mr o'hare yells , storming in with his rifle and almost immediately struck dumb by the mayor 's messed-up control- and the spackle see that the army 's confused , that we 're not doing what we should be doing , that only some soldiers are firing , but others are just standing there and we 're letting the fire spread to the foodstore- and i can feel it in the spackle noise , even if i do n't know the words , they 're smelling a victory bigger than they thought possible , maybe the final victory- and all the while , i ai n't frozen- i do n't know why but i 'm the only one who do n't seem to be stuck under the mayor 's control- maybe he ai n't in my head after all- but i ca n't stop to think about what that means- and i grab my rifle by the barrel and swing it hard right into the mayor 's ear- he calls out and stumbles sideways- the soldiers nearby yell , too , as if someone punched 'em- the mayor sinks to one knee , hand on his head , blood spilling twixt his fingers , a whine in the air coming from his noise- but i 'm already turning to mr o'hare and yelling , `` get a line of men firing , now , now , now ! ''