The Rockin' Rodents

Like a Bat out of Hades

Jimmy was worried that the band wasn't ready. He didn't say anything to the others, they had worked so hard, but they had so little time, so he arranged a warm-up concert through some old friends. That way he figured they would be less nervous playing in front of people.

Their first gig was in a place called "Hades". His mother had explained to him that Hades was an old word for hell or the underworld.

"That's so cool," said Jerry.

They met at Jerry's house as his dad was going to drive them and all their equipment there.

An old trainer which served as the garage opened at the front as if it were a gaping mouth.

A bang and cloud of smoke erupted from the shoe, becoming for one moment a brand-name dragon. After the screech of meshing gears, a hodgepodge of scrap and oddities reversed out. The frame was made of a doll's bed, Lego bricks, bottle tops, and a million other thrown-away objects that had been melded together to somewhat appear like a van.

Jimmy looked through the smoke

"What a great heap of Junk," he said, which to rats and mice is a compliment.

"Thanks," answered Jerry's dad as he got down from the cab, which looked like it was broken off an actual toy van.

"It's thrice recycled. The engine is from the bus that the "Rockers in the Sky" used on their last tour," he continued.

"Did they split up?" asked Hammy.

"Eh... in a way, they kind of lived up to their name" answered Jerry's dad, a little uncomfortably.

"So... the name's available again?"

"No!" chorused the rest of the band.

His dad drove them there in his scrap van with all their instruments and most of the band loaded into the back.

Confusingly Hades was above ground. It was hidden in Dublin Zoo in the bat enclosure. As the van passed from under the sewers (the rats and mice of Sewerville built a labyrinth of secret tunnels and entrances under the city.)

They passed sleeping flamingoes, which Hammy suggested was a great name for the band, before a growl from the tiger pen shut him up.

"Lucky for us, Tigers are nocturnal, they're normally asleep during the day," said Jerry's dad, who loved the zoo and almost crashed into a bin he was so riveted to the tiger's eyes glinting at them hungrily as they reflected their headlights.

"Keep your eyes on the road Francis," said Jimmy. Jimmy's secret worries were making him uneasy. "The kids have worked hard," he thought "I hope this isn't a big mistake."

Jerry on the other hand looked as though he would fire through the roof like a rocket with sheer excitement acting

As fuel. Tina and Hammy resorted to grabbing him and trying to keep him in his seat. Suzie Squirrel put on her make-up, which made her look like a miniature panda.

The bat enclosure was a large windowless cube building in the middle of the zoo. A hidden entrance dropped like a castle drawbridge over the drain which the band's van passed over.

They parked and began unloading their instruments. The place was incredibly dark. The softest of lighting came from the edges of the floor and pointed downward. Shadows ballooned out of their footsteps. Tina thought she saw flickering silhouettes moving inside the walls. She shivered despite the heat and humidity causing rivulets of moisture to run down her shell.

Suddenly, a spotlight lit up in a tight beam down from the ceiling to the center of the floor, and what seemed to be a bat entered the column of light.