Chapter 62 - Sixty One - Rodent Zombie Hoard (1/2)
To say it was a hoard of zombie rats was too simplistic for it soon became apparent that there were numerous zombified rodents in the rotting mass moving swiftly towards the wall. The smallest, the mice and voles were the most numerous, weaving in and out of their larger cousins, making themselves very hard targets to hit individually, but still crushed in volume beneath the weight of fist sized rocks that had been manipulated by gravity, making them much more deadly. Rabbits and hares, the largest leapt up at the wall, launching themselves at it, fortunately the wall was high enough, at least in the beginning, for the rodents began to pile up at the walls, creating a platform from which the creatures could jump. This pile was also a larger target for balls of black fire that once touched the dry flesh and bone, quickly ignited and spread.
Smoke from the burning corpses filled the air with the pungent smell of death and disease, threatening also to mar the defenders vision, however a deft breeze dispersed the worst of it. Lightning paralysed a squirrel that had scampered up the walls and this was finished off by a bludgeon weapon. Ice pinned down several monstrosities at a distance. Paul, who was throwing knives and projectiles, as were a few others, noticed the oddity first.
”Look,” he cried out, flinching as a gunshot sounded. ”Look at what the rats are doing!”
Of course their attention was captured by that scene for a moment, however what the rats were doing actually occurred in many places at once. The rats were not as numerous as first thought and happened to be spread out amongst the mass of rodents. Their movement was much more stilted as well, for they paused from time to time before running along with the rest. And during that point in which they stopped, they bowed down to consume the squashed or killed remnants of their companions, eating the rotting flesh in large mouthfuls!
”It's like when the herd ate the dogs,” Paul murmured, before a ball of lightning whizzed past his head and electrocuted the gerbil about to take a bite.
”Pay attention!” Dexter demanded.
The rats paused before the burning mound of former rodents, while those around them leapt into the inferno, without any form of self preservation. A few squirrels fell from the wall, captured in blocks of ice. Their frozen forms disappeared into the spreading flames, but there was no calming of the flames with the melting of the ice. One rat squeaked angrily as a heavy flint fell from the heavens towards it, however it managed to dodge, unlike the rabbit beside it. The creature looked at the rabbit, then turned to the rat nearby. These tricky rodents seemed wiser than the rest of the seething, brainless mass and began to back away, hissing and squeaking in fury.
”Woe, shit!” Jimmy shot an undead squirrel that had scampered up the wall from the other side, it's tail no more than a flat scrap of rotten flesh.
”They breeched the walls?” Indeed, a smaller, nearly unnoticed run of rodents was running along the ground inside their fortifications, having breeched the walls of the southern most mansion at some point. The stairs were steep enough, though that only the squirrels could still clamber up them, though a rabbit tried its luck, hopping up them only to be blasted away by a force of air. A series of fire balls followed, red fire rather than the deadly black, but still enough to kill and burn many of the rodents. Vines hidden within the hedges snatched at the ones to escape the flames.
Chang Min's stone rain suddenly paused. ”Master!” He yelled out in a panic. ”I heard a scream!” Ren Zexian paled. A Cultivator of Chang Min's ability naturally had hearing above and beyond, it would not be beyond his scope to hear loud sounds from the main house. It seemed that the small breech from the southern walls had not been the only one.
Without consideration for others, Ren Zexian leapt down from the wall and rushed towards the house. He was followed by Jonah, though at a slower pace, however there was no way this man would not try and protect his lover and child from whatever was threatening them. Unfortunately, with Ren Zexian missing, the flames stopped their endless spread and simply burned the corpses at a more sedate pace, the heat no longer as intense. The red eyes of the rats twinkled in realisation and no longer hesitated. The continuous mass began to smother the flames with their rotten bodies.