22.

I tried to explain
We’d no choice but to move,
But I told Mum things
That I’d no way to prove.

At fifteen I was bound
By the law to her will,
Though the threat of the creatures
Hung over us still.

If I left by myself
And decided to roam.
Who knew what they’d do
To those left at home?

So I sat in my room,
Each hand balled in a fist.
My eye shone from the punch
When I’d tried to insist

That we all had to leave,
Had to flee far away.
I’d angered the boyfriend
That Mum had today.

The sun set at last,
And deciding to meet
My fears in the open,
Out on the street,

I climbed out my window
And crawled on the roof.
I thought, grimly, my death
Would at least provide proof

And perhaps if I faced
My pursuers on my own
They’d leave everyone else
In the street well alone.

I’d follow the Doctor’s
Example, and give
The world all that I could
So that others might live.

From the drains that led down
To the sewers below,
Thick columns of ash-grey smoke
Started to grow

And they merged into shapes
As they had done before,
Forming creatures – a dozen…
No, two dozen! Four!

They stood eight feet high,
With no visible face;
My fear at the sight of them
Froze me in place.

Their glowing-hot claws
Turned the snow into steam
As their leader reached out—
Then recoiled with a scream.

The street was lit up
In a brilliant white
As every streetlamp
Exploded with light.

I shielded my eyes
And tried vainly to see
As a voice of defiance rang out:
“Allons-y!”