James Axler – Rat King

in ricochet, the small and wiry albino took to his feet, running low to the

ground and zigzagging to keep as much out of the lizard’s eye line as possible.

Ideally he would have run straight toward it, taking a path between the

side-facing eyes and so hitting the creature in its blind spot. He remembered a

mutie hare that had run into him when he was young. Walking across some swamp

ground, he had seen the creature running toward him and had figured it would

move out of his way. But it didn’t. Instead, it ran straight into him, breaking

its mutie-weakened neck on the toecap of his heavy boot. Jak had wondered why,

until he realized that the hare had eyes on each side of its head, facing out

and around…but unable to swivel so that it could see what was in front of its

nose.

It was a lesson he had never forgotten. Unfortunately, right in front of the

lizard’s nose was its acid-venom tongue, wrapped around Tod’s head.

The creature’s attention seemed focused on its tongue and the irritation caused

by Tilly screaming and trying to hack at the pink, thick and veiny length with

one of her knives. Her screams were part frustration and part pain as the acid

venom ate through her rags and into her flesh.

Tod had stopped moving. She was too late; he was already dead. The only thing

that was keeping her going was frustration and hysteria.

Good. Let her distract the creature so that it didn’t notice the small albino

figure who flitted in and out of the corner of its vision.

Ironically Jak’s progress was slowed by the sudden diminution of the storm. The

whirling dust had given him some cover from the creature, and now he had to hope

that its attention didn’t stray to the sides…at least not until he was

underneath the body and into another blind spot.

His progress was slowed by the churned-up earth. It slipped under his feet,

undermining his balance, making it hard to maintain speed and keep upright.

Sweat ran down his matted hair, dripping off the strands that hung over his

face, stinging his eyes.

Jak ignored it, focused only on the task he had set himself.

He circled to the creature’s left flank, so that he was running parallel to, and

almost underneath, its body. He could feel the coldness coming off the scaly

skin. He bent as low as he could, coming up the side, boots slipping and sliding

on the loose clods of earth and the powdery topsoil.

His companions watched him as he moved to one side, his head just appearing over

the top of the lizard’s body before he ducked lower, lost to view as the still

fighting Tilly and the corpse of Tod blocked their view. The body was getting

closer to the mouth, leaving a wet, indented trail on the ground as it was

slowly dragged closer to the maw.

Around on the left flank, Jak moved in closer to the drooping belly. His red

eyes glittered with concentration as he took in the narrowing gap. It was about

twelve inches. He was small and slight enough to make it without having to

scrabble out some of the loose earth and so alert the creature as to what was

happening beneath it.

Without hesitation Jak sank onto his belly and snaked beneath the creature,

slithering like its kind as he prised himself between the belly of the lizard

and the loose earth between its splayed feet.

He turned as he moved beneath, coming out under the head of the beast on his

back. Drops of saliva and tongue venom dripped around his head, but he didn’t

notice. If it fell on him, there was little he could do to prevent it. He

accepted the risk with his usual unspoken fatalism. In the Deathlands you either

chilled or got chilled. There was no other choice.

Free of the lizard’s body, Jak was directly beneath the soft throat and jaw of

the beast. He could feel, rather than smell, its fetid breath as it filled the

air around him.

Jak pulled his body upright, sitting beneath the throat of the lizard with his