Incident on Bannerville

We were on a street called Bannerville.

I remember that. Huh.

The streetlights were bare of the terrible burden of death.

Yeah. Some of them work.

They glowed green. At the end of Bannerville,

we'd turn to the right and we'd be a

block away from the Truffidian Cathedral.

A strange surge of joy or recognition overtook us,

all out of proportion to our reality.

We began to run, to laugh, abandoning our

shuffle through the shadows;

with safety so close, it was agony to walk slowly.

The worst seemed past. It really did.

I was already thinking about what I'd say

to Bonmot. I was already thinking about that,

Truff help me.

And Sybel had been holding my hand.

He was a little behind me at this point.

We were almost at the end of Bannerville,

not more than twenty feet from safety.

Overhead, a street lamp flickered free

of the green glow that pervaded the rest of the city.

And we were both about to turn the corner.

I could hear Sybel's heavy breathing as he ran.

Then I heard an unfamiliar sound-a sound

trapped between a gasp and a moan-and when

I turned and looked at Sybel,

all I could see was a mist of blood,

floating out in streamers.

I stopped running and stared.

I couldn't breathe for a second.

Nothing of him was left-not even his shoes, man.

Nothing at all. His dissolution was complete and utter.

There was such a final terrible beauty to it.

I thought it must be an absurd magic trick,

a horrible joke. But it wasn't,

and the laughter caught in my throat and became a sob.

Yeah, laughter caught in my throat and became a sob.

Yeah.

(The closer I get to the end)

(The closer I get to the end)

(The closer I get to the end)

The closer I get to the beginning

(The closer I get to the end)

(The closer I get to the end)

The closer I get to the beginning

(The closer I get to the end)

(The closer I get to the end)

The closer I get to the beginning

(The closer I get to the end)