Pasta Heroes (11) - A short novel about noodles, rats and courage

Mutated rats with a taste for gourmet food escape from a laboratory in New York. While fast food chains remain untouched by the rats, restaurants like Pasta Heaven are getting overrun. Time for it's owner, Vincent, and his employees to grab a gun and go to war.

In the kitchen Lenny and Jack had cornered three rats which tried to climb up the smooth metal cabinets with no success.
"Michael has been bitten, I need bandages." Vincent looked at the floor, which was smeared with blood everywhere.
"Oh no, really?" Lenny turned his head to Vincent, and the rats used the opportunity to flee, but at least Jack chased after them and caught one with his teeth.
"Yes, but it's just small wounds. Many of them though," Vincent said, opening the first aid cabinet, "are you aware of how many rats got inside? I had to open the door to bring in Michael, and a lot rats went in."
"We'll get them all sooner or later," Lenny said, pointing to a bucket which had rat tails hanging over the rim. Vincent wasn't so sure about his chances. He hurried back to Michael and starting shaking the spray bottle with alcohol.
"I think we have lost," said Michael, sharing the outlook on the situation. He was already back on his feet but still had a look of horror and desperation in his eyes.
"I agree," Vincent said, "they're just too many and a lot of them got inside."
"As long as we don't give up," Michael said, reaching for the spray bottle. "I'll do it, the bites aren't too bad, you should go back to the roof."
"Okay, call me if you need anything, just don't go back outside. You could try to nail another board to the window, looks like they still manage to get through." Vincent pointed to the window and saw that the rat which he had killed was still stuck.
"I think you've sealed the hole with a dead rat, nice job."

Back on the roof Vincent saw with relief that there were barely any rats left in the alley, at least not alive ones, but then he wondered if there were almost non outside because they all had it made inside. On the other hand the ground and walls were covered in rat blood, Michael had run over quite a lot of them. Even more helicopters were circling around in the air, but Vincent got ready to aim the shotgun. Shots were still sounding from everywhere, so he wouldn't draw too much attention. The crashed van offered the rats a perfect cover, but Vincent was content to shoot a few rats in the corner to shreds. He only needed a few shots until he had no more targets, so he went back downstairs. Back in the kitchen, Lenny proudly presented him a dead rat which he held by the tail, letting it dangle. Under normal circumstances Vincent would have been sick to his stomach to see that, but given the things he had witnessed this night, a dead rat dangling by it's tail was as harmless as a daisy.
"Stella's first rat," Lenny said proudly.
"Great," Vincent tried to praise him, hoping that Lenny didn't insist to frame the rat and nail it to the wall.

The rat hunt lasted almost all night, but thanks to Jack's nose the rats weren't able to hide, and eventually even the last one was found. As the sun rose, Vincent and Michael cooked Tagliatelle in cream sauce with mushrooms and Mama Finelli's Parmesan, which proved that there were no more rats, because the smell of it would have made even the last one come out. Although they treated themselves with a 1992 Chardonnay and they had won an almost hopeless battle, the atmosphere was far from festive.
"Yesterday we killed five," said Michael, "until those bastards gave up. Tonight we had to kill more than a thousand. What about tomorrow?"

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

About the author: From riches to ragz: The story of a gambling nomad

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