Modern Age Online

Kaleb woke up on a hard dirt floor. Opening his eyes and looking around revealed nothing. The room he was in was pitch black. He stood and felt around with his robot arm until he found the wall. Moving along the wall he realized he was in a large circular dirt room with no door. Something answered his unspoken questions about the door when he heard a loud scrapping sound coming from above.

A large hole opened in the ceiling and a dark something was tossed down into the hole. Kaleb heard a man groan come from the center of his room. Kaleb thought he knew that voice.

“Deckart?” He asked into the dark.

The man gave another groan and Kaleb heard the shuffling of cloth. I bright beam of light shot out from the center of the room. The man spun his flashlight across the room until he found Kaleb.

“Hey, Professor. Still feel like we drew the short straw with the subway?” Deckart said grinning.

Kaleb shook his head. “Dude, I think we stepped into the big leagues here.”

Deckart looked confused. “With Kane? Dude’s a lightweight, if he hadn’t strapped me to a table we’d be out of here.”

“What did you get the table treatment for?” Kaleb asked.

“He was checking my DNA to see if I have a latent mutant gene.” Deckart explained.

That piqued Kaleb’s curiosity. “Do you?”

Deckart moved his flashlight across the room saying. “No idea, he took my blood then had the large rats throw back in here with you. Didn’t even buy me dinner.”

“I was in here when they took you? How long was I out?” Kaleb asked

Deckart seemed to find what he was looking for the in the circular wall. Moving over to it he said. “I don’t know maybe 40 minutes? They dragged me out when they dumped you in.” Deckart was digging at a wall with his free hand as he spoke.

“What are you doing?” Kaleb moved over to Deckart and watched the Detective.

“They distracted me when they dropped you down. One of the big bastards came up behind me and dragged me out through a side tunnel.” Deckart said still digging.

Before Kaleb could asked Deckart continued. “I marked up the wall before the rat dragged me out.”

Kaleb nodded and was about to ask something else when Deckart punched through a section of the wall. The Detective was mid-cheer when a large rat head stuck its head through the wall and snapped at him. The large rat standing on its hind paws shoved its way into the room as Kaleb heard other rat’s telltale chittering coming from the wall section Deckart just uncovered.

“Shit!” Deckart swore backpedaling into the room.

Kaleb had a sudden thought as he moved forward and tried to get the rat’s attention. “No, this could be a good thing. Help me get him to the middle of the arm.”

“What?” Deckart said while keeping his light trained on the standing rat and doing what Kaleb had suggested.

“Long story, but I have a rat fight in the morning.” Kaleb said as the rat snapped and hissed at him as he took up a fighter’s stance in the room's center.

“WHAT?!” Deckart asked again.

“Just hold the light. Are any more rats coming into the room?” Kaleb asked as he darted in a punched the rat as hard as he could in its midsection.

Kaleb felt a claw bat into his metal arm shoving him sideways when Deckart answered him. “No, the little shits are blocking up the hole.” Deckart kept the rat lit up with his flashlight as he watched the rats work.

“Good.” Kaleb said as reoriented himself and threw another left hook aim at the rat’s stomach.

There was a meaty *THUD* as he made contact but the rat seemed unfazed. Deckart watched from the side as Kaleb darted in again. This time though the rat just fell on him, going down to all four paws on top of Kaleb. The rat snarled and hissed in Kaleb’s face as he struggled to get it off of him.

Deckart rushed in and kicked the rat in the head. As the rat reared up and snarled at Deckart, Kaleb Deployed Shocky and pressed it into the rats stomach. Mentally flipping Shocky’s ‘on’ switch, Kaleb saw the rat stiffen as the electricity arced through it. Kaleb pushed the rat onto its side and delivered a punch straight down on the rat’s head. The rat seemed sluggish as it tried to shake off the effects of Kaleb’s stun.

Kaleb slammed another fist down onto its head. The rat’s head snapped back into the dirt floor as Kaleb punched down a third time. When the third punch connected, sandwiching the rat’s head between his fist and the ground, Kaleb felt something give way. There was a sickening crunch, and the rat went limp as Kaleb rolled away from it and laid his back against the wall.

Deckart cast his flashlight on to the rat then back to Kaleb. Watching Kaleb panting against the wall, Deckart said. “Jesus, dude.”

*Congratulations*

Through the ancient rite of Mortal Combat, you have awarded the Hand-To-Hand Combat Skill.

Hand-To-Hand Combat–Beginner Lvl 1

It’s an art with hundreds of styles and years of history. But the end goal remains the same: Hit the other guy until he stops hitting you. Your first step into a longer journey of smacking people has begun. Combinable Skill.

Hand-to-Hand damage increased by 5

Kaleb grinned at the notification as he said. “Like I said: I have a death match coming up and I need all the help I can get. I got the Hand-To-Hand Combat skill.”

Deckart shook his head. “How about you tell me the whole story? Or do you want me to get you another sparring partner?”

Kaleb raised his metal palm and shook his head. Letting his stamina recover, he explained everything that happened when he woke up in Kane’s lab. He explained about the Rat-man and Kane’s obvious subservience to him. When he got to the part about the Rat-man wanting to eat Kaleb Deckart asked.

“So you think this Man-rat has an arena down here? He’s gonna let you go, give you some weapons and go Rattus-a-Lizard with you?” Deckart’s tone was incredulous. “He is a giant rat, he may look like a man. But, I doubt he has seen the old gladiator holo-movies. My guess is he’ll strap you to a table and eat out your insides while his rat children watch.”

Kaleb gulped as he realized Deckart was probably right. This was a video-game but the AI in charge of the Rat-man would think like a rat, not a movie villain. Looking up he saw Deckart, looking pityingly down at him.

Kaleb cracked a smile saying. “Heh, I didn’t think of that. you’re probably right. So… escape?”

Deckart sighed loudly before grinning and shaking his head. “Yes, escape, you stupid lizard, and when we get out of here don’t think I won’t tell Farrah about this.”

“Oh, come on, man.” Kaleb said jumping up a grabbing Deckart’s arm. “She already worries too much. I got wrapped up in my idea of what would happen. Don’t say anything, please.”

Deckart laughed loudly. “I was just kidding, man. But, she does baby you. But you do need to slow down and think.”

Kaleb nodded as he looked around the room. “So, escape. Could we dig out?”

Deckart pointed the beam of his flashlight at the now closed up wall the large rat had come through. “Well, we know they watch that tunnel. It was a long-shot, but I wanted to try. Trying to dig a new tunnel with the two of us will probably take a while though.” He moved his light over to Kaleb’s arm asking. “By the way, how did you keep your weapon hidden?”

Kaleb smiled as he deployed he’s little buckler, Shocky, from robot arm. “It’s a gadget I made. It’s integrated into my arm. I doubt they could take it off.”

“Well, that’s handy.” Said Deckart as he sent his flashlight across the room again. “What do you think? We could take a chance fighting our way out or try to dig in another direction.” He asked.

Kaleb looked up at the where the hole they had dropped Deckart through had been. “What if we go up?”

“I don’t think that’s doable, they have a large rock placed on top of the hole. Moving it would take both of us, probably.” Deckart answered. He cast his light upward showing the grey bottom of the large rock around a hole that was five feet across.

“Could you climb up there and dig around the rock? Dropping it down here?” Kaleb asked.

Deckart rubbed his chin. “Maybe, but then we are back to fighting our way out of here. I don’t think the rats will miss the sound of a large rock crashing into our cell.”

Kaleb shrugged. “I think we will end up fighting. It’s just a matter of how long we go before fighting.”

Deckart was staring down at the corpse of the rat when he asked. “Hey Professor, you are a crafter right?”

“I am a Super who builds my equipment, so yes.” Kaleb said following Deckart’s gaze and asking “Why?”

“Well, if we have a fight coming, it would be good to get weapons.” Deckart said gesturing with his flashlight at the giant rat corpse.

“Bone weapons?” Kaleb asked intrigued. “It’s doable, but we would have to sharpen them. Even then the might break easy. I’ve heard the tendons and sinew of an animal could make thread or rope.”

Kaleb shook his head as he continued to think. “But, I’ve done nothing like that. Who knows if it would even work.”

Deckart shrugged. “Honestly, I’d rather die trying to escape than wait around. Besides, this is a game and we’re in a dungeon. Sure, maybe it’s a higher level than we are but the basic idea is the same. We just have to escape.”

Kaleb gave a loud sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just not excited to find out how the game handles death. But, you’re right. We are too deep in a high level dungeon. The dungeon boss is a super-powered rat and the mini-boss is an amoral geneticist.”

Looking down at the rat corpse Kaleb gave a nod and took off his lab coat. “Ok you dig around and try to find a smooth rock. I’m willing to bet that’s the best we’ll get to sharpen the bone. I’ll deal with getting the flesh and meat off of… it.”

Deckart looked around before asking “How are you gonna do that? We don’t have a knife.”

Kaleb shook his head. “You will want to look away. This may get gross.”

“What are you talk-” Deckart started.

*Crunch*

“Oh god.” Kaleb heard Deckart say as he bit down hard into the flank of the rat. Just like he thought as soon as the meat and blood entered his mouth his Special Diet rule activated. He was a lizard and could eat rats and remain completely fine. The system made it so if he could get over the look of what he was eating it would be like eating anything else. That’s why Kaleb had closed his eyes.

When Kaleb swallowed the lump of flesh he realized the taste. It tasted like a cheeseburger, swallowing it down he took another large bite. This time the taste was brisket. Another bite and Kaleb laughed, eyes still closed. This bite had tasted like ribs. Chuckling at system’s macabre sense of humor Kaleb continued to eat the large rat.

Deckart retched as he watched before quickly turning away and trying to ignore the loud squelching and tearing sounds coming from the rat corpse. When Kaleb chuckled in his raspy voice while eating the dead rat, Deckart questioned his choice of companions for this assignment. Refocusing on the task at hand, Deckart dug around in the dirt finding several small rocks but nothing like what they needed.

Kaleb wasn’t sure how long it had been. He had eaten little since he logged into the game. The Pods IV systems were taking care of his bodies nutritional concerns. But in-game he had tried the odd snack here or there. Now though, the rat tasted like all his favorite foods and its blood was all his favorite drinks. He still had his eyes closed and whenever he thought too hard about what he was doing, he felt a little queasy but it wasn’t until he felt a hard object hit him in the back that he stopped.

“Uhh, Professor. I think we’re good now.” Came Deckart’s voice from behind him.

Kaleb wiped a piece of something off his chin and stood up backing away from the corpse, still with his eyes closed. He belched loudly and said. “Man, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

He heard Deckart retch a little as he commented. “Dude, I once grouped up with a woman who had a thing for goblins and centaurs. And this was way worse than the time I walked in on her with our other party members.”

Kaleb opened his eyes and found his lab coat asking. “A goblin and a centaur?”

“Yes, a goblin and a centaur. Seriously, who makes a game like this, I mean I didn’t see it happen but I’ll never be able to un-hear it.” Deckart complained loudly.

Kaleb just shrugged “Some places IRL don’t allow cloned meat. So for a while they resorted to eating many things. Who knows, maybe rat is a delicacy to my people here.”

Deckart just shook his head. “Just grab what you can from its bones, I got a pile of smooth rocks. They are the best I could find.”

Kaleb looked over at the pile seeing several good size stones they could use. Moving over to the rat he stopped short. He had eaten a large section of the rats stomach and chest. The ribs were visible as was the spine. Kaleb swallowed, doing it was one thing but seeing what he had done was a little nauseating.

“How long was I… eating?” Kaleb said trying to find a good way to get the large ribs out of the rat.

“I don’t know. At a guess I’d say 30 minutes.” Deckart answered.

*Snap*

Kaleb had successfully snapped one of the rat’s ribs off. They weren’t that big, maybe big enough for a good-sized dagger. Kaleb set the rib aside and went back to get another rib. Soon he had twenty-two small daggers from the rats rib cage. Four of the ribs were too small to made into daggers although Deckart insisted in keeping them.

Once they had their bone daggers, they sharpened them along the flat rocks. Kaleb found the whole process oddly soothing and sharpening the bone daggers seemed almost too easy. Deckart seemed to have a harder time as he kept chipping away pieces of bone. Kaleb realized what it was when he had finished his set of bone daggers.

“Hold up, Deckart.” Kaleb said.

Taking the bones Kaleb sharpened them. Deckart looked surprised at the ease with which Kaleb worked. Moving closer to see, he asked. “How in the hell is that so easy for you?”

Kaleb laughed saying. “I think it’s my Weaponsmithing skill. Apparently it doesn’t matter what I’m making. If I’m making weapons, the skill will help. I can tell when the edge is about to snap. I know when to push or when to back off.”

“Well shit, let me do it then. I wouldn’t mind a skill like that.” Deckart said as he reached to take the bones back.

Kaleb leaned away from Deckart’s grab as he explained. “How about you wait to learn this skill? Y’know for when we’re not trying to fight our way free of killer rats.”

Deckart seemed to think about before nodding his head and leaning back against the dirt wall. Kaleb continued to sharpen the daggers as Deckart seemed to look around the room for something to do.

“How about you dig us a way out?” Kaleb asked. “We need to choose. Are we going up or going into a side tunnel? And what do we do once we’re out? Make a beeline for the surface or find our stuff then get out?”

Deckart nodded as he got up off the floor. “I still think going up is too risky. They’ll hear it. We want to stay hidden as long as possible.” Pointing to a different section of wall he continued. “I’ll start there, if I don’t hit a tunnel in an hour I’ll try another direction.”

Kaleb kept sharpening the daggers as he said. “Sounds good, I’ll finish with these and then see about making something to hold them with the rats tendons. A bandoleer or something.”

Deckart seemed to be actively trying to not look at the mutilated rat corpse. He nodded his head and dug into the cave’s wall. Kaleb focused on sharpening the blades, they held an edge well. Kaleb would have thought they’d be more brittle. Was it Dr. Kane’s work? Or was it the game?

Once Kaleb had finished the last of the daggers, he checked its stats in his status window.

*Rat Dagger*

Piercing Attack: 20

Upgrades: 0/1

Durability: 70/70

Grade: E

Description: A Dagger crafted from the bone of a large rat. Ripped out of a dead animal, these weapons show the users ability to go to any lengths to create a weapon when needed. Strong enough to pierce flesh, just maybe not repeatedly.

Kaleb smiled down at the daggers. Oddly proud of his work. Getting up he made his way to the giant rat corpse again. Using his limited knowledge of biology he decided that the best place to look for tendons would be the legs. Taking the odd bite here and there, he eventually found a long piece of tendon connecting the leg muscle to the skeleton. Using one of his new daggers to cut them free, Kaleb gathered the tendon from both legs.

Once done, he had two bloody pieces of fibrous tissue about 18 inches. Trying to wipe the tendon clean helped a little but if he was going to work with it he needed to clean it properly. Looking down at his recently purchased lab coat he gave a loud sigh. Using his lab coat Kaleb carefully cleaned the tendons. Once done Kaleb put his stained lab coat on and stared down at the 36 inches of tendons he had.

While that was big enough for either his or Deckart’s chest, one of them would have to do without if he went the bandoleer route. So Kaleb gave the bandoleer to Deckart and he would keep the daggers in his lab coat. The deep pockets of the lab coat hadn’t let him down yet. He tied the two tendons together then went back to the corpse to gather more when Deckart gave a shout.

“Ha! We have a tunnel.” Kaleb looked over to see Deckart kicking into the wall. Dirt fell away and Deckart was doing his best to look through the small hole he created when one of the dog-sized rats rushed in.

“Shit.” Deckart hissed as he back away. “Professor get a dagger!”

The rat charged into Deckart barreling him over. Kaleb dashed over to the small pile of daggers as Deckart wrestled with the over-sized rat. Kaleb grabbed a dagger and rushed over plunging it into the neck of the rat. The rat gave a loud screech and kicked its legs, scratching into Deckart, before it went dead.

Kaleb moved over to the hole as Deckart stood and kicked the dead rat into the wall of their cave. Kaleb glanced into the opening, looking both ways down the tunnel Deckart had dug into. Off to the right Kaleb could hear chittering rats echoing up the tunnel.

The tunnel seemed clear, turning to Deckart he asked. “We going or waiting?”

Deckart shrugged. “No sense in waiting.” He ran over to the daggers and picked them up. “We’ll just have to use our pockets to hold these.”

Kaleb frowned, disappointed that he wouldn’t get to finish the bandoleer. He shook off the thought immediately though. Taking his share of the daggers he carefully placed them in his lab coat as Deckart used the inside pocket of his trench coat. The duo moved into the black hallway, with only Deckart’s flashlight lighting their way.

“Ok, so left first but where to after that?” Kaleb asked.

“Up and out, I think. The hard part is finding the exit. Luckily I was conscious when they brought me back from Kane’s lab. So if we get to the above tunnel I may be able to lead us to the lab at least.” Deckart said as he moved down the tunnel. He kept the light pointed slightly at the floor to light their way but not give their position away.

Kaleb followed hugging the tunnel wall and keeping his Rat Dagger ready. His right arm was itching like crazy. Since he’d been in the rat tunnels, he realized his arm had grown. It had regrown to the elbow this morning, now he had half his forearm back. If he had to guess it was at least six hours till 8:40 or 9 pm. He had lost his arm around that time and it would be back exactly at the same time today.

Deckart had arrived at a T-section in the tunnel shining his light down either tunnel he muttered silently. “Shit.”

“You know, every time you say that, one of us gets attacked. How about you try to be informative with your exclamations?” Kaleb said.

Deckart looked annoyed. “Hey, do you know anyone who shouts anything useful in a tense moment?” He pointed down both paths to show Kaleb the problem.

“No, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.” Kaleb muttered as he looked down both paths as Deckart lit them up. Both tunnels veered upward.

“Shit.”

Deckart and Kaleb looked at each other as they tried to pick a route. Deckart pointed down the left tunnel saying. “I always go left in dungeons. Hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”

Kaleb nodded. “Good enough reason as any. And this way if it’s wrong I get to blame you.” he waved his arm in a grand gesture showing that Deckart should take the lead.

“Smart-ass.” Deckart said as he smiled and continued down the path to the left.

They pair walked up the ramping dirt path. As they cleared the crest of the ramp Kaleb caught a sudden movement from up ahead. There was a turn in the tunnel and Kaleb had been sure he saw something dash around it.

“Did you see that?” Kaleb asked.

Deckart kept the flashlight pointing forward asking over his shoulder. “What?”

Kaleb grabbed Deckart’s shoulder stopping him as Kaleb went around hugged the right wall. Pointing, Kaleb showed Deckart the opening in the right side of the wall. With the darkness and brown dirt walls if Kaleb hadn’t seen something dash into around the corner he would have missed it too.

Kaleb crouched down and held his dagger up in a ready position. Deckart followed behind lighting the way. Kaleb got to the corner and listened, he was sure he could hear pawed feet shuffling. Looking back, he nodded at Deckart then rushed around the corner. The Dog-rat seemed to have the same idea as Kaleb, It charged at the same time. Kaleb collided with the rat as it leapt up to ambush whoever tried to move past the side tunnel.

Kaleb stabbed out on instinct when the rat slammed into his chest. Falling backward, Kaleb lost his grip on his dagger. Kaleb fell on his butt as the rat slammed down on its stomach, having lost its momentum when it hit Kaleb. Kaleb stood quickly ready to fight the rat, but the rat remained motionless on the floor. Moving forward Kaleb kicked the rat over.

The rat was dead; it had impaled itself on Kaleb’s dagger as it hit the floor. Kaleb removed the dagger and was about to turn back with Deckart to the other tunnel when he saw a light flashing far off down his tunnel. Kaleb turned back to Deckart who was shining his light over Kaleb‘s shoulder.

Deckart nodded. “Now that, I saw.” He moved past Kaleb and continued down the smaller side tunnel. Kaleb followed close behind, straining his ears to hear any sign of the rats. As they got further into the tunnel, they saw the flashing light shine through another side opening in their tunnel. Getting closer to the opening they heard the clear signs of fighting and rats screeching.

Kaleb tapped Deckart’s shoulder and pointed to the other side of the opening. Deckart nodded and hugged the wall as Kaleb dashed past and posted up against the wall so they were on either side of the door. As the both peered through the doorway, they had different reactions to what they saw.

“Shit.” Kaleb said Annoyed

“Yes!” Deckart laughed triumphantly.

Deckart shot Kaleb a dirty look as Kaleb gave him a shrug. Inside the room, using their hands to fight off five of the dog-rats were Rick and Robert, both wearing angle-head flashlights attached to their belt loops. The light from their flashlights would occasionally flash out the cave entrance. Robert was wrestling on the dirt floor with one rat. While Rick had picked another rat up by the tail and was using it as a make-shift flail to beat the other rats.

Kaleb really wanted to walk away. Rick was and asshole, but Robert was all right. Glancing over at Deckart, he could see the older man would not leave his family behind. Sighing out loud, he motioned to Deckart holding up three fingers. Deckart gave a nod and prepared one of his daggers. Kaleb counted down with his fingers.

Kaleb put down his last finger and rushed through the small opening and attacking a rat that was unaware. He jabbed his dagger into the back of the rat’s neck, who barely twitched as the sharp dagger came out its throat. Kaleb saw Deckart stab the one that was attacking Robert out of the corner of his eye. Rick had batted one aside with his flail and two more had turned toward Deckart as he helped Robert up.

“HELL YEAH, BITCHES! COME GET SOME!” Rick shouted as he continued to beat a rat with the body of its fallen comrade. For a moment Kaleb felt bad for both of the rats. Shaking his head, Kaleb shoulder charged into the side of one the rats about to attack Deckart and Robert jamming his dagger into its side. Deckart, noticing the threat, threw his dagger at the other rat. The rat leapt away from the dagger and hissed loudly. Seeing that they outnumbered it, the last rat bolted to the door.

“Don’t let it get away!” Deckart shouted.

Kaleb took aim and tossed his own dagger catching the fleeing rat in its back leg. Rick, having dropped his rat flail after finishing his rat ran over and stomped down on the finally rat’s neck hard. The room fell silent save for the four of them breathing hard. Robert turned to Deckart and looked like he was about to say something when Rick interrupted.

“Oh yeah you fuck, no one here to save your ass now.” Rick shouted charging at Kaleb and throwing a wide haymaker.

Kaleb had been expecting the little shit to do something. He ducked the haymaker and threw a hard jab of his own. Kaleb was having a hard time deciding what he liked better, the look of surprise on Rick’s face or the satisfying crunch he heard as his metal fist slammed into it. Rick’s body hit the floor hard as Kaleb jumped back, ready if the boy tried again.

“Professor.” Deckart said reproachfully.

Kaleb gave Deckart a sharp glare both anger and surprised. “Really, Deckart?! you’re gonna act like the little shit didn’t just attack me?!” Kaleb fumed as he stared straight into the Detective’s face.

Deckart looked like he was about to say something but Kaleb continued. “I’ll tell you right now Deckart: I ain’t putting up with his shit and I sure as hell ain’t giving him a weapon. Damn bastard is liable to stab me with it.”

Rick stood up clutching his nose which looked broken. “I don’t need a fucking weapon to kick your ass.” He said as he twisted his nose, resulting in a loud crunch. Rick inhaled sharply as the pain of resetting his broken nose seemed to course through his body.

Kaleb had to give it to him, the little shit was tough. Setting even a virtual broken nose still hurt, but he also knew Rick was posturing. Probably saving time until his health recharged before he tried again.

“Rick, fucking quit it!” Deckart yelled, voice echoing in the small cave.

“But he-” Rick started.

Deckart moved forward, getting into Rick’s face. “He laid your dumb ass out because you are either too stupid to recognize friend from foe or you’re arrogant enough to think we don’t need every one of us to get out of here!”

Rick just sneered at his uncle. “We got down here just fine, how much trouble could it be to get out?”

Robert looked at his older brother incredulous. “The rats dragged us down here. We got out of our cave a few minutes ago. Those rats would have chewed through both of us if they hadn’t arrived.”

Rick shot Robert an annoyed look, crossing his arm he gave a sullen. “Whatever.”

Kaleb reached into his lab coat and pulled out two Rat Daggers. Moving to Robert he handed the daggers to the younger brother saying. “You. You are not an asshole, so you get two daggers.”

Deckart rolled his eyes at the exchange saying. “Come on, professor you can’t be serious.”

Kaleb stared at Deckart before saying. “I’m dead serious. You arm him, and I guarantee you he will stab me in the back the first chance he gets.”

Deckart looked annoyed at the whole situation, he took out a dagger and handed it to Rick saying. “Fucking stab him and I’ll see to it your parents revoke your pod privileges.”

Rick looked like he was about to complain before he saw the look in his uncle’s eyes. Giving Kaleb a rude gesture as he marched out of the room. Deckart sighed loudly before turning to Kaleb.

“Happy?” He asked.

Kaleb shook his head. “No, that just means he’ll do it when you aren’t looking.” Kaleb raised his palms stopping Deckart who was about to say something. “But, you know what: he’s another body between me and the rats. If I’m lucky, one of them will eat him.”

Kaleb started to leave the room before turning around and saying. “And if he stabs me, I’ll tell you right now, Deckart. It’s open season on his ass.” Kaleb waited until Deckart nodded, confirming he understood before he left the room.

The four men regrouped in the hall before silently making their way make to the main tunnel Kaleb and Deckart had come from. Once there, they continued in the direction; they had originally been going. Robert seemed to want to end the silence but didn’t appear to have the courage to ask something. Deckart was watching Rick and trying to look like he wasn’t.

Kaleb was just trying to see where he was going. Having two more flashlights helped immensely, but he was sick and tired of being in the dark. He made a silent vow to buy one as soon as he got out of here. Watching Robert, repeatedly open and close his mouth trying to start a conversation Kaleb sighed inwardly.

“So you two got nabbed while looking through the subway tunnels.” He asked Robert.

Robert looked grateful at having something to talk about and said “Yeah, your Handlers contacted our Handlers. We were one of the first teams into the subway. So when we finished our Handlers asked us to come look for you.”

Rick spoke up from his position ahead of Robert and Kaleb. “Yeah, they said two idiots had gotten lost and needed someone to hold their hands.”

Deckart reached over and slapped Rick in the head saying. “You got caught too, dumbass.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t see them coming. Fucking pussies were hiding.” Rick retorted.

Kaleb just shook his head and redirected his attention to Robert asking him. “So did Dr. Kane meet you guys down here?”

Robert looked confused asking. “Dr. Kane? No. They placed into a room with a lot of foul smelling meat and garbage. A lot of rats were coming and going. Picking various pieces of meat or garbage and eating it or taking it elsewhere. It was kind of like an eating hall. But they  left us there, probably waiting for us to die or deciding we were too big to eat.”

Kaleb saw Deckart nod and say. “Probably saving you for the bigger rats. Simple hierarchy, bigger members of the pack eat first.”

Robert shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know Uncl… er Deckart. Those rats were pretty big. Like in that fantasy game we used to play together.”

Kaleb grinned saying “Wait until you see the tiger-rats, Now those bastards are big.”

Robert looked skeptical as Rick snorted. “Please. Like we’d believe that shit. We’re not 12, ass-hat.”

“Clearly.” Kaleb said dryly.

Deckart looked like he was about to say something, probably agree with Kaleb. When their combined flashlights lit up two Tiger-rats coming out of another side tunnel in the wall.

Kaleb kissed the tips of his first two fingers and pointed to the tunnel roof saying. “Oh, gods of gaming: I both thank and curse your horrible timing.”