“Are we there yet?”
“Dave, like I’ve been saying, we don’t even know where we are going. How could we know if we’re there if we don’t really have a destination?”
“All journeys have a destination, little dude.”
Shaggy rolled his eyes. “Then look for Duke’s giant ass. When you see that, then we are there. Left wall.”
At Shaggy’s direction, Dave immediately turned left and struck out with a fist. The wall of dirt collapsed as soon as Dave’s fist hit it and two waiting rats hissed. Dave quickly dealt with the spear-wielding rats and they continued down the tunnel. Shaggy had gotten a lot better at sniffing out the ambushes over the past thirty minutes. The things reeked of blood and death. So once he managed to identify their scents, Shaggy began pointing them out.
The rats were clearly trained in ambush and retreat tactics. Whoever was in charge down in the tunnels had been here a while. So far they kept coming across Muscle-Rats, Dog-Rats, Spear-Rats, and the regular kind of rat. The only ones Dave and Shaggy had any trouble with, though, were the Muscle-Rats. The things were so dense that they could take a decent amount of damage before going down. Slink was a little more squishy, but they had kept him safe so far. Sometimes the rats waiting for them were too numerous for Shaggy or Dave to take out quickly. So they’d get swarmed. But they no longer were being caught flat-footed.
So far, except for the odd short side tunnel, they had mostly been traveling in a straight line. Down and slightly away from the rest of Under-Town. Shaggy briefly wondered if there was an Under-Under-Town. But he quickly put that thought to bed when the ground leveled out. Now they were mostly traveling westward under the filth-ridden streets of Under-Town. A fact not lost on Slink.
“Do you think these tunnels crisscross under the town all over?”
“Don’t know. Maybe the rats just recently dug them out.” Shaggy responded, still sniffing the air.
“Dude. Maybe we could, like, get the little guys to dig us a better network down here. Then we can attach it to the Viper Den.”
“That was my idea.” Slink nodded.
“No, dude. I’m the one that said it.”
“I don’t think the rats are going to be doing us any favors. Above.”
Dave punched the ceiling above them and a dog-sized rat fell into the tunnel ahead of them. The creature quickly tried to get its bearings, but it was swiftly kicked to death by Dave. Slink also shot the thing multiple times with his energy pistol. Shaggy groaned. Whenever the teen used his weapon, the smell of ozone and burning flesh stunk up the tunnel. Slink gave him a shrug and Shaggy sighed.
“You have to stop shooting them.”
“I told you, it’s better to take them out quickly. We don’t want to get swarmed.”
“At this point, I’d prefer getting swarmed.” Dave said from the front of their group.
“And I told you, I can’t sniff out ambushes if this place reeks of burning rat and ozone!”
“They ambushes are spaced enough for you to get your sense of smell back. I timed it out.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“I haven’t been yet.”
“All it takes is once.”
The boy’s response was to give Shaggy another shrug as they continued down the dark tunnel. Shaggy could only sigh again and try to waft the smell away from them. His scent-vision was a gross tableau of colors all swirling in every direction. He had grayed out what he could, but it was like the scent of blood grew out of the damn walls. Shaggy wondered how many denizens of Under-Town had been killed down in the tunnels.
“Light ahead, dudes.” Dave called and Shaggy and Slink glanced around the taller man.
Dave was right. Ahead of them was a large, circular opening. Light poured in from just beyond it, and the smell of blood became even thicker. Shaggy quickly ignored his sense of smell and tried to see beyond the soft glow of light at the exit. Dave leaned against the side of the tunnel and waved at the exit.
“And thus our destination has been reached. So, dudes, do we charge in there or go for the sneaky approach?”
Slink cast a wary eye over both Shaggy and Dave. “I don’t think stealth is your guy’s style. Why don’t I drop Larry and Curly? They can give me an idea of what we are walking into.”
“Wait! Will a psychic pick up on your link to the snakes?”
Slink froze, thinking about it for a few seconds. When he came back to himself, he shook his head. “I don’t think so and neither do the snakes. We should be alright.”
“Are you going to risk your buddies on ‘should’?”
Slink was getting ready to argue when Dave waved a hand at them. “Dudes, the point is moot. Cause we’ve got a welcoming committee.”
Shaggy glanced at the tunnel’s exit and spotted four hulking figures. Slink hissed as chittering came from behind them too. Checking both ways down the tunnel, Shaggy recognized the pincer tactics. Already his dark-vision could pick up a writhing mass of tiny rats barreling down on them from behind. He gave Dave a nod as Slink started firing into the swarm behind them.
Dave and Shaggy took off at a sprint down the tunnel. It wasn’t large enough for them to run side by side, so Dave took the lead. The four Muscle-Rats blocked the exit with their bodies, ready to endure any onslaught. Then Shaggy and Dave activated their abilities. Dave hopped into the air and turned his body horizontal. He stuck his left leg out and shot forward like a dart as Shaggy pounced.
They both flew through the remaining space between them and the rats. Shaggy was already planning how he was going to jam one claw into one of the rat’s chest while making space with his other claw. That way, he and Dave would make room for Slink, who was still bringing up the rear. But that plan fell apart as the walls and ceiling around the tunnel exit exploded. Six more rats leapt out from their alcoves, spears and teeth, waiting.
Both Shaggy and Dave missed their targets cause they hit something else. Shaggy’s claws collided with a spear-wielding rodent that went limp around his hand. While Dave’s foot punctured the side of a Dog-Rat. Shaggy growled in indignation as they tried to quickly deal with the fodder. But the Muscle-Rats were also joining things. A furry fist knocked into Shaggy’s head as he decapitated a spear-rat.
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Stumbling a few steps, Shaggy quickly regained his feet and pushed forward again. Instead of his usual swiping hits though, Shaggy instead stabbed out with his claws repeatedly. He was pummeled about the face and shoulders as he did. But soon two of the muscle-rats were bleeding out at his feet. He turned to watch Dave as the unarmored man proceeded to break a Muscle-Rat’s leg with a savage kick. Then his friend delivered a few knee strikes to the head that ended things.
“Whew! Okay, that wasn’t so bad, right?”
Shaggy waggled his hand as he felt a bruise on his chest heal. Behind them, Slink gave an indiscernible cry of alarm. They both turned at the same time to see the pale teen running, still running his ass off. His face was a mask of terror. Shaggy quirked an eyebrow and tried to look beyond Slink, but all he saw was darkness. Which shouldn’t have been possible. His dark-vision wasn’t great, but he should’ve still been able to see what was chasing Slink. But as Slink got closer, Shaggy realized his mistake.
“Oh shit!” Shaggy rushed into the tunnel exit as Dave cackled.
“DUDES! IT’S A RAT TIDAL WAVE!”
Dave and then Slink exited the tunnel at the same time, putting their backs to the wall near the large opening. Shaggy was already on the right side of the exit, waiting. The massive swarm of rats shot out of the tunnel like the world’s most disgusting push-pop. They clambered over each other, their beady little eyes going wide in the light of the new tunnel. The noise was deafening and Shaggy could smell blood all over each and every one of the rats. It choked his senses, but he endured as the rats fell about themselves.
Shaggy searched their new environment as the rats chittered loudly. They were in a large domed room with one other exit to the north. The rats spilled on the floor, covering it completely with their bodies. He waved his hand at the other two and pointed out their exit. Slink was busily firing into the mass of rats, but Dave saw him. Once he saw that Dave and Slink were moving, Shaggy started trudged his own way through the mass of rats.
They scratched and bit at each other and Shaggy as he trudged his way through them. The mass of rat bodies barely came up to his ankles, but the damn things latched onto him with every step. Even through his jeans, he was nipped and bit the entire journey to the exit. For some reason, the rats weren’t spilling over into the new tunnel. It was like some unseen force was keeping them locked in the large circular room.
Shaggy made it into the exit and kicked off the rats hanging onto his jeans. As he did, Dave and Slink arrived. The boy was on Dave’s back, and Dave had activated his armor. He gave the pair a nod before he hurried further into the tunnel. The chittering rats still made it hard to talk out loud. But once the noise became a dull roar, Slink asked.
“What the hell was that room? It was just a giant empty room!”
“It’s probably meant to catch all the rats from that wave!” Dave answered.
Shaggy merely shrugged as he focused on ignoring the stench of death and blood. It was getting heavier. The smell combined with the noise of the rats was giving Shaggy a massive headache.
“Yeah, but why not just have a wall? Y’know, send the tidal wave of rats and then smash us between them and the wall. It just seems like a poor trap.”
“I don’t think it was a trap. I think it was a hurriedly put together attack. Whatever is down here didn’t expect to be found.” Shaggy growled out as he rubbed his head.
“Dude, you alright?”
“The smells down here are getting to be too much. It’s like I’m choking on a river of blood while the rats squeak into my ears.”
Dave winced sympathetically, as Slink still looked curious. “So you think something is controlling these rats?”
“Of course! You think rats mutate on their own? And those ambushes?! Something is directing these bastards, mark my words.”
“I don’t think-”
“ANOTHER! BRING!”
A gravelly voice echoed through their tunnel like thunder. It seemed to silence everything else, and even Shaggy and his friends went quiet.
“LEARN! MUST!”
Shaggy was sure the voice was in pain or something. It seemed to be panting, and its deep, rumbling voice sounded pained. The three of them crept closer toward the voice, careful not to make a sound. This tunnel was far shorter than the first one and soon another small exit presented itself. Shaggy glanced back at his friends as he raised a clawed hand. Both Slink and Dave nodded, and they all crouched walked to the opening.
Sticking his head around the side of the exit, Shaggy was hit with a wave of death. A hot, muggy smell mixed with decay and blood hit him full force in the face. He would’ve tumbled back if it wasn’t for Dave also peering around the opening. Shaggy slapped a hand over his mouth and fought his revulsion as Slink muttered what they were all thinking.
“What the fuck…”
Shaggy could only nod as he stared at the piles of dead bodies. They were spread out across the floor in short little stacks. Everywhere, Muscle-Rats and more human-looking ones moved the corpses around. Shaggy could even see a few normal rats chomping away at the bodies. In the center of the room, atop a small hill of dirt, was the largest humanoid rat Shaggy had ever seen. Its torso was the same as the muscle-rats, but its overall height was closer to someone like Ren.
The almost eight-foot rat had a squirming human in his hands. His victim fought valiantly against the massive paws of the rat, but it mattered little. The giant rat practically slammed his forehead into the human’s face. As he did, his black lips opened and that deeply rumbling voice echoed in the tunnel again.
“LEARN!”
Shaggy and the others watched in silence as the human kicked and flailed wildly for a bit then went completely still. The man’s body took on an almost gray hue, like the color had been completely sapped from him. With a grunt, the giant rat tossed the gray corpse onto the ground. Quickly, his minion rats collected the body and moved it to a nearby pile.
“ANOTHER!”
The rat’s voice almost made Shaggy’s teeth rattle as it bellowed at its minions. He was about to ask what the plan was when a swarm of brown rats carried in the giant rat’s latest victim. Shaggy wanted to rub his eyes in frustration as a placid and unmoving Duke was brought before the giant rat. The swarm of smaller rats deposited Duke’s body at their master’s feet. The giant gripped Duke by his hair and tried to lift him to its face. It took some work, but eventually the giant rat succeeded and it glared into Duke’s face.
“We aren’t just going to let that thing mind-jack Duke, are we dudes?” Dave asked.
Shaggy shrugged. “It’ll be one problem gone.”
“If Duke isn’t dead already.” Slink added.
“He isn’t.” Shaggy supplied. “I’m sure of it.”
“So I ask again: are we really letting this happen?”
Shaggy thought it over in his mind and found that he was more than willing to let Duke get worked over by the giant rat. But if that meant empowering the rat in some way, they may be better off interceded. He was about to announce his conclusion when Duke spoke into the rat’s face. The three of them shared a look as all the rats in the room went still and Duke’s voice seemed to echo in the room.
“Get your damn dirty hands off me, you fucking rat!”
Duke punctuated his words with a quick jab that snapped through the air. But to everyone’s surprise, the giant rat caught Duke’s fist. The clap of the duke’s meaty fist meeting the giant rat’s furry paw produced enough force that Shaggy saw several small rats go flying away.
“Jesus! It’s just as strong as Duke!” Slink hissed.
“Naw dude, the rat guy is hurt.”
Shaggy tried to see what Dave had, and he quickly found it. While the rat had blunted Duke’s attack, it had cost the rat his hand. As the giant rat pulled his massive paw away, it swung limply from the wrist. Shaggy suspected the thing’s wrist bones were powder. Duke and the rat glared at each other as Duke staggered to his feet. The rat back away from its hill of dirt and hissed loudly. The noise was echoed from the surrounding rats, and Duke realized he was surrounded.
“What do we do?” Slink asked.
Shaggy grinned. “We settle in. Does anyone have any snacks?”