The Knife of Never Letting Go

They follow the path as the rest of the bridge falls. When they stop to rest, Viola bandages Todd’s eye. She says her bandages are synthetic human tissue and work better. Viola describes the crash of her spaceship and Aaron’s arrival. He kept finding her, and she didn’t know how, or why.

Todd tells Viola that he and the people from Prentisstown are settlers. They landed in New World 20 years prior. The Spackles were already there. They fought with germs, some of which resulted in the animals talking. He says there are no more aliens and repeats that he isn’t sure the germ will kill her. Viola says that she understood the words Todd was trying to read in the journal, and that they mean, “You must warn them” (140). Todd doesn’t know whom he is supposed to warn, or what the warning is.

They hear a rifle click above them. Someone asks why the two of them thought they could burn his bridge.

The man lowers the rifle, and Todd sees that it is actually an old woman, which is why there was no Noise when she approached. Her name is Mathilde, but she goes by Hildy.