Blood Run 2

Eye Hawks were circling above so they kept to the shadows, scrambling from one doorway to another. Hiding in shadows. The older girl holding her younger brothers hand. And in their ears they could hear the gentle pit pat of trailing feet and the frightening whirr just above them.

Today the girl had grown up. It came upon her the night before, bold as brass, sat in the room with her as she slept and made itself known when she woke. She pulled her little brother along, his little self trailing behind desperate to keep up. They didn't talk.

The windows at ground level were blank some shuttered and some with blinds down. As was the way in the early hours. And as she drove them on she could see her parents helplessly looking on. The smaller brother running on with eyes to the floor careful not to trip.

Her back was getting tired. The little sister was weighing her down. To an adult she would have me knee high to a grasshopper but to her she was half her height and as she had never been close she had never made a thing of lifting her. Her body was unpractised for her. There was something of the new parent about her now, kind of lost and unknowing.

I have to stop his little voice said.
She came to a halt. We have to keep going.
I need a rest. And wide eyes looked at her.
But they might catch us.
He looked up and said that the Eye Hawks had gone.

She saw that the sky was clear but something in her heart said don't stop. But her back was aching. She looked up and down. The street was narrow and dark. There was an alley.

We'll rest down there.

He wasn't convinced. When he slept these were the places that he avoided.

We have to get out of the way, she said, where no-one will find us.

She pulled him to the edge of it and they looked down. It was in shadow and cold and damp but there was no choice she said to him. Half way down was a dumpster.

We can hide behind that she said.
Ok.

They took one look behind them stepped into the half dark.

It's ok, it's ok, she said to him. He held her hand tight. The little one held on her collar. There was a wind down there. The dumpster became a giant over them.

She took the girl off her back. You have to stay in she told her. She did not dare to let her out because the girl had spirit and she was too young to understand the peril they had found themselves in. But her little legs were kicking. She was about to scream. Please, please I daren't . But her face was screwing up.

Ok. Ok.

The little boy sat on the floor behind the dumpster, away from the view of the street.

The Elder girl lifted her sister from the pack. And the three sat side by side together.

What was that?
What?
Sssh.

There were feet and voices. There was banging on doors. There were tired voices being woken as if from the frost.

Her small heart began to beat fast. She held her brother close, the little one was between them.

Don't worry she said it will be fine. She sounded like her mother. Even so it was obvious that she was scared and this kept them quiet. The voices were moving down the street. There were Hawk Eyes with them too.

Under here, he said.
No we won't fit.
If we were smaller we might.
Yes.

And she wished a door would open in the wall. She wished hard for it but nothing.

The voices were getting closer.

All three of them quiet.

Then they heard someone running they heard shouting. Voices screaming and then a series of bangs, which made them jump and cry of pain, then calls for silence and keep back, get back, it's all over.

She was squeezing them so tight.

A woman's voice was wailing. And then there were two more violent cracks and then silence.

The three children were frozen. They sat silent for two hours. By the time they emerged it was all over and the world had moved on. When they crept out into the street the only evidence was where there was blood. People were going about their business.

What happened, he asked?
I don't know.
He held onto her hand.
Come on.
Where are we going?
She looked ahead and just said there.

BLOOD RUN

1.

There are days and there are days. This was a day. The blackened skyline was smirched charcoal. Occasionally the sun would appear but it was more like it was coughed up. And it was doom, doom, doom in the papers and the world was heading towards it at a zooming rate.

They were born like this. Not all at the same time. At three year breaks. The Eldest would often get lost in herself. The second, now he was generous. And the youngest was a bright thing full of smiles, time was working itself out in her.

When it happened the eldest knew. She saw them standing at the end of the bed. They came and sat beside her. They put their hands through her hair. They kissed her. They hugged her. They told her that they would always be with her. That they loved her like the universe that was ever expanding. They said that it was up to her now to look after her brother and sister. That they were not going to be there in person, but their spirits would never leave them. Her mother then exclaimed oh god and held her as tight as she could and her father screamed no not now and slowly they both disappeared from view and presence.

The girl was left sitting in bed. Alone. She didn't sleep. She tried but nothing came. She got up. She went first to her little sisters room. The little sister was just eighteen months and was sound asleep. She was lying on her back. She was breathing lightly. The elder sister watched her. She watched her because she was her parent now and so it was up to her to take on a parents view. She tried to look with her mother's eyes.

She then went into her brother's room. He was curled up. In a ball. She climbed in with him and held him. She put her face against his and felt his breathing against her cheek. She put her head on the pillow and took in the aroma of his hair. She imagined her father breathing him in as he had done to her so, so many times. Her brother breathed quietly and slowly she fell asleep.

When she awoke. She lay there silently. Daylight was filtered through the curtains. She didn't wake with a start. It was not sudden. It was a slow painful drag into the day.

When her brother woke she said to him that their mum and dad were dead. He asked her how she knew and she told that last night they had come to her. He lay there not doubting her word because when she spoke she reminded him of his mother. He knew that she knew things that he didn't. He could feel that something had changed.

They could hear the little one stir. She got up and went to her. She picked her out of the cot. She then felt her heart break because she knew that this little one would know nothing of her parents. Ghosts work best like memories but if you have none then there are none. That's just the way it is.

She made all three of them breakfast. And then she got herself ready as they played. She looked in the mirror at her eight year old face and saw both her father and mother looking back at her. And then she began to cry.

And so there were days and they were banging on the door. They had started with the doorbell but when the there was no answer they began to pound. The eldest ran around the house gathering up things and throwing them into a bag. She took as much as she could carry. The brother watched. She said choose a toy. Just one. We can only take one.

Which one should it be?

And she stopped and said which one reminds you of them. And he looked at her and said that he did not know and she picked up his blue bear and said this is where she stitched it and he held you with it.

He nodded and stuffed it in the bag.

The little one was still.

The eldest took one look at the place that they had lived in and saw one photo on the mantelpiece with all five of them smiling. It was too precious but she had no choice but to fold it. She made sure that no fold would cross her parents face. And then she saw their book and found that there was room and no more for it.

She peaked out of the window. They were at the front and the back of the house. At the front of the house they were bringing a bright red battering ram.

Quick, she said, we have to go up. She put the back pack on her brother and put her sister into the baby carrier and slung her on her back. She was heavy.

There were slow heavy crashes on the front door below. Unforgiving.

They climbed to the top of the house. She didn't really know what they were going to do when they got there. But they ran up anyway.

When they got to the top most window she looked out. Her brother was looking scared.

What do they want?
I don't know.
I wish...
So do I.

She looked out of the window. They were a long way up.

We need to climb out. If we climb out and get onto the roof we might be able to get over to the next building.

He looked at her and never doubted. She felt doubt of course. But she didn't want to get caught. When they came they came and that was that.

She opened the window. The three children looked out. The little one was mercifully quiet. The boy held her hand. They were not noticed from below. The girl took a deep breath and told her brother that it would be fine. And then she stepped out. Her feet tipped out over the edge.

Below the front door smashed and bodies fought to make their way. It was crawling.

We have to go.
I'm scared.

There were feet running up the stairs.

We have to go now.
I might fall.
And she smiled like her mother and said I will catch you.
Even from up here?
Even from up here.

Vermin in an army on its way up. There were voices and radios and orders.

He stepped out.

The men were scrambling almost feet away behind the wall, behind the door. She reached in and closed the window. As the door to the room caved in their feet vanished from view.

Over the rooftops they ran. Their bodies black silhouettes in a moment of sun. Their little footsteps as quick as their little feet could carry them, the little one with eyes wide taking it all in for the first time as the wind blew her soft hair, oblivious to the height, to the drop, to the death not far behind them, around them, two small figures carrying a burden beyond their time and a little one with no knowledge of this life let alone its end .

Quickly, quickly.
I'm going as quick as I can. This bag is heavy.
Yes, I know. We can rest later.

The boy knew that there was no time. Whatever it was that was behind them he knew that it was a sure bad thing. The roof came to an end. Between them and the next one was a jump that stretched slightly longer than triple the Eldest's ones body.

I don't think I can jump that far he said.
Her brow was tight and deep in thought.
I could try. If I run. Maybe, he decided.

She looked at him, her little brother, full of life and pleasant dreams and boyish bravado. She scanned the roof. She heard voices coming from the window from which they had come. He turned towards her and she could sense that he was about to cry. And there behind him she saw a plank.

Quick.

With the bag on his back and the child on hers it wasn't so easy to lift it. But they managed. Its stretch across the chasm was ample. But its width was slight.

We'll have to balance.

And a great cloud fell over the earth, it blew out the sun but in fairness so too did it block out the wind.

Like in the circus.
Yes.

They stood up on the ledge. She felt her mother say, don't look down, just look ahead and don't go faster than you need. Her brother replied OK and she look down on him and smiled and said are you ready and she could see that he wasn't, so she said don't be afraid, I am with you, trying to give her voice the authority of some force other than this earth, but feeling small, which their three forms were. Tiny in comparison to the thing that was after them.

She held his hand and edged her feet out. The little one on her back started to call his name. She held his hand. Four feet gently moving forward and below them, far below the ground in a snapshot silent and still and dead. Their movement was inches and they blocked out all else around them.

A head appeared in the distance behind them and a voice called but they didn't hear. They were halfway across, the wood was old and creaked and there in the centre it gently bowed.

Just keep going.
I'm scared.
Yes, I'm scared too.

And then a figure, then two, then three, then five appeared on the roof behind and came dashing towards them, dynamic forms covering the ground so quick. The little feet almost to the other side and the boy turned and called her name and nearly lost his foot and the older girl turned and grabbed and steadied him and saw what was hurtling towards them. She pulled him quickly across as the heavy figure of man leapt forward, loosing its balance, scrambling for the plank, which tipped and snapped and with a terrible scream he fell, bouncing off the walls, head flipping somersaults to splat three blood daubs on the walls to finish in a cruel thump all that way down below.

The children looked back at those that were after them. For a moment there was a silence as wide as the space between them. And then she said run and they were off, the little one bouncing on her back and the boy as fast as he could behind her, through a door, almost falling down some stairs. Don't look back. Don't look back. The stairs a mild blue with thin worn metal banisters. Round and round, jumping two, three at a time till the bottom was reached, a corridor ran and they burst out into an alley separated from the world and ran with their burdens swinging heavy on their backs dwarfing all the more their pocketsize forms.

My God Given Talent

The last gig was truly amazing. I am going to miss KAOS.

KAOS Dream at the Contact Theatre

The vision is strong, courageous and highly modern and at least this evening, is thunderously successful with the audience. Xavier Leret has stretched a bold and bizarre idea to breaking point, and has been rewarded well for his efforts. In the world of Shakespearian adaptations, my conclusion is simple: He who dares, wins.

Oh Happy New Year!

Moses

Chief Inspector Moses was tired. Being a copper he never turned the corner to find the Promised Land, more likely he found blind allies and dead ends. The thing he shared with the prophet, certainly that morning, was that degree of unpopularity which all leaders have at some point or other. That morning Moses came down from his mount after being on the phone not to God but his guvnor who had hit him with one big commandment “sort this mess out”. The prophet descended from Sinai with two tablets which gave sinners a head ache, the chief inspector took two tablets to cure himself of his headache, he then entered the conference room with an evangelically loud voice.

Caring For Daisy Byatt Chapter 12 - Damp Spores on the Ceiling

It was a month before Carlo was able to reconnect. There were moments of consciousness through the delirium. Moments, nothing more. In all that time Daisy had not left his side. She coexisted with him. She administered to him. There was nothing she would not do for him. Perhaps it was just her luck that she had experienced the full severity of winter weather on her journey through life, yes, perhaps it was this that had kept her clear of the worst ravages of Block’s infection. No-one can be sure. She had fallen ill, of course, she had plunged into the mire, but the mire was where, from whence she came and thus it was no great jolt to her. Conservative colour, if she had any, would, no doubt, wash clean from her bones should those of a predetermined orientation cast their callipered eye in her direction. Concrete boots would sink her in time’s melancholy and the future would remain the same as her past. Thankfully, this was not to be, for we do not start out as we conclude, although, for some, the seeds of destruction are sown very early on, or at least the habits which later magnify into ruin are conspicuously formed. The cloak of Daisy’s history was not her own, she would not knit her future from the scars of her past.

Caring For Daisy Byatt - Chapter 11 - Diana’s Delusion

Diana’s youthful frame was as much to do with being barren than a healthy addiction to exercise. She had a flat stomach because she had no working womb and a perfect pair of legs that were long for her body. Her only contradiction was that her breasts were more than ample, plenty to sustain the most famished infant well into childhood. But, alas it was not to be, a tragic decision on her part for having once discovered her husband’s penchant for the young and being profoundly of the old school as far as marriage was concerned she had secretly altered her ability to breed with the help a surgeon’s knife. It was contrary to her upbringing, which although protestant held enough of a tinge of modernity to be intellectually liberal, even if she found certain excesses of free thinking munificence a challenge to tolerate. What kept her from self consummation, due to Elliott’s disorder, was the truth that when she had been little more than thirteen she too had been involved with a gentleman considerably beyond her years. The experience had been a liberating rather than debilitating one, his attention not unwanted, his touches welcomed, his caresses desired. She was ready for him. It was not until years later whilst chatting to a thirteen year old that she realised that youth is youth and that perhaps there was something more suspect about the man who bagged her cherry. Even so, she didn’t regret it, at the time it was what she wanted, conversation didn’t sit high on her agenda either.

Now before the chapter just a quick note to say that I am performing some of my stories, alongside the work of a good friend of mine, Tim Arthur, at the Folkestone Literary Festival on November 8th. You can find details here.

And now...

Caring For Daisy Byatt Chapter 10 - A Q.C. No Less

Eight hours is a long time to be abandoned by a roadside - by anyone’s standards. Junction 14 of the M4 is a no-where place, derelict of everything, plants, insects, worms - all life avoids it as if it has the Midas Touch. The centre of the roundabout is like a deep space black hole sucking all objects into its tiny opening. It stretches everything beyond recognition before crushing it out of existence.

They were both feeling sick, their colour had left them, and what ever it was that had been living in Block had turned their blood a light pink. The sky had been purple with bright streaks in it since lunchtime; the fumes from the motorway flew in and around them like the Bhopal fog. They needed a lot of things as well as fresh air, water, food, rest - all the things you need to survive. They were fading fast.

Check out the KAOS site.

Anyway, here is the new chapter of Daisy.

Caring For Daisy Byatt Chapter 9 - The Transaction

When the transaction was first suggested Daisy and Carlo were traveling together in the back of a three wheeler Robin Reliant with an old man who would lean right over the gear stick in order to take closer and then closer looks at Carlo between brief glances at the road. He was barely tall enough to peer over the steering wheel, a compact man with a thick heavy left foot and a walking cane stuck in the door. He had stopped to pick them up as they were attempting to hitchhike out of Bristol along the M32. They had been standing there for one hour, and had hardly noticed the time go as each car that passed brought with it fresh hope as it had sped around the corner. It was a renaissance moment, the cold clear sky morning made them feel shiny, newly polished, aluminum, when they looked at each other they could see their reflection in each others eyes, it was as if they were looking in a mirror to see themselves.