mirror of https://github.com/nealey/Horrors2
103 lines
3.1 KiB
TeX
103 lines
3.1 KiB
TeX
\chapauth{Peas and Rice}
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\chapter{The King}
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It was a slow week. Sometimes life is like that for a private eye.
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I sat at my desk drinking whisky from a bottle, taking big gulps.
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The Yankees were on TV. I love the Yankees. It was already dark
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outside.
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A noise at the door distracted me. A letter fell noisily through
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the letter slot. Intrigued I stood up. It was addressed to me: Luke
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Bavarious, Private Detective. But no return address.
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I opened the envelope and read the typed note inside. ``Mr.
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Bavarious, I need your help. My daughter was kidnapped and taken to
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the Service Room at Times Square Subway Station. I need her back. I
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can't tell you any more than this. Please help.''
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An assignment. I picked up my new Colt .45 although I liked my
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trusty Baretta too. I made sure all eleven bullets were in the
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clip. I might need them. Then I finished the bottle of whisky and
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walked out into the New York night, lighting a cigarette.
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I walked to Times Square Station. It was mostly empty. Piles of
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garbage sat waiting to be collected. The whole place stank like
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rancid meat and decaying flesh.
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I drew my Colt .45 and opened the door to the Service Room. It was
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dark inside but I heard a strange high-pitched sound. It sounded
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like a rat. I fumbled for the light switch and a single dull
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40-watt bulb lit the room with a sickly yellow color.
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It wasn't just one rat, it was a hundred rats! They looked at me
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with vacant, black rat eyes. ``Where's the girl?!'' I demanded but
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they didn't answer. Then the rats moved aside and a giant rat
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waddled into the room. It was the biggest rat I've ever seen, the
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size of a Labrador Retriever. It looked at me and then it
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spoke!
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``You'll never see the girl again. Don't you know she ran away from
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home? If only her mother had listened to her! You have only come
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for your doom!'' And then it laughed a high pitched ratty
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laugh.
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``I know who you are!'' I said, and I did. It was the King Rat of New
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York! I'd heard stories but never seen it until now. I drew my Colt
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.45 and aimed it at the King Rat's head. ``I'll take you down
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fast!''
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I fired one bullet, then another, then all of them into the King
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Rat. The first one pierced his flesh and tore a jagged wound, and
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blood pumped out onto the floor making it slick with red paste.
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Then the others hit him and his body started exploding from the
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force of the bullets. He was like a fountain in Las Vegas spewing
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blood instead of water. Finally he fell down, dying. ``Now where's
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the girl!'' I demanded.
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``Get him{\ldots} my minions{\ldots}'' the dying King Rat said. I turned around
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just in time to see the army of rodents descending on me. Their
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tiny teeth bit into me, giving me diseases as I tried to fight them
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off. I used all my bullets on the King Rat so my Colt .45 was
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useless. I hit one but another jumped on my head and tore my scalp
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with its claws. I blacked out from the pain as I crumpled to the
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floor, covered in rats as they slowly but surely tore my flesh from
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my body. I screamed and a rat crawled in my mouth, and I finally
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succumbed to the horror of the King Rat.
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Edited slightly to better match theme.
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