Eric Brown: Season of Rot

“Hold on!” Warren ordered. “Everybody settle down—now!” The room fell silent at the fury in his voice. “If there were more of them in the room, they’d be attacking us already. Darren, get up to the control center and run a scan. Jenkins, Michelle, go with him! Everyone else, stay the fuck where you are. If they have made it in, the last thing we need to do is split up and take off running through the halls.”

Darren, with Jenkins and Michelle in tow, had already sprinted out of the mess hall. Warren grabbed Kyle up by the front of his shirt. “Are there rats in this base? Have you seen any before?”

Kyle knocked Warren’s hand away from him. “No. If they’re here, they must have followed you. How did all of you get here?”

“The damn cars,” Warren said, realizing what Kyle was suggesting. He turned back to the crowd as the intercom blared to life and Darren’s voice flooded the room.

“The base is clear. That thing must’ve been alone. But Warren, you and Mike need to get up here as fast as you can.”

“Everybody stay calm!” Warren barked. “Go to your quarters, seal the doors, and we’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as possible. Now go!” Warren looked over the crowd as they poured out of the room. Mike and Kyle were running side by side for the control room and Warren cursed as he took off after them.

Warren was the last one to make it. He looked at the external camera screens the others were staring at and simply breathed the words, “Oh shit.”

Darren nodded gravely. “Yeah, it looks pretty bad.” Rows upon rows of rotting bodies stumbled around above the base, and literally thousands of rats skittered about beneath the corpses’ feet.

“My lord,” Mike whispered and pointed at one of the screens showing the main doors. “Are those the things you’re calling demons?” he asked Kyle.

Two massive creatures were looking down the shaft that led to the complex’s inner doors. They stood seven feet tall like humanoid rat monsters from a child’s nightmare. As Kyle spoke, a clawed hand fell over the camera’s lens and the screen went black.

“Yep, those would be them,” Kyle confirmed smugly.

“How the hell did they find us?” Mike wondered.

“They followed us.” Warren drew his sidearm and checked its magazine. “Kyle said the rats want all of us dead and their borders clear before they launch into the war he’s told us about. Think about what our convoy must have looked like to them. It was likely one of the last large gatherings of us anywhere in the U.S. They planned the attack on it and they’ve come to finish what they started.”

“Yeah, but how did they know where to follow us?” Jenkins asked.

“We had to leave the vehicles up top. They must have recognized them by our scent, then all they had to do was look around. With those damn huge open doors, where the hell else could they think we’ve gone to?”

“The bio-scanners are still showing we’re clean so far,” Darren said with a shrug. “But if one got in, others probably will. It’s just a matter of time.”

“The rat was a scout,” Warren and Kyle said almost at the same time. Warren snarled and Kyle gestured at the blank screen. “I’d be worried about the demons. Who knows how many are up there? The two we saw are enough to tear apart the inner doors alone, given time.” Kyle plopped down in a chair. “This is your base now, your group. You guys make the call. Are we going to fight or run?”

“Where could we run to?” Mike fumed. “If this place isn’t safe, where the hell is?”

“My home was still standing when I left. We could try for there,” Kyle offered.

“You’re forgetting something.” Warren slid his gun into the holster on his belt. “In order to get out, we’re going to have to go past them… And on foot. They’ve torn the vehicles to shreds, you can bet on it.”

“So there’s no other option?” Michelle asked. “We make a stand or die?”

“Looks that way,” Daniel answered.

“Great,” Michelle said bitterly. “Anybody got a plan as to how we do that?”

“We could lock down the upper levels. Buy ourselves some time to think,” Darren suggested.

“Are you insane?” Michelle appeared on the edge of exploding in his direction.

“No, wait.” Warren gave her a stern glance. “He may be onto something. Kyle, can you control the lockdown? Choose which doors to seal?”

“Yeah, sure. You want to lead them down a path, keep them from spreading out and using their numbers against us? I can do that, but remember, we don’t know how the lone rat got in. There’s no guarantee we won’t be facing them from two or more places regardless.”

“If we’re going to make a stand, doing it gives us more of a chance than not trying it.” Warren pointed at the layout of the base on the scanner screen. “Try to force them through here.”

Kyle spun around in his chair and went to work laying his preparations.

“Daniel.” Warren laid a hand on the hulking man’s shoulder. “Go round up everyone you can who knows how to use a weapon in close quarters. Michelle, Jenkins, go break out the flamethrowers.” Warren placed a finger on the screen. “We’ll meet them here in the main corridor, two doors in from the main ones. They shouldn’t have time to break in any more than that before we’re in place.”

“What about everyone else?” Darren asked.

“Arm them and send them back to the mess hall until we see how this goes on the upper levels. If it goes well, the rats may cut their losses and bug out.”

“I doubt that,” Kyle said, looking over his shoulder at Warren as he worked.

“Me too, but if they do, it’ll be our window to make a run for it. If not, taking us out is going to cost them. They’ll have to pay heavily for every foot they make it inside.”

By the time Warren reached the spot on the upper level where the group had opted to make their stand, the others were waiting. Daniel and Jenkins wore the flamethrower units, which would be the group’s core defense. Michelle and Brent, being better marksmen, carried assault rifles; it would be primarily up to them to hold off the burning dead. Mike and a young woman named Brook stood behind them, armed with scattershot shotguns to deal with whatever rats made it through the flames and to cover the group’s retreat, if it came to that.

Warren had arrived late because he’d stopped to place several charges on the corridor walls farther down in order to slow the enemy if they were forced to bug out faster than they planned. Already, the demons were pounding away at the last inner door.

“Looks like you made it here in the nick of time, boss,” Michelle said, smiling.

Warren returned her smile and readied the bulky, eight-shot grenade launcher in his hands, taking aim as the door fell inward and an angry demon met them with a half-surprised screech.

“Light ‘em up!” Warren yelled and pulled the trigger of his weapon. The grenade caught the monster in the chest, knocking it backwards in a mass of blood and bone.

The defenders rose up from their makeshift cover as rats came pouring towards them. Twin jets of flame streaked into the passageway, frying the lead rats as they ran headlong into the blazing streams. The rodents began to realize they were not gaining ground and withdrew as the dead came staggering in.

Daniel and Jenkins fell back, and Warren, tossing aside his launcher in favor of an AK-47, joined Michelle and Jenkins as they opened up on full auto, spraying the dead in the confined space. Warren and Jenkins quickly switched to placing their rounds for more effect as Michelle kept up the onslaught, pushing the corpses back as best she could. Despite their efforts, the dead gained ground.