Chapter 16: Neighborhood Situation

"Aunt Lucy, listen!" Odin said after hearing the sirens. "We can't have the cops finding any irregularities in our accounts of how the whole incident transpired. We can only avoid such a scenario if only one of us answers their questions."

"What do you mean, Odin?" Aunt Lucy frowned slightly.

"My solution to our small problem is simple," he replied solemnly. "We only need to let the police know that only one of us witnessed the incident of the mutated rats attacking. That'll deny them an opportunity to cross-check the validity of our stories by interrogating each of us individually."

"Ah, I see," Aunt Lucy said, nodding. "For instance, I can say that I had gone to the kitchen when the incident happened. Then, you can narrate the flow of events the way you like. Is that it?"

"No! That won't work." Odin shook his head hurriedly. He was growing anxious as the sirens were already loud and clear. Most probably, the cops were about to arrive at the scene.

"If you say you were in the kitchen, the detectives will punch holes in your story by asking you why you didn't do anything when you heard the commotion in the living room," he said in a steady voice. "They'll question you about why you didn't try to call 911 immediately, and that will cause you to panic. In the end, you'll make mistakes and give away some clues."

"If they happen to dig deeper, they might then realize that I singlehandedly killed the rats, and what would follow would be them taking me in for questioning. They might even turn me into a lab rat to discern how I managed to fight three mutated creatures singlehandedly. Do you wish for me to go through an experience like that, Aunt Lucy?"

Aunt Lucy's face turned paler as she shook her head. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just say that you fainted when you saw the first giant rat appear by the door," Odin replied in a placating manner. "Insist that you totally blacked out, and you didn't hear or see anything for a long time. Then, end your account by saying that you only awoke when I tried to carry you out of the living room. That's when you realized that there were two corpses of the officers on the floor, and you rushed to dial 911. I'll then fill in the remaining gaps of the story how I see fit."

"Oh!" Aunt Lucy's mouth turned into an O-shape. "Is fainting really a believable excuse?"

Odin nodded. "Intense emotional triggers are one of the most common reasons people faint. For instance, the sight of blood, extreme excitement, or fear will cause a person to lose consciousness. Doctors refer to this condition as vasovagal syncope. So, if you tell the detectives that you fainted in the face of danger, they'll readily believe you."

"Odin, you're something," she said, sighing. "Anyways, I understand. But we need to talk when this is all over. I need some explanations."

"We will," Odin said, nodding. "But what surprised me is that you didn't actually faint during the ordeal. It's quite weird."

Aunt Lucy gave Odin a deep look. "The things I experienced while growing up... you can't even begin to imagine," she said, sighing once again. "Anyways, take care, and make sure you don't implicate yourself. I'll now go and see how the girls are doing. I don't want them coming here and witnessing all this."

"Okay," Odin said, nodding. "Go be with the girls. I'll head out and assess the situation first."

Without any more needless words, he turned 180 degrees and made a few steps toward the front door. He donned his sandals by the entrance before strolling forward and descending the stairs leading up to the house.

Immediately, the golden early morning sun rays warmed up his entire body. They seemed to sip into his skin, dispersing a large portion of the gloominess that had been weighing him down ever since he witnessed the death of the two feds.

Yet, on glancing around the neighborhood, a shudder went down his spine. He couldn't stop the cold beads of sweat from oozing out of his back muscles. He was alarmed and puzzled by what he noticed.

A long convoy of police cars had just arrived at the scene, and officers were already swarming out and securing the whole area. Mixed within their ranks were groups of feds and heavily-armed SWAT units. What shocked and disturbed Odin wasn't their numbers, equipment, or identities. Instead, it was the fact that they'd already used yellow police tape to barricade eight homesteads along the street as 'crime' scenes.

It was then that Odin understood that the rats had gone rampaging in other houses before attacking his home. Moreover, he could conclude that they must have killed many people by observing how the cops and feds behaved.

But to be sure of his conjectures, he decided to approach one of the neighbors he was familiar with and ask about the exact situation. So, he pushed through the mass of people crowding the street before chancing upon Mrs. Mathews.

She was a kind, chubby old lady who had lived in their neighborhood for as long as Odin could remember. He could even recall that she used to bring snacks to his sisters when they were younger. But her most notable feature to date was that she was the neighborhood chatterbox. As long as you needed to hear all sorts of news happening around the area, she was the go-to person.

"Mrs. Mathews," he called out, tapping her shoulder.

"Oh, Odin, thank God you're safe," she said, her expression one of surprise. "What about the girls and your mother? Are they safe?"

"Yes, they are safe," Odin replied, nodding. "They should be in the backyard at our house. What's the situation? What happened?"

"You don't know!" Mrs. Mathews exclaimed, her small eyes widening. "I hear that a group of mutated rat monsters attacked many homes along the street. They appeared silently as specters in the houses and feasted on the brains of all the occupants. The homes you see with yellow police tape along this street are some of the victims."

"Monsters devoured brains of people!" Odin was in doubt and also quite flummoxed. He couldn't understand why the mutated rats would feed on people's brains. "Where did you hear this?"

Mrs. Mathew's expression flickered slightly as her eyes narrowed. "Benson, one of the young men living in the sharehouse by the junction, just told us before the cops arrived. He hid under the table when the giant rats attacked and witnessed the incident when they killed his housemates and gobbled up their brains. He's the guy in pajamas over there." She pointed towards a spot by a police van in the distance.

Odin immediately followed the direction of her finger and noticed a young man with messy blonde hair and a shabby beard standing with what seemed like two feds in suits. At that moment, he was in the middle of listening and answering their questions.

Odin was astonished. "He managed to escape from the monsters?"

"Yes," Mrs. Mathews was quick to answer. "He concealed himself until the monsters disappeared before running out of the house. He's even the one who alerted us to call the police. Otherwise, the monsters would have continued feasting on people's brains while we remained ignorant."

"Oh!"

Odin nodded, taking another deep glance at the young man. He couldn't help but wonder whether the guy possessed a meta-power that enabled him to escape from the three-eyed rats.

Had he also chanced upon an opportunity and also evolved before the apocalypse?

Many doubts flashed through his mind. As for the story of hiding under the table, he figured that it was just nonsense. He couldn't believe that an ordinary human could hide from the detection of a creature with a spatial sense.

"Who stays here?"

Suddenly, the loud voice of one of the officers sounded from the front of Odin's home. His heartbeat accelerated when he noticed two feds standing by the stairs leading to the house.

"That's Mrs. Martinez's house," a few voices in the crowd responded almost immediately. "She lives together with her son and her two daughters..."

"Is anyone from the Martinez household present," one of the feds asked again, glancing around. "If you are, please step forward."

Odin let out a long, drawn-out breath to calm himself down before pushing through the crowd and stepping before the FBI agents. Since he'd already straightened his story, he figured that he shouldn't worry. As long as he insisted on his account of things, he could keep his secrets.