As hard as it was at times to concentrate on writing while kids, teenagers, and adults shrieked and jumped all around me, I found myself pulled into various, fantastic worlds (fantastic in the literal sense of the word). In this piece, I peeked through a window into a grisly, post-apocalyptic world, replete with rogue AI dead-set on wiping out humanity. That was my sense of things, at least, but the words and means are left entirely up to you, the reader:

The Last Sector

The last sector–the one blackened
by mechanical fire and tattooed with blood–
is where you’ll find what’s left of her,
a final ghost of hope haunting ruined streets.

Say the words you think will comfort her,
knowing they’re more for your own heart.
When that grim deed is finished, turn yourself in
and join us here in this infernal prison.

Tell yourself: at least I’m not her.
At least I’m still alive.