Rattus New Yorkus

By Hunter Shea

THEY’RE BIGGER
Deep in the sewers of New York City, the rat population is growing. Dr. Randolph Finch is determined to break the cycle. His new rodenticide, Degenesis, doesn’t kill rats. It sterilizes them from reproducing. But nothing adapts faster than a New York rat . . .

THEY’RE SMARTER
City exterminators and soon-to-be divorced Chris and Benita Jackson think they know how these rats think. They know how rats breed. And they fear that Degenesis has only made these rats stronger. More aggressive. More intelligent. And more ravenous than ever . . .

TONIGHT’S DINNER SPECIAL: US
After a noticeable surge in rat den activity, the Jacksons witness something strange. Without warning, the rats disappear—only to reassemble in a massive lair beneath Grand Central Station. Millions upon millions of them. Working together. Operating as a hive mind. Feasting on the flesh of the homeless below—and planning their all-out attack on the unsuspecting humans above . . .

Raves for The Montauk Monster

“Old school horror.” —Jonathan Maberry

“A lot of splattery fun.”—Publishers Weekly

“Frightening, gripping.”—Night Owl Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyrical Press
• Release date: Aug 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781516107940

Hunter Shea

Hunter Shea is the product of a misspent childhood watching scary movies, reading forbidden books and wishing Bigfoot was real. He’s the author of over 17 books, including 'The Jersey Devil' and 'We Are Always Watching'. Hunter’s novels can even be found on display at the International Cryptozoology Museum.

Book preview

THEY’RE BIGGER

Deep in the sewers of New York City, the rat population is growing. Dr. Randolph Finch is determined to break the cycle. His new rodenticide, Degenesis, doesn’t kill rats. It sterilizes them from reproducing. But nothing adapts faster than a New York rat . . .

THEY’RE SMARTER

City exterminators Chris and Benita Jackson know how these rats think. They know how these rats breed. And they know that Degenesis will only make these rats stronger. More aggressive. More intelligent. And more ravenous than ever . . .

WE’RE WHAT’S FOR DINNER

After a noticable surge in rat den activity, the Jacksons witness something strange. Without warning, the rats disappear—only to reassemble in a massive lair beneath Grand Central Station. Millions of them. Working together. Operating as a hive mind. Feasting on the flesh of the homeless below—and planning their all-out attack on the unsuspecting humans above . . .

Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

Books By Hunter Shea

The Jersey Devil

Tortures of the Damned

The Montauk Monster

Just Add Water

Optical Delusion

Money Back Guarantee

Jurassic Florida

Rattus New Yorkus

The Devil’s Fingers

Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

Rattus New Yorkus

Hunter Shea

LYRICAL PRESS

Kensington Publishing Corp.

www.kensingtonbooks.com

Contents

Books By Hunter Shea

Rattus New Yorkus

Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Quotes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Jurassic Florida

Chapter One

Meet the Author

The Jersey Devil

The Montauk Monster

Tortures of the Damned

Copyright

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

LYRICAL UNDERGROUND BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.

119 West 40th Street

New York, NY 10018

Copyright © 2018 by Hunter Shea

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund-raising, educational, or institutional use.

Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Sales Manager: Kensington Publishing Corp., 119 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018. Attn. Sales Department. Phone: [phone].

Lyrical Underground and Lyrical Underground logo Reg. US Pat. & TM Off.

First Electronic Edition: August 2018

eISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0794-0

eISBN-10: 1-5161-0794-2

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

For Gary Goldstein, a man who knows his Bert I. Gordon!

Quotes

I don’t like rats. The problem with rats is they have no fear of human beings, they’re loaded with foul diseases, they would run the place given half the chance, and I’ve had them leap out of a lavatory while I’ve been sitting on it.

—David Attenboroug

Out on the streets, that’s where we’ll meet

You make the night, I always cross the line

Tightened our belts, abuse ourselves

Get in our way, we’ll put you on your shelf

—Round and Round, Ratt

Chapter 1

I’d seen a lot of crazy shit in my day, but this one took the cake, the plate, and the fork right out from under me.

Is it really doing what I think it’s doing? Benny said.

A furry snout poked out of the hole in the wall, whiskers twitching. It disappeared and out popped a chunk of drywall. The chalky crumble plunked right onto the glue trap by the baseboard and stuck there.

I’ll be good and goddamned, I whispered with the reverence my mother had taught me to save for church. I hadn’t been to church in a lifetime of Sundays. Mom hadn’t dispensed little tidbits of wisdom in almost as long. But it still seemed appropriate.

I could give it the old whack-a-mole, Benny said, gripping a flashlight that doubled as a baton. People would be surprised how often exterminators used our flashlights to defend ourselves.

Unable to take my eyes off the ingenious sucker, I said, You’ll miss. I just know it.

So we just stand here like idiots?

Yes, I said.

I don’t get you, Benny said.

I remember when you used to.

We shut up, watching the rat litter the glue trap until most of the surface was covered in drywall.

It stretched halfway out of the hole, inspecting its handiwork. Next thing we knew, the rat dropped to the ground, landing on the drywall and scampering into the darkness.

How? Benny said.

Beats me. If I hadn’t been here to see it, I’d never have believed it.

It must have come across glue traps before.

I rubbed the four-day stubble on my chin. I’d put good money on it.

Most people don’t realize how smart rodents are. They learn from their mistakes and from watching the mistakes of others. Norway rats, the number-one scourge of Manhattan, had been getting shrewder with each generation. Pretty soon, they’d be smarter than the guy who invented craft beer.

Norway rats are by nature very fast learners, evolving almost ten times faster than puny humans. Extremely observant, if they suspect a trap, they will regularly send the weakest out to explore or try a new food laced with poison. They sit back and watch what happens. If the rat survives, they follow. If not, they walk away, knowing to stay the hell away the next time.

I don’t even want to get into their tolerance to poison. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

This particular rat had either gotten temporarily stuck on a glue trap itself or watched one of its kin do likewise. How it figured out that littering it with drywall would stop if from being sticky was anyone’s guess. Like I said—craft beer smart.

I shivered, which wasn’t easy, considering it must have been over a hundred degrees in the dark, cramped industrial kitchen. The AC was on the fritz. If I didn’t get some air soon, I would be next.

Maybe they hold little rat seminars, Benny said, giggling. You ARE Smarter Than the Exterminator.

They start teaching classes, we’re done for. The rag I kept using to wipe the back of my neck was soaked. Benny didn’t even have a bead of perspiration.

Well, now what?

This particular den of rats had outsmarted us at every turn. They ate just enough of the rodenticide not to get sick. They avoided the snap traps like the plague. Now it appeared glue traps were out.

Set fire to the place? I said. It’s so hot in here, it just might spontaneously combust.

We could have at least gotten that one.

Benny was no longer amused that I let it scamper off. Sometimes my curiosity gets in the way of my efficiency.

I said, You want to chase it with your flashlight, have at it.

If anyone’s doing any chasing, it’s going to be you.

For shits and giggles, I poured some rodenticide into the hole. Maybe it would return hungry and have a final feast.

Benny gave me a world-class eye roll.

It can’t hurt, I said.

"It definitely won’t hurt them."

We could always go old-school and have a stakeout with night vision and a BB gun.

You’re such an ass.

Benny stomped out of the kitchen. I followed suit, desperate for fresh air.

Manhattan was at the tail end of a long heat wave. Even though it was ninety outside, it felt like spring in comparison to the stifling restaurant. The sunlight stung my poor eyeballs. Flipping my sunglasses down from the crown of my head, I saw Benny slip into the van. Ninth Avenue was crammed with people on their lunch hour. The crush of humanity never ceased to amaze me.

As above, so below, as the saying goes.

I’m going up to Yonkers to visit my sister, Benny said. I felt a wisp of cold air coming from the van’s air vents.

I’m supposed to meet Tony at Mulligan’s, I said.

I wished Benny would open the window more so I could suck in some of that cool, cool air. The AC in my car was tepid on a good day.

Benny

Reviews for Rattus New Yorkus

[debtat2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up with the hindsight that it was going to be a tongue in cheek b-horror kind of story and it certainly was that! But it is a quick entertaining read which kept me steaming through it and it's a perfect Sunday lazy afternoon kind of book.I doubt it will leave many people scared unless you have a severe phobia of rats! If you do you best avoid this one I wish I had saved some of the great lines peppered throughout it, my memory is terrible but I do remember one of them had something to do with tails being like satans ariels maybe? I'm going to have to flick back through it to find it as it amused me!“Possibly a thousand rats were on our tail, their own tails bobbing like Satan’s spaghetti.”Now that has got to go down as a classic surely?!! :-) Throughly enjoyed this book and I will be hunting out more of  Hunter Shea's books.Rattus New Yorkus was published yesterday 21st August 2018 and can be purchased for  the amazing price of £1.81 now from Amazon

[misspider-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Creature feature in perfection!This story does everything right: from super-scary creatures, which are already scary enough in real life, to likeable main characters with just the right sense of humor. I must admit I easily imagined Chris to look something like the exterminator in The Strain series, but I guess that's due to the fact that I've not seen that many exterminators so far. Also, I think they share a similar kind of humor, which seems to be a necessary quality in order to do the job without going nuts. It was so sweet to observe how Chris cared for his beloved, but separated, ex-wife 'Benny' Benita, and I was not disappointed to read how the story ended - he totally deserved it!Of course, the story also featured the mandatory wise-ass scientist who is to blame for the catastrophe because he missed to do some field-study and made the fatal (hehe!) assumption that wild rats would behave and react like lab rats.Finally: the rats - nasty and annoying little creatures, but manageable if encountered alone. Give them a hive-like mind and highly increased aggressiveness, and they turn into mankind's worst nightmare. I was impressed by the sheer masses of them, which enabled them to literally overrun everything the humans threw in their way - walls, fire, you name it. Note: if I remember correctly, rats featured in the first creature horror I ever read (thanks to Mr. Herbert), and I guess that left a lasting impression...Put together, it was a pleasure to read this fine work of genre fiction and I enjoyed every last page of it. Highest recommendation!

[pardamustang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rattus New Yorkus is another fun, cheese-filled horror offering by Hunter Shea. Chris and Benny are exterminators contracted by New York to help control the pest population. At urgings from city and scientists, the city exterminators are testing out a new position called Degenesis. This new chemical is said to work against rat reproduction, making it impossible to sustain colonies. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be what's happening. Instead, Chris and Benny are finding evidence of an increase in rat population. And increased aggression and intelligence. When the rats take to the streets in a frenzy more than once, attacking citizens, it's up to the exterminators and military to track the main nest and attempt to wipe out the plague of rodents. Rattus is #2 in the One Size Eats All series. I quite enjoyed Jurassic Florida, but monstrous iguanas are a little improbable. Chemically altered rodents less so. Humans are constantly altering animal behaviours with the crap we dump in the environment. Pesticides are no exception. Everything adapts to what you throw at it, and it's clear that wild rats responded radically differently to the Degenesis position than the test subjects did. I kept rats once, as pets, and as breeders for python food. I know how smart those rats were, and wild rats need to be a lot savvier in order to survive. This was a short read, more plot driven than character driven. Unlike Jurassic Florida, Rattus felt a little more serious. I imagine it goes back to that believability factor. It's much easier to see this actually happening. I'm interested to see what critter will be showcased in the series next! Bees? Bees would be fun. Wild boar? Crows? ***Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[veronica.sparrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I always find Hunter Shea's books to be so much fun to read. They are often tongue in cheek with the campy blood and gore type carnage of the B movies of the 1950s. I always know I am in for a treat with one of his books. Chris Jackson is a soon to be divorced expert exterminator who thinks he knows and has seen everything. Close but no cigar. These rats are something out of a nightmare and Chis soon finds himself in a battle against some pretty smart rats.