Rat-King
!9ff7WVg9ik
(ID: 0nSjfCOi)
10/21/2025, 5:36:08 AM
No.6321095
Anastasia is glad to be seeing Ed, but her mood is subdued for now. She's a smart kid. She holds your left hand as you all make your way to the front door.
Deep breath.
Misha slings the duffel over her shoulder, loaded with some extra clothes along with what she grabbed earlier. She holds up the kukri, and opens the door.
You all step into the hallway, and you feel like it's longer than it used to be. To your left, the light seems to dim, and darkness collects around the threshold of the far door, like soot around a hearth. But it's core exudes coldness, and emptiness. On your right, the hall seems more normal for its full length, though there's some blood staining a wall and the floor near one of the doors, which is still ajar. The three of you proceed to the stairwell at that end at a brisk pace, with your heads on a swivel.
You move down the stairs quietly. The fourth floor has some blood, and a couple of severed arms. You keep going. Third floor has what you need. The Greek guy that gave Anastasia some baclava one time, you'd crossed paths and she asked about it. Tough break, he's been stabbed in the neck several times by someone, or some thing. Late middle aged and average built. It's an improvement. Misha nods to you and then makes her way over to the body, it's near his door which is close to the landing you're on. She touches him, and crumples. He jolts a bit, as if hit by a febrilator, and then slowly rises up to his feet, bending over to pick up the kukri that's hardly finished clattering after slipping from Misha's previous grasp.
So far so good.
You walk by the second floor, but you don't need to enter, now. You notice a rat darting across the hall from one door to the next. It stops, sniffing at the air a few times, and continues. Maybe it noticed you.
When you enter the lobby you feel a distinct chill. Your skin crawls a bit as the stink hits your nose, like rotten trash, acidic, decaying. Anastasia covers her nose with her free hand and presses in closer to you. Your pace slows. You're scanning everything. You're nearing the front entrance when you notice movement at the end of the far corridor across from where you exited onto the floor.
Two figures, their movements are jerking and stilted. Three figures actually, they are getting nearer and you can tell they are neighbors. But as soon as you're able to make that out, they seem to register you. Their eyes reflect the light from the lobby in a sickly yellow hue, like a cat in the night but a sicker, jaundiced color. They're sprinting at you. They're hissing. It doesn't sound like three people. It sounds like dozens of rats.
>Cont'd
Deep breath.
Misha slings the duffel over her shoulder, loaded with some extra clothes along with what she grabbed earlier. She holds up the kukri, and opens the door.
You all step into the hallway, and you feel like it's longer than it used to be. To your left, the light seems to dim, and darkness collects around the threshold of the far door, like soot around a hearth. But it's core exudes coldness, and emptiness. On your right, the hall seems more normal for its full length, though there's some blood staining a wall and the floor near one of the doors, which is still ajar. The three of you proceed to the stairwell at that end at a brisk pace, with your heads on a swivel.
You move down the stairs quietly. The fourth floor has some blood, and a couple of severed arms. You keep going. Third floor has what you need. The Greek guy that gave Anastasia some baclava one time, you'd crossed paths and she asked about it. Tough break, he's been stabbed in the neck several times by someone, or some thing. Late middle aged and average built. It's an improvement. Misha nods to you and then makes her way over to the body, it's near his door which is close to the landing you're on. She touches him, and crumples. He jolts a bit, as if hit by a febrilator, and then slowly rises up to his feet, bending over to pick up the kukri that's hardly finished clattering after slipping from Misha's previous grasp.
So far so good.
You walk by the second floor, but you don't need to enter, now. You notice a rat darting across the hall from one door to the next. It stops, sniffing at the air a few times, and continues. Maybe it noticed you.
When you enter the lobby you feel a distinct chill. Your skin crawls a bit as the stink hits your nose, like rotten trash, acidic, decaying. Anastasia covers her nose with her free hand and presses in closer to you. Your pace slows. You're scanning everything. You're nearing the front entrance when you notice movement at the end of the far corridor across from where you exited onto the floor.
Two figures, their movements are jerking and stilted. Three figures actually, they are getting nearer and you can tell they are neighbors. But as soon as you're able to make that out, they seem to register you. Their eyes reflect the light from the lobby in a sickly yellow hue, like a cat in the night but a sicker, jaundiced color. They're sprinting at you. They're hissing. It doesn't sound like three people. It sounds like dozens of rats.
>Cont'd