The Rot

Chapter Three.

One morning four weeks later, Keelin turned to his brother and said, "You know Dad sometimes works in his lab all night?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm worried. He hasn't been back for more than eighty-four hours. I hope he's OK." He paused. "I think we should go and see him."

"Why?" questioned Jacob.

"Because I'm really worried about him."

"Alright, we'll go now," said Jacob.

Taking Saphie along with them, they set off towards the laboratory. When they arrived, they saw to their horror that the door had been broken down.

"What do you think's happened?" asked Jacob.

"Don't know. Just know it's bad."

They entered the lab. It had been completely trashed- there was debris all over the place. Checking on the files to see if any had been stolen, they came across one of the most important ones, labelled KEELIN'S INJECTION.

It's contents included details about a mixture of different drugs that could be used as a cure for the Rot: Thanks to the mixture of drugs I used for his injection, I have managed to make Keelin immune from the Rot, Dr. Davies had written.

The file also included further research their dad had made over the past four weeks. He was trying to work out what caused the Rot. Alarmingly, the details of the cure had been torn out. And where was their father?

Suddenly, Saphie screamed and pointed to the corner of the lab. The boys swung round and looked in the direction she was pointing. It was Dr. Davies, lying face down in a pool of blood...

" Oh no! It's dad! Check him!" shouted Jacob.

Keelin crouched down and checked his dad's neck pulse.

"No! He's dead! He's dead!" cried Keelin, his eyes full of tears.

Saphie started sobbing.

"Who did this?! shouted Jacob. He was also crying.

"Was it the R-R-Rot?" asked Saphie.

The three of them looked through the paperwork and found a note saying: Huddez and his gang were here. They gasped in horror.

"He was murdered!" exclaimed Keelin.

"No, he can't have been! He locked himself in!" said Jacob.

"Judging by the door, they broke in!" suggested Keelin.

"Rot in hell, Huddez! Rot... in... hell!" they all said together.

After they stood there hopeless for a while, Jacob started pacing around the room.

"We need to find out where this Huddez gang is," he growled.

"How can we? The internet is down!" said Saphie.

They began looking around, turning over debris for information... The doctor's logs, more files... Eventually they found a computer. Even though there was no power, the laptop had some battery left and when Jacob pressed the button, it turned on.

A message slowly came into focus on the screen:

I hope you're not a vegetarian, because beef is going down. We know where you are, Keelin, and we want your blood!
Watch out!
Huddez.

"We need to get out of here. NOW!" exclaimed Keelin.

"Not so fast, Keelin!" said Jacob. "Give us some of your blood- quickly."

"Why?" asked Keelin and Saphie together.

"So we can be immune from the Rot too! It's important."

"Alright then, but hurry up! We don't want Huddez to find us and take my blood so he can have the cure for himself!"

"Yaaaaaay!" said Keelin, prancing round the room. "We're number 1! Davies bros and Saphie save the world!"

"Stop being a prat!" snapped Jacob furiously. He approached Keelin with a knife with the intention of cutting his wrist.

"What do you think you're doing?" roared Keelin.

"I'm trying to cure the rest of us. Now give me your wrist."