He was an  overweight man, in his late fifties going bald, and was sitting in the living room reading the local newspapers.

 “Listen to this, honey” he said to his wife Joy who was in the kitchen preparing dinner“

”Three mice infected with the bacteria responsible for bubonic plague apparently disappeared from a laboratory two weeks ago. Authorities have launched a search, though health experts said there was scant public risk.”
 “It is assumed that if the mice had escaped from the lab, they would have already died from the disease” he paused to catch a breath,” the possibility of theft prompted the Institute to interrogate two dozen of it’s employees and conduct lie detector tests. The FBI said they were investigating  ‘

“” Two weeks,! and the bastards didn’t tell us anything “ said Strutters incensed, “they tried to cover it up!
“but is that legal? “His wife asked curiously
I don’t think , but they will give us the usual crap that they didn’t want to cause panic!’
But the lab they mentioned  ”Jeez ,Marv that’s not far from here!, “
“That’s what I was thinking”
“And did they say Bubonic? Isn’t that the plague that almost destroyed Europe during in the fourteenth century?” asked his wife.
“Something like that,” He replied evenly,” But I think they have found a cure for it by now ,at least, I hope they have””
“Let’s hope so !” said the wife nervously “for according to the history books as I recall reading in High school, people infected died like flies at the time, about 50 million in three years all over Europe, I think it was caused by fleas from infected rats, wasn’t it?”
Yeah, It’s a scary stuff, allright “he said scratching his huge stomach and letting out a loud burp from the beer he was also drinking.
“What are the symptoms? she said ,I can’t remember”
“Here, lemme go check it out”

With much effort, sighs and grunts from his over weight, he got up and went over to the computer room nearby. He log on to a popular search engine and pressed “bubonic plague symptoms” in the search box .After a short while he exclaimed,
’ Hell bells, honey “ he cried, “,this IS scary stuff, all right , here’s a quote from that period” and he began reading aloud,

." The Black Death was so named as sufferers displayed a range of symptoms including the lymph nodes swelling with pus and breaking the blood vessels under the skin. a small swelling under the armpit ,sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). this caused internal bleeding and turned the skin black.
 “Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient animals died. Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys, sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured.”

“He switched off the computer and sighed, “Wow ! “ He cried, ”Could you imagine if something like that hitting the States today, honey?” he said gravely.
“I don’t want to imagine “ she replied the wife setting the table, “It’s gruesome, just thinking about it gives me the creeps!” she added, “here, come eat your dinner” It was then they heard the scratching at the door,
“What  the hell was that , Honey?” He asked suddenly
“Sounds like scratching”
“Scratching? Hold on, Lemme go and check.”
“Be careful” she warned.

Strutters got up and walked to the door.

The scratching stopped.

 He slowly unlatched the door and looked round but saw nothing.

“Must be the wind.”he exclaimed with a shrug closing the door ,he walked over to the dining table and sat down. “Marv, I am scared,” said the wife,” What if one of the rats had gotten away?”

“It’s hardly possible,” he replied, “ they sent in the exterminators and those guys are pretty efficient with all the high tech stuff  these days! and they did say that there were scant public risk “

The scratching began again
.
“Damn, this is it,” said Marv angrily, getting up quickly for a man his size “Must be some joker playing a prank on us” he rushed over to the cabinet drawer and pulled out a revolver. His wife screamed “Don’t Marv!’ but he ignored her and  shouted “You out there , this is private property, and I am going to shoot any f***ing body I see out there!”

He rushed to the door and pulled it open then and drew back quickly , “Shit ! “he screamed, for there before him were two of the biggest rats he had ever seen staring at him with steady red beady eyes! They, in unison, pounced on him, knocking him backwards The revolver fell from his hands, He fell hard to the floor, and they converged on him ripping at his throat between squeaks of delight .He struggled hard for his life, but to no avail they were too powerful for him.

His wife was screaming hysterically.at the horror before her. Suddenly one of the beasts stopped it's feasting, turned and looked at her intensely,it's red eyes glaring.

With blood dripping from it’s long, blood stained mouth, it got off the corpse of her husband and began  to approach her slowly, ever so slowly!