One
Today his sons and daughter come home,
Home to the large house that is all that is left of his life before his wife.
His younger sons will be ecstatic, his older daughter cannot wait for her twin;
He is waiting for his best friend who is his oldest son.
Six children feels like too many and not enough
Like he should be helping more of them
Despite the fact he can barely provide enough food for his six-year-old,
And his older daughter has never truly needed his help but even she is hungry.
His sons enter his house in a rattle of boots and suitcases and guns (he flinches to hear) thrown on the old table,
Cass squeals in glee and Damian hurls himself at Dick and he can hear Steph shrieking that they're home and is the kettle on.
He pushes his melancholy aside because Cass doesn't like his sadness
His children are home!
He rejoices to see them filling the sitting room,
Bags and boots and yes there are the guns he distrusts
Scattered on the pitted table like so many pebbles.
"Dad!"
Even if he wanted to try he couldn't hide his smile,
His children still mostly fit in his arms.
Dick is the grand age of twenty-five and that sends a pang through his heart,
That he has been out of the home as many years as Damian has been alive,
That Jay his second peeled himself away from his beloved twin
That the pretty young blonde is not legally his daughter and he cannot protect her.
Two
They've taken his car
He went and got four hours of sleep and they ordered takeaway
And went out in his car.
He's mad,
The storm that used to be Batman roiling in his chest
Like a demon
Or terror.
The sky is opening
Lightning strikes,
Same place,
No thunder.
Damian cowers under the table
Cass is wrapped around him
Steph is demanding answers
He can hear she's afraid.
So is he.
Wait, he orders, stay safe;
His other three sons barrel in
And he orders they stay.
Jay straps on his guns,
Bruce straps on his knives.
He's a deadly shot.
Knives on his thighs and waist and wrists and across his chest
Like armour.
Three
The tarmac has buckled
As if Superman has thrown a punch,
Or perhaps Wonder Woman.
A crowd has amassed.
The cracked earth is frozen solid,
He knows what devils can come to Earth.
He meets Clark's eyes.
This might just be their undoing.
Soil starts to shift,
Something is digging out.
Clark tells him to run,
So he does.
The creature, the machine, obliterates people
Their dust sticks in his hair.
He reaches home
The image of his friends
Dusted
On him
Cass reaches out
Damian touches his shoulder.
He flinches
Darts to the sink
Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff.
"Dad?"
"Food. Clothes. Supplies. Now.
We leave this house in two minutes."
His children erupt into action,
Damian is only six
And Tim is fourteen
And Steph is fifteen
And Cass and Jay are twenty
And Dick is twenty-five
And the world is coming to an end
And he doesn't know what to do except run.
Four
Jason steals a car with Tim's help,
Somehow makes it run.
His children pile in
Damian is crying.
Cass pulls him into her
Covers his eyes
Tells him to breathe and breathe.
Another machine has woken up
Steph screams when she sees people vaporised
He wishes he could take it away.
They're heading for Talia's
Because that's all he can think of to do
And they only found two boxes of food
There are six children
Three are under sixteen
One is less than ten.
He hasn't stopped whimpering.
Five
They've been driving four hours,
Dodging stopped cars
Not stopping for anyone
He won't risk it,
Not when he sees the desperate greed.
Talia's drive is empty – of course,
She went away.
He hopes she's okay
(he still loves her)
He isn't sure how he'll cope if she's-
Anyway.
It's time to feed the kids,
But there's little in the cupboards,
And he hasn't enough.
They have some pasta,
A little sauce,
A loaf of bread.
They best eat before they run out food.
They need to sleep in the cellar,
Because he isn't certain they'd be safe
If they slept upstairs
What if the machines come back?
Six
He startles awake
Sharp like he had to be in the past
Back when he was a fighter
Back with Talia
Before.
Something is moving
No
Something is crashing
Crashing!
He shoves Damian under the stairs
Safest place
Dick tucks in front
Jason draws two guns
There's a sword on his belt
He prefers his knives.
Cass bares her teeth and slides on her dusters
She needs nothing else.
The whole place shudders
They flinch and scream under the rubble.
He can see smoke through the grate.
Seven
Don't look, he tells Damian,
Cover your eyes and hold to Dick.
He scoops up Tim
"Close your eyes"
Steph is already out
Crying.
"We crashed. Lots dead."
A journalist in her van
She shows him the lightning,
And Dick's eyes are sharp
He sees the creatures.
The machines were already here,
Somehow,
Under the cities.
Oh god
Talia -
They have to get away,
But he can't think where
Except
There's the lodge
Up on one of the Great Lakes
They could hunt
Fish.
He won't think further ahead than that.
Eight
They need to take a break
It's been three hours
Tim is asleep.
Dick stretches near the car,
Jason wanders off a little,
The girls go off together.
"Damian! That's far enough!"
No response.
He can let his youngest have five minutes
To walk and enjoy the air,
Still fresh here,
No ashes,
No machines.
"I'm scared."
He opens his arms for his son
His oldest and best friend,
Who is still too young to be exposed to this
(they are all too little and Clark is not enough)
"Me too, chum."
What can they do? What can he possibly do for his children, this family of seven, in the face of the apocalypse?
Nothing
Everything.
He's missing Damian already and it's been five minutes.
"Find some food, Dickie, and wake Tim for a break."
He follows the sheep-path where Damian walked,
Follows the tiny bootprints
To the water's edge and oh god, god, there are bodies
Floating
Drifting
The river flows fast
He slaps his hand over Damian's eyes
Cradles him close, presses his face into his neck
"I told you to stay close."
Nine
They reach a ferry-port,
And the crowd shoves in so close he can't keep driving
And he's terrified despite his blades
The hidden and blatant
Not even Jay's guns will help.
He's seen mobs and terror and desperation
Too many times
He knows how they work.
He is torn out of his seat,
Loses Timmy and Steph
Cass is desperately trying to unbuckle Damian
Dick appears on the diner roof.
Jay fires into the air
Flinch, flinch, flinchflinch.
"Get away from the goddamn car."
He hasn't lost the Batman growl
In all these intervening years
It still sends people scurrying like ants from fire.
Cass tears Damian out
And they shove into the diner
He only had to throw three knives.
They collapse into a booth
All seven
He drops his head and sobs at the gunshots as the car moves off
What they hell will they do.
Ten
He can't think what to do except keep walking
Take it in turns carrying Tim and Damian
He checks on Tim obsessively
He doesn't have a spleen
There is nobody who would give them medicine.
Damian insists on walking a stretch
Clamped tight on his hand
Everyone is starting to shake a little.
He can't erase the image of bodies floating
Drifting
Like leaves
And Talia –
No.
They're in the throbbing crowd now,
Endless people shoving towards the ferry
Desperate to live.
He settles Damian tight on his back
Tim clambers up onto Jason
Cass and Steph, too quiet, cling together.
He has three children under the age of fifteen.
The glint of the dusters makes Cass sharper
Makes Steph protected.
"Bruce!"
Who?
"It's me, Rachel? This is my daughter."
He smiles a little,
Rachel is an old face
And he trusts her.
"Come with us, we're going to the ferry."
She and her daughter join them
Holding tight to him and each other.
The ferry is crowded,
Not enough space
He has a family of seven plus two
They won't die here.
"Bruce? It wasn't Batman who saved me. It was you."
Yes.
That's the reminder he needed
He isn't lost like others
He's Bruce Wayne.
They force their way through the crowds
Helped by visible blades and hidden guns
Until they're at the edge
Blocked by a line of men.
They can't get on.
There – there's a way,
If they can slide around the barriers,
And he knows they can.
After all, he's the twice damned Batman isn't he.
"Hold tight to me and be close,"
And he leads the way
With his children and Rachel and Rachel's daughter clinging tight to him
They shove their way on
But –
"Rachel! No, you have to let them on, there's two of them, please! Rachel!"
The ferry sets off
And now he feels old and sore and his broken back hurts and his bust knee and everything but especially his soul
Rachel is reaching for him
He reaches back
Too far
Too far
This is why he isn't Batman.
He falls to his knees, keeps Damian close
Clinging like a limpet
Sobbing.
There's a disturbance
The ferry rocks
There were no waves when they boarded
It must be-
A machine rears its head above them
Looming
Some lovecraftian nightmare from an addict's drug induced fever-dream.
It reaches out to the boat
"Jump. Dick, jump!"
He shoves his children to the other side
They jump
And behind them
In the cold water
The ship burns
People scream
The machine whirrs
The water almost swamps Damian
They don't have any meds for Tim
He won't let them die here.
Eleven
They drag themselves onto the shore
Like wet cats
All seven of them
Cass and Steph curl around Tim
He can't make himself move
Just stares at the sparks and flames
And sounds of people dying.
What little they had
Is entirely gone.
He hopes Rachel is okay
Because he isn't sure
He can take any more
He's reaching the last of his reserves
He has no choice
But to get up
And carry on.
Damian has wandered off
He hauls his feet under him
Jason helps drag him to his feet
He thinks he's bust his knee again.
Damian watches the machines
The hills are lit by fire
It's apocalyptic
Neither guns nor knives will help now.
The hill bursts into flame
He drags Damian away
"Come on."
They join the lines of people heading
Away
Who knows where
But North
To the cabin
He hopes they can get there
He won't admit the doubt even to himself.
Dick and Cass forge ahead
Damian calls them back
But they don't slow.
He can see the intent of them
And he knows
Whatever they have planned
He won't be able to hold them back
Even if he tries.
Tim stumbles
Trips over a root
Eyes a little glassy
Jay hoists him up
Piggybacking
They both know they have to keep going.
Steph holds tight to his hand
But when she sees that
She switches
Sandwiching Damian in the middle
Because he is seven
And the family baby.
Twelve
They've been treading the road for hours
Tramping the same path as a hundred others
Damian is now on Bruce's back
The sky is lightening.
The ground sets a-rumbling
Like an earthquake
Or another machine
Or an army.
Tanks and troops come rolling over the hills
Hard faces and large guns,
He clings tighter to Steph and Damian
Draws nearer to Jason and Tim.
Dick and Cass are poised to spring
And he knows what it means
He won't be able to hold them back but he doesn't have to let them go
He will not see his children go to die.
They're running up, sprinting over the hill
Before he can even set Damian down
The rattle of machine guns fills his ears
And fire climbs up the sky
Jason runs too
And Bruce will not lose three
But Jason pushes him off
And yells for him to go back
Back to the other three
Steph (fifteen)
Tim (fourteen)
Damian (seven)
But these older ones are his children still
And his best friends
They are lost.
He turns and scoops up Damian
Hauls the others with him
And they run
Down
Away from the fire and screams and rattling guns.
Thirteen
It takes a few hours
Of always just a little further
Of one more agonising stride
He can feel his back grind where it broke
His knee is stiffening by the minute.
Steph and Tim drag each other along
Tramping the path a few steps ahead
With Damian holding his hand.
They need to find a shelter for the night
It smells like rain
Or thunder
And ashes.
A path leads to what looks like a mostly intact church
Silhouetted against the blue
Like a symbol of hope
Or sanctuary
Shelter.
As they draw near
He
Steph (15)
Tim (14)
And Damian (7)
He realises Dami had his birthday yesterday
His little boy is seven
His tiny baby
And look
Take a look around
At the world they've come to know
It seems no more than a crazy circus show.
There's a man lying on the steps
A shattered cross nearby
He must be a priest:
He looks like a corpse.
Another man steps out,
Bearing a gun
A few-days-old beard
(like everyone else).
He waves them in
And lets them drink
Gives the kids each a tin of beans.
Fourteen
The children settle down
Tim is humming as he tugs a blanket around
And Steph is singing
Little child
Be not afraid.
It's quite an old lullaby
But not one he ever learned
Maybe Talia knew it
But
Well, it doesn't matter.
Damian snuggles down and he smiles
His little boy
His precious darlings.
"Whiskey?"
Oh yes please.
He could do with a snifter
Just a little
To remind of normality
And after
The man pulls out cards
A deck of cards
And they play
Mindless games
Cheating and making each other huff a laugh
For a moment
At the end of the world
He feels almost human.
Fifteen
He has the weight of a daughter on each arm
The small stretch of Damian over his ribs
Like a cat
What woke him?
The man, tapping
Tapping
Wake up, Morse code
Bruce is conditioned still to be ready even before he hears the sound.
He slides out of bed, leaves Steph and Tim to lie very very still under the blankets
There is not room for Damian
So it's them three
A madman
A child
And a man who was once a warrior and knight
Running in the dark
Whilst an eye
An eye like an eel
Dark and sinuous
Twists its way through the cellar in hunt of them
They hide behind a mirror
Like mice;
Dami's foot slides,
The eel-eye is looking and coming back
Hush-hush little baby don't you cry
Damian's boot is left in the eel-eye's sight
So they can run and hide anew
The eel-eye slowly leaves
He sighs
Wipes Dami's tears
Pulls Steph and Tim up
Well done, hush hush now
Be still
Or they might try to come back.
Sixteen
They've managed to get another hour's rest
Despite the noise
Drilling
Heavy stepping machines
The heat rays
Those awful heat rays.
The mad man points out of the grate
The creatures are –
Something.
Harvesting maybe
Or spreading
A red mist to feed the strange red vines he noticed spring up
On dead land
Clogging rivers
All through the countryside.
A horrendous red mist
The horror in the man's eyes
He thinks he knows what is happening
The red coats the hand he holds up
Splashing over his jaw
Blood.
Sharp and metallic.
Blood.
The machines in the distance are catching people
Eating them?
Using their blood
Oh god
Oh god
"Not my blood,"
Hisses the man
And he scurries down to his tunnel
Too short of a tunnel
He can't go deep enough to hide his voice from the creatures.
"Not my blood
Not my blood
No no, not me"
This is it.
He has reached his line
The break point
Where he shatters
Knowing if he follows
He will not be himself
When he had done what he must do.
"Steph? You know that lullaby?
Sing for me?"
He wraps torn felt over their eyes
Steph
Tim, coughing pale Tim,
And his baby Damian who sits on Steph's lap.
"Which lullaby baba?"
"Any, Dami."
Little child
Be not afraid
He walks backwards to the door
Though rain pounds harshly against the glass
He will not be himself
Like an unwanted stranger
His children will know it
There is no danger
He will cross this line for them.
Seventeen
Steph finishes the song just before he gets back to them.
They have not removed their blindfolds.
They've been crying.
Eighteen
The world is red
The weed and the blood is everywhere
And he is aware of himself
Silhouetted
A figure on the top of a red hill
Fire climbs into the sky
Smoke weaves in the wind
It's a Batman pose.
He tucks Tim onto his back
He's caught a cold
Not sneezing or too noisy yet
But sick all the same and he can't walk.
Dami and Steph hang close
He thinks they know what he's done
They'll deal with that when they're safe
Not before.
A tripod bears down on them
They hide
Pressed to the earth
Not breathing
Wait
Wait
Praying it doesn't pick them up
Into the spider-like basket
He thinks he heads someone screaming
Blood comes down on them like summer rain
Fast and heavy
Then the machine is gone
Striding over the next hill
And they get up
Keep walking
Hunted like deer or rabbits or foxes
Stumbling and scurrying.
It's something over an hour
Until he catches sight of a city
He isn't sure where they are now
But the city sign will tell them.
Nineteen
Tim's woozy cough is now a bad cold
Maybe the flu
He sneezes over and over
Gasping after coughing fits
He himself has taken to wiping his oozing eyes.
Dami and Steph follow close
Tramping in his and Tim's steps
The silence threads them on
He isn't sure what it means
But it's broken continuously
Sneeze, hack, wheeze
Tim's small body shivering on his back.
They peak a hill
And there
Below
Like an oasis
Lies the city
Coated in the twisting red weed
With a stationary machine
Silhouetted amongst the rubble.
They slide down the dew-damp grass
He is careful to hold Tim up
Even as Damian requires his attention
It looks like Steph is fine
She stays close
He is so proud of her
And when they reach the track
Join the stream of people
He tells her
Hugging her close
Watching the road
She deserves better than him. They all do.
All these people are hungry and tired
Afraid
Some, like he and his, are bloodstained
He doesn't think about it
About using a murky puddle and rags on Damian
Steph with handfuls of clean hay scrubbing at Tim.
They go through a checkpoint
Which is more for them to give their names
And someone checks to see if they're missing
Or someone in this city has asked for them.
Nobody has
That's what he expected
But he crushes the pang of not having Dick and Cass and Jason
Their names are not in the register.
A soldier directs them
Through the city
To the airfield
But he notices as they pass the weed is crisped
Grey even
It snaps into his hand and crumbles
Why?
The crowd streams on through the streets
Dragging them further
He sees an alley he remembers
Talia has a house here, in another district.
It will have food and medicine and blankets
Tim needs to be there
If he can get away from the anxious crowd.
The machine in the rubble remains still.
"What happened?"
But nobody can or will tell him
The scientist in him begs to dissect
Take apart and study
But the father in him has always prevailed
He'd dearly like to see the alien closer.
"Mr Wayne?"
Who's asking?
"The machine – we got it open."
So they go
All four
(not seven maybe never again but no no he will get them back they will come home)
To the machine in the rubble of a large yard
A garage maybe
And it is open, just a bit,
Soldiers prying it with bars
So he sets Tim on a boulder
Orders Steph in charge
Tells Damian to stay nearby
(how could she have wanted that child to be a soldier, how could anyone make a child into a soldier)
So he goes
Does as he used to
Analyses and studies and concludes
Picks up a bar and delivers as hard a blow as he can
The door hinge shatters
Everyone except him leaps back
He draws a long knife from his belt
Draws short ones from his socks
Shifting balance
He feels dangerous
As indeed he is.
The alien is caught
A sharp tug
And it slides to the ground
Limp
Dead?
Not quite
He crouches
Blades to its head and hands and neck
"It has a cold"
Yes, he is correct
The alien has the common cold
"Superman."
A rush
Clark is here
"Look. They're susceptible to a cold."
The slow smile of Clark matches his own
They're two heroes together
Hope at last.
Twenty
The weed too is killed by the virus
So he lets Tim sneeze all over it
It isn't good
But he wants his planet back thank you very much
So he really doesn't care.
They reach Talia's house
He thinks it's empty
But then the door opens
And she's there
Talia
He stills
She stands calm at the top of the steps
And then Damian steps around him
And she smiles
They run to each other
And she holds tight to her son
Bruce misses her so much.
"I think you'd better come in, beloved."
God save him, he's weak
"Of course, love."
So they do, go into her house
And there
On the screen display
Is a set of lights
Six blue and one green
The green is Damian
And three blue
Several hours of walking away
It's them.
Cass
Jason
Dick
They're alive
Safe.
"They can maybe come here, you can all stay,"
Offers Talia
And
God help him and forgive him
He kisses her
He never really let her go
And now she's getting his children back
And he is grateful
Alive
Alive
Alive!