up screaming then stumbled backwards, pointing down Edward Street to where an orange glow filled the horizon.

  The vibrations deepened even further. The curtains in the Town Hall shook like waves and the stand was now rocking from side to side.

  Violet squinted; the glow grew brighter until she could just make out masses of flaming torches at the bottom of the road. They seemed to be streaming out from Archer and Brown and advancing towards them.

  An otherworldly roar cut the morning sky.

  Edward Archer danced around the stage, growing more excited as his audience became frantic.

  Violet retched, petrified, as the creatures slowly came into focus.

  Hundreds of Powick’s zombies pounded the cobblestones towards them. Some tossed their heads from side to side, biting on the air; others dragged and lunged forward, clawing at the sky. Their eyes locked on the audience in the stands as they marched closer. Becoming more frenzied, they drooled and snarled, snapping like rabid dogs looking at their dinner.

  Suddenly they stopped and the sea of undead creatures parted.

  A small, stout figure moved up through the path created; an animal on a leash limped at his side while a large zombie loomed behind him.

  Silence engulfed Edward Street. Violet was shaking.

  Arnold Archer stopped at the front of his army, just short of the Brain. Standing at one side of him was what must once have been a large chocolate brown Labrador dog and behind them was Hugo, the Child Snatcher. The animal was missing half its tail and two of its legs were eaten down to the bone. Its coat was caked in dirt, drool dripped from its gaping mouth and a steel frame, just like the ones on Powick’s zombies, traced its stitched-together body.

  “That’s Arnold, his family dog! The one he used when he first revealed his machine all those years ago in Hegel! This man is crazy!” Magnus, one of the scientists, gasped as he gripped his colleague beside him.

  “You’ve heard of the living dead, now watch the dead live!” Arnold Archer roared as he threw his arms into the air and the zombies stomped into line, closing the gap behind him. Then the creatures thrust back their heads and screeched into the skies. The sound cut through Violet as she shut her eyes and prayed that none of this was happening.

  They’d never beat them, not an army this size, she thought, doubting their plan. Her head spun in desperation. She needed to concentrate – if she couldn’t save Town, at least she could save Boy. They could all escape and find somewhere else to call home.

  “You’ve met my army, now meet my machine,” Arnold announced. “This is a new dawn, where man no longer fears death. With my science, we will rule it!”

  On cue, the red velvet curtains zipped back, revealing the DeathDefier in the middle of the Town Hall stage. Arnold strode confidently up the steps, his dead dog by his side, then turned to the zombies.

  “Dr Hugo Spinners, come forward.”

  The Child Snatcher stomped heavily up to Arnold.

  “Hugo!” Teresa, the orange-haired scientist, screamed from the stands, distraught, as her colleagues held her back.

  Violet couldn’t look away as Arnold beckoned his son Edward forward and a pale-faced Watcher handed them both white coats, just like the ones her dad wore in his lab. Then Edward wheeled a large stainless-steel table out from inside the Town Hall over to Hugo.

  The zombie stood still as Arnold turned to address his audience once more.

  “The creatures before you are dead. They can only move using my metal walking frame and the power of battery. They have no consciousness and cannot think for themselves outside of their programming.” Arnold pointed to a small black box at the back of Hugo’s head. “Let me demonstrate.”

  He ordered the Child Snatcher to lie on the steel table and, together with Edward, began to remove his metalwork. Each time a chunk came away, Arnold held up the freed limb and let it fall back down, limp. It sent a chill through Violet. Hugo now appeared more human, more dead.

  Her stomach queasy, she turned away.

  Time was running short. She looked across the stage. From this angle it seemed as if the door into the Town Hall was open. A bunch of Watchers stood nearby, engrossed in Arnold’s gruesome scene. She crept over the back of the stand, shaking with nerves as she descended to the ground. She checked round and just saw Iris quickly poke her head out, checking the street, before disappearing again behind her invisible hoarding.

  Violet waited until all eyes were on Arnold as, together with Edward, he lifted the limp and lifeless Hugo inside the glass tube of his machine and began to strap him to the human-shaped copper plate using thick leather belts.

  Taking her chance, she snuck through the groups of hidden Townspeople, up the steps, passed behind the gang of mesmerized Watchers and in the unlocked door of the Town Hall, closing it gently behind her. The place was quiet except for the mumbles that floated through from outside.

  A strange hum found her ears; low at first, it grew louder. Someone was chanting. The sound was rhythmic, the pitch rising and falling at regular intervals.

&nb
sp; A door was hidden under the stairs – it led down to the ancient dungeons beneath the Town Hall where her dad said William had been taken. She’d never been down there before but it was where the Watchers were held after they’d been captured.

  The door was black and metal with a small peephole hatch. Violet slid it open and the sound intensified. It was coming from the dungeons.

  She pushed down on the cold handle – there was a small click and she held her breath, hoping the iron wouldn’t squeak as she eased it open. A flaming torch mounted on the wall lit the darkness, casting shadows across the narrow spiral staircase before her.

  She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then put her hand against the right-hand wall and snuck down the steps.

  The chanting stopped on a high-pitched finale as she reached the flagstone floor.

  She was in a narrow passageway with a low vaulted ceiling. Her right shoulder almost touched the stone wall, which bore more flaming torches, while on her left was a row of iron-barred cells.

  A strange purple light glowed in the half dark ahead. Violet inched forward.

  Nurse Powick stood, arms wide, in the middle of a cell. Her head was cast back and the bottom of her cloak brushed the stone floor. She was standing in a ring of heaped white dust like table salt, whispering continuously. Outside this salt circle was a bigger ring of lit purple candles.

  Tom stood behind her in the centre of his own smaller white circle. His hands were out and he was looking at the ceiling too, revealing his Adam’s apple.

  Strapped to the bars of the cell, his back to Violet, was Boy. Gagged, her friend groaned and mumbled as he struggled against his ropes.

  Anger swelled inside her as she pulled back into hiding.

  Suddenly the nurse stopped chanting and glared straight at Boy.

  “I’ve called for help.” Powick sounded different, lighter than normal. “The powers that govern this world and the next are swelling around us! Can’t you feel them?” Her eyes were large and wild.

  She bent down and lifted a purple velvet bag from the floor. It was tied at the top with gold rope and from inside it her thick fingers took a tiny copper jug that looked to be decorated in delicate filigree.

  “Tom!” the woman announced.

  Boy’s twin opened his eyes and looked forward. Violet disappeared further into the shadows – when suddenly something touched her ankle.

  She startled, almost giving herself away. Fingers reached out from the bottom of the cell beside her. She squinted inside. William was lying on the ground, his hands strapped above his head, tied to the iron bars near her feet.

  Violet glanced over at Powick. She was handing the ornate jug to Tom, both chanting something under their breaths. The sound made her shiver as she stepped across the path and into William’s open cell. The ropes that clasped his wrists were tight, his skin red and raw from trying to force against them. Her fingers strained at the knots as she heard Powick hiss, “Once you’ve extinguished your brother, you’ll steal his blood and the Elixir of Life will be ours. We’ll master death, Tom! This is what we’ve been building to – this gift is your birthright! Your grandfather will be so proud!”

  Violet worked frantically, tearing at William’s ties.

  She peered over as the nurse took a small brown medicine bottle from her pocket.

  “The venom of a black widow – what a pretty way to die.” The woman beamed.

  She handed the small brown bottle to Tom as Boy fought against his restraints. Violet tried not to panic, pulling at William’s ropes until the knots finally gave way.

  Boy’s dad climbed up from the ground, looking determined.

  “Can you feel the energy, Tom? All combining for this very moment!” Powick was ecstatic.

  Violet and William crept from the cell, hiding in the shadows as the nurse stepped out of her circle, ripping the tape from Boy’s mouth.

  “Don’t do this, Tom!” his brother gasped.

  “Shut up!” Powick snarled, slapping Boy’s face.

  He struggled, rattling the iron bars. Tom hesitated.

  “Now!” the woman roared. “Arnold is waiting. There’s no time to waste!”

  “You said… You said that she abandoned me…just me…” Tom stuttered, his ice-blue eyes wide.

  “What are you talking about? We haven’t time for this now!” Powick cried as she wrestled Boy’s mouth open.

  “You said that she chose to rear him and not me, but Boy was in the orphanage too. I remember him, we both were… Mam gave both of us up!”

  “There’s no time for this!” the woman spat, her face flaming. “Pour the poison down his throat and claim what’s yours, your gift! Your grandfather’s waiting!” She grabbed Tom’s arm and yanked him forward, forcing his hand towards Boy.

  Still in the shadows, William whispered to Violet to untie Boy from outside once he’d distracted the nurse. Then he tiptoed forward.

  “You’re right, Tom, son,” William announced, bursting into the cell. “Your mam gave both of you up because she loved you. She did it to save you, to protect you from my brothers.” His voice shook and tears rimmed his eyes, but he was confident and strong – a different person to the dishevelled man Violet had first met on Wickham Terrace in the days of Perfect.

  “What…how…?” Powick stuttered before quickly grabbing Tom’s shoulder. “Concentrate!” she hissed.

  Tom hesitated again, the bottle held millimetres from Boy’s parted lips.

  Violet started working desperately at her friend’s bonds while they were all distracted by William.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Powick snarled. “William comes here now just to save the twin he really loves, the one he actually calls his son. He’s spinning lies. Myself and Arnold – we are your family. I’m the only mother you’ve ever known. Don’t you want to please me? To please your grandfather? Don’t let him steal this from us now. Claim your gift, Tom!”

  Violet’s fingers released the final knot holding Boy’s arms and her friend ducked down away from his brother just as William lurched across the space, knocking Powick aside. The older man wrestled the nurse to the floor while Violet undid Boy’s ankles and raced into the cell. She dragged her dazed friend upright as William hurriedly tied Powick to the iron railings. Tom stood motionless in the mayhem, the nurse’s poison still in his grasp.

  “Come with us,” William pleaded to his silent son.

  Tom backed away, locking eyes with his father. He seemed scared and uncertain.

  “You’re my son!” Powick screamed as she struggled against her restraints. “Free me, this is our moment. It has to be now, Tom, now!”

  “William, we have to leave, the others need us!” Violet shouted, helping Boy out into the narrow passageway.

  William grabbed Tom by the arm and forced him out.

  “Tom, son! Don’t leave me here!” The nurse’s screams echoed as Violet reached the top of the spiralling dungeon steps, the other three in her wake.

  The foursome broke out onto the stage of the Town Hall as the DeathDefier rattled and shook in front of them. Inside the glass tube, Dr Hugo Spinners was strapped to the copper plate, his body dancing to the uneven beat of the machine. His eye-plant eyes were closed as blue darts of electricity zapped around inside the glass. The hair on Violet’s arms rose in the electrified air.

  The crowd in the stands watched, mouths open as if catching flies, while the Watchers inched closer to the machine, trying to get a better glimpse of the strange happenings.

  “What is going on?” Arnold Archer demanded, spotting William, Violet, Boy and Tom onstage.

  Tom stumbled backwards as if afraid of his grandfather.

  “Where is she, where’s Priscilla?” the old man roared. “That Boy, he shouldn’t be here! What’s going on, Tom? Where is my elixir!?”

  Violet looked to her left where she knew the Townsfolk to be. She just caught sight of Jack’s head floating in mid-air, the rest of him concealed, like almost all of Town, behind
Iris’s invisible silk hoardings.

  “Jack, what’s happened to Billy’s group? They need to fire now!” she thundered, pointing at Arnold’s vibrating machine.

  Violet spun around as Powick broke out of the Town Hall door behind them, screaming for someone to grab Boy.

  Suddenly the first hoarding dropped, revealing Iris’s group, ready for battle. They wielded their weapons and charged forward.

  “Leave my grandsons alone!” the old woman cried, leading the advance.

  Then all along Edward Street, ahead of schedule, the hoardings fell and the Townspeople charged at the Town Hall.

  Quick to respond to the onslaught, the nurse raced to the edge of the stage and faced her zombie army.

  “My creatures,” she screamed, “we can still rescue this day. Attack!”

  A loud and unnatural growl filled the street as the zombies stomped their feet, then the whole army crouched down like cats ready to pounce. Their eyes locked on the Townspeople, drool dripped from their quivering lips and they launched forward, their metal frames propelling them powerfully over the cobbles. The clash of flesh and weapons cracked across the early morning.

  The shocked Watchers took a while to wake up to what was happening, and only moved hastily towards the battle when Arnold started to roar at them.

  “Billy, now!” Violet yelled, as a zombie lurched hungrily for her.

  She ducked aside and sprinted down the steps to where the small group of slingshot sharpshooters were frozen in panic in the middle of Edward Street.

  “We can’t…can’t get a…” Billy stammered, stunned by the scene around him.

  The Committee and scientists had rallied now – having broken free of the stands, they were also in the thick of the action. Madeleine Nunn battled a crazed creature just metres away. The zombie was gnawing for her neck as she tried to break free of its clawed grip.

  Violet grabbed Billy’s shoulders and shook him. “Forget everything else, Billy. You can do this! For Town, for your family – you don’t want to be an orphan again, do you?” The words slipped out as the zombies and Watchers overwhelmed the people around them.