The Rats No. 045

Fiddei was the first to spot them. It had been about 15 min.utes since we entered the city. A single rat in the middle of the street. Fiddei spotte

d it and smacked the hood of the car, I began waving my hand and stepped on the gas.

Rats are never alone, and if one is outside, chilling like that, the buildings must be infested.

I could hear Fiddei yelling something, but I couldn't hear him over the wind coming through the open windows and a single gun shot.

I didn't look back, if anyone got stuck, they would get stuck, each vehicle had 6 Ak's and 3 Makarovs and enough ammo to take on an army.

We had 2 Ak's and my Makarov, and only a few mags of each ammo type.

I could hear the Kaz's gunning their engines, followed by Fiddei opening fire.

The rat fell after the first shot, but I wouldn't have been able to imagine what would happen next.

After that first shot, 16 rats ran out of the houses surrounding our convoy.

Fiddei was just firing, I could hear the defending shots over the engine revving, trying to get away as I shifted gear.

We had about 3 minutes of city left to traverse, 180, no, 176 seconds till we could go faster on the highway.

The rats came streaming out, I glanced through the rear view mirror and I froze.

As I looked back, another memory hit me like a brick as my vision blurred and I tried to pay attention.

'"Mom, mom, tell me the story about Dad!" My point of view was speaking as I tried to keep the car straight. "‰&*%~¤", I've told you that story dozens of times! Your father was a gunner on the first B-17 repaired by the motherland during the war!" The figure who I assumed to be my mother, her face was blurred, I looked at the clock, 153 seconds, a figure who I assumed to be my father walked in, his face was blurred "Ho, ho, son, I wasn't just any gunner, I was the in the tail of that beauty! I had the most important job to protect our rear! I remember our first mission over the Germans! It had been spectacular, I had shot down two FW's and fended of 3 BF-109's. I never knew what the other men shot down, but they were amazed by our aircraft." I sluggishly swerved left to avoid a rat lunging for Fiddei. 134 seconds.

"The men talked about our bird after we had returned home, they described a hail of bullets streaming out of our fuselage. How no enemy plane had approached, if I had been in one of our other Petylektovs I would have had at least three more kills, even though our plane was the lead, the Germans stayed away." I speed up and dodged another rat as Fiddei reloaded, 127 seconds. "I learned from that night, son, that the fortresses were some of the best aircraft, and it made sense why the Americans wouldn't send us any, what a shame, anyways, the B-17 was a deterrent son, it was so strong that our weaker Pe-8s suffered, I stuck to the plane and wouldn't fly again until a few days before the end, when I bombed Berlin in the tail, I didn't see any planes that day, but remember son, be the deterrent, the B-17, not amoung the masses, our PE's."'

I had gotten out of that flash back and looked through the rear view mirror, 119 seconds till I got out, the trucks were spewing gun fire, cutting down rats a few at a time. I could see about thirty rats running about with dozens more dead. I pulled up my AK.

The sight was mesmerizing, the bullets were flying out at an alarming rate, and that's when I realized that the rats were leaving our car alone.

Fiddei had stopped firing. I looked at him he was getting back into the car. I reached across and grabbed the door locking him in and hit the breaks and stopping the car next to the sidewalk.

Fiddei was hugging my arm to keep from flying out as we went from about 100 kilometers an hour to 0.

He was freaking out and staring at me as I put the cars emergency brakes on and grabbed my AK-47. The trucks were steaming at full speed.

I raised my rifle and aimed at the mass of rats and held down the trigger for a burst of lead.

The rounds left the barrel and I could see four rats fall as the trucks continued to race ahead, they were about 50 meters away at this point and the rats were continuing to come out from the buildings.

I held the trigger until my clip emptied, I maybe killed a dozen rats as the car passed me.

Fiddei was in the car and had opened the door for me as I stepped on the gas before even shutting the door.

Fiddei had loaded another clip into his AK, 20 seconds had passed since I stopped the car.

I hit the gas like a brick and speed as fast as I could out, Fiddei was shooting at rats, I had pulled out my Makarov as I slid into my seat and was firing out the window every few seconds.

The trucks were 200 meter ahead of Fiddei and I, they exited the city and continued on. The rats were now focused on the last vehicle left. Us.

I was already at 5000 rpm, 500 over what any sane man would have asked of her, I wouldn't get anymore without becoming a 1500 pound bomb.

Pointing her straight, all I and Fiddei could do was pray and keep the rats away.

I could see the trucks, they were going much faster, a safe 6000 rpm for them.

Fiddei was firing until a frightening sound, it felt like a part of my soul had been torn out, a click, an empty magazine. Fiddei was out and he had used my ammo as well.

Fiddei yelled at me, "Step on it Bratan! We are almost out!"

I couldn't see him, I had focused on the road, 30 more seconds till we would clear the outskirts of the city. But I felt a tug on my pant leg near my knife.

Fiddei had wrapped himself in the seat belt and leaned out the car as he had both of our knives in his hands. He would stab any rat that got near him.