THE CITY OF DARKNESS

(Prologue: The City Of Darkness)

The old man is telling a gathering of curious children about the old days.

 What is this electricity the old man speaks of?

What was it like to live inside the tall buildings in the city?

What was it like to go to a movie?

What was life like before the death bombs fell out of the sky?

The old man commands a large audience every time he decides to speak.

They especially love his remembrances about... The City Of Darkness!

DEL

THE CITY OF DARKNESS

(San Francisco, California)

Most of the buildings in this city of darkness have long since been consumed by decay!

That decay is fueled by the absence of the light of life and the degradation of filthy darkness!

People have long since abandoned this once thriving city by the bay... because of the earthquakes!

It's surreal to remember that one of the terrorist's bomb blasts triggered the fault that destroyed half a state and created this dangerous... City Of Darkness!

DEL

I LIKE THE WAY YOU SCREAM

(Prologue)

There is a large man trapped inside a larger metal cage.

Several men his size could fit inside with good elbow room.

His captor has made her murderous intentions very known to him.

She even encourages him to to beg for his release because, she says...

I Like The Way You Scream!

RLJ

I LIKE THE WAY YOU SCREAM

(Meridian, Mississippi)

Come on, now... your screaming and your crying is really not becoming of a strapping big man like you.

You actually should be standing there behind the bars of your cage in quiet sissy-like introspection.

You were taken down by a little girl like me and dragged by your hair into my cave to be my meal later tonight.

Don't let the fangs and claws fool you, I'm still only 13 years old... plus 130 years... so keep up the background noise because... I Like The Way You Scream!

ALD

BY THE BLOOD ON YOUR TEETH

A MEALS FOR VAMPIRES PRODUCTION

(prologue)

A trip to the dentist for dental work... who wants to go through that?

And what do you do if you are a blood drinking member of the all night undead?

You hunt your prey, drink their blood and live on the edge...

By The Blood On Your Teeth!

ECD

BY THE BLOOD ON YOUR TEETH

(Bangor, Maine)

As I wiped the deep red congealing blood off of my face and mouth, I had a silly thought!

In over 159 years, I've never had a toothache or even a cavity inside my blood craving mouth!

 And, what would a dentist have to say about my dental condition if I ever showed up at his practice?

Are vampire teeth protected by the same midnight evil that keeps me forever undead... and could a dentist even drill into my enamel... before I drank his blood?

ECD

IN TIMES PAST (AN EXCERPT)

Papa Samuel sits in his rocking chair with pen and pad in hands.

He sometimes jots down a short quatrains of what is on is mind. 

His forced participation in the great war left him broken in body and mind.

He does not talk any more.

He barely eats.

And, as his only son, I know he is ready for death...

As he lives his final days inside his own mind...

In Days Past!

RSL

IN TIMES PAST  (AN EXCERPT)

(Atlanta, Georgia)

I remember the time like it was yesterday... the days when democratic world logic stopped in its tracks!

I was a young man back then... when the Russians first stormed America from across the strait!

They instantly took Anchorage and Fairbanks... and the horror war was full on when they invaded Seattle!

They called it the Trump War... and millions more died when North Korea Nuked DC and NYC... and now old men like me dream to live in... days past!

SWL

IN THE WEEDS (AN EXCERPT)

This is not a nightmare!

This is not surreal!

What is happening right now is real!

And it is happening... In The Weeds!

RLJ

IN THE WEEDS  (AN EXCERPT)

(Webster City, Iowa)

...The top of these odd weeds sway in the breeze, their tips just above the top of my head.

I am directionless because I cannot see through the dense vegetation... the green is everywhere.

There is blood streaming down the front of my face and a raw, painful gash above my left eyebrow.

And from somewhere near, in what goddamn direction I cannot discern, a woman is crying out in pain as what sounds like dogs are gnashing and snarling between barks!...

RLJ

THE SECRET COOKBOOK (AN EXCERPT)

Selina is in possession of one of a handful of a particular cookbook.
She, and those like her, live by this recipes in this book.
Right now she she has the book opened to page five of...
The Secret Cookbook!

SAL

THE SECRET COOKBOOK  (AN EXCERPT)

(Long Island, New York)

...In many circles, it is widely believed that nearly all fried foods mostly taste like fried chicken!

Oh, I beg to differ... to the sophisticated palate and tongue, the differences are very obvious!

Take Daniel Manning right here, not fried but all boiled in a chicken soup base with carrots and potatoes.
The sweet iron in cooked human meat gives the flesh that dangerous "tingle on your tongue" that is like a chocolate high for a worldly ghoul like me!...

SAL

JUST THINKING

Sometimes,
Even deep in the throes of death,
The dead lie there... Just Thinking!

RLJ

JUST THINKING

(Somewhere in San Antonio, Texas)

I remember grabbing the skin of my chest, right over the place where my heart beat!

I'm just walking down the street, then... I'm cloaked in the blackness of death from a massive heart attack!

Eventually, I know not why, the light of my mind lit up... and from death, inside this coffin, came awareness!

I don't know how long I've been trapped inside this decaying funeral box... weeks or years... but all I can do in this living death is to lie here... just thinking!

RLJ