“So, were you going for stadium pyrotechnics, or was that just lucky chance?”
Matt thought back to the creation process, taking a swig on his beer. The group were relaxing in the Brands’ living room, slumped in comfortable chairs or – in Kira’s case – against a black furry torso. Dragon seemed perfectly content to be used as a backrest, as long as his quota of ear scratches was met.
“From what I’ve seen so far, and the results we’ve got from the patches, it backs up what Kira found in her book.” He paused for another swig. “Intent and essence. Picturing what you want to happen as you’re adding the extra stuff into the weaving process. Also, you could see the clear difference between the two fire patches we, err… tested in your garden earlier”
There was a round of relieved chuckles at this with an arched eyebrow from Arlee, although she did at least give a small smile. Matt knew that they would probably be having words about the afternoon’s adventure later in private. That was the solid foundation of their marriage – don’t leave anything hanging.
“And the second one was… bigger, more powerful, because you’ve… what’s the word?”
“Attuned.” Kira supplied, nose still firmly in her book.
“That’s the bunny.” Alan said, swirling his beer bottle. “Now you’ve connected to a second one of those thingies…
“Locus.” Their Director of Weird Stuff Research responded.
“Thanks. Now you’ve conn… attuned to another locus, the patches you make are more powerful, that’s why the bigger flamethrower?”
Matt nodded, glad that the group were taking an interest. The flexibility of his patches to be used by other people was a huge bonus, as it meant they could be spread around as needed. One limitation they had found was that while anyone could activate a patch – the Brands had been restarting their new fridge cooling patch a couple of times each day – only Matt could attach one, or detach it once it had grafted onto whatever surface it had been applied to.
Alan had found this out the hard way, trying to remove the cold patch from the coolbox. When it didn’t separate with a touch, as Matt had demonstrated, he went all in on the ‘just try harder’ philosophy and ripped the rough cloth completely through, which broke the enchantment. He looked stricken as he held the ragged swatch in his hands and had apologised profusely, but thankfully it hadn’t been a massive priority for them, with the fridges working well. It did leave Matt without any ice to work from though, as without the patch, the cool box could not keep the ice cold enough to survive indefinitely.
“You said you had other stuff to show us as well, didn’t you Matt?” Carry enquired.
With a smile, Matt jumped to his feet. “Indeed I do, O healer extraordinaire! For my next trick, I shall need… a bucket!” He laughed at the confused expressions, but Alan got up and fetched a bucket quickly.
Taking out the new water patch, Matt hoped if the bucket would be big enough. Measuring marks indicated a ten-litre capacity, and the water patch was only created with a single locus, so he expected not to be going the full fireman’s hose just yet. Placing the patch on the inner side of the bucket, he tapped it with a finger, while the others gathered around to watch.
A stream of crystal-clear water gushed from the patch, spilling down into the bucket. It lasted for a couple of seconds, after which there was about a litre of water in the bucket, which thankfully was clean. Matt reached down and scooped some into the palm of his hand, bringing it to his lips and slurping loudly.
It was cool and fresh, with none of the chemical or hard taste that you get in tap water from various parts of the world. It appeared to be free of impurities as he emptied some into a glass, free of floating particles. He passed the glass around so the others could try. They each sipped, eyes widening at the welcome sensation.
After a moment of silent appreciation, Carry handed the glass back.
“That’s amazing Matt. I have to admit, now the taps have run dry, I was worried about relying on rainwater from the barrels. We’ll need a lot more than what that patch can supply though, can you make more?”
“I can.” Matt replied confidently, detaching the patch from the bucket and examining it closely. He was surprised to notice a ring of returning sheen to the edge of the patch, though only a couple of minutes had passed since it had gushed forth. He estimated that if the rate of emergence of the sheen back over the patch stayed constant, it might be ready for use again in an hour - maybe two - and he relayed this to the group.
“So you can see them recharging now, can you?” Alan asked.
“It looks like it.” Matt replied, taking out the other patches and looking carefully at them. Both fire patches now had their original shine back, and the patch on the sleeve of his hoodie hadn’t been used today. Remembering the next demonstration, he stood up and fetched a sharp knife from the kitchen. Arlee started briefly when she saw the knife in his hand, but then relaxed, reassured that in this – at least – her husband seemed to know what he was doing.
If the damn fool remembered to turn it on this time!
“Alan, Carry, come here and pay close attention.” Matt said, holding the knife in a pen grip on the blade. They still looked askance at him, not sure what this was about.
Matt pressed the tip of the knife lightly into the sleeve of the patched hoodie. “You see how the cloth dimples when impacted?” They both nodded.
Matt reached up and tapped the armour patch on his chest, waiting a couple of seconds until the shine had coated the whole garment. Then taking the knife in a standard grip, stabbed down into his arm – hard.
Alan and Carry both jumped, but neither were fast enough to grab his descending arm and prevent the self-harm. Nor were they prepared for the result, as the knife blade stopped dead upon contacting the cloth sleeve.
“What the actual..” Alan started, wide-eyed.
“Alan! Language!” Arlee snapped jokily.
Carry was equally shocked, but less vocal. Instead, she reached out and felt the sleeve, noting the solid, smooth feel instead of the normal soft give. She looked up quizzically at Matt.
Stepping back slightly to create space between the blade and his friends, Matt repeated the stabbing motion several times, at various points of his body that the hooded garment covered. He changed from stabbing to cutting, as he had previously, with the cloth again being impervious to what should have created a nasty gash.
“Armour patch?” Alan half-asked, half stated. “Very cool, wait here a moment.”
He went out into the hall, returning with the rat-slaying stick - his connected object. He limbered up his arms a few times, before looking at Matt. “Ready?” He asked.
Matt put down the knife and prepared himself. “Go light to start off with and build up if I give you the ok. I’ve seen the damage that thing can do.”
Alan nodded and took a two-handed grip, before bringing down the staff on Matt’s shoulder lightly. Not feeling anything, Matt nodded and gave him a thumbs up. Arlee and Carry looked on nervously, and Kira stopped reading to watch with interest.
Alan took several more swings, ramping up the power each time. Matt started to feel the impact on the third, and the fourth collapsed the protection completely. He held his hand up and Alan relaxed.
“It seems to take a certain amount of punishment before ending, then it’s ready to use again after recharging, but I don’t know how long that is. That last hit looked pretty serious though.” Matt explained.
Alan nodded enthusiastically. “The last one was pretty much what I hit the rats with outside your place and in the other house. It broke bones on them and put them down. You had already taken a bunch of hits from the knife though, and ma’ stick has a lot more power behind it now. That’s bloody good armour there mate, nice work!”
Matt pulled out the three remaining armour patches he had made, handing two to Alan. “Put one on a hoodie or jacket, and another on some long trousers. That should give us a good degree of all-over protection for a limited time.”
“Cheers mate.”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
“That’s all the show and tell I have for today folks.” Matt said. “I’ll get working on some levelled-up water patches for the houses, and some more armour patches for the rest of you, in case of emergencies.”
“We also need to decide on a plan of action moving forward. We’ll have vegetables probably in about a month, so we need to sort ourselves out until then – which probably means a trip to the supermarket to see if they have any tinned goods. Arl, we’ll need you for that, to carry as much as we can fit into your magic bag.” She nodded, not looking thrilled with the idea.
Alan took up the planning. “We were chatting this morning, and we need to do something about the rats, before they breed and there are too many to deal with. There’s likely to be a nest – at least one – somewhere close, which we need to get rid of completely.”
Kira had been listening intently, and interjected. “I think they are called ‘Malicious Rats’, based on what we’ve seen about them. If that’s what they are, then they will likely be in one big nest. There wasn’t a huge amount of detail, but once they gather together in enough numbers, one of them will evolve into a…” She looked down at the page. “…a Malicious Mother, which rules the colony and gives birth to…”She paused and gulped. “…large litters of twenty to thirty young every few months.”
The group was silent, taking in just how much worse things could get if nothing was done to prevent that awful, chittering future. Then everyone spoke at once.
“We can’t deal with that many…”
“Apparently they don’t like fire, but…”
“We need to go to the hardware place and…”
“I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit…”
“How quickly do the young grow, it is…”
“Mmmmrrrroooooaaaaahh.”
The group were startled by Dragon’s yowl, as he started at the sudden eruption of noise and Kira was bundled onto her side as he sprang to his feet, curling around her tumbling body protectively. By then, most of the group had stopped speaking to turn a variety of confused or amused expressions at Alan’s movie reference.
Carry playfully slapped the back of his head. “Not helping my love! We don’t have a gang of colonial marines or a spaceship.”
Alan rubbed his head in mock pain. “Nope, but there is a petrol station a few roads away which doesn’t have any cars visiting any more. Kira, you said they don’t like fire, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Apparently their fur is very flammable.”
Alan turned back to the group. “If we can figure out a way to weaponise Matt’s fire patches, they could be great at making those things run away, or herding them. Get them all together in their nest and throw a bunch of Molotov cocktails in and BAM!” He grinned as the group jumped. “Site is nuked – from extremely low orbit.”
Matt looked thoughtful for a few seconds, before smirking at Alan’s choice of words. “It has potential – and it is the only way to be sure. Most animals will run from fire, so if we can figure out how to direct the flare from the patches and group them together…”
Kira butted in excitedly. “Listen to this! ‘Malicious Rat (and their equivalent) colonies are typically constructed around a single large cavern, with a large access tunnel connected to several smaller access points. The central area serves as sleeping room, nursery and larder, which is stocked by nightly scavenging activities by mature adults. The young remain in this central area until approximately two weeks of age, after which time they start to venture out and mimic adults in their nocturnal activities.”
Carry did some quick mental math. “That gives us a maximum of ten days before we could start seeing a flood of young rats, and it only gets worse from there. What do we do first?”
“Why did you mention the hardware shop Matt?” Arlee asked.
“Remember that guy Dan who used to play for the football team? He was an exterminator; we chatted a bit about the sorts of things he did for work. Apparently that place carries stocks of different anti-vermin traps, baits and poisons. I reckon we would need to put together massive doses, with how much bigger these things are than normal, but if they are taking food back to the central colony, lacing food with the poison would hopefully make a dent in their population.”
Alan nodded. “Good idea – and we wouldn’t have to go into the nest to get it to them as well – we could leave whatever food outside the entrance.”
“That’s our first task actually – finding out where these things are nesting.” Matt said. “From what Kira said – and from our experience so far - it sounds like they are nocturnal, so we should start hunting around during the day. That would also give us a chance to get round houses and try and find more survivors as well.”
Kira piped up, looking scared, but determined. “And we can go and make sure that Lara, David and Mr and Mrs Wren are okay as well.” Her lip trembled, but she was resolute.
“Darling, I’m sure she… they are all fine. They…” Arlee started, before Kira cut her off.
“I’ve got a horrible feeling Mum, I want to go and make sure. If anything has happened…” She blinked back tears. “We need to find survivors, and they are as good to find as anyone else.”
Arlee took Kira in her arms and soothed the sobs now rolling out freely. She looked plaintively over at her husband.
Matt considered the various locations being discussed. “It’s not too far from the hardware place to their house. Alan, Arlee and I could go to the shop, see if they’ve got the rat poison. Then you two could bring it back and I could detour to check on the Wren’s place before heading back.”
“No Matt, why would you go alone?! We should stay together!” Arlee protested vehemently.
“Because I have my bike, and I can be in and out quickly. You need to be there, so we can carry as much as possible without being slowed down by a trailer, and it’s not so far that you and Alan couldn’t run back if you needed to. I can go ‘sneaky-sneakster’ over to the Wren’s make sure they’re ok, maybe take them some patches to use. Do you still have keys to the village hall?”
“Yeeesssss.” Arlee responded hesitantly, as if looking for a trap.
“We can check that out on the way. The alarms won’t be on, and it would be useful to know if there is a single large location which is still safe at the moment, They fitted those wire covers over the windows last year, which should keep it pretty secure.” Matt was on a roll now, planning the mini-expedition.
In the end, despite a number of protests from Kira at having to stay back with Carry and the cats, they agreed on the plan, pretty much as Matt had laid out for them. They would spend the rest of the day preparing – Matt would put together some patches both for them and Lara’s family, Carry and Kira would look after home base, while Arlee and Matt visited the rest of the houses on the road, either to check for survivors or – they feared most likely – scavenge food and other useful items from houses without anyone to miss the supplies.
As Alan got ready, donning the hoodie and sweatpants with the armour patches attached, Matt took Arlee’s hands in his own, looking her in the eyes.
“Be careful my love, don’t take any risks. Just like we told Kira. We haven’t heard anything from the road over the last day or so, so it is hopefully clear, but take no chances. Stay with Alan all the time.”
He paused briefly, before continuing. “You might see… things while you’re out. You saw the aftermath of my fight, but there are likely to be people in some of those houses who didn’t fight off the rats. If it gets too much, you come back. We won’t starve in the next few days, we have time.”
“I will Matt. I may not like what we’re living with, but I recognise the dangers and won’t be one of those people who stays inside and expects everyone else to take all the risk. We’re going to have to work together to make it through this. As for… what we might see.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t imagine anything worse than the state we found you in, in the kitchen that first night. I thought… I thought we had lost you… it broke me… I didn’t know what to do. I would have been lost without Kira and Alan. After that, what else might be worse?”
Matt heart almost burst with pride and he kissed his wife passionately, prompting a sound of fake nausea from Kira. Arlee had seemed totally overwhelmed on that first night, but had risen to every challenge since. And she was right – it wasn’t fair to expect the risks to always be taken by the same people. Regardless of how well-intentioned it was, that sort of dynamic would not work in a small community in the long term.
Over the next few hours, Matt was totally focused on his work, creating two more water patches, working feverishly with an open fridge door to produce another cold patch, and finishing off with another fire patch. From time to time, he looked up nervously, listening for any sound of Alan and Arlee’s return. He wished that he had thought to ask Kira to see if she could send a cat or two with them, but when he checked, she professed to not knowing enough of the Curmar language to be that precise. She promised to work on it.
Carry looked in on them from time to time, but otherwise spent her time doing odd jobs around the house, while looking out the window, oftentimes standing next to a stationary feline sentry, both watching for signs of movement or danger. On a couple of occasions, she thought there was the sound of barking, but not clearly enough to judge distance or direction.
She waved with a relieved smile to see the pair of scavengers moving between a couple of properties, before losing sight of them behind a neighbouring house. They had seemed cautiously relaxed and gave a thumbs up, but every minute they were out of sight felt like an age.
As the afternoon light started to fade, Carry called out from upstairs. “They’re coming back!” She hurried down the stairs and opened the front door, letting in the pair.
Matt had finished his work and felt drained, not only from the mental focus of concentrating on such precise and finely detailed tasks, but the coils of energy within him felt drained as well. Each patch he created, particularly after the second attunement, seemed to drain more from the reserves of the loci he held. There were definite limits to how much power he could funnel into his creations, so he would need to prioritise carefully.
He got up, stretched and moved to clasp Arlee to him in a relieved embrace, as Kira did the same, and Carry wrapped her arms around her man. The two scavengers both looked tired, but didn’t seem to have any injuries, nor were they displaying signs of extreme stress. In answer to the unasked question from their loved ones, Alan spoke.
“Mostly clear, the only people we saw were that bunch we rescued the other day – the Peters. They seemed okay. Most of the houses were empty – no bodies, plenty of bloodstains. Some of them looked like people had left by themselves – maybe they went to friends or family for strength in numbers? There were a couple of rats which had gotten stuck in cellars, but this armour of yours is the damn business mate! Only one got close before meeting ‘Mr Stick’, it grabbed my leg and bust a load of teeth on it. I wasn’t going for a field test, but damn did it work well.”
Carry had stiffened up as Alan casually described a life and death situation as if he were sparring at the martial arts club he attended. Arlee moved to her and rested a reassuring hand on her arm, understanding how she felt. Alan gave her a big hug and planted a huge sloppy kiss on her cheek, making her giggle involuntarily and breaking her tension.
“There were a couple of dogs locked in, that house next to yours, but no sign of the guy who lived there. I’m damn glad we saw them before going in – they’re about the size of ponies now, and they were yappy bastards before the shi…before the excrement hit the twirly thing.”
“Did you manage to find anything useful?” Carry asked.
Alan’s eyes lit up. “Oh boy did we! Arlee has a right treasure trove in that bag of hers. Give us a minute to chill out and then..." He paused for dramatic effect. "...we can get to the loot.”
