THE PIPER
The Piper commands an army of vicious dogs to rid a burgeoning village of mutant rats, and when shortchanged, uses the dogs to herd the children to his ship, after leaving the village in flames.
Only 5 mounted rescuers can be spared from firefighting. 3 are eliminated in an ambush, leaving only 2, a widower trying to save his estranged son, and the village midwife trying to save them all.
THE PIPER is a darkly twisted re-working of the Pied Piper legend, set in a post-apocalyptic world struggling back to its feet without electricity or machines: The Future Past.
A farming community has sprung up at a rare find of tillable soil where they grow much needed wheat. But their harvest is threatened by voracious mutant rats so they put out a call for a ratcatcher.
The story is told through the eyes of a boy struggling to manhood while he and his father suffer the pangs of their wife/mother's suicide years earlier.
The Piper arrives in response to the town’s ad. The Mayor strikes a hard bargain and convinces Piper to accept a low fee for his services.
To get rid of the rats, the Piper uses a sound device to drive them into the open, then his pack of vicious dogs herd them to a dead end corral where the townspeople shoot them.
At the celebration party a dispute over further compensation for wounded dogs - “A deal is a deal” - and the discovery that he was tricked into accepting the low fee, sends Piper off in a rage.
Later, Piper returns and sets fires all over town to keep the townspeople busy while he and his dogs herd the children away.
When the townspeople find out what has happened, they are hard pressed to spare rescuers. Five are sent but are ambushed by a dog pack and only the boy’s father and the village midwife remain.
In the end the unusual behaviour of the rats is explained by a disturbing revelation.