Horror Island

Horror Island Ch 7

When they looked, they saw something horrible. The stream had stopped running, the cool, clear water quickly draining away into the forest.

Mark was stumbling away from it, tiny creatures clinging to his lower body and working their way higher. A continuous line of them was pouring out of the hole in the ground, the hole where life-giving water had been pouring out of only moments before.

Mia gave a short scream as she realized the creatures were rats, rats with their naked tails and short fur and diseased saliva. Rats who had brought the black plague to Europe and ate enough food each year to starve a million people while they bred even more of themselves.

Mark tripped and fell, the rats swarming over his body. A bloody pool began to form as a Mark-shaped bundle of fur thrashed on the ground. They watched in horror as its movements began to slow. Mia didn't even notice Yuri holding her back as she tried in vain to go help her boyfriend.

One by one the rats began to go back to the hole in the ground, disappearing from their sight. As a last, feeble gesture, Mark lifted his head to look at Mia. A few rats vacated the space in front of his face and Mia gasped yet again.

His nose was just a gaping hole in his face and he seemed to smile at them because he had no cheeks. His eyelids were no longer there and neither were his lips. The only things left were his green eyes, his beautiful green eyes. They looked at Mia with love in them and then disappeared back under a mass of fur.

A single rat detached itself from the group and sniffed in the direction of Mia and Yuri. He scurried forward a little and sniffed again. Another rat detached itself and began doing the same thing. The hole began to spew out rats again, all of them heading for Yuri and Mia this time.

Yuri turned around, dragging Mia along as he ran. They ran together, searching for a way of the jungle. Mia looked back once, only to see a blanket of fur, quickly covering the land behind them.

Suddenly Yuri stopped, dragging Mia to a halt. He closed his eyes and tilted his head, listening. Then he turned and shouted, "This way" to Mia. They ran again, this time following the sound of the surf.

Rats nipped at the back of their heels, although they could barely feel it. They swarmed around the trees to either side and tried to jump on their pant legs. Mia stepped on a small, squishy body and tripped, falling forward and screaming.