Jacqueline Druga - Then Came War

While some rats were on their sides, some were on their backs and they all had an arched body appearance, as if they had contorted in death. Their arms and legs were reaching out, their mouths wide open and each rat had a pool of blood around its head.

“Something bigger happened,” Harry spoke low, placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder and used him as leverage to stand.

“Like what you were saying before? Like an event?”

Harry nodded.

“You think there was a gas attack or a chemical attack?”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t know. I do think we need to haul ass out of this tunnel in case whatever killed these rats is still lingering.”

“Good idea,” Ben said. “You okay to pick up the pace?”

“Walking to get out is one thing, running to save my life is something else. I can do it.”

“Good.” Ben turned and raised his voice for the benefit of the group. “Hey everyone, we need to pick up the pace. Move as fast as we can. In fact, if you can, put your shirt over your nose and mouth.”

Tyler spoke in a muffled voice, his shirt over his nose. “I did that already; it smells.”

“Foster, set the pace,” Ben instructed.

“You got it.” Foster retrieved the light from Harry, peered down at the rats and started moving.

Abby walked alongside a woman named Monica. Neither of them said much as they held their shirts tightly over their noses and mouths. They moved at the pace Foster set but it was starting to get uncomfortable and tiring.

But worse than that, with each step Abby could feel the crush and squish of the dead rodents beneath her feet. There was no getting used to it at all. She shuddered inside, wanting to gag, knowing exactly what the feeling was.

But she trudged on. It wasn’t much farther. The tunnel had started to lighten, which wasn’t all that much of a good thing because she could actually see the rats more clearly.

“What killed them?” Lana asked as she walked alongside Ben.

“I don’t know.”

“Harry thinks something big happened above. Do you?”

“I’m starting to think that. I mean… where are the trains? Where’s the noise? Yeah, we’re in the old tunnels, but still, we should hear something.”

“I know. It could be a terror attack on the railways. You know how many people they can affect by doing that.”

“Hasn’t that been dinner conversation one too many times,” Ben said.

“Oh God,” Lana moaned.

“What?”

“I stepped on another one. I’m trying not to, but I can’t help it.”

“Just try not to think about it.” Ben stopped and faced her. “Lana, there is something I do need you to think about.”

“What’s that?”

“What we may face. If it was a railway hit or something right above, there may not be rescue workers cheering for us when we emerge. Okay? But it could be bad.”

Lana nodded. “After looking at those rats, I really am preparing for anything.”

Foster released an enthusiastic, “We made it!” and picked up his pace. “There’s a ladder that we can use to climb to the ledge. But be care…” he said as he ran. “There’s a…” his voice trailed off and the last word dropped to a whisper, “Train.”

“What was that?” Harry asked.

“There’s a train on the tracks,” Foster said. But he figured it wouldn’t be long before everyone saw that the train wasn’t moving. In fact, it was dark. The entire platform was darker, lit only by emergency lighting.

Foster waited at the rungs.

“Go on,” Harry said, bent over some catching his breath. “You go first.”

Abby spoke up, “It’s awfully quiet. They must have evacuated the station.”

“Go on.” Harry nudged Foster. “I want to get up there too.”

“Okay.” Foster had a bad feeling, he really did. In fact there was a weird smell that permeated the air and grew stronger with each step he took. He climbed the rungs and closed his eyes as he reached the platform. Because he knew what he was going to find.

His throat seemed to close and his heart dropped to his stomach. Suddenly, he was slammed with emotions that he couldn’t decipher. The sight left him unable to breathe. “Oh, God,” he cried. “Oh, my God.”

His hand shot to his mouth. He knew he was going to vomit and he tried with everything he had to keep it in. “Don’t… don’t…” he was trying to say not to let Tyler up on the platform, but instead of words, vomit shot from his mouth.

His regurgitation was over fast because he hadn’t eaten much and, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Foster turned, looking left and to right. The platform seemed to spin around him.

It was a nightmare. It had to be. It felt surreal.

Everywhere he looked there were people.

Whatever had happened, it had to have happened during rush hour because there were so many people on that platform. Men, women and children were lying everywhere.

Foster’s mouth stayed open as every face seemed to zoom into him.

There was a woman whose eyes had bled and her eyeballs were nearly out of their sockets. Blood encircled her head and, just like the rats, her face was sunken in, mouth wide open and she had a horrendous look of agony on her face.

Her body was curled as if she had died in the middle of convulsions.

In fact, everyone looked the same.

How long had Foster stood there, staring at it all in total shock? A minute, maybe less was all before a deep blood curdling scream snapped him out of it and he spun around to see Monica holding her mouth.

Abby emerged next, gasped in horror and then repeated Foster’s reactions and immediately threw up. Then the two other men came up.

Their reactions were the same.

Foster flew to the platform.

He was out of breath and peered down as Harry was helping Tyler climb. “Don’t let him up here. Someone cover his eyes. Please, cover his eyes.”

Harry asked, “What… what happened?”

Foster began to cry. His shoulders bounced with his sobs and he could barely talk. “They’re all dead.”

Lana backed up.

Ben’s eyes focused on Harry and Tyler.

Tyler looked so confused.

Ben turned Tyler from the ladder and braced his shoulders. “Look, I know you’re a big guy, if Foster says it’s bad, it might be too bad for you to see. How about I hold ya, you bury your head on my shoulder and I run us out of here?”

Tyler nodded.

“But first I need you to get up that ladder. You climb and when you get to the top, close your eyes tight, then turn around and face me. Okay?”

“Okay.” Tyler nodded, his lips quivering.

“Now you go.”

Harry stood by the ladder. “How bad is it?”

“My stomach wasn’t strong enough,” Foster replied. He stared down waiting on Tyler.

Ben was behind him.

Lana inched into Harry. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Just… just look ahead and don’t look around.” Harry instructed. “That’s all I can tell you. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Tyler’s eyes were closed tight. He could smell something really bad, but he was afraid to even look. If the grownups were scared, then he was too.

With Foster’s help he reached the level and turned around as Ben had instructed.

No sooner had he opened his eyes than Ben was rising from the ladder.

No amount of tears or warning prepared Ben for what he saw the moment he emerged eye level on that platform.

The magnitude of death before him was more than he even imagined.

He scooped Tyler up into his arms, held tight to the back of Tyler’s head and darted across the platform to the escalators. It was like a maze. He couldn’t run; he had to nearly tiptoe. It was worse than the rats. People took up every square inch, bodies over lapping.