by Adam Watson
"THEY'RE COMING!" he screamed. He could see the shapes moving through the darkness; coming towards them at speed. There were hundreds of them, if not thousands of them. What they were he could not tell, but they were coming from all directions, and it filled him with dread. "WE'RE GOING TO GET FUCKING SWAMPED!!" Greegan didn't answer, he knew his brother was right.
"Let's just hope these voices know what they're talking about," Greegan muttered under his breath; it was all he could hope for now. The sheer number of the incoming mass left him little hope that they could survive this on their own. "This might be a good time to start praying!"
Who are the gods? Aiden wondered. Tempus is the blue one; Wotan is the brown, and the female was the green. That was all he knew! Twenty years of his mother and grandparents banging on about the gods and that was the sum of his accumulated knowledge! His mother would completely flip out if she knew, and his grandparents would turn over in their graves. It didn't matter though - he would pray to them all if he thought that it would save them.
The swarming mass continued their approach, the footsteps of thousands reverberated throughout the cavern; making it shake like thunder. He could see them now: giant rats, the size of dogs; mad with rage, screeching and scrawling towards them. Black eyes of death fuelled by plague, rabid teeth frothing; ready to tear and consume - the shrieking grew louder and louder and louder.
Aiden thought back to what seemed an eternity, back to when he had talked to the clerk in the City Hall. When he had had that talk, and the word infestation had come up - this was not what he had pictured. Rats were relatively small creatures and very easy to kill, one quick ‘WHACK!’ and they were dead. These creatures were something else - these were not rats, but mutated beasts of unnatural size and strength; beasts that craved blood, beasts that were coming for them in a frenzy. This is a nightmare.
The horde continued to swarm. Aiden could feel his brother moving into a more defensive position right behind him.
"Back to back Brother ... it’s our only chance!" shouted Greegan. The screeching of the beasts echoed throughout the cavern like a thousand wailing ghosts. YOU THINK THAT WILL SAVE US?!! thought Aiden. He wanted to scream it, to turn to his brother and scream in his face. YOU FOOL! The fear of death and the fear of being torn apart had him paralysed and muted. NOTHING WILL SAVE US!! Even as he had that thought, he turned and held his sword out ready for battle. Yes, they would come for them, but he wasn't willing to lay down and die just yet. No, he would go down fighting till the bitter end.
He turned his head for a quick scan of the situation, all things considered, they had defended themselves the best they could - which simply meant that they weren't completely exposed. To his right, the central pillar rose to the ceiling. That was good, that meant one side was safe at least, the pillar was thicker than any castle wall, and nothing would get through it. To his left the great bonfire raged; that should protect him - at least whilst it lasted. Rats were just rats, after all; they didn’t have sentient thoughts of attack, and they didn’t have advanced tactics, even if they were large and unnatural. He just hoped they didn't do a suicidal run through the flames and smother it - there were more than enough rodents in the cavern to do that. Surely, they're not that fucking mad, he thought ... or were they?
Behind him, his brother stood; axe in front of him, ready to hack anything that came near, and Aiden knew that whilst he was there, his back would be safe. He strengthened his stance and prepared for the onslaught. We don't stand a fucking chance.
Greegan looked ahead, they were almost upon him. This is it. He wondered how long they would last; he wondered if it was possible to survive. The sight of the raging swarm and the deafening noise that came with it told his mind that it was impossible, but the voices inside continued to chant and rave ever louder, building to a crescendo, smothering the screeching. 'KILL THEM! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!!’
Strength surged into Greegan’s body. The adrenaline flowed, and his muscles tensed. The first remnants of the wave scurried across the ground, clawed feet ripping across the dirt; they were almost within striking distance. Greegan heaved the axe in the air; that moment was the very last moment of peace - the calm before the storm. He lined up his target and struck. The axe came down like a tonne of bricks, rending through hair and bone with irresistible force - it had begun, and now the brothers were in a fight for their lives.
Every swing brought two or three rats down; blood and hair filled the air, but the onslaught was relentless. There was nowhere to move, nowhere to face without an encounter. Every direction had something coming for them; it was overwhelming, and Greegan couldn't think straight.
'KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!' The voices ranted in his mind, filling him with power, urging him on; driving him like a madman. He lashed out in an unrelenting rage; carving through all on-comers. There were so many that he couldn't register what he was doing. He hacked and slashed with untamed fury; the enemy became but fleeting glances.
Behind him his brother fought, going through the same thing, having the same thoughts. The fact that he couldn’t feel sharp claws gouging at his back was the only assurance that his brother was still standing.
If he saw teeth, he would hack the teeth. If he saw hair, he would hack the hair. If he saw the flesh, he would hack the flesh and if he saw the legs, the claws or the tail - well, he would hack them too.
It had been minutes, but it already seemed like a lifetime. The dead bodies were piling up around them. Greegan swung the axe, decapitating more. The axe was heavy, he was already tired. He had killed many, but the attack was unyielding. For every one he killed, there seemed to be two more ready to take its place. This is useless, he thought. We’ll never beat them. It’s the end. We’re going to die. This moment of lost hope drove the voices into a frenzy.
‘RED EYES! RED EYES! RED EYES!!’ they screamed, as he fought his useless fight. He had no idea what they meant. Everywhere he looked, everywhere he turned he was greeted by a sea of black.
"WHAT RED EYES?" he screamed. "I DON'T GET IT!" He hacked at a rat and then chopped another one in half. "TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN!" Spittle flew from his mouth with rage. The voices ignored his pleas and continued to rant.
'RED EYES! RED EYES! RED EYES!’ they chanted.
“I DON’T SEE THEM!!’ he screamed. Desperation was setting in, he had to continue to fight to stay alive, but fatigue was his enemy now. Sweat and blood filled his eyes, his breath was escaping him - the very air itself seemed to be sapping his strength.
“BROTHER!” screamed Aiden. Greegan turned his head at his brother’s desperate cry; it was for just a mere moment, but it was enough for the rats to break his defence. He turned back, only to face a plague-filled wall. The rats had piled themselves on top of each other in a desperate attempt to get at him.
Panic set in, there was no room to swing, there was no room to move; it was all he could do to remain upright. THIS IS THE END! Fear had never been this great; circumstances had never been this dire.
He turned around, it was a struggle, but somehow, he managed to move against the mass. He could feel the claws scratching at him, tearing at his flesh. He could feel the blood running down his back and the blood coating his arms and his legs from a thousand small tears - they were going to eat him alive.
He pushed his way forward, he had to reach his brother, he had to see him one last time before he died. He heaved again and pushed more of the foul beasts aside.
“AIDEN!” Aiden too was being overwhelmed, but he managed to fight through the mass just enough to turn around. When he did, Greegan’s heart almost stopped. He could see his brother’s face, the pain and torment was clear. He was near death and covered in lacerations, but that was not what disturbed Greegan the most. His brother’s eyes were filled with blood, and they seemed to glow in the reflected moonlight.
'RED EYES! RED EYES! RED EYES!' The voices howled in an unrelenting chorus; Greegan was almost paralysed with fear. Not fear of the rats or the fear of i
nfection or the fear of being torn apart. This was pure dread for he now knew what the voices wanted of him. 'KILL! KILL! KILL!' The voices raged, and there could be no denying their intention.
Greegan closed his eyes for a moment, and the world seemed to stop. I can’t. They wanted him to kill his own brother, the same boy that he had grown up with; the same boy he had known all his life. The same one that he had huddled together with in the middle of the night, the same one his parents had loved and cherished and looked after, just like they did with him. And you want me to kill him? Are you fucking serious?
He thought back to when they were just boys, and back on their parent’s farm. Aiden was seven and Greegan was twelve. The boys had decided that they were going to play pirates in the dam located on the north side’s far paddock. They both knew that they weren't allowed to play there; both their mother and their father had told them that it was dangerous, but the boys were adventurous and more than a little foolhardy. Once they had decided to play pirates … there could be no other place.
For on the dam, there was a big pirate ship ... well, actually it was just a small wooden rowboat, but it was a pirate ship to them, and like all pirate ships it had to have treasure, and the two little brothers had made sure that they had theirs filled to the brim.
They had rocks and shells and smooth pebbles from the creek. They had some reeds and whipping grass that they had found near the dam. They had some horseshoes from the stables, as well as a riding crop and a leather whip. In the attic, they had found a wooden box, which they were now using as a treasure chest; the box had at one time been used to store their grandfather's precious documents - they now lay strewn across the attic floor and where the box used to be, was now a bucket of white sand.
The brothers hadn’t stopped there, on top of all of that, they had two fishing poles, a great bundle of fishing lines and a fishing net which their grandfather’s brother, Old Ned, had stashed in the attic a mere two days before he died. Needless to say, there wasn't much room left for the two boys, but this was a great adventure, and little things like no room for them sit didn’t matter, not when they were ready to set sail and set sail they did - straight for the middle of the dam.
Greegan being the elder of the two had chosen to be the bloodthirsty Captain Black - the most notorious pirate of the ages. Aiden took the comedy route and called himself Captain Clam, which of course they both thought was absolutely hilarious, so much so that Greegan immediately changed his name to Captain Barnacle.
"Ahoy there maties, land ho!" Greegan had shouted, pointing to the shore which was only about twenty yards away. "Scrub the decks you scurvy dogs!" He wasn’t sure what a scurvy dog was, but Old Ned had said it often enough for him to know it wasn’t something nice.
"What do eighty-year-old pirates say?" quipped Aiden jovially, and Greegan was already smiling.
"I don't know, what do they say?"
"I'M EIGHTY!! I'M EIGHTY!!" The two young boys lost it and rolled around on the boat laughing. Aiden was laughing so hard his stomach hurt, and he had to hold it; Greegan had tears running down his face. What made it worse was that they didn’t even know what they were laughing at. Every time they managed to calm down one would look at the other, and they would lose it all over again.
Yes, those were happy times, and that was a happy memory, but it wasn't happiness that made him think back now. Less than ten minutes after they had joked around on the wooden rowboat in the middle of that dam, things quickly took a turn for the worst.
Greegan or should we say Captain Barnacle decided to hide the treasure chest at the bottom of the lake and so tossed it over the edge. The only problem with that was that he didn't realise it had tangled with the fishing line, and that the line was also wrapped around his leg. The weight of the chest pulled him straight over the side of the boat and down into the murky depths at the bottom of the lake.
He had struggled and thrashed as panic embraced him, and for the first time in his life, he had known what real fear was. He was scared and didn't know what to do; he held his breath, but he couldn’t get free. He thought he was going to die and then, out of nowhere, Aiden appeared. He had dived in straight after Greegan; somehow he had managed to swim right down and untangle his leg, setting him free.
"I didn't even know you could swim." Greegan had remarked later that night.
"Neither did I." Aiden had answered, they both smiled happy that Greegan was still alive.
He saved my life, and you want me to kill him?!! The voices wailed and hollered even louder.
'KILL! KILL! KILL!' they screamed. 'KILL THE RED EYES!!' Greegan was staring straight at his brother, in his peripheral he could see the giant rats biting and clawing; blood flowed to the ground like a river. He could see the pain etched on his brother’s face. I would be doing him a favour. He could end his brother’s misery right now and stop him from being eaten alive. But I can't … he's my brother.
'KILL! KILL! KILL THE RED EYES!' He had to make a choice, he felt paralysed, but there was only a moment to do it. I don’t have the right. The voices screamed again, ‘THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE!’ and then they went silent. He could feel the pressure and the weight of the writhing mass; in moments they would drag him under. He only had seconds to live and then it would be over, his life gone, his brother dead, both lives wasted for nothing, but if he killed his brother - he could be saved.
The voices had been right before, they were always right. They had warned him that the swarm was coming, they had told him to prepare and told him of the red eyes - the very eyes he was staring into right at this moment. They were the key to this madness; kill the red eyes and live.
One part of his mind said that this was wrong, that this was a horrid abomination. How could he even contemplate such a thing? He would rather die than kill his own brother. Another part screamed at the waste that would be, what madness, what insanity. They didn’t both need to die, and neither of them would gain a single thing from it.
He always knew deep down inside that if it ever came down to it, Aiden would sacrifice himself to save him. This was almost the same, he would do it for Aiden … wouldn’t he? He’d like to think he would, but either way letting himself die now wouldn’t save Aiden. So why do it?
Greegan looked down at the axe in his hand; on the front was a large flat blade used for chopping, on the back a large spike. It wasn’t the best axe in the world; it was dull and rusted, but the spike could kill in an instant - if that were what he chose.
He closed his eyes and felt the mass close in even further. Time had run out, this was the moment. He had to make a choice - live or die. If he wanted to live there would never be another chance. He opened his eyes and spun the axe around in his hand; the spike now faced the front. He raised the axe up high and resolute, he could see the reflection in Aiden’s eyes; tears streamed down his face.
“BROTHER! I’M SORRY!” he cried. Aiden raised his eyes to the axe, a look of pure terror in them. Greegan’s mind and body went numb as he tried to purge all emotion from them. Every ounce of his strength, every ounce of his will went into bringing the axe down hard.
Even mid-swing he wanted to stop, to abort his actions; everything inside was screaming at him to cease, but the moment had gone beyond reasoning. He felt the spike smashing through his brother’s skull and into the soft, fleshy matter inside. He prayed to the gods it was an instant kill, for not even imminent death could bring him to do it again. The world went white as a titanic flash engulfed everything - when it was finished there was nothing but an eerie silence.
***
Greegan looked around, he was dazed and confused. What in the Seventh Hell happened? The cavern was gone. The central pillar, the fire, the river, all of it - even the tainted garden was gone; around him was a now small cave. He looked to the walls, he saw bookshelves and a table. Near the table was another bench and on it alchemical equipment. On the other side, there was a small bed and a set of draws. Greegan was stunned. Was it all just a dream?<
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He could feel the weight of the axe in his hand and glanced down. The shock of what he saw made him jump back in fright - there was a dead body on the end; impaled through the head, just like he had done to his brother. AIDEN!
He approached the body with extreme caution. Was it really dead? Had he really done what he thought he had? He kicked one shoulder with his boot and the corpse rolled over onto its back. He sighed and slumped to the floor; he had never been so relieved - it wasn’t Aiden. Then who is it? It was some old man; he was dressed in a dark robe and had a long grey moustache. Greegan had no idea who he was. Just some crazy old man.
His eyes scanned the room again, searching for clues. Right at the back, past the bookshelves and alchemy table, there was a shrine. It’s the fucking rat-god!! It was just like the one in the plagued cavern, but there was one difference. The greenish-yellow mist didn’t seep from deep cracks within, but from a smouldering bowl suspended above a small fire that was built into the rat-god’s lap. The haze filled the room like an incense burner; just being near it burnt his eyes and seared his throat. Don’t breathe too much of it, he thought. It was dangerous, not only to his body but to his mind as well.
Despite the danger, he could feel something drawing him closer; beckoning in his mind to go nearer. He slowly walked deeper into the room, searching for what called. Suddenly he realised two legs were sticking out from behind the shrine - he knew straight away who it was and rushed over.
“AIDEN!” He ran like a madman. Aiden lay still and face down, Greegan feared the worst. “No, no, no, no!” he shouted, in a panic. “Aiden wake up!” He couldn’t be dead, not after they had just escaped the onslaught. ‘Why are you so worried Greegan?’ came a voice into his mind.
