Day 15

I look around the house some more, taking inventory of what little we have that can be of use.

A cracked shield of some exotic wood is buried under our bedding. It is easily as hard as rock but light-weight. It is however too large for me to use until I'm as big as Mother, I can barely lift it. I think from the size differences of objects either some other species are giants or we are quite small. We could make a tent out of the breastplate. The massive shield is a buckler.

Wandering around the room I get a feeling there is something I'm missing. The home is roomy for us, but I think it had a different purpose once, long ago.

The shield and armor seem a lot older than anything else here and probably were just left where they were by the rats.

Trying to get some perspective I climb onto the breastplate and look around.

As I look at the angles, floor and walls for some kind of hint I hear a commotion outside.

Squeaks of terror and running sounds.

I hesitate to look out, if the older rats are running I'll be killed.

Unfortunately it passes by our door anyway, stooping to look under the lintel.

Some kind of gigantic amphibian, like a salamander with the mouth of a shark.

The mouth gapes as it hisses, seeing us. It crawls in slowly, boxing us in so it can eat us.

It is as big as a sedan... It only barely squeezes in, one limb at a time and the tail is as long as the body.

I glance at my siblings, bunched together petrified by fear. The monster drools as it slides in, black eyes twinkling with pleasure.

Pushing them I make them shelter under the breastplate and trying to stall the creature I hurl things at it. The book binding, the boot. It barely notices.

When my hand clasps the kitchen knife that is little more than a rusty spike I realize this is all I have as a weapon.

Rushing to the shield I haul it toward the breastplate and use it to seal us in the chest cavity, trying to buy time.

The adult rats however seem more concerned with personal safety and remain in hiding.

The beast claws at the metal but finds it too hard to break. It scratches at the shield and with unimaginable strength tears it from my grasp, hurling it aside. I jump back, pushing the others to the far end. The beast hesitates to put it's head in here, instead opting to climb up, onto the metal armor and bounce on it using it's upper torso, trying to flush us out.

Seeing what may very well be my only chance I rush out under the creature and stab. I don't aim for the heart as that has ribs in the way and masses of muscle. I stab deeply in the belly, trying to cut through the diaphragm and pierce a lung or major blood vessel.

The creature roars in fury and twists, facing me. I tear the kitchen knife free, only to discover it is half the blade it used to be. The slimy monster pounces at me and I leap back, now trapped against the rear wall. The salamander monster charges, trying to crush me against the cold stone. I side-step and leap as it collides with a rumble.

Shaking off the impact against the floor I barely avoid a flick of the tail that would shatter my bones.

Inwardly I growl, fur bristling.

I look at the breastplate and dart under it again.

The creature follows, colliding with the metal and making the armor slide as the beast forces it's head inside, snapping at us. I push the others back hard enough to avoid most of the biting and jostling associated with the collision, but the tip of my tail is snapped off by fierce teeth.

I run back out the neck-hole of the armor and clamber on top. Running I leap forward and stab what remains of the knife between the shoulder-blades and ribs of the monster as it is occupied. The beast twists and cries out in pain, more frantically.

Hit you where it hurts? Good.

I raise both hands and slam the palms down on the handle, forcing the blade deeper. The beast recoils in agony. As it does I twist the knife, pulling it free. Blood squirts out in pulses. Using my claws I dig into the slimy flesh for a firm grip.

As the creature pulls its head out of the chest cavity I lunge, driving the last fraction of a knife into that beady left eye. It writhes and rolls, hurling me into the wall.

Winded and bruised I look up, expecting to be eaten. The creature however is still trying to understand the injuries. The cascading blood is a favorable sign, but not an injury that will finish it off in a hurry. My best bet: I need to drive it off because no way in hell am I finishing off this monster with half a knife.

I reach down and grab hold of some powdery dirt.

Screaming I catch the monster's attention. As it stares nonplussed I walk forward confidently, trying to bluff it.

I slashes at me with the powerful, blunt claws on it's right foreleg but it has lost depth perception with only one working eye, missing badly enough to scape the stone a few feet away. I come closer as it hisses furiously and point blank I hurl the dust into the only working eye as it snaps its jaws at me.

Jumping back I watch as it claws at it's face trying to get the filth out. If it were a reptile this wouldn't have worked, but amphibians are fleshy and vulnerable to all kinds of things.

I spread some fresh rat droppings on the knife while it is distracted, quietly sneak closer and drive the blade into the creature's side.

Hopefully I'll still kill you through infection and tetanus, you bastard.

I leave the knife behind and walk back a bit as it twirls at the pain. It is still partially blind and doesn't notice me, instead inspecting the wound.

I scream again and finally the beast takes the hint. It backs off and squirms backwards through the door, afraid to take it's eye off me. I follow at a distance making sure it leaves. Then as it passes around a corner, running I looked for my siblings. They are beneath the breastplate still. However of the three only my sister survived. While I was stabbing the monster amphibian, it was crushing them against the metal.

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My sister is trembling. I hug her until she can calm down. I try to listen for more of the creatures, afraid there may be more but all I hear is other rats.

A few peer in, looking shocked.

I look them in the eye.

“Cowards.” I spit.

They seem hurt by the assessment but simply can't refute it.

…

It is an amphibian, it probably originates from either the swamp or the forest. They're sensitive to contaminants and disease. If that thing is lucky it will die from infection. If it isn't I'll be cutting off an over-sized head soon.

Either way... one day I'll eat you, monster. Don't you dare die until I'm through with you... this isn't about the tail... it's because you killed my brothers! They were just children. You don't get to live after killing kids. Not in front of me.

I spend the next hour carefully removing the bodies and placing them by the door, then mopping up the blood with rags.

I'm surprised at myself for being so emotional about these animal-like children, having only spent a couple of weeks with them. Half of it was probably instinctive bonding; like chicks bond to the first thing they see, considering it a parent.

This is also the second time I've seen children killed deliberately.

I expect if it ever happens again I'll lose my mind. That rage, the cold brutality... that is why I used to spend so much time alone. Here in this new body I had forgotten. The desire to hunt and kill. I was only barely able to stay out of prison. I killed a man, tracked him down and brutally murdered him. I broke his skull open with a rock. And I loved every moment of it.

That animal is dead. This new one soon will be. This time I won't bring a fucking rock or a broken knife, either.

Prepare yourself you bastard, you haven't seen the last of me.

I eventually fall asleep hugging my sister.

Day 16

Having an early meal with a few seeds added on, the beginning of the weaning process. I can feel the teeth in my jaw growing longer every day.

I follow Mother out in the morning, noticing the bodies of my brothers are gone.

My sister squeals noticing I'm leaving and chases after me, holding my tail.

Ouch that hurts. It is still tender. I need to look into cleaning that wound.

Outside the rats practically stop what they are doing as I emerge.

I see a straight street. Looking up all I see is stone, with piles of moss glowing faintly. I stare shocked. Not even a crack? The roof is as smooth as the road. I don't understand this place, that isn't natural. This massive cavern which I'd estimate at over fifty foot high and twenty wide is entirely artificial looking, despite being too smooth for a race as poorly equipped as the rats, the soot-scented merchants or the unknown giants to make.

To put it bluntly as someone who knows old mines far too well this is like watching at an alien space ship landing in the middle of a kite festival and being the only one to notice. Either there are 'ancients' with extremely advanced technology (comparable to modern day Earth), a divinity with a twisted sense of humor (I have been dead already and the only sign of anything supernatural is myself) or that like some crystals, this rock was grown deliberately or perhaps molded. Whatever arcane technique they used I have no clue about, but it is every bit as good as modern production methods.

Perhaps slowly by hand over centuries? There are ancient statues carved like that from boulders.

At the far end of the street, close to four hundred feet there is a 'T' junction. Hmm. No wonder the monster came to us... all it did was follow the street to the end and then investigate the nearest. It must be slow on it's feet, everything it did was to trap us in a confined space in a confined street. Actually it explains why everyone was running away if they know the creature's habits...

The old saying about tigers? You don't have to run faster than the tiger, you just need to run faster than the guy next to you. Yes, I think that sums up rat society in a nutshell when it comes to dealing with threats.

Mother who has been leading us down the passage finally tells us to go home.

I don't like going back to that trap but thinking about the situation, I'm still just a toddler in human terms. I'm being humored, but my playing at explorer is over for the day.

Also... I think I see a tear on my Mother's face.

She is probably even more torn up over it than I am. She wasn't there. All she got to see was a traumatized pair of her children and the corpses of her other children.

I head back, leading my sister back. She's still a little wobbly on her legs but quite able to walk, we rats sure do develop fast.

I glance curiously into the homes of the neighbors as walk to our house. Plenty of junk and one interesting thing, they aren't the same design as mine. They are deeper but narrower.

Back home I groom my sister to help her calm down. As soon as she entered she started hyperventilating. PTSD perhaps?

I put her to bed and glance about at the mess, checking to see if I missed anything interesting in the dirt, disturbed by claws.

The claw mark from the strike that missed because of blindness was a deep one, as was the body slam against the wall. Looking carefully I found not one but two hidden surprises. The wall had cracked and beyond that gap that was a mechanism of thick chains and empty air. On the floor the claws had scratched the edge of something wooden flush with the stone. Now... how do I get inside?

What we learned:

Sister rat is deeply traumatized.

Mother rat is hurt too.

The room they live in is different from the others.

Rats are typically cowardly.