Part One : Infection
Ray reached into a deep front pocket of his favourite faded army jacket and retrieved another small lead pellet pinched between thumb and forefinger. Reaching forwards he expertly pulled the bolt backwards on the old, battered air rifle he carried and placed the projectile into the breach of the weapon.
He made sure it was sitting snuggly and pushed the bolt back home. It made a satisfying clunk as it locked into place.
He put his fnger through the trigger gaurd and wrapped it around the smooth metal flicking the safety off with an ease that came with years of practice.
Ray lifted the rifle and took a peek through the hundred-dollar telescopic sights.
He scanned the refuse yard in front of him, the area a mass conglomeration of rusted cars to household waste, rusted corrugated sheeting to batteries leaking old acid, mould and rust creeping up and along sharp edges.
He heard a rustle somewhere behind him and spun around instantly dropping to one knee in a well-practised fluid movement that defied his large size.
He centered the crosshairs on an old rusty paint tin, half full with solid colour and watched as it slid down the mound of refuse it had been perched on. It picked up speed until it came to rest at the foot of the heap of rubbish. Ray took a split second to take this all in and then flicked his gaze back to the hole that had been formed by its passing. The gun settled from a minor quiver to a steady hold as Ray held his breath and waited.
He saw movement in the shadows.
He waited. His breath slowly exhaled and inhaled in a way only years of practice brought
Something, some animal with dirty matted fur slinked around the interior just out of sight. His finger tightened on the trigger, just a hairs breath of pressure stopping the shot.
He waited.
This is what he did.
The rat appeared a minute or so later, not so much as afraid of him, in fact probably not even aware of his pressence yet. All it had done was rouse itself to see what the noise had been. It sniffed the cold morning air in front of it, still mostly hidden from view, and sampled the array of scents outside. The remainder of the head and shoulders appeared and gripped the edge of the hole slowly tilting its head first one way then the other peering at the sights revealed to it.
Rays breathing slowed even more til he was hardly drawing breath at all, the gun not so much as wavering a millimeter.
He waited.
The rats head swiveled in his direction, the small blood-red, unblinking eyes seeming to stare straight at him. Somehow realizing that it was no longer alone it started to slide backwards into the hole.
Ray smiled.
'Too slow Roland.'
The small lead pellet flew from the barrel of the rifle at more than five hundred feet per second with very little sound other than a small crack. It flew across the open ground and entered one of the rats eyes. The orb burst with a low wet pop. The rat started to thrash, its paws going to its face as if it were trying to claw its way into its skull to retrieve the forign object now resting within.
Ray quickly retrieved another pellet and re-cocked the weapon. Raising the gun once more he lined up a second shot. Breathing slowly once more he expertly placed the pellet through the rats other eye.
The rat went nuts, its claws raking chunks from its snout as if fought to find the pellets. It thrashed then, just as Ray was getting another pellet ready, started to slow. It slowed, slowed...then stopped altogether.
Ray put the safety on and placed the gun across his back by its strap. He jumped down from where he had been and calmly walked to where the rat lay twitching in its death throes. He stood above it and looked down watching as its bodies struggles got slower and slower. He smiled and deliberately lifted his boot above the creature. His heavy, treaded workboot came down and stomped the rat into the soft ground, the body seeming to come apart under his foot, blood and bits of brittle bone spraying in all directions. Ray ground down with his heel snapping ribs and spine like small twigs.
He lifted his foot to check his handiwork.
The thing mashed into the floor no longer even resembled what it had been in life. Guts and internal organs littered the area around the animal, bone fragments lay splintered and ground into dust.
The head twitched...a nerve impulse, the tenacity of the animal refusing t give in even as the rest of its body died.
'Oh ratty...you is a mess.'
Ray started to softly chuckle to himself as he slowly bent down to retrieve the carcass.
When his fingers were just inches from the animal its head swung around at what seemed an impossible angle and sank its sharp teeth into the meat of his wrist. Ray thrust his hand back, a cry of pain escaping his lips, the rats wasted body coming with the movement. He swung his arm backwards and to the side trying to dislodge the remains of the rat. His surprise and shock disipated quickly and anger set in.
'Oh, you little bastard!'
He got down to one knee, the rifle slipping from his back and landing on the hard ground. He reached across his body and grabbed the rear of the rat, or rather, what remained of the rat, and pulled with as much strength as he could manage. He gripped the crooked spine in vice-like fingers and pulled. The body stretched like taffy, the skin, muscles and sinews stretching way past what they should. He felt the sharp incisors sink deeper into his flesh, the points finding the bone. He grit his teeth and pulled harder. The body came apart in a welter of blood and innards, the gore-streaked insides flying in all directions.
He hurled the rear of the rat as far as he could, the teeth in the head still buried in the flesh of his wrist. Ray felt hotness as blood started to flow freely over his and and down his arm, soaking into the heavy fabric of his shirt and coat. He stood and grabbed the head and the remains of the spine that trailed from it and pulled with all the strength that he had left. The head pulled free, the teeth tearing out his wrist and taking a fair chunk of flesh with it. Ray barely looked at the wound as he lifted the head in the air and threw it to the ground. Amazingly the jaw still worked as the rats severed head started to chew on the piece of meat still in it. He lited his boot and brought it crashing down with relentless force.
Once. The skull caved in on itself, the eyes popping from thier orbits and exploding like pressed grapes.
Twice. The sole of his boot skidded through the mess and forced the remains into the hard ground. The brain inside the skull squirting in all directions.
He stepped back and looked at what was left of the rat ahead of him now barely recognizable as such. As the adrenaline of the situation wore off he finaly became aware of his injuries. He reached across and put his torn wrist in the folds of his coat, the blood starting to soak through almost straight away. He turned away and stumbled towards the gates of the rubbish yard, the gun all but forgotten at his back.
He didn't see the hundreds of yellow and red eyes as they watched him walk away in pain.