Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations

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Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations Page 19

by Watson, Thomas A.


  Raising his hand, “Well, since there’re so many mice, they’re probably killing the snakes in hibernation,” Isaac offered. “Contrary to belief, mice will eat snakes, but individual mice have a hard time killing them.”

  “That makes sense because unlike rats, mice are out in numbers much further away from civilization,” Arthur nodded. “Just an FYI, we’re projecting fifteen to twenty mice for every rat, you do the math. Oh, one thing I’ve learned, fucking capuchin monkeys eat mice and are outstanding at catching them. They use a stick to pin the head down and take a bite, wait till it dies, and eat it. Coolest shit I’ve ever seen,” he grinned.

  “Um, you have monkeys?” Chad asked.

  “Yep, so nobody can spank them,” Arthur stated proudly. Each captain made a note on their pad to ask about that later, as Arthur continued, wondering who wanted to spank monkeys.

  “Now, bears. Wendy and I hunted before this and to the east there’s a pretty little valley that has the lushest grass you’ll ever see in the wild. It looks so good I had to eat some, but I didn’t like it. We would scout bears there because every fall you’d see sometimes seven bears there, all eating at the same time. But this year, there hasn’t been one. No, they didn’t come when we weren’t watching, I left cameras. So, what does that tell you?”

  “Oh, you didn’t even need to bring it up,” Chad told him. “We’ve taken pictures of the bears and have seen several around the compound. Thankfully, outside the fence, and holy hell, have they gotten fat.”

  “Yep, and they have an abundant supply of meat which is more calorie dense than plants, so if it’s there, bears will dine,” Arthur said. “Notice anything else about your bears?”

  Nodding exaggeratingly, “Every female has at least two cubs, but we’ve seen two that had four,” Chad answered. “I’ve never seen a black bear with four cubs. Well, not going into fall. Never known bears around here to have enough food to keep all the cubs alive through the summer. Yvonne said the cubs she knew were only eight months old, but looked like they were eighteen months old they were so big.”

  “My wife said the same thing,” Arthur admitted. “Yes, this is all going somewhere, but I want everyone to understand what we’re up against. In that binder you’ll find lists of how many domestic animals were in the US. Now, I’ll admit, I made a mistake. Shawn asked me awhile back if anything had surprised me and at the time, I’d answered wasps. But I’ve gotten another surprise. I never expected the pig population to revert to feral so fast. This is Arkansas and we aren’t even a top pork area, but Missouri is. I feel sorry for anyone in Iowa, they were the top. There were like seventy million pigs in the US. Now, like most farms animals, corporations bought them out and now pigs are raised in huge yards. We have two not far from here, one east and the other west. I’m talking farms that housed five thousand pigs, and those are considered small, if you’re wondering. But we, Jason and I, have been chased by pigs several times. They’re just like dogs, you can shoot one and the others still keep coming. I swear, they’ve learned if they turn away more will die, so they just keep running at the gunshots. I have video of pigs eating rats, a lot of rats.

  “So now we have another predator to worry about with the pigs,” Arthur told them. “But make no mistake, rats are predators and we’re on the menu. I’ve watched rats swarm over dogs, people, cats, and even a deer. Yes, a white-tailed deer!” Arthur cried out in shock.

  “I’m sure everyone has seen rats attacking shit bigger than them, right?” he asked, and everyone nodded. “You’ve seen how they jump on. I thought they were trying to bring the animal down but oh, no. Those you see jumping on, yes, they’re biting, but they’re also eating. I watched a dog actually make it out of a flood of rats. It was the first animal I’ve seen that didn’t try to slow down and dislodge the first few that jumped on. The dog said ‘fuck it’ and just ran. Well, when he cleared the rat carpet, he had over a dozen on him and it took some very serious effort to get them off. Seeing the dog was literally soaked with blood, I shot him and went for a closer look,” Arthur paused as he gave a shiver.

  “The rats that’d been on the dog had eaten divots into his body. I’m not shitting, one divot was already into the bone of a shoulder blade and another was in its gut. Not through the skin, there were actual intestines exposed. Those fucking rats were only on that dog for seventy seconds. Yes, I have it recorded. I’ll give you a copy because I’m not watching that shit again,” he told them flatly.

  “I don’t want to see,” Albert stated, and the others agreed.

  “The rats aren’t working communally. I’ve had to beat off four rats that just jumped on my ass,” Arthur cried out. “Fuck yeah, I screamed like a pussy and once shit my pants! If a bunch jump on my ass, I’m pulling the pin on my hand grenade. But Jason and I were searching a building and saw three rats. Yes, we were shocked in seeing only three, but those three took off running away from us. It was Sutton who offered the answer and I have to say, I agree. Those rats remembered humans being the dominant predator and knew to avoid us. Unfortunately, those rats are very much in the minority and will all be dead by next year.”

  “We’ve run into rats. Granted, they were in small groups and they didn’t attack us, but they didn’t run away either,” Chad stated.

  “Oh, I’ve seen hundreds in small groups that didn’t attack me, but I’ve also had a single rat charge me and latch onto my pants leg. Before I could knock it off, Donald bit it in half. That fucking rat weighed two pounds, it wasn’t starving. One thing we’ve learned, you run up on a group of rats that number in the hundreds, if you’re close enough, they always attack, in mass.”

  Taking a break for a second, Arthur grabbed a bottle of water draining nearly half of it. “Now, as I’m sure you know, we’ve made runs into Little Rock,” Arthur said.

  “All of you are fucking crazy,” Albert panted.

  “Well, Albert, if we hadn’t gone, most in your group and Jill’s entire group would’ve died from starvation before spring,” Arthur replied. “You took in more than I told you to,” Arthur said, and for a second thought Albert was about to cry. “No, I’m glad you did, and we’ll get to that.”

  “When I started compiling the numbers, I realized humans were in deep shit and we needed more in our groups. That’s why I didn’t tell either you or Jill to stop until last month. I changed the plan here to help your groups. The grow barns weren’t going to be started on until November, but we started on them this summer so we could grow food for your groups. That’s why we had to go into Little Rock.”

  “Dad,” Joseph groaned. “I told you we could find the shit somewhere else and we did.”

  Slapping the table, “Hey!” Arthur barked but Joseph didn’t even twitch. “I knew the metal we needed was there and where it was at. Yes, we found other locations but that was later, and it would’ve put us behind schedule. Not to mention Albert and Jill having to cut down on food for their groups.”

  Waiting for a second to see if Joseph was going to respond, Arthur tapped his computer. “My ideas worked and kept the rats at bay,” he stated proudly.

  “Fuck,” Wendy scoffed. “Yes, your ideas did work, but how many of us shit their pants while we were holding off hordes of rats?!” Wendy popped off.

  Shrugging, “I shit mine twice,” Arthur admitted and saw the new group staring at him in horror. “We rigged up semi-trucks with tandem trailers, then ran propane burners all the way around the trailers and trucks. Then on the trailer, we put a thousand-gallon tank with a high-pressure air compressor. When those burners were turned on, they shot out flames three feet across the ground, surrounding the truck with fire. Shit, it looked like the trucks should’ve launched in the air and flown,” Arthur chuckled.

  “Everyone on the ground was wearing fireman suits and then all seams were completely taped up. Some on the ground had tanks of propane and compressed air backpacks for torches. Others outside used torches connected to bigger tanks on the vehicles. The suits protected a
gainst rat bites for a little bit, but someone could also come over and blow the rats off. When I say blow off, I mean someone would come over with a propane blow torch and douse you. One thing we learned, rats are fucking terrified of fire.”

  “So am I,” Jason replied. “My mini-mes ran over when I’m beating rats off and doused me in fire. Oh, I filled my pants and boots up, I shit so much.”

  Sitting right behind Jason, Cody and Kyle both cast their eyes down. “You were covered in rats, Jason!” Samantha cried out with a shiver. “I fucking told them to roast you. I figured you would rather die from burns than rat bites. With that suit on, you couldn’t even feel when someone doused you with fire.”

  Glancing back at the twins, “And they did a great job,” Jason winked at the twins. “No, just seeing a wall of fire cover you and even when you take off running, the wall of fire stays on you, will make anyone shit their pants. I completely forgot about the rats.”

  One of the screens came to life showing a view from a hovering drone. Below was a line of semi-trucks and just like Arthur had said, everyone was expecting them to launch skyward any second, seeing the wall of flame around each one. They watched bodies move from trucks and forklifts drive off trailers. At first, they could see small brown and black bodies darting around the area, but all were moving toward the group.

  Then like a party was announced, a flood of rats moved in from out of camera view and Arthur paused the video. “Looks like a lot, doesn’t it?” he asked the new groups.

  With sweat dripping from his face, “It’s millions!” Albert gasped.

  Shaking his head, “Nope, that’s barely ten thousand,” Arthur replied tapping his computer. A picture came up on the other screen showing Jason and his mini-me twins, Cody and Kyle. All were wearing work clothes standing near what looked like boards placed in a rectangle. “See that outline of boards near Jason and his mini-mes?” Arthur asked and everyone nodded. “That’s twenty feet by forty feet,” he said, then lifted his gaze to Shawn. “How many square feet is that, Shawn?”

  “Eight hundred,” Shawn answered with a grin.

  Tapping the computer, the picture changed and this one showed Jason and his mini-mes, along with Arthur and his mini-mes. All were carrying rats by the tail, “Yes, they’re dead,” Arthur answered the unasked question, then tapped the computer changing photos and everyone could see the group was placing the dead rats in the outline. When the next picture came up, the outlined box was full of rats, making many shiver at the ‘rat carpet’.

  “Looks like thousands, don’t it?” Arthur asked. “It took seven hundred and thirty-two rats to cover that eight hundred square feet, forming a rat carpet. Like I’ve pointed out, rats are twice as large now. This is how we can judge how many rats are coming at us.”

  All eyes moved from the picture to the paused video. “Fuck me,” Chad gasped as the numbers he was looking at hit him.

  Arthur hit play and the video continued. “Now, I did have two UTVs that had actual flame throwers. They spit out gelled fuel to form walls to hold back the tide some, but the gel burns off faster than you’d think. But now I’ve added oil to the mix, so if we do that again, the fire will last longer,” Arthur said as one UTV skidded to a stop and flame shot out in a long arc.

  “How fucking far is it shooting?!” Jill cried out.

  “Damn near a hundred yards,” Arthur stated proudly. “In case you’re wondering, the flame throwers never doused anyone because that would’ve killed us.”

  On the video they saw forklifts hauling out twenty-foot-long I-beams and other metal, stacking it on the trailers, then hauling ass back into the yard for more. They all turned to the bottom corner of the screen as a forklift started spinning in a circle. “Kirk’s throwing off rats,” Jason told them, then the forklift stopped as figures came over with torches. Clouds of flames shot from each individual, covering the forklift and they watched hundreds of burning rat bodies run off in every direction.

  Once clean of rats, the forklift took off back into the yard. In spellbound wonder, they watched the group hold back waves of rats as the forklifts moved quickly to load the trailers. Then in the top corner, they saw two small figures running over to a larger figure, dousing him in flames. Many flaming rats jumped off the figure taking off, but so did the figure, and the two mini-mes chased him down.

  “Yep, that was me,” Jason stated as the mini-mes caught up to him and all headed back using torches to keep the rats from surging over them. Then another UTV skidded to a stop and the three broke into a run. When they passed the UTV, a stream of fire shot out and the wave of rats rebounded. The mass ran back a hundred yards from the wall of flame but didn’t leave.

  “Now, in case anyone’s wondering, the rats are making so much noise, you can’t hear any of the engines,” Arthur told them. “We all had ear mics in for our radios and even with the volume all the way up, we could barely hear the radio.”

  He tapped the computer and a high-pitched squeaking filled the dining hall, then suddenly stopped when Arthur tapped the computer again. “Okay, I didn’t predict that one, but I did correct it on the next outing.”

  Watching the video and drunk from shock alone, “You went back?” Chad slurred.

  Nodding, “Four times,” Arthur said, then looked at Albert and Jill. “On the last trailer you’ll see them loading steel drums. Now you know why we won’t go and get anymore.”

  Pointing at the screen, “And that’s only ten thousand?” Albert asked.

  Turning back to the screen, “No, now there are over a hundred thousand there, but as we load up, Joseph takes the drone higher and you’ll see half a million,” Arthur replied. It took an hour for the trailers to get loaded and then the group loaded up. When the trucks pulled out, the drone rose up and spun north as the group headed south.

  “Suck my ass!” Chad cried out, looking at a four-lane highway that was black with a moving carpet of rats.

  “Oh, save your rants,” Arthur chuckled. “Wait till you see the bridges coming from downtown.”

  The drone spun and took off. On the far side of the screen they could see the convoy picking up speed and all the jets of flames from the vehicles turned off. When the drone slowed and pivoted, a collective gasp filled the dining hall.

  “That, to our best estimates, is sixteen million rats,” Arthur stated calmly. The interstate bridges were packed side to side and the carpet extended for miles.

  When he tapped the computer turning off the video, the new group was still staring at the blank screen panting hard. “So, they won’t come here?” Albert asked.

  “Fuck if I know,” Arthur shot back. “Rats aren’t that intelligent. Anything could happen, but rats aren’t natural sprinters, so I doubt it. Even if that group would head straight for us, half would die before reaching us. They still have to hunt and a group that size would have to spread out, and rats aren’t collective pack hunters like lions.”

  “I still say those groups near Little Rock will be dead before the New Year,” Jason stated.

  Tentatively shaking his head, “I still think it’ll be February before the rats reach them,” Arthur replied, and the others just looked from one to the other. “Sorry, all around Little Rock there are ‘Shanty Towns’. I don’t know what else to call them. But it’s survivors. They’ve just set up close to Little Rock, close being twenty miles out.”

  “You know this?” Albert asked.

  “Wouldn’t have fucking said it otherwise,” Arthur droned. “My son finished his runway last month and moved his planes in,” Arthur said, then held up his hands. “No, he isn’t flying anyone anywhere. Becky,” Arthur pointed at the pilot who’d flown in with Joseph, “she left in August to check on family in Houston after she and Joseph gathered up some aircraft and equipment. No, she didn’t fly, she drove,” Arthur told them.

  “Flying is all good but you have to land and when you land, evil shit, meaning people, can find you rather easy. Joseph and Becky found that out when they were gat
hering up aircraft,” Arthur told them. “Now, I warned Becky not to go, but there’s only one person here who isn’t allowed to leave,” Arthur said turning to Sutton.

  Groaning because it seemed Arthur was determined to get Wendy cranked up, “Arthur, stop,” Jason begged.

  Nodding to Jason, “Okay,” Arthur said, then looked at the new group. “Becky left with Ellie and Shanna who came in with Sutton and them. Now, they left in an MRAP. They promised they’d return but in all reality, I never expected to see them again. But as you can see, I was wrong, they did come back, ten days later. They had three vehicles shot out from under them, the first being the MRAP.”

  Turning around to look at Becky, “Did you find your family?” Jill asked.

  “Dead,” Becky mumbled. “I had to know but it was stupid, I’ll admit that now.”

  Sitting beside Becky, “Bitch, I told you that you weren’t going alone,” Ellie popped off. “Shanna’s big enough to make her own decisions.”

  Grabbing Ellie’s hand and giving a smile, “And I’ve thanked you, have I not?” Becky asked.

  “Yeah,” Ellie scoffed. “When we got back, but bitched every hour we were gone.”

  “I’m just glad you all made it back,” Arthur smiled.

  “So am I,” Wendy grinned, “because we were leaving to find you on day fifteen.”

  Becky and Ellie both turned to her in shock. “Fuckin’ right, we were,” Arthur admitted, and they turned to him. “Yeah, you’re both women and Shanna’s big enough to make up her own mind. Each of you can do what you want, but you’re part of our family and we were coming for you.”

  Wendy turned to the new groups. “They took a HAM radio to keep in touch but lost it when the MRAP got shot up. Arthur and I almost left then when they didn’t check in, but finally agreed to wait,” she told them, then cut her eyes back to Becky and Ellie. “We just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  Leaning her head on Becky’s shoulder, “I love this family,” Ellie beamed.

 

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