'Right! We'll get them! I've told the driver to reverse slowly. He'll stop and start at my signal.' Captain Mather suddenly thumped his hand against the side of the truck and it began to trundle slowly backwards, bumping over sudden rises, jolting down into small dips. The army officer banged twice again as they neared two struggling figures slightly to the right. The truck stopped.
'You and you!' He patted two soldiers on the back. 'Get them up here, help one at a time! The rest of you use concentrated covering fire!
Go!'
Without hesitation, the two assigned soldiers leapt from the tailboard, bayonets grasped in their fists. They launched themselves at the first man, mercilessly using their weapons against the vermin, the soldiers in the truck keeping them reasonably protected with well-aimed fire-power. The relieved man was hauled back to the vehicle where others dragged him into shelter. The two soldiers dashed back to the other man and the process was repeated, again successfully. Captain Mather struck the side of the truck again as the two soldiers clambered up, their bayonets thick with blood.
'You two next!' Mather ordered, slapping the backs of two different soldiers as another figure was reached, this one rolling over an dover on the ground. They disappeared over the side, but this time yet another soldier had to be sent out as a rescuer and was almost overcome by black bodies. They made it back to the truck and virtually threw their companion into it, quickly climbing up behind him.
Mather ran deeper into the interior and, lifting his visor, shouted at the soldiers in the cab. 'Bring your wheel down hard left! There's a group of men about ten yards in that direction.'
The vehicle lurched forward, the wheels churning up mud, bouncing over the prostrate forms of dead or wounded vermin. Mather banged the side again as they approached a figure lying ominously still in the undergrowth. Fender turned his head away in shock.
The man's helmet had either been knocked accidentally or pulled from his head. Five rats squatted around the exposed face and gorged themselves. Others systematically tore at his suit, gnawing at the material, wearing it thin.
In a rage the soldiers began firing into them, regardless of the human body, knowing the man was dead.
'Leave them!' Captain Mather ordered dispassionately. We can't help the poor sod now, and at least his body is keeping them occupied!' He kicked at the side of the truck and it drove on.
Fender was horrified at the officer's cold logic, but he knew Mather was right. The living had to be their main concern. He leaned against the side of the truck, grasping an iron support to keep balanced. It wasn't the scratching sound that attracted his attention, for the noise of the rifle fire was deafening: it was the furious indents that were appearing all over the thick canvas covering.
'Mather!' he yelled. They're trying to get through the roof.'
Mather glanced up. 'Shit,' he said. Then 'Forget them. If we shoot through the canvas we'll only make holes that the others can use to their advantage. We'll keep an eye on them and shoot only when it's necessary.' With that, he turned his attention back to the action below.
Fender raised the automatic rifle to his shoulder, spotted a rat wriggling its way into the vehicle at one corner, kicked out with venom, sending it toppling back, then began firing at random. It felt good to kill.
The next man to be hauled in was Vie Whittaker. He lay on his back on the floor of the truck, his chest heaving with exhaustion. His suit had held, but Fender could see several places where the material had begun to give. The tutor had been rescued just in time.
Fender knelt beside him for a moment. 'Are you okay?' he yelled.
Whittaker reached for his visor, intending to push it up, and Fender grabbed a wrist.
'I can't breathe,' Whittaker moaned. 'I must have air.'
'Just for a moment, then!' Fender shouted, lifting the plastic face-mask with his gloved fingers. The tutor gratefully sucked in air.
'Where was Apercello?' Fender asked. 'Did you see him?'
Whittaker shook his head from side to side. 'No ... no ... he went down ... then I lost sight of ... him. I think ... his helmet... came off as he ... fell.'
Fender rose, his face white and drawn. He now knew whose face it was the vermin had been eating. He began firing into the scuttling bodies again.
They managed to rescue one more man before the first rat broke through the canvas roof. There were at least a dozen men inside, seven including Fender, crowded into the opening, firing down at the rats.
The others, those that had been rescued, lay on the floor groaning, clutching their bruised and, for some, torn flesh. It was these the rat dropped down onto.
Fender and Mather wheeled round at the sudden outburst of cries and saw the injured man kicking out at the Black rat which ran among them, confused and frightened.
The roof!' Mather shouted as another black shape dropped through the gaping hole. 'Quickly! Shoot them!' He shot the second rat as it fell, its body jerking in mid-air.
Fender and another soldier began spraying the canvas ceiling with bullets, tearing it to shreds, but instantly killing the rats that were clawing their way through. The bodies plummeted into the truck and the men drew themselves away, not sure if the creatures were dead.
The interior was suddenly bright as daylight broke through the tattered roof and Fender saw one of the injured men struggling in the far corner with what presumably had been the first mutant to gain access. The man's visor was up and Fender saw it was Whittaker.
The rat catcher scooped up a bloodied bayonet which lay at the feet of a soldier now using his automatic rifle, and stumbled over the recumbent figures and dead vermin towards Whittaker, knowing it would be too dangerous to use the rifle in the confined space.
There was a nasty gash in the tutor's cheek where the giant rat had slashed him either with teeth or claws. He was desperately trying to hold the rat's gnashing teeth away from his face, his hands around the creature's neck. The rat's eyes bulged as Whittaker squeezed and its hind legs raked the tutor's body in a demented
