SQUEAK? Death shook his head. NO, I CAN’T LET YOU REMAIN, he said. IT’S NOT AS THOUGH I’M RUNNING A FRANCHISE OR SOMETHING. SQUEAK? ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE LEFT? The Death of Rats opened a tiny skeletal hand. The tiny Death of Fleas stood up, looking embarrassed but hopeful. NO. THIS SHALL NOT BE. I AM IMPLACABLE. I AM DEATH . . . ALONE. He looked at the Death of Rats. He remembered Azrael in his tower of loneliness. ALONE . . . The Death of Rats looked back at him. SQUEAK?
