XXX

XXX

Gripping endings
the last thing I saw was Michelle
mouthing out I love you
in a frozen expression
before everything slowly
got pulled apart
then three
and a million
until the screaming
went black

and I was stood there
in a huge meadow
turning around shocked
'What?'

'You ain't going to like this'
Michelle came up to the back of me
shaking terrified
with nothing but a huge wall
on the back of me
and a hord of screaming barbarians
on the other side.



(End of Book One)

XXIX

XXIX

Droning in the distance
Michelle cried out
'You must, there's no other way'
as I gripped the handle
maligantly

'I know' I paused
looking at the Rat King wordlessly
'There's always another way'
counting my heartbeats in apolgises
digging everybody's graves
from city to nature

garbled narratives to calloused feet
crossing over reflections
kissing echoes
until there was nothing left,

from the estwhile air

and the screams

and Mandrake swearing loudly
at the edge of my eyesight
dragged between two vampires
who were leading him towards us
like a prized trophy
to watch them stop me
'About frigging time, boy'
as the ground pulled up
in front of us
and there was nothing left.

XXVIII

(XXVIII)

Looking at the others
as she whisked Andy away
Michelle knew there was simply too many
despite having Brooks there
with a cheeseburger in one hand
and a machine gun in the other

Mandrake screaming with laughter
as he dived into the vampires
like he was diving
into a huge swimming pool
armed to the teeth
when she moved
Michelle still knew there was simply too many

Joe and Cherry nobody pawns
in a bloody game of chess
somehow staying alive
with DNA rare as red ice
fighting side by side
with the man in black
close to tears
Michelle simply knew there was too many

Skot and his men
and the Spook Squad
side plots to a complex narrative
dying within minutes
but killing dozens in process

and Andy, well Andy
his blades flashing in the darkness
in a whirl of nervous energy
as more and more vampires arrived
from their world
their teeth shining with rage

She knew there was too many
but she couldn't let him die

even though what the rat king then said.

XXVII (A and B)

(A)

Counting moments
in-between the carnage
with a mechnical pause
before she spoke
'We have no option'
She said eventually to me.

'I know' I looked at her
emptying my words into the distance
'I know;
and stepped towards the bomb
before a voice carried out
'No'

(B)

'No' I turned out.

It was the Rat King.

XXVI

XXVI

Shaking the tension to the ground
I heard the last of them fall
from the distance
when the Vampires roared
with a scarlet pool of blood
dripping out of my arms
my heartbeats became
a pulsing drumbeat
throbbing in a
heightened level of fear
when I looked at it.

Star-shot across waves
of lunacy and broken fear
across a unholy realisation
cradled in anoynmous emoitions
as I looked at Ghana
'What now?'

'It's your burden'
Michelle sighed
cutting my own throat
with a realisation that I knew
what was going to happen
whether I liked it or not.

XXV (Part A and B)

(A)

The ghost squad lasted longer
than I expected
with their pistols and rifles empty
and then their daggers and swords
dripping with blood;

They had died like men
like Skot and his men had
their pale tussocks of their uniforms
laced with sweat
and their necks ripped to pieces,

They had died like men
their swords and daggrs
covered in blue blood
and the ashes of the enemy
laced around them,

'It's time, Andy' Michelle appeared
at the back of me

'Time for what?' I turned around
looking at a circle of Vampires
build up around me

'This' She cursed
and I woke up next to a bomb.

(B)

Missing a piece of the story

five stories tied themselves into one

as Michelle held my hand

‘How?’ I asked her.

‘It’s a long story’ She said

‘It takes a huge amount of power

but we had no choice’

She collapsed.

XXIV

XXIV

Upon reflection we could have done things differently
and tried a different approach.

We could have surrendered
and left ourselves to their mercy
and watched as they torched the world.

We could have recruited others
and watched them run away terrified
or die in seconds when they attacked again.

We could have recruited other secret races
and lined them to fight hand in hand with us
at the end of the world

But it wouldn't have mattered if we have tunnelled
to the centre of the world
or brought in those wing monsters
from the other side of the moon
and yes, they do exist.

It wouldn't have mattered a damn
for what came next.