"No! We can't leave him!" Billy shouted. His mother pulled his arm nearly out of the socket. "We have to go, Billy! Now!" Sara checked the hall, tried to move toward the stairs. Too late. They swarmed from under the landing, flowed from the stairs, squealed and skittered across the hall. Sara and Billy were cut off. "Oh god," Sara said quietly. "They're everywhere." She pulled Billy close, braced against the wall.
A vent cover fell near their feet. A blur of movement, and the hand landed in front of them. Billy smiled. Sara stared in horror. The hand crawled across the hall, keeping itself between them and the rats. They enveloped the hand, gnawing and tearing. The hand fought with a supernatural strength, crushing and squeezing and throwing rats in every direction.
The hand pointed frantically to the bathroom. "Mom! In there!" Billy yelled. The hand followed, skidded across the slippery tile and pushed the door closed behind them. The rats crushed against the door but for the moment, it held. Sara caught her breath, checked Billy for bites and scratches, and then realized a dismembered hand was standing on the bathroom floor, looking for all the world as if it were.. out of breath. Sara screamed, grabbed at the plunger and started swinging. "Mom, no, stop!" Billy implored. "It's ok, Mom! He's helping! He saved us! He's.." Billy paused, knowing it would break a promise. ".. He's Dad!"
Sara sank onto the toilet seat. "What did you say?" she asked, drained and dizzy. Before Billy could answer, the hand jumped onto the counter and slowly crept towards her. Sara pulled back, revulsed. And then she saw it. The ring. Her grandfather's ring, the same one they had to resize to fit her husband's thick finger. The hand stood motionless, as the tears welled up in Sara's eyes. ".. Nathan?" she whispered. The hand stepped back and nudged itself up and down, nodding. "How.. how did this.." before she could finish, the door began to give. The rats had chewed their way through the thin wood and were beginning to break through. The hand leapt to the floor, a straight razor from the sink between its fingers. It turned and pointed emphatically to the window. Sara and Billy moved into the bathtub and started prying the small window open.
Nathan turned, flipped the razor between thumb and forefinger, and stood between the rats and his family.