Darkest Days
by J.C. Foster
Chapter 9
"Belly of the Beast"
Ash was the rat's head doctor. He oversaw every case that required medical attention within the lair. Usually he just patched up and scars or scrapes, or the rare broken bone. He saw children more than anyone, but knew the medical history, or lack there of, to every single rat in the colony by heart. Ash was a tall, pale gray rat who was seen as a bit eccentric, but overall a good guy. He had an apprentice named Alexander whom he was teaching his trade. Alexander was slightly younger, but nearly as knowledgeable as his teacher.
At that moment, Ash was alone in the examining room with Sarah, taking a look at her after her encounter with Jenner as she sat on an observation table.
"Well, for the most part everything seems fine," he said as he examined Sarah's wrists by slowly moving all the joints and checking for any sign of pain. "It doesn't look like anything's broken. I think all you're looking at is a couple bruises."
Sarah simply hummed in agreement while staring off into space. Ash stopped moving her wrists and placed his hands around hers. "Sarah," he said earnestly. "Now please tell me the truth. I'm a doctor, I can help. Did Jenner... do anything else to you? Something you haven't told me or Orion?"
Sarah blinked. "No," she said simply, her hands starting to shake slightly at the thought.
"All right, I believe you," Ash said after staring at her for a moment. "But if you need anything, anything at all, please feel free to ask for it. I only want to help."
"No, Ash... I'm okay. Really."
"If you say so. I have a few others to look at, but remember what I said." Ash patted her hands gently. The sound of thunder rumbled through the ground. "Boy, that was a big one. Sounds like it's going to rain pretty hard." Ash looked at Sarah once more before leaving the room, letting Orion in for the first time.
Orion rushed over too her, taking her hands in his. "What did he say? Are you okay? Is everything all right?" he said in a near panic.
"I'm fine, Orion," she said softly. "I'll be okay, it's just a small bruise."
"Oh, god, baby. I am so sorry for what I did," he said, reaching over to hug her. "I never should of said those things to you. I didn't mean any of it. You know that, don't you?"
"I know," she said, settling her shaking hands in their embrace.
"I never should have left you. I shouldn't have left you alone. If I could of been there sooner I would have stopped him from doing anything. I coulda stopped him..."
"You didn't know, Orion. None of us knew. It's not your fault." They stood there for a moment in silence, just holding each other. "I guess we now know what became of poor Jessica," she said.
"Yes. Now we know. If it wasn't him, at least, it was definitely one of his men."
"What happens now? What's he going to do with Mrs. Brisby?"
"I don't know. But if he harms a hair on her head, I'll cut him in two. We haven't heard a thing from them yet-"
Just as he spoke, all the lights went black, then a moment latter came back to life, only noticeably dimmer. "Shit!" Orion said, looking at the lights.
"What was that?"
"He cut the power. He cut the power lines to the solar paneling. We're running on batteries now."
"How long do they last?"
"Not long enough."
Arthur stumbled into the room, out of breath.
"He cut the power Arthur," Orion said.
"That's not the worst of it," Arthur said, panting. "He's killed the exhaust fans."
"What? Just now?"
"No, a few minutes ago. I've been looking for you. He set off an explosion of some kind. Took out the fans and buried them in rubble."
"An explosion? I didn't hear anything."
"Yes you did. But you probably thought it was just a clap of thunder."
"Yes, I heard it too," Sarah said.
"Well, what does that mean?" Orion said.
"Without those fans to circulate air, and with the main gate sealed. The only air getting in here is from the back entrance," Arthur explained. "He can't suffocate us, but after a while it's gonna get pretty damn unbearable in here. Of course by then the power cells will be drained."
"Shit," Orion said, gritting his teeth.
"Well, w-what does that mean for us?" Sarah asked.
"I means we're screwed," Orion said. "We have the defensive advantage, but he's gonna try to smoke us out. And it's probably going to work."
"What does he want?"
"I don't know, but he's got Mrs. Brisby and he's got us by the balls."
"And he's got a huge supply of explosives," Arthur added.
"Damn that too," Orion said. "Okay, here's the plan. Obviously we can't open the main gate, it would be too hard to defend. We'll have to position ourselves at the back entrance, set up a barricade of some kind. Make him fight to get to us. Then we need to move everyone in to some kind of central location. The Library and cafeteria sound good. Lets get everyone there and huddle up. Then shut down all unnecessary power, lights, whatever, and lets keep the plumbing down to a minimum - that'll drain those batteries right away. Then we'll just have to wait and see who caves in first."
"But what about Mrs. Brisby?" Sarah said.
"I don't know. I can't do anything for her right now. He'll probably keep her alive for something. He could have easily escaped without her, so let's just hope for now he needs her for something."
Justin and the others had managed to climb up the ventilation shaft to the master bedroom. There was an air conditioning vent high up the wall that allowed them to look down over the entire room. Schultz had set up some kind of computer terminal there. Apparently the phone line there was of higher quality than the others in the house. There was a high speed lap top computer up and running as Schultz had made the bedroom his makeshift office for the time being.
For the latter half of the evening, Schultz had been alone at the computer, clicking and typing away. The rats had about given up on learning anything that evening when Schultz suddenly called for Valentine.
"This could be interesting," Justin said as Valentine entered the room.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Valentine said.
"I think I've got an idea here, Valentine," Schultz said, leaning back in his chair. "These rats pulled out of here pretty fast right? So that means they must be working as a group. Like an ant colony or something."
"Well, obviously. How else could they have escaped in the first place."
"Exactly. So our rats are thinking as a group and living as a group, as a community. They are going to want to do what ever they can to ensure the survival of the group as a whole. Unlike, say, a pack of wolves who will leave the weak and the sick behind."
"What are you driving at?"
"My point," Schultz sounded slightly irritated, "is that I think these rats had an idea of where they were going. The were tapping these people's water and electricity for who knows how long, and I think they knew they would be discovered one day. So they started scouting around for a new place to live. Some place safe."
"I assume you have an idea where?"
Schultz stood up and placed a large map on the bed, pointing out the location of the nearest city as well as the farmhouse. Then finally pointed to an area circled in red ink.
"Thorn Valley?" Valentine read off the map. "You think they moved to a Natural Reserve?"
The rats held their collective breath.
"Think about it, Valentine. These rats are smart. They probably know as much about this land as we do. And I'm sure they know just as much as you or I do about that valley being off limits. What better place could there be for them to go and hide from human sight?"
"I don't understand. Why don't they just go back to the city, or where ever else there are a lot of rats?"
"Probably because they don't fit in. Other rats might not accept them. Or vice verse. Maybe they think they're better than the average street rat. But I'm almost certain that those rats moved to Thorn Valley to get away from us."
"How can you be so sure?"
"By this," Schultz sat down at the computer and pulled a screen up.
"Jesus, Schultz," Valentine said. "This is a top priority satellite feed. How did you get access to one?"
"By taking the necessary means."
"How? You can't even ask for clearance on a satellite until you've done something like..." Valentine trailed off, realizing what he was saying.
"Like a sweep and clear." Schultz said, finishing his sentence.
"Does Stavros know about this?"
"What Stavros doesn't know won't hurt him."
"Are you telling me you're using a top secret Government satellite illegally?"
"Get a grip Valentine. How do you think I got the greenlight for this sweep and clear so fast? This is practically a Black Ops mission. We have to move fast before we're caught up with. And the only way to do that is to get those rats back."
"Schultz, you're crazy. Even if we do get the rats back - This is serious shit here. You're not just looking at a court-martial, you're looking at a life sentence."
"All of which will become meaningless. Valentine, I've never criticized you for you skills as a soldier, but you do lack a very important ability needed to make it big. Vision. You can't possibly imagine the ramifications that will be brought about once I can duplicate these rats. Think of what we can learn, or what we can accomplish. The secrets of the world can be ours."
"I still think you've lost it. In fact, I don't want to wait for Sinclair to shut this project down. I demand to be reassigned immediately-"
"Do you think it's that easy?" Schultz interrupted. "Valentine, this isn't the kind of think you can walk away from. You're my second in command. You know just as much about this as I do, and if the shit hits the fan, you're coming down with me. So don't even think about weaseling your way out."
"Fuck you, Schultz. I didn't come this far to go to jail over some god damn rats."
"Those god damn rats are going to make us a fortune."
"If you can find them!"
"I have found them."
"You've found a valley that is off limits to every human on the planet. Even if you've managed to cover up this sweep and clear as well as using this satellite, people are really going to start noticing you poking around a natural reserve all day. No one is allowed in there. Flying that helicopter up and down that valley is going to attract a lot of attention."
"Not if we're in and out in no time, which I think we can do. I'm certain I've pinpointed the location of the rats. Just look here," he pointed at the monitor, "what I was getting ready to show you before your sudden attack of conscience is this." Schultz punched a button and the view on the map closed in tighter. "This is on thermal imaging. I was scanning the area for anything unusual. With a large area populated by many different animals, the heat signature for the whole area more or less balances out. It's basically even across the board. Then I found this. One hot spot with nothing surrounding it at all."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"As a matter of fact, it does. It means that all other living creatures in the area are avoiding it. There are no large predatory animals in the area, so that rules that out. But that's not all. This heat signature is much too high to be a group of animals. This kind of heat comes from a power supply. There's a machine of some kind down there. Even you are smart enough to know that. All you have to do is the math. Think about it. The amount of distance from here to the lab is evidence enough that the rats could have traveled safely to Thorn Valley. There is something there that has driven off all other animals for quite a distance and there enough heat coming from there to realize that there's more than a little burrowing going on."
Valentine looked at the image as Schultz's words began sinking in. He realized that Schultz had crossed the line a long time ago and wasn't safe to be associated with anymore. He also knew his career depended on this project more than anything and that he would indeed crash and burn with Schultz if it fell apart. "Okay, I'm listening," he said.
"We take the chopper out there tomorrow morning. Early. Assuming they still have normal sleeping patterns. We don't even land at first, we just gas the area from the air. The rats are just as good dead or alive. Plus most probably won't get killed by the gas anyway, just knocked out. We swoop down, scoop up what we can, and blast what ever we leave behind. No one will even know we were there."
Valentine looked at his boss and then at the screen. "You better have this right. We'll only get one shot at this. Someone's bound to spot that chopper going in, and the transponder will give us away for sure. The only way we'll get off the hook is with those rats."
"Valentine, I'm willing to bet my life that those rats are there. They may be clever, but they aren't that clever." Schultz clicked the screen off and leaning back again. "Trust me, Valentine. The day after tomorrow, you can forget about any court-martial and start thinking about counting money."
"When do we leave?"
"Oh-seven-hundred sounds good. Get two men ready for then. Fuel the chopper tonight, I want it fully prepped for tomorrow..."
Justin turned away from the scene. He looked to the others to find them as wide eyed as he was. He motioned with his head for them to move away from the open vent.
"Good god, Justin," Max said. "We're fucked. What are we gonna do?"
"That's a good question," Justin said, looking at Max, then Pollux, Dietrich, Mason, and Mr. Ages. "We have to stop them somehow. We're gonna have to sabotage that helicopter some way. Keep them from taking off."
"And then what?" Pollux said. "Wait for him to call out another?"
"You heard Valentine's voice in there," Justin said. "He said whatever Schultz is doing will get them into a ton of trouble. We've got to find a way to distract Schultz until his mistakes catch up to him."
"That's not good enough," Pollux said.
"Well then what kind of plan do you have?" Justin said.
"He's right, Justin," Max said. "If Schultz has covered his tracks up to this point, we have to assume he can do it forever. We need to think about the colony."
"I am thinking about them, god dammit!" Justin said.
"Then I think we all know what we have to do to protect them," Pollux said.
"I am not about to take a human life! Are you crazy? We're better than that. We're better than... him." Justin spat.
"Justin, listen," Mr. Ages said. "Max and Pollux are right. You have to think about the greater good here. Schultz will stop at nothing until he sees the Rats of NIMH destroyed, or worse. It may not be right for us to harm Schultz, but it certainly isn't right to allow him to exterminate all of our friends. He cannot be allowed to complete his mission."
Justin sat silent for a long time, brooding in his dreadful decision. This isn't happening, he thought. This can't be real, it just can't be. Justin didn't take the thought of killing another person lightly. When he fought Jenner, he saw it as self defense, but to kill Schultz was practically murder. No it's not. It's the same thing. It's self defense. We're protecting ourselves from him. He is the one who is attacking us. Justin told himself this over and over to try to calm his emotions. "It has to look like an accident," he said finally. "We have to do it so that there are no suspicions. So that no one will be compelled to follow his work."
"Justin," Max said. "I think we can all tell that Schultz is his work. With him out of the picture, this whole NIMH thing will die. You heard the way the others were talking about it. Valentine wants nothing to do with it, and that Stavros character said they were getting ready to shut it down anyway. But as long as Schultz is alive, we'll be threatened." Max paused as if to emphasize the graveness of his next words. "He cannot be allowed to live."
Justin sat silent again. The debate was horrible. The life of a somewhat innocent, yet delusional, power-hungry human against the lives of hundreds of rats. How could it possibly be weighed? One life was just as valuable as any number, no matter how vile the person holding that life was. Justin didn't feel at all comfortable with the task ahead, but after thinking of Elizabeth and her children for a moment his mind was made up. "Okay," he said. "What do we know about helicopters..."
Night had fallen once more over Thorn Valley. Orion's men had set up a string of defensible barricades starting at the rear entrance and moving back from there deeper into the lair. Even if Jenner's men made a full on rushing attack, there would be several opportunities to slow them down and eventually stop them. Hallways were blocked off by crates and construction equipment. Heavy crates were stacked up like ramparts everywhere, allowing Orion's men to fire from behind safely. All of the other rats had been moved into the Library, cafeteria, and a few other blocks of rooms centralized deep in the Lair, far from Jenner's attack. Orion's men had even created a pipeline of hallways making it easy to take any wounded back for attention. A group of guards and other rats were stationed back to protect the main group as the bulk of the fighting unit were up closer at the point of the Lair's one weak spot. They were deployed in groups of six at each barricade, allowing for easy back up and replacement if it was needed. By protecting themselves and forcing Jenner's men to try and squeeze through a bottleneck like opening, Orion's men had the advantage. To Orion, it seemed as though Jenner had made a very large tactical error by not attacking immediately, but he knew Jenner was a clever rat. He was concerned about what Jenner was waiting to do more than he was about anything else.
Orion was checking up on his men's positions. At every location were six rats who each had a crossbow ready with a spare magazine, as well as a sword should there be any close quarter combat needed. However, Orion had planned on falling back before that would ever be necessary. As he moved up through the ranks, he noticed than his men seemed to be edgy and a little nervous. The closer he got to the Lair's breach, the more nervous some rats seemed to be. At the final blockade, some distance from the actual exitway, Orion moved up cautiously, keeping an eye on the blackness of night that loomed outside the door at the end of the tunnel.
"Hey, you got a nice breeze up here. Seen anything yet?" Orion asked, putting his hand on one of his rat's shoulders. A rat named Sean.
"No, nothing really," Sean said. "I mean, there's been some movement in the shadows out there, but nothing definite."
"Well, you keep your eye peeled. They could charge at any second."
"We're gonna do our best, sir. But it's all this anticipation and waiting that's wearin' us out."
"Don't let it get to you. Do you hear me?" Orion said sternly. "That's exactly what he wants."
"I hear you. Hey Cap', how many'd you say there were?"
"We're still not for sure, but around fifty or sixty."
"And he's the one that killed Jessica?"
"We can only assume so."
"Then we'll just have to make him pay for it," Sean said, tightening his grip and holding his crossbow ready.
Orion admired the younger rat's courage. That's when the first wave of arrows hit. Whistling through the air like banshees, the volley of arrows collided with everything in range. Crashing into the stacked crates, bouncing off the walls, or slamming into the ground. The familiar whip-cracking sound could be heard snapping over and over. Orion and his men ducked just in time as the lethal hailstorm penetrated the lair.
"Down, get down!" Orion shouted as crates began erupting into splinters as they became perforated by more arrows. Through the cracks in their defense, Orion saw that some of Jenner's rats had made it in and were slowly advancing. As soon as one ran out of arrows, another took his place as he reloaded. Arrows were flying through the air like sideways rain. The lethal bolts flew by overhead like some kind of evil river while other arrows slammed into the wooden crates. Making a thunderous impact with every hit. Orion looked to his men, pinned down behind their quickly decaying fortification, and thought of a plan. "On three, find an opening and just start shooting. Don't aim, just shoot! Ready? One... Two... Three!"
Orion and his six guards lifted their crossbows just above their barricade and started shooting blindly, hoping to slow down Jenner's advance. It worked. The amount of fire they were taking was immediately reduced as Jenner's men had no cover. Once the air had cleared for a moment, Orion got up high enough to see his targets and put some aim behind his arrows. His men followed suit, rising up and unleashing all their pump-action crossbows could throw. Two of Jenner's men fell right away. One getting peppered by at least ten arrows all over his body and flying back to land in a twisted heap. The other had taken an arrow in the leg before Orion put a shaft right between his eyes. The fact that he had trained both of them himself to be fine guards didn't make it any easier. The rest of them fell back, retreating from the return fire. Orion was certain at least two others had been wounded as well.
Orion tensely surveyed the tunnel as he heard his men reloading their weapons. The barricade lay battered, but intact, although there were splinters everywhere. Dozens of loose arrows were strewn about. The walls were scratched to hell from all the arrowheads scraping by, as if scorched by dagger-like flames. Two rats laid dead towards the end of the tunnel, and there were signs of blood on the walls and floor from the wounded and dead. Beyond it all was the black hole of night as Jenner's men returned to the darkness they materialized from.
"Everybody okay?" Orion asked. He too had reloaded and chambered his fresh magazine. He stood slowly and cautiously, staying behind the crates. The sounds of his men's grunts told him they were all right.
The sound of a snapping crossbow spun Orion around, training his weapon. He saw a single rat and fired, but the rat had retreated too fast. The attacking arrow stuck into a crate on the right side of the barricade. Just by chance, the arrow had spun the loose box slightly, revealing a small stick of TNT tied to the shaft. Orion's eyes grow wide as he saw the fuse burning fast.
"Move! Fall back now!" He shoved his men off away from the bomb, but not quickly enough. The explosion boomed in the small confined space. The sound was a deafening roar and the blast shattered half of the barricade. Those who didn't move in time rocketed back from the blast, tossed like ragdolls. Smoke and fire and screams filled the air. Everything became swallowed in a thick cloud as burning fragments of wood fell everywhere. Orion's men stumbled about, rendered deaf and blind from the bomb. Those that escaped the blast helped those caught in it to their feet. "Fall back to the next position," Orion ordered, choking in the dust. He was about to move when he realized someone was missing. Looking back, Orion saw his man Sean lying face down near the center of the blast, with a large shrapnel splinter driven in his shoulder.
Orion threw his crossbow down and went back for his fallen rat. Luckily Sean was still breathing, but appeared unconscious. Blood began seeping out from the wound. Orion knelt down to pick him up when a body came vaulting through the flames and smoke. He heard shouts coming from the other side of the blast. It was the sound of Castor's voice, shouting at something. The rat charged Orion, coming right up to him and aiming a crossbow bolt right for his head. Orion deflected the crossbow, but not before it fired. Orion suddenly felt a searing hot pain shoot over the left side of his head. Blood splashed across his eyes from somewhere and he suddenly couldn't hear. Everything slowed down and became blurred, distorted by the blood in his eyes. Highlighted by the flames and burning wood, Orion saw the rogue rat begin to chamber his weapon once more. The rat had a maniacal laugh on his face, taking aim at Orion's head.
Suddenly the world snapped into place. Orion dodged the second arrow and drove his fist into the rat's gut. Feeling the breath escape his adversary, Orion quickly had the rat's head locked in his arms and viciously broke his neck, throwing the dead body to the ground like an unwanted disease. A throbbing sensation had overcome Orion as he vaguely became aware of the shouting voice again. His mind on edge, Orion shook his head free of cobwebs and picked up his bleeding comrade, heading for safety.
The second barricade was just a little ways down the corridor. Once he was through the small gap in the middle, his men filled the void with several wooden crates and took their positions. Orion handed Sean's limp body to one of his men.
"Shit, is he all right?" the rat asked.
"He's breathing, that's all I know," Orion said. "Take him back to the Med Lab. And take this too. Put it on ice and don't lose it." Orion slapped something small, fleshy, and covered in blood into the rat's hand.
"God, what is it?" he asked in disgust.
"It's my ear. Now get moving!"
The rat nearly gasped after looking at Orion's maimed head, half covered in blood. Where his left ear should have been was a raggedly torn stub, with thick blood oozing from the gash. The rat nodded silently and rushed off.
"Sir, are you okay?" one of his men asked.
"I'm fine. Just keep you eye on that corridor and shoot the shit out of anything that moves."
"Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Orion, can you hear me?" Came Arthur's voice through a intercom speaker.
Orion stumbled over to the voice box, pressing his hand to his laceration. "Yeah, I hear you Arthur," he said.
"What the hell just happened?"
"Jenner attacked us. First it was just arrows, but then he threw a bomb at us. The first barricade is gone. We took a couple hits, but no casualties. I'm sending a couple back to you now. We got at least three of his men, though."
"We felt the blast back here. Has he moved farther in yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm expecting him to. Keep everyone tight, this could get uglier than I imagined." Orion clicked off. He picked up a spare crossbow and started to join the others when the intercom clicked on again. "Yeah, what is it?" he said impatiently.
"Now is that anyway to talk to an old friend?" came the familiar sound of Jenner's voice through the speaker.
Orion panicked for a slit second, thinking Jenner had made it inside somehow, but realized there were two intercom boxes outside. "What the hell was that, Jenner?" Orion shouted back. "What do you plan on doing? You gonna blow the whole place up? Then what good would it be?"
"Actually that was just a small effort to get your attention. My intentions for the rest of you will involve something much more... slow. Very slow, and very painful."
"Are you sure that's gonna work out? I mean, we're just a little scratched up here, but you've already lost three men. You're being careless and sloppy, Jenner. That'll be the end of you."
"Ah, that was but a small sacrifice."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I?" Jenner's laugh came through the intercom all too clearly. "Tell me something, Orion. What's it like?"
"What's what like?" Orion spat back.
"...Fucking my wife? I was just curious. Never really enjoyed it much myself, but I was just wondering if she's ever accidentally cried my name out. As I'm sure we both know how she secretly yearns for me still. As I tied her up, I detected a look in her eyes. A sign of longing for something she couldn't get with anyone else." Jenner began laughing again.
"Fuck you," Orion said, killing the transmission.
"What the hell was that?" Castor said.
"Just creating a little tension," Jenner said.
"Or stirring the hornet's nest. Orion's dangerous, Jenner. Driving him into a corner will make him hard enough to handle, but if you get him all pissed off it'll be twice as hard to take him down. I've already lost three men."
"Your men were stupid and careless," Jenner said. "A child could have defeated them."
"Where do we go from here?" Castor said, ignoring Jenner's last comment. "He's right. You can't just blow up the place. It'd be useless."
"For now, I want you to send some of your men down that tunnel to keep Orion busy for awhile. Nothing drastic. Just hold him down, advance when you can, but not too far. Just keep them busy and wear them out."
"And then what?"
"I'll tell you then."
Castor turned to leave, half frustrated and half pissed. "What about her," he said, motioning to Mrs. Brisby, who's hands were tied by a long rope being held by a rat.
"I don't know yet. Perhaps she'll become useful later on. Just go do what I told you, and tell your men not to be stupid again." Jenner motioned Castor away with a flip of his hand and walked over to the captive mouse. He took the rope from the guard's hands and motioned him to join the others. Jenner knelt down to one knee to look at her. "Well, Mrs. Brisby. Once again we meet during a rather... difficult situation."
Elizabeth tried looking away but Jenner simply reeled her in close by wrapping the slack rope over his hand. Jenner took her chin and tilted her head in his direction. "It's not a good idea to turn your back on me Brisby. Bad things happen to those who do."
"What are you going to do to me?" she said, almost defiantly. "Kill me? Hold me for ransom?"
He grabbed her roughly by the collar and brought her face up to his. "Don't tempt me, mouse. I could do things to you that are far worse than you could ever imagine. You may still be alive by the time I'm through with you, but you may wish you were dead. I can do things to you that you've never imagined in your worst nightmares. I could redefine 'violation' with your little body. Your puny frame would probably splint in half underneath me, but I'd give it a try. Who knows? You may even enjoy it yourself."
Elizabeth spit in his face. "You're disgusting," she said.
"Fine, have it your way," Jenner said unfazed, wiping his face. "Like I said, you could turn your back on me. Of course then you would find out exactly what happened to your husband."
"What?" she said contemptuously.
"Oh, that's right. You don't know what really happened to your husband."
"I know what happened. You can't frighten me, it was Dragon-"
"It was Dragon who ate Jonathan's corpse. But that was after I drove my blade through his lungs. I was there, Mrs. Brisby. I was there at the farmhouse, waiting for your husband to complete his mission, which he did. He always did. Dragon didn't kill your husband at all, Mrs. Brisby." Jenner turned Elizabeth around and imitated his actions on her. "He had planted the drugs without any problem at all. Then as he crawled down the hole, I grabbed his neck from behind, and then I shoved the tip of my sword between his ribs, puncturing his lungs. That way he couldn't scream for help. But he tried. Oh, he tried very hard. But he didn't have the air. It was all rushing out the hole in his back. He began to struggle vainly, but he was too weak to do anything. And then when I ran the blade all the way through his chest, his eyes grew wide, and panicked. For a split second his faced registered the complete and utter terror he felt, as he realized the hot blood that had just splashed across his face was actually his own. Then he fell limp in my arms. Dead. Never knowing what hit him." From his belt, Jenner unsheathed the same sword he was talking about. The starlight glowing off its wavy blade. He slowly slid the blade underneath her cheek as he spoke.
"With his body still skewered to my sword, I lifted him up through that hole in the floor. His blood had started running down over the hilt and onto my hand. It was still hot, and I could feel it coming out in spurts as his heart was still beating, not realizing it was dead yet. I could only get up to my shoulder through, but that was all I needed. I swung out, throwing his body out to the kitchen floor. Dragon immediately pounced on it. Mrs. Fitzgibbons screamed at the sight, throwing Dragon and your half eaten husband outside where Mr. Ages saw it and reported back what he could only guess as to what had really happened."
Jenner held his arm out, holding the sword in front of Elizabeth, letting the starlight bounce off its curves. He pulled her stiff body back and whispered in her ear. "The sound his body made as it slid off the blade was strange. Like the sound of squishing rotten meat between your fingers. His body landed with a simple thud. But when Dragon tore into him... just imagine that same rotten meat and tearing it apart as fast as you can. Just ripping it in half with your bare hands. That is how Jonathan really died. All because he turned his back one me. So don't you ever make that same mistake."
Elizabeth could only shiver at Jenner's words. Tears began filling her eyes as she desperately tried to cling to her sanity as sheer horror began devouring her very soul.
