Live and Let Drood

there are many good ways.” He turned to Molly and punched her hard in the face. Her head snapped back, blood flying on the air. I threw myself at the major, and the other soldiers beat me to the ground with their gun butts. I curled up into a ball, as I’d been trained, trying to take the blows on my tensed muscles, but there were just too many of them, hitting me from every direction at once. One rifle butt got through to my head, slamming in with vicious force. My head filled with pain and then the world just went away for a while.
    When I came back, I hurt so much I couldn’t move. Blood was drying on my face and seeping out my split and broken lips. My face felt like it had been pulped. One eye had swollen shut. My muscles jumped and spasmed as I tried to move, and I groaned at the pain despite myself. I could hear the soldiers laughing.
    I wasn’t dead. Crow Lee had given orders not to kill me. I clung to that thought. There was a limit to what they could do to me. They couldn’t risk killing me. That was something. They’d hurt me, but it didn’t feel like they’d broken anything important. If I could just get my armour around me, it would make the pain go away and make me strong again, and then, and then…
    I rolled my head slowly to one side, gritting my teeth to keep from making any sound. I didn’t want to give the soldiers the satisfaction. I saw Molly lying on the grass beside me. Half her face was hidden behind a mask of dried blood, but at least they hadn’t beaten her, too. She was breathing heavily, but she managed half a smile for me.
    “They’re awake.” It was Major Michaels. “Pick them both up. The Drood has to see this.”
    Rough hands hauled me up onto my feet and held me there. Two more soldiers held Molly up before me. She looked very small andvulnerable, like a broken doll that’s been treated too roughly. Major Michaels took her chin in one hand and lifted her face. Molly stared coldly at him. She tried to spit at him, but the blood just dribbled down her chin.
    “Charming,” said Major Michaels. “Pay attention, Drood. This is for your benefit. Crow Lee has given me orders and I will carry them out to the letter, because I am a good soldier. Everything that happens next is to take the fight out of you and to teach you a lesson. That you are entirely helpless now and there is nothing you can do. We can do anything we want to you, and we will. Watch.” He gestured to the two soldiers supporting Molly. “Hold the girl steady.”
    He hit her again and again and again. The soldiers held Molly so tightly she couldn’t even turn her head aside. And the other soldiers held me tightly so I couldn’t turn my head aside from what I was seeing. I had to watch. I didn’t struggle. Didn’t cry out to beg or plead with them. There was nothing I could do, so why give them the satisfaction? I watched, watched till Major Michaels was done, and a cold, cold fire burnt in my heart. The major finally lowered his fists and stood there, breathing heavily; and then he took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his hands. Molly hung limply in the grasp of the two soldiers holding her, blood dripping steadily from her ruined face. I hoped she was unconscious.
    Major Michaels turned to me and took something from a pocket. A small flat box with a button on the top. He waggled it at me.
    “Nasty little toy, Drood. Not a soldier’s weapon. And Crow Lee says he won’t have it in the house. So…”
    He crushed the box in his hand, and it fell apart into a hundred pieces. Major Michaels fluttered his fingers, and the tiny fragments fell away.
    “All right, boys,” said the major. “Let’s take these unfortunate poor souls up to the house. Crow Lee wants to play with them for as long as they last.”
    He led the way across the devastated grounds, while the soldiers half carried Molly and me along after him. Molly was just about backon her feet again, though her head hung down. Blood dripped steadily off her chin. I did my best to keep my legs under me, for pride’s sake. More heavily armed guards kept appearing out of nowhere, moving in around us to escort us to the house. Not because they thought we were dangerous anymore, but because they couldn’t be sure we came alone. There might be others, watching and waiting for their chance.
    I kept calling on my armour, but nothing came. I could feel its angry presence, and its thoughts were as hot as mine were cold, but the influence of