Not Your Usual Scary Stories

Filth - Part 1

Then there were the rats. They were better at keeping out of sight, but occasionally I would catch a few dozen in a darkened hole. Their little chittering did not do justice to their size. Almost as big as my forearm, they roamed the land making a feast of both insects and garbage as if they were born in it. I suppose they probably were.

To my great surprise I even found birds. At least, I think they were birds. Corrupted by the polluted land, these creatures have no feathers and no flight. Were it not for the beaks and general shape, I would not have been able to recognize them with their mottled, sore covered raw flesh. They hop around the tops of particularly festering piles and dig their blackened beaks into the ground in search of something resembling food. I wonder how long they will take to form a new species, or go extinct entirely.

But it was not until the fifth day, at this very moment, that I notice the most amazing sign of life of all. The structure before me could not have been formed by the random motion of the trash, nor could it have been shaped by any form of animal.

I stand before a human settlement. Slanted shack houses cobbled together by whatever pieces of garbage lay around. There's no one in sight, but by the size of the settlement there must have been at least a dozen humans here at one point.

"What is this?" I ask to my partner who is equally amazed by this find.

"I mean, it has to be human. Right? Could it have been left behind by the last survey team?"

"They never mentioned anything about this in their reports. Besides, this would have taken days to build, maybe weeks."

"But who else would have come here? Foreign military? Shipwreck survivors?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. This island has been growing for more than a hundred years now, but it's always been considered unlivable for humans. Whoever was here, they've probably been dead for a long time. We should move on."

He nods his assent and relegates the orders to the others. They seem more hesitant than ever, but we set out at once at a pace that puts our fears behind us. Besides, we've got to be nearing the halfway mark. There's no point in turning back now.

We walk for several more hours, but even I can feel the tension slowly rising. The settlement casts the world around us in a new light. I find myself wondering if every towering pile is of human origin, or if any of the dank pits are modified homes. The men seem nervous as the already dim light begins to fade. Every shadow in the distance speaks of untold residents that we're intruding upon, untold monsters lurking within the miles of human waste.

We stop to set up camp sooner than I would have liked, but I don't argue. I admit that the feeling is getting to me too. Hopefully a meal and a good night's sleep will rejuvenate all of us.

But I don't get a good night's sleep. I'm awoken in the pitch blackness by the sound of whispers just outside of my tent. At first I think it's just some of my men using the bathroom, but they don't seem to be talking in English.

For a moment I consider pulling the blankets over my head and ignoring it entirely. Instead I grab my flashlight and inch over to the door flap, unzipping it as quietly as possible. The talking has stopped by the time I stick my head out.

"Who's there." I say firmly into the night. There's no response. I unzip my tent the rest of the way and take a few steps out into the darkness.

"I'm warning you. I'm armed." I lie to my surroundings as I cast my beam across the land.

It seems to have been my imagination. There's no one in sight. I sigh and rub my eyes, certain that the stress of this trip is finally making me hallucinate. I'm almost back in my tent when I hear it again, a soft murmuring coming from right behind me.