then began the long plunge back down to Earth.
He hit the ground like a meteorite, throwing up chunks of rubble and debris in all directions. He was very relieved that it hurt. That meant he wasn’t dead. Not quite, at least.
His head went light. The world turned grey at the edges. The last thing Famine saw before he passed out was an eighty-metre tall robot ever so slowly begin to topple backwards.
DRAKE HEARD THE sound of cheering or screaming in the distance, he couldn’t tell which. Then he heard the indescribable sound of a giant robot falling on to a row of houses, and then, for the next few seconds, he heard nothing but the ringing in his own ears.
Drake hadn’t seen him move, but Pest was already scrabbling down the side of the crater caused by Famine’s fall.
“He’s alive!”
Even over the ringing in his ears and the sound of settling debris, Drake heard War sigh with relief.
“He’s alive, but he’s hurt,” Pest cried. “Someone fetch me a Kit-Kat.”
“We did it,” Drake said, looking over at the fallen robot.
War nodded. “Aye. Looks like it,” he said. He nodded towards where Mel was still sitting on the ground. “Go and check on her. I’ll help that pair.”
Drake didn’t hang about. He hurried over to the side of the road and knelt down by Mel. She managed a smile for him, and he gave one right back.
“It’s over,” he said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “We stopped him. It’s over.”
Her smile widened, until it became the crinkle-nosed grin Drake would never, ever tire of seeing. “Good work,” she said. “I knew you could do it.” She thought about this. “Well, hoped, at least.”
Down in the crater, Pest was cradling Famine’s head. He didn’t even appear bothered by the strings of drool hanging from the fat man’s open mouth, even when they began dripping on to his leather chaps.
War slid down the last few metres of the hole and nudged Famine with his boot. “Right, wake up,” he said.
“Steady on,” Pestilence complained. “He’s hurt. Don’t be so rough. You can’t just make him wake up.”
“Oh, look,” said War loudly. “I’ve found a cake.”
Famine’s eyes opened. “Cake?”
War smirked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an individually wrapped muffin. Famine took it and ate it, without bothering to unwrap it first.
“Did I do good?” Famine asked, as the other horsemen helped him to his feet.
“You did good,” War said, nodding.
“You were wonderful,” Pest enthused. He and War took an arm each and led Famine up the incline and on to the pock-marked road. They waved over to Drake. Pestilence began to say something.
That was when it hit them.
Drake didn’t see what hit the horsemen. The light was so blinding it forced his eyes to close, but even that couldn’t stop it burning into his retinas. He heard Mel hiss with the pain and shock of it.
When the light faded and Drake could open his eyes, War, Famine and Pestilence were face down on the ground, motionless.
Something moved in the pit behind them. Drake watched in horror as a twisted metal monstrosity clanked up on to the street.
It had Mr Franks’ face, but the rest of it was machine. Hydraulics hissed as it marched forward a few paces, each thunderous footstep driving a new pothole into the road. “Robotic exo-skeleton,” Mr Franks announced. “Now I know you weren’t expecting that.”
An arm rose. The palm of the robotic hand glowed a swirling white. Drake heard Mel gasp, turned and saw a blue light illuminate her from within. She sagged too quickly for him to catch her. She collapsed to the pavement as her soul streaked past Drake and was swallowed by the light.
“No,” Drake cried. “No!”
Mr Franks licked his lips. “Mmm, tasty, tasty!” he cackled. “That one’s going to be a meal all by itself.”
“Give her back,” Drake bellowed. He ran at the teacher. “Let her go!”
Mr Franks reached down and grabbed something from the ground. Something whummed towards Drake’s face. Drake twisted, but not fast enough. He felt his cheek split open and his blood fell like rain upon the ground.
“Ooh, that looks nasty,” Mr Franks grinned. He raised War’s sword triumphantly. The point drew a figure of eight in the air just a few centimetres from Drake’s nose.
“Give me back her soul, or I’m going to kill you,” Drake growled.
“See, this is how it should be!” Mr Franks cried. His eyes blazed with excitement. He was loving every minute of this. “Thrills,