The wind rushed through her feathers as she glided along the currents of warm air. With intense eyes she inspected the pine forest below. Her gaze followed a pair of orange-red rodents as they darted along the underbrush, the creatures unaware of the predator that stalked the skies above.

Fortunately for those rats, a droning drew the bald eagle's attention. Her great foe had returned. Swiftly, she tilted her wings and let the pressure around her change. The currents pressed upon her and she set course for the pond she called home.

The tall peak of one of the many mountains drifted below and she was once again able to catch sight of her nest. It sat untouched, atop the tallest pine along the shores of the lake she frequently hunted. Undisturbed as it was, the nearness of her foe still unnerved her.

That beast currently bobbed up and down on the gentle wave that rippled across the once crystalline waters. At the evidence of its recent arrival, she felt encouraged. The bird let out an intimidating screech as she began to circle, her eyes locked onto the bright red and dull white of the interloper's shell.

It was a pest that would visit from time to time, one she’d driven off with regularity. Lately, though, she's noticed a bit more detail as the creature brought with it many humans. They were like parasites that followed in its wake. Creatures who are only able to take to the sky on the back of some greater threat.

A harsh sound echoed across the waters, one that drew her attention. It was one of the parasitic humans, their cries loud and overbearing. They had no sense of the predator, as their sounds were never meant to intimidate. Nor were they the pleas of prey. It was something that had lately begun to intrigue the eagle. And so she watched.

“Lyle,” A masculine voice yelled as he exited one of the half dozen cabins that sat on the shore of Lake Dokey.

“Get out! I told you not to go swimming today. Josh, give Kimberly her doll and get your luggage into the pile.”

The man continued to yell orders as he lifted a suitcase onto his shoulders and hauled it into a small, yet growing pile this side of the prop plane.

“You’re sure the two of you don’t want to fly out with us?” A middle aged woman insisted.

She stood above two young adults as they packed their gear.

“We are,” The deceptively tall beanpole of a man answered as he placed his water pump into a side pouch on his back.

His hand began to zip up the final pouch as he turned to the woman before him.

“You all’ve been quite generous to us these last few days Mrs. Anderson. However, we still have plans.” He said with a tone he commonly used with his own mother, specifically when he told her he couldn’t visit.

“He’s right, I still want to see the view from Gern’s Bluff before we go,” The athletic young brunette answered as she shook her pack. With the items settled, she placed it back on the ground and began to pack the rest of her things.

“I don’t know how a bluff will have a better view than a plane,” Mrs. Anderson argued a moment before she sighed. “There’s no changing your mind is there?”

“I’m afraid not” The young man replied as he stood and grabbed ahold of his pack.

His arms flexed, and muscles that defied his frame bulged as he lifted the heavy bag onto his back.

“I told my wife two weeks, and I will give her two weeks.”

“As admirable as that is, I worry for the two of you.” Mrs. Anderson replied. “The weather recently’s been quite,” She paused as she chose the right word. “Boisterous. And tonight’s supposed to be the worst yet.”

“It is all well Mrs. Anderson, I quite like a good storm.” The woman said as she finished zipping up her pack. “In fact, it is one of my favorite things.”

“Very well,” The older woman conceded. “I don’t suppose wild animals, or getting trapped in a flash flood would scare you guys. Not when you're armed and have the rations we gave you.”

Suddenly her face changed, her look bore down on the man before her.

“You take care of her, you hear me.”

It wasn’t a question, not really a demand. It was an expectation.

“With my life,” He answered subconsciously as he felt the weight of her gaze fall upon him.

Slight pain radiated from his arm as he turned to face his wife.

“Don’t you dare joke like that hun,” The young woman scolded. “I don’t even want to think…”

He just smiled as he took in her face. The worry, the anger, the fear, all soon subsided and were replaced with a cherry red that rose through her cheeks. Quickly, she turned back to her own gearset and he turned back to Mrs. Anderson.

“Oh to be young,” The motherly woman stated a second before she turned behind her.

A small boy, not much older than six, had started to open one of the many coolers the family had packed.

“Bart stay out of that!” She yelled before she turned back to face the couple. “Unfortunately, I have to go, you remember what I told you” She said as she pointed to the man.

“And don’t forget to call once you’re back. I am expecting it on Wednesday night and no later. You know how we mother’s worry.”

With that the woman turned and marched towards her son, the boy fresh with the look of guilt.

“She does know we’re not her kids right,” The man whispered quietly to his wife.

“Yes, it is called being neighborly.” His wife answered as she settled the pack onto her back.

“So, do you still want five kids?” He joked, his face pulled into a smirk.

His only reward was another punch to his arm as his wife began to march away. His smirk shifted to a smile as he soaked up the athletic frame of his wife as her gait took her towards the trail that led out to the north.

A few seconds later he finally returned to his senses and yelled.

“Wait Up!”

This only caused his wife to jog, an unofficial race having started.

By the time he caught up to his wife, the sound of a prop plane taking to the air echoed off the mountain walls around them.

“Glad to see they got out when they wanted to,” He commented as his wife stopped and looked at him.

“Yes?” He asked as he tilted his head, trying to understand the look in his wife’s eyes. Was she still angry with his earlier comment?

She simply closed in and kissed him before she smiled and skipped away.

“What’s that for?” He asked as he pulled up beside his wife.

“For agreeing to come out here with me,” She replied as she continued to skip. “That lab keeps you from home at all hours, it’s just nice to be able to spend time with you.”

“It has been an enjoyable few days, hasn’t it.” He said with some introspection.

The demands of the lab often led to an inflexible work table. He would spend hours if not days at a time at work, though there were days he would make it home early. It was days like those, and these last few, that made it all worth it.

“It is even more frustrating when you don’t tell me what you do,” She huffed.

He simply sighed as he heard her repeat a conversation they visited at least weekly.

“You know I can’t tell you,” He muttered, barely audible to his wife.

“I know and I understand, even if it is frustrating that I don’t know what my husband does all day.” She replied. “I can’t even sympathize as you tell me nothing about your day. I simply have to guess by how you look.”

“So where did you want to camp tonight?” He asked in an attempt to shift the focus.

It wasn’t like he knew what his lab was working on half the time as it was. Most of his projects were part of some larger whole, something well above his pay grade.

“What do you mean?” She asked as she paused in her skipping.

“Well,” He replied. “We’re not going to make it to the bluff tonight. That is a six or so mile hike, not to mention the elevation climb.”

As if to emphasize his point, he turned his gaze to the overcast sky. The checkering of light and dark clouds slowly rolled along with the wind. It was clear there would be a storm tonight, Mrs. Anderson was right on that account.

Her gaze followed his and she stared for a few seconds before she finally spoke.

“You’re right,” She answered in defeat. “Give me a second.”

She moved to pull out a map from the fanny pack at her waist as she walked over to a decent sized boulder. A few moments of folding and a large topographic map of the region splayed out before her. He walked over as her finger followed the trail they currently were on.

“What about here?” She asked as she pointed to a roughly level part of the map a mile or so away.

“Mmm,” He hummed as he took in her suggestion. “No, I don’t think so, see this ridgeline here, it will guide the water straight to us. And trust me when I say you don’t want to experience that.”

His mind flashed back to a time in boy scouts when his tent was so flooded his air mattress actually floated on top of the small lake.

“Fine I guess,” She replied as she studied the map a bit closer. “Then what about here?”

He once again took in her finger and the area that surrounded it. The land was flat, well as flat as one could tell from the map. And it looked to be elevated from the surroundings, and that should protect it from any potential rivers caused by the rain.

“That looks good, what is it, two miles.” He answered as he examined the map once more.

“Good,” She replied as she picked up the map. “Let’s get to it. Mount Vor won't wait all day.”

A quip fled through his mind, but he chose to ignore it and join his wife in her march. She put away the map and the two of them once again continued their hike.

By the time they reached the area they planned to camp, the dark clouds had mostly consumed the rest of them and the wind had started to pick up. It was looking like the storm was getting closer and closer by the minute.

“Let’s get the tent up first,” The man said as he dropped his pack. “Will want to get as much cover as we can should things turn south fast.”

“You’re starting to sound like Mrs. Anderson.” His wife replied as she walked to three trees that grew within a few feet of another, a nearly equilateral triangle formed within. “This place should work just fine. The elevation should keep us dryer, and the trees here should act as a solid windbreak.”

He carefully examined the location and took in the look in his wife’s eyes. It was that of someone who wanted approval. As he set his gaze back to her suggestion, he could see little that would cause him to seek another spot. For their location it was as good as one could probably hope.

“It should do,” He stated as he pulled out a small bag from his pack. “I’ll get the tent up, if you want to work on the fire. Don’t really want to try once it starts to rain”

His gaze drifted back to the sky and took in the rolling clouds once more.

“It really is a beautiful thing.” His wife spoke as she followed his gaze.

He turned from the sky towards his wife. He simply watched as she breathed in gently. Her chest moved ever so subtly as her gaze shifted across the sky. She’s never been the most curvaceous woman, but she always had that spark that moved his heart. A desire for life that was hard to keep down.

“Yes, yes it is.” He spoke as a smile filled his face.

***

A large rodent ripped a chunk of meat out of the rotting carcass of a now undefinable animal, the ever gnawing hunger pressed against its instincts. Another of the creatures, about half the size of the first, tried to get close and the first beast simply turned its eyes upon it. The hunger inside of it pressed at its will and almost caused it to lash out and devour its own kind. As the interloper retreated, the bloodlust lessened and it returned to feast upon its day-old kill.

The second rodent returned to huddle with the rest of the smaller ones, their numbers in the dozens. Though the pack at large numbered in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, only a few dozen were able to grow as large as the current leader. The rest, well they would get a chance to feed, when their larger brethren had their fill. The ever growing hunger that assaulted them, however, made those breaks fewer and farther between.

The clouded sky began to shift to an orange as the sun began its descent behind the horizon. A will pressed against the rats and slowly each of them began to radiate a similar feel to the sunset. The largest one took a final bite out of the carcass before it turned to the north, towards Mount Vor. The hunger called and it would heed.

With a large squeak, the lead rat roared and tore off towards its next prey. To that being that caught the hunger's ire. As it did, most of the rats followed, only the youngest and the smallest stayed to get their fill of the physical hunger that gnawed at them.

The pack scurried across the ground as the forest around them slowly fell into darkness, the clouds above blocked out even the moon. A thunderclap echoed and a drop of rain hit the ground, then another a few seconds later. Soon, the only thing that could be heard was the patter of rain as it fell across the dense pines and the occasional bout of thunder.

Still the pack flew on, driven by the madness of the hunger, the thirst of that force. Beast and fowl alike fled from their path, danger obvious to all. All that is except for the target of their ire.

The leader slowed as he saw the flickering of a flame, the nature of which spoke to him. It almost drove from him the need to feed, the need to follow that consuming will. The hunger, however, redoubled its drive, and slowly the rats began to surround the flame. To surround the prey that dared to harness its warmth.

Incomprehensible chatter came from the beings around the fire as they huddled against the syphening cold of the rain. The flames dance and the rodents chittered softly, barely audible above the crackling of the fire and pattering of water against the ground. The chatter from the beings around the fire slowed as they moved, as if they finally understood the danger that surrounded them.

The hunger pressed and the leader roared in only the way a large rat can. With his call the beasts charged, their prey before their eyes. The prey before them changed their shape, separating and growing out their limbs. Still the rodents charged, their minds all but consumed by the hunger. By its thirst for sustenance.

Many a rat fell by the elongated reach of the beasts, still they pressed on, the leader called more to their ranks. Thunder echoed again and again and beast fell again and again, but still they pressed on. They would consume, they were hunger, they were plague.