Chapter 6

"THEY'RE RABID RATS!! RUN AWAY!!"

The voice yells through the growing whispers and panic of the crowd, interrupting Brandon's thoughts. Is that Zeke? It sounds like him, should he shout back? Or just try to make his way to the direction of the voice? But Rabid rats have started spawning all around. Is it safe to…

SCREECH!!

One of the rats emerges through the dust from the direction of the ruins. It swiftly pounces on a man nearby and knocks him to the ground. Brandon's vision is heavily impeded by the dust, but he can still make out the rat's movement. It swipes across the man's chest with is claws, then bites down on his throat.

"DON'T BE AFRAID AND STAY TOGETHER!!"

"Is that Zeke?" Wendy whispers, drawing closer to Brandon.

A scream then bursts out from one of the women close by, and she starts running away. Other people follow suit and crowd is in disarray once again. They start running up and down in various directions screaming in distress. The black-furred creatures start bursting through the dust in similar fashion to the first, pouncing on people and submitting them to gruesome deaths.

Brandon can barely make out what is happening through the dust, but the screams and screeches of people and rats alike don't completely drown out the sounds of bones breaking. He looks down at Wendy and she instantly clings to his hand. What should he do? Which is more dangerous? Standing still or moving away? More rats keep emerging from the ruins, and more people keep falling to their deaths.

"We need to get as far away from here as possible." Wendy says. Her grip on his arm gets stronger. "We're sitting ducks here."

Brandon looks ahead toward the direction Zeke's voice came from, and then follows a few people who scream past them and run away towards the town. Getting far away is naturally the best option they have.

"But what about Zeke?" He asks

A few meters ahead of them – just before the dust envelopes their vision completely – Brandon makes out the silhouette of fleeing person getting pounced on, seemingly breaking their skull on impact. Wendy immediately takes cover behind him, as the rat looks up at them. It then screeches and lunges into the dust once again.

Why did the rat not attack? Did it not see them? That may be it. Its vision may have been hindered by the dust. But then, how good are rabid rat eyes? Did the ever test that? Are they safe because they were out of the rat's field of view or is it something else?

"Don't think too much." Wendy tugs his arm. "How do we get to Zeke?

'How indeed' Brandon thinks. Should they really be standing still? What can they do in their current situation? And more importantly, Why have they not been attacked by the rats yet?

"I can't believe these are the weakest monsters in the game." Wendy says

"Of course!" Brandon exclaims. "The game"

"What?" Wendy looks at him confused.

"That's why we haven't been attacked …"

SCREECH!!

A chill runs down Brandon spine as he looks ahead. When did it get so quiet out there? Screams and screeches no longer ring out, but a few low screeches and quiet mumbles are heard. They should be out of targets.

SCREEECH!!

Another one appears from behind. Wendy's grip tightens once again and she moves in closer. All of Brandon's hairs perk up. He wants to run away, he has to run away. The rats slowly inch forward and Brandon instinctively takes a step back.

No! he is not supposed to do that. They would be attacked if they run away. They have to stand their ground. They would not be able to kill the rats, but they can at least scare them away. He then forces his leg to retrace, and takes in a deep breath to puff out his chest.

[WARNING! System construction incomplete]

The rats halt their advance as the red translucent notification pops up in front of Brandon. Did he do something wrong? Is it a disaster warning? Why is it red? There is no time to think about that. They need to send the rats away.

He looks left at the rubble from a collapsed building and back at the rats. The stones should be enough, but they'll need to move fast.

His hand starts vibrating, and he looks down at the Wendy, visibly trembling. He takes his eyes back to the rats, and uses to other hand to soothe one of her hands.

"Calm down," he says slowly. "They won't attack if they think we are threat."

"How can we be a threat against those?" Wendy whispers

"They just needs to think we are." The rats keep observing them, and bend their hind legs slowly. They must be preparing to spring forward. "Alright follow me."

Brandon then starts looking at the rats intently, leading Wendy and inching to the left slowly. "I think they'll let us be if we hit them" Brandon says.

"And how do we …"

The first rat lunges forward, and Brandon reacts quickly. He pulls Wendy closer and hops left, evading the incoming beast and falling with his back against the rubble. The second one jumps after them. Brandon separates himself from Wendy and uses all his strength to push her away and roll the opposite direction. The rat lands on the now empty spot and stumbles forward out of balance.

"Pick up stones and shoot at them!" Brandon shouts "the bigger the better."

He then sits up and finds a large broken block. The first attacker has found its footing again and lunges at Wendy from behind. Brandon picks up the block, and with both hands, uses all his might to hurl it up towards the incoming rat.

The block connects with the rat's snout, pushing it away in mid air. It screeches loudly and hops back wearily. The second one turns around and also jumps at Wendy. Brandon reacts swiftly, picking up the closest concrete slab and swinging to the rat. The stone smacks the rat's torso region, but does nothing to redirect it like the fist one.

Wendy luckily regains her senses and rolls over just in time, narrowly avoiding the rat's claws. She immediately picks up a broken cement block and smashes it to pieces against the rat's face, forcing it to jump back to its companion. The rats then screech at them and hop back into the dust.

Brandon breathes out a sigh of relief. But the danger is not over yet. They have to find suitable weapons. More will surely come to attack them.

He moves over to Wendy and helps her up. "You ok?"

"I'm fine." She says. "Did you get it too?"

"Get what?"

"The warning message. It appeared just before I hit the rat. What does it mean?"

"I don't know." Brandon says.

Why did they receive the notifications at different times? They must have been individual. But what does it mean? Are they breaking a rule?

'Focus!' Brandon scolds himself. "We need to find something we can use as weapons." He says

"How about those?" Wendy points to a couple of metal bars poking through fallen blocks.

'Those should do.' Brandon thinks, then walks over and starts digging them out.

"Why did it get so quiet all of a sudden?" Wendy whispers.

Brandon perks his ears to listen. No screams, no screeches, no murmurs. It is silent. What happened to the rats? Did they kill everybody? Where have they gone? Is the quiet a good thing or a bad thing? Looking around, he can barely see anything. It seems like the dust got thicker during the commotion. He finally gets two of the metal bars free, the hands one to Wendy. The bars are hollowed, and each is about a meter long and twisted at the ends. They should be from the building's railings. Hopefully they are sturdy enough to defend them.

"Stay close." He whispers and starts taking gradual steps forward.

Wendy grips her bar with both hands. "Shouldn't we be going away from here?" she sounds panicked

"Zeke is still in there." Brandon looks back at Wendy. She looks troubled. Is she wondering if Zeke is still alive? Why would she not wonder after all the chaos.

"I know he's still alive in there." Brandon says and takes another step forward.

Wendy follows. "How are you so confident?"

"He's smarter than us." Brandon stops and turns to face Wendy. "He probably figured out they were rabid rats before I did. And he definitely knew how to defend himself. That's why he asked everyone to stay together."

"I don't quite get it." Wendy looks confused

Brandon exhales and looks down. There is no time for explanations, they still don't know what is out there in the dust. She has been playing with them since the game's release, but she has never cared to learn or master the game's mechanics. As always, he has to condense his explanation as much as possible. How does he accomplish that now?

"Have you ever been attacked by a rabid rat in the woods?" He asks.

Wendy furrows her brows in thought. "No, but the villagers always claimed they were."

"Exactly. They are fearful creatures, and would only ambush and attack single defenseless villagers who wondered into the woods. They become weary of attack if even the slightest possibility of a threat exists. Which is why they don't attack groups of people, especially out-worlders. In their spree just now, they went after the fleeing people, because they posed no threat."

"And what about us? We certainly posed no threat."

"We stood still, and to them we probably looked like we had things under control. Again they become weary if even the slightest possibility of a threat exists. So all we had to do was harm them a little to scare them away."

"I see, then …"

AAAAHHHHH

A heavy voice from further in interrupts their conversation. Brandon squints, trying to make out what is going on, but only sees a succession of three dim muzzle flashes as the deafening sound of gunshots echoes through the the quiet atmosphere. What is going happening now?