Inktober 2022
Oct. 2: Scurry

“It’s right in ‘ere.” An old farmer dressed in a typical western farmer’s clothing told me, his accent embedded heavily into his manner of talking. “The rats started showin’ up ‘round the corners of the barn around April earlier this year. Real lil’ pests I tell y’a!”

As he spoke, I saw dashes of black appear around the edges of my vision every few seconds, along the sound of rodent feet scurrying over the eroded wooden floor. I gave the man a casual smile, telling him an estimate of when I’ll be done with the extermination and my costs, to which he (with some reluctance after hearing the price) agreed.

He then turned around and left to roam the fields where the cows grazed as I suited myself up and braced myself for what was to come, while listening for the overall direction of where the rats were. After one last breath of fresh air, I wore my mask and slung the heavy backpack-like equipment (which contained some rat poisons and pest control) over my back and held the nosel firmly in my gloved hands.

I started coating the floor and some small spaces I could see, hearing some anguished squeals and more urgency in the scurry noises of small paws. I shifted my attention to a large heap of hay behind which the rats were fleeing and walked to the back of it, getting to work with eliminating the group of rodents.

It truly was quite swarm, a near consistent line pouring out of a hole in the wall, squirming and shrieking. As the small corpses started accumulating on the floors, I started noticing a sound, similar to the steps of a dog. The rats had stopped their screeching for a moment as well, a strange silence hovering in the barn.

The sound seemed to come from the wall, and before I knew it, the rats started screaming and the noise morphed into that of heavy scurrying. An apprehensive feeling grew in my stomach as I stared at the hole surrounded by rats.

I watched in horror as a large dark creature the size of a dog came out of the opening and pounced onto me, yellowed front teeth gleaming right before my face as we writhed on the ground together, me desperately trying to shake it off as I felt the teeth nipping into and through my suit. The other rats joined in and I screamed in horror, as I felt hundreds of nips and bites all over me.

The rat’s fear was completely gone as they were led by their leader, the one who’s crimson eyes looked hatefully into mine.