Chapter 6

I Smell a Rat

On a clear weekday morning, behind a large dumpster, three large rats were feasting on something bloody and gooey. With each nibble and bite there came crunching and slurping sounds, carried on the slight breeze along with the stench of decay. The three rats weren’t overly large, but they had weird rippling and crawling flesh underneath the short, matted and dark fur that covered their misshapen bodies. One of the rats stopped eating to sniff the air, as if something was amiss. Something had caught its attention away from the much needed feast and the sustenance it would need to fuel its rapid growth. Its bloody snout sniffed at the air as it rose on its hind quarters, making its body long and lean. The rat hissed, catlike, and scurried away. A shuffling sound made the two other rats pause for a brief moment before following suit. The three rats scurried through a hole in a section of fence behind the Old Mill Restaurant and disappeared from sight, leaving behind their feast: the much larger, dead and rotting, body of their mother. Blood, pus and a yellow gooey substance oozed from the bite marks and missing flesh, but no flies buzzed around the dead thing. No flies would go near it.

Shuffling his feet, Burke kicked at an empty soda can, sending it flying against the dumpster behind the Old Mill Restaurant, making a clattering sound. He dug out his Zippo from his pocket and lit a menthol cigarette. He knew these weren’t good for him, but he also didn’t know how else to keep from going completely crazy. He inhaled long on his smoke, which made him burst into a hacking, coughing fit that made his knees weak, his head spin and phlegm build in his mouth and throat.

Once he got his coughing under control, he spat and wiped the tears away from his eyes and took another drag. I’ll quit eventually, he thought to himself. Just not today. The cell phone in his pocket made a bloop sound which indicated he had gotten a text.

I’m here was all it read.

The text was from Jin Hong. Jin was inside the Old Mill Restaurant waiting on Burke. He looked at his half-smoked cigarette before placing it between his lips to free his hands. He sent a little white lie in response.

I’m just up the street… be there soon.

Burke adjusted his large plastic framed glasses and blew out smoke. As soon as he finished exhaling, he winced at a sudden, horrible scent that assaulted his smoker’s dulled sense of smell. Burke swatted at the air in hopes of alleviating the strength of the rotten odor. The stench was too much, even for his smoke damaged sinuses. He took a quick last drag of his cigarette and flicked it against the dumpster. Burke walked away as the stub of a cigarette rolled on the asphalt, still smoldering. A set of small, glowing yellow eyes peered at it from under the dumpster.

Moments later, the trio of misshapen rats returned once more to feast on the corpse of their mother. Years ago their mother had eaten from a strange plant in a cavern along the coast that had long since collapsed. The strange plant had gifted the mother rat with a long, though painful life, filled with illness and the occasional hunger that could not be fed. Its recent offspring had insatiable hunger and seemed to thrive.

Their first meal had been their father, their ravenous appetites being satiated while their mother watched. The strange rats mostly shunned by the collective murids would eventually feast on their inferior brothering. While hunting for food, a savage hunger overcame them and mother became prey. Mother became food. Such was the price to pay once this deep hunger took over.

“Detective Burke,” Shelley exclaimed as he walked into the Old Mill Restaurant. “I can’t say I’m happy to see you. It’s never good when you’re in town.”

“It’s great to see you too, Shelley,” Burke replied with a sly grin. While on sick leave, he might not have been feeling his usual self, but he was still able to appreciate sarcasm. “I’m meeting a friend,” Burke added as he saw Jin Hong raise his hand to get his attention. Jin sat at a cluttered table at the very back of the restaurant, which Burke thought was a good idea.

“Coffee?” Shelley asked.

“Sure,” Burke replied. “And do you have any of your homemade pie?”

“Apple?” Shelley asked. “With ice-cream?”

“Bring one for my friend too,” Burke replied as he made his way to the table where Jin sat.

Jin stood to greet Burke as he approached, holding out his hand for a handshake which Burke complied with.

“Nice to finally meet you in person,” Jin said.

“Doesn’t Skype count?” Burke asked as both men sat down.

Burke couldn’t help but notice that the clutter on the table were some of the documents he had mailed to Hong, most of which he had been hesitant to send electronically, and chance leaving a digital trail. There were copies of autopsy reports, medical records, lab reports and a slew of pictures, many of which had garnered looks of disgust from Shelley when she accidentally saw more than she had wanted to.

“I have to admit when you first sent me the lab reports for my opinion, I assumed you guys were messing with me,” Jin stated, wasting no time getting to the point. “The lab reports show a mutated strain of a fungus previously only found in the jungles of Peru.”

“The vampire ants,” Burke replied. “The ones you told me about.”

Jin wasn’t sure if Burke was testing him or if he really was confused.

“The zombie ants,” Jin replied, correcting Burke. “Did you read the articles I sent you?”

“I did. But remember that I’m not a scientist.”

“Well I am,” Jin replied. “I wish I had those baggies you told me about. The ones the chamber maid said she threw out. I bet Danny was on to something.”

“On to what?” Shelley asked as she brought over two heaping plates of apple pie, topped with ice-cream. “Does this have to do with the article in the Chronicler?”

“What article?” Burke inquired, who was already familiar with Oakwood Island’s only surviving newspaper.

“The one about the dead animals they found out in the woods and more near town. Oh, they made a big deal out of it, just trying to scare people is what I think, going on about the five year anniversary of the killings. A cluster of dead animals too, near the old Stuart’s house.”

“You have a copy of that paper handy?” Burke asked.

“Sure do,” Shelley replied. “I’ll get you one. Be right back with your coffees.”

“Thanks,” Burke said, a sentiment which was echoed by Jin.

“I’ll be honest,” Burke continued as he turned his focus back to the man he had come to meet in person. “I read the article you sent me and I did a little digging of my own. Those ants you talk about sound like science fiction to me. Like something out of a bad Stephen King book.” Burke picked up his fork and took a bite of pie.

“I assure you they’re real,” Jin replied with a frown as he was a big fan of King and his works. He set his fork down, took out a laptop and booted it up. He set it down on the table, on top of the papers and opened a folder of pictures. Jin turned the laptop so Burke could use it.

Burke ate pie as he scrolled through the images of weird ants with tiny mushroom like things that appeared to be growing on them. The old Burke would have used one of his favorite sarcastic lines, like how he had once seen a fifty foot ape climbing the Empire State Building too. He had often reminded people how easy it was, especially with today’s technology to create fake news. The old Burke would have said this. Although he thought it, he didn’t feel the need to say it this time, for fear of sounding ignorant. He knew Jin was a scientist and so he wouldn’t bring anything to the table unless it was scientifically solid. Besides, he’d seen enough weird happenings on this island to make him doubt his sanity. He had learned to question things before discrediting the idea right off the bat.

“The thing I don’t understand,” Jin added, talking through a mouthful of pie. “I’ve never seen people get infected by this spore before. There have been other insects found to have fallen prey to such fungus.” Jin swallowed his food and continued. “Certain species of caterpillars too, although our team has only been studying ants. While we take precautions, I’ve never seen anything remotely resembling any kind of infection on people. But this Maggie was riddled with this stuff. And I know you found syringes that had trace amounts, so that’s the only thing that made sense to me. Although traces of the fungus on Danny’s remains I assume got there as he was probably looking for samples or something when he died. And I don’t believe your foolish theory that he was the one injecting Maggie with that crap. Danny wasn’t Victor Frankenstein.”

Burke paused at a picture as he swallowed a mouthful of pie. He pointed to the screen. “You’re shitting me, right?” he asked.

“Nope,” Jin replied, closing the laptop as he watched Shelley finally bring the coffees, the newspaper tucked under her arm.

“Sorry to take so long with the coffee, guys,” Shelley said as she set the cups down and handed the newspaper to Burke.

“Front page,” she added. “They even mention Peggy Martin’s Pomeranian in the article. You know Peggy, right? She was Ryan’s aunt. Anyway, it talks about her dog and how it was found half eaten. Bijou she called it, poor thing. Grady thinks the mayor and town council are trying to drum up tourism; the kind of people who go to Salem to see the place where they burned witches or to Maine to see Stephen King’s house. Those types.”

“Murders and gruesome deaths are a tourist attraction here?” Jin asked.

“Stranger things have happened,” Burke added as he adjusted his glasses again on the rim of his nose.

“Grady thinks it’s cool,” Shelley added with a frown as she walked away to serve another table.

“Grady’s an idiot,” Burke chuckled as he replied and began reading the article. Jin sipped his coffee and thought it best to not ask who this Grady fellow was and why they cared so much what Grady thought.