Free Fan Fears: A collection of fear based stories by Michael Bray Page A

appeared. It looked like some kind of magic trick, as the huge hairy body managed to push itself through a hole that looked far too small to accommodate it. It was at least four times as big as the next nearest of its kind. It was the size of a small dog. It sat on its haunches, surveying the scene. It was only then that she realized how noisy it was. The once silent chamber was now alive with the high-pitched squeal of hundreds of rats. She looked at Kevin, who was still screaming. Some of the rats were gnawing on his ears, tearing lumps of flesh from the lobes. She pulled against the pillar across her legs, then screamed in agony. There was nothing she could do. The large rat looked at her, eyes the deepest, darkest black. She saw nothing in those eyes but hatred and the instinct to survive.
    She reached down towards Kevin, only then realizing that she was screaming, the back of her throat raw and hoarse. Kevin was screaming too. Blood dripped from his ravaged feet and soaked into the dust and pulverized concrete. She looked again at the large rat and watched as it sauntered across the room, its brethren parting to allow it access. It hopped up onto the concrete pinning Kevin in place. It was just inches from his unprotected face now. It leaned close and sniffed him, whiskers twitching, yellow teeth visible. Kevin stared back, his own eyes wide as he looked at the giant rat.
    For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Becky stared at Kevin, and then at the rat, which once again looked towards her, turning its black gaze on her. She knew what was about to happen. She could see the intent. The rat turned back to Kevin and thrust forward, biting at his face, plucking out his eye, which burst onto his cheek and ran down into his ear. The rat continued to feed, devouring Kevin's face as he thrashed and squirmed.
    Becky screamed, throat filling with the taste of blood as she watched the rats devour her husband. It was around that time that something in her mind snapped, and any semblance of sanity or reality left her.
     
    SIX
     
    The fire crews worked into the night. Mike had managed to relocate some of his men to help Chief Clink, and they were now nearing the bottom of the rubble pile that was once the museum. The light of pre-dawn had come and brought with it some hope. They had already pulled six survivors from the rubble, which drove them on despite the forty plus dead so far. Mike was on his stomach, crawling into a space beneath a twisted cross section of wall. Some of the men had heard screaming coming from the area in the night, but for a while, it had been silent. Now he was close to breaking through. He moved a large brick of rubble to one side, knowing that in doing so the whole chamber could come crashing down.
    "Give me a flashlight," he said to the men behind him, reaching his arm back. Someone placed it in his hand and he wriggled forward, switching on the light and around the dust filled chamber.
    It looked like part of the lobby had crashed down into the basement, making a natural tomb of sorts. Mike had seen some horrible things during his years in the fire service. Mostly severe burns or falls from buildings when people's need for oxygen drove them to jump to certain death. This, though, was worse. There were three people in the chamber. A woman lay on a ledge less than five feet from him at his level. He could reach her but knew there was no point. Her eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, a light layer of dust on them, mouth agape. Mike knew dead when he saw it and knew this woman was beyond saving. Down below, in what would be the basement, there were two other bodies, and Mike wasn't entirely sure what had happened to them. One man was face down covered in rubble, the top of his head devoid of skin, the skull open. The brain was missing and in the hole were several small blood covered stones which looked as if they had been placed there deliberately. Next to him, were the remains of another man, this