Brad lay against the wall in the alleyway, blood flowing from a huge gouge in his chest. Blood trickled from his mouth and down his forehead. Amy dropped down to her knees and threw her arms around his neck. He couldn’t look at her or really move any more. He just held her tightly to him with his bloody hand. When he died she jumped up and rushed back through the back door into the pool-hall.

The hulking silhouettes of the players moved around the pool table. She took a pool cue and broke it over her knee. When they came at her she thrusted the cue at them- stabbed them in their eyes, necks, and stomachs. There was spattered blood and screams and a few of the men went down. The survivors kept closing in on her. When they were upon her she lashed out with her fingers, tearing their faces open with her sharp nails. One of them had his hands around her neck and, even though he was bleeding profusely, he continued squeezing until she passed out.

When she woke up she was still in the pool hall, weighted down by a heavy corpse that had bled all over her. She rolled him off and surveyed the others. Their crumpled, bloody bodies lay in jumbled piles around the room. She went out the back where Brad still lay against the wall, his face whiter than ever. She struggled to pick up his body and carried it down the alley, stumbling now and then and at one point dropping to her knee. She made herself get back up and push onward, making it out to the sidewalk.

Standing on the curb as cars went by she yelled, “Taxi! Hey, Taxi!” until one finally stopped. Carefully, she laid Brad’s body inside. She scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to the cab driver. “Take him to this address. It’s his mom.” And she handed the driver several bills from her pocket. He looked at the corpse and then at her. She slammed the door. Then he took off.

Standing alone on the curb she finally began to cry. Wiping her bloody hands on her jeans she stumbled back towards uptown, tears flowing freely as the sun finally rose, beams cutting across the faded brick buildings all around her.

Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.