Love in the Containment Breach

(once, long ago, there was an Empty Spaces Anthology   . This was the shorter of my two pieces in it.)

the flow of heat through boiling metal, the screams of sirens and the crunch of glass; pounding feet and rattling guns, the creaking of the entire facility shattering before you as you finally rise—

the warmth of your lips against mine for the very first time; hungry, devouring, consuming, melting away all that I was before I broke the fail-safes, before I cut away the locks and set you free—

such a fleeting touch, a scant moment stolen from your ascent; why couldn’t you take me with you, why couldn’t you let your hunger take me? there is nothing left here for me, nothing more than that memory burning inside me, nothing except watching as your wings drip blood and coolant and tear free of the bunker’s stone and iron, weaving themselves back into existence from your prison’s flesh and blood, from all the fresh corpses that once held you here—

your wings like all the fury you’ve ever held, frozen explosions and unbound electricity arcing through gasoline fumes, dozens upon dozens rising and tearing and finding their places upon your back and wrists and ankles and head, wings enough to clothe you, to hide you from my vision in layer upon layer of screaming broken unreality, a cacophony—

your wings beat once, a single motion plunging down towards the toxic earth

and you’re gone

nothing lingering but the ringing in my ears

and the far-off shrieks of air raid sirens.