Dawn of the 13th Era

Rat Swarm

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Henry was on his way back from the mountains behind their village, with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

Humming a small music to calm his mind, he walked along the pathway. Getting to the village, he saw his grandma sitting in front of the hut while looking out with a worried expression on her face.

"Henry! Don't tell me you went to the mountains again, over 8 people went missing there in a single week!! What were you thinking??" She stood up and walked over while rambling and checking him for any sign of wounds.

"Are you alright, did you find anything strange there?" She asked worriedly.

Henry didn't say anything and quietly recieved her scolding, he didn't want to go to the mountains either but they were running out of stock and they'll soon die of hunger if he didn't go anyways.

"I brought food back grandma, and the forest aren't that dangerous, I think the animals are even scarse now, took me so long and I didn't meet a single one." Henry replied cheerfully.

"The number of people who went missing in the mountains this past week is getting alarming, if things don't work out we'll sell the properties and relocate Henry, you're my last bloodline relative on Earth, I can't afford to lose you." She said weakly.

"Okay, let's go eat first, we will talk about relocating later." Henry pulled her into the house then cooked lunch for them.

After eating, his grandma sat outside the small house to rest when one of the villagers came running from the path leading to the mountains.

He looked haggard and beaten, with a frightened look on his face, while taking in deep breaths.

A small crowd gathered around him and Henry also ran out of the house wondering what was going on.

"All the hunting party members were wiped out, there's a strange pack of wolves on the mountains, the smallest one was as big as a car. Bullets weren't working against them.........." Henry heard while walking over.

'Wolves?' he thought, definitely wolves weren't a strange sight but one as big as a car was definitely alarming.

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At night, Henry sat down in front of the house looking outside at the mountains with forests stretching over the horizon.

Everyone knew something was definitely wrong but packing away was the issue, he looked at the mountains with a concerned look on his face.

The mountains were eerily silent, all through the night, the mountains would be filled with the sounds of wolves howling, hyenas laughing and the crickets. The rising number of missing people weren't helping, three people also died in the village suddenly, only a slight fever was noticed before they died.

"No, it's enough already, some are moving away already, tomorrow morning I'll bring grandma away from this place before things gets worse." He thought them stood up to head inside the house and get some sleep for the next day.

Walking into the house, he walked over to his room then opened the door next to it to check his grandma before going to bed, she was lying down on her mat seemingly asleep.

He took in a deep breath, and was closing the door slowly when he heard chewing sounds, at first they seemed silent but the moment he held the door and perked his ears up, the chewing sounds grew louder and louder grating across his ears.

"What on Earth...." He said then looked towards the direction of the sounds.

He walked forward with heart beating rapidly then turned on a flash light only to see small black rats scattered across the room each as big as a cat with blue eyes shining in the dark staring back at him and the sounds were coming from his grandma.

With heart beating rapidly, he was about to rush over to his grandma when the room was suddenly flooded by rats rushing in and running over to her, his eyes turned red when he saw his grandma get swarmed by the rats.

He turned back and ran out of the house, he already felt it, she wasn't moving.

"She's dead" he said with cloudy eyes, when he rushed out of the house he heard screams from across the village and everyone scrambling about shouting for help.

Confused about what to do, he choose the only seemingly safe option and ran down the mountain hoping he would find help there, while running out he saw others also running out of the village, everyone running around in panic and the village was turned over.

Some also had the same thought as him and started running down the mountain to find shelter.

Getting to the town below the mountain, Henry closed his eyes trying to forget about his grandma then ran to the nearby police station.

"Sir there's a rat outbreak in the village, please we need your help people are dying up there" Henry said hurriedly with a pleading look on his face.

"Rats? You mean your village is getting destroyed by rats overnight? He must be on drugs" one of the officers said while ignoring him.

The captain who was sitting nearby suddenly stood up and asked "your village is getting destroyed by rats?"

"Yes, sit I clearly saw them each as big as a cat with blue eyes, they were tearing into human flesh and they covered the whole village, they are way too much... Please we need your help.

While he was explaining, a few others from the village also rushed over with the same complaint, the first officer suddenly had a change of expression.

"They can't possibly be getting eaten up by rats right???"