The Boy with the Tiger's Heart by Linda Coggin

Author:Linda Coggin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471403170
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: 2014-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Leaving Caius to look for the bear they start the trail from behind Mimi’s cage. They walk along the streets, stopping by lampposts and rubbing Nona’s pack up against them, all the while checking over their shoulders that no one has seen them. High up on a lamppost a monkey in a suit watches their departure then scampers back over the rooftops to chatter in Crow’s ear.

They get to the outskirts of Dissville and head off towards the power station, a loud, electrified area full of noise and generators, pushing and pumping and charging live currents through wires and cables. Jay has never been there, always keeping clear of the skull posters and their prediction of immediate death.

Nona is deep in thought.

‘I’ve never understood why they had to kill everything,’ she says. ‘Why they had to kill my dog family. What harm were the dogs doing?’

‘Things have got worse over the years. My dad said they cut down the trees because the Authorities thought the woods and forests were places to be feared. Where dangerous animals lived, where dangerous people could hide.’

‘What sort of dangerous people?’

‘Oh, people who had committed crimes, I guess. Anyway, that was long before you or I were born. When they started cutting down all the trees, the animals lost their homes. Some of them became vicious, but not all. But they shot them anyway. Or captured them. Those that were left began to adapt.’

Jay thrusts his hands in his pockets. ‘My dad said that a new government department had been set up even before he was a child that was responsible for people’s safety. But it got out of hand. They passed so many laws that soon nobody was allowed to do anything without a government permit and those animals – well, they didn’t get permits, did they?’

‘Was it Bolverk who ordered The Cull?’

‘I don’t think so. He’s only the chief of police. But he’s the face of the Authorities. They give him orders and he carries them out. The Authorities don’t have any contact with real people. They all sit behind walls and make the laws. If you put fear into people they’re easier to control. That’s what my dad said.’

Nona thinks of Bolverk.

‘Yes – and if you give people power … ’

Jay pulls a face. ‘Yeah. ’Specially if you give the wrong people power.’

Nona remembers back to the time before she’d ever even heard of Bolverk, let alone seen him. She hadn’t been afraid then.

‘They knew about me, didn’t they? Those people making the laws?’

‘Yes. I guess they did. They knew about you when Dad had you. I’m amazed they never caught you before he found you.’

‘They nearly did! I do remember that. It was just before my family were killed. They were older boys. They came down to the river to fish and I was hiding under the bridge. I’d strayed off, which I knew I should never have done. When they saw me they started shouting and threw stones at me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.