"The Rat" by Emma-Jane C. Smith

I stalk the rat, watching it closely as it scuttles from behind one object to behind another. It stops, I take a soundless step closer and watch it preening its whiskers. I ready the piece of cloth in my hand; a net to catch the small mammal. It stops preening and looks around, sniffing the air. It detects something is wrong. Before it can figure out what it smells, I pounce on it. The rat wriggles frantically, trying to get out of the cloth. But it is no use, for I have it in my hands and they are skilled and will not let it go. I hold the cloth against its mouth and nose, and soon it becomes quietened, unable to get enough oxygen to its minuscule brain.

Slowly I peel away part of the fabric and expose the creature’s neck. My lips unsheathe my teeth, baring the long canines, which mark me a mutant. I bite the rat’s neck and let the warm liquid trickle into my mouth, the taste intoxicating in its own way.

I hear a call; it is the young woman who adopted me. Her name is Ruth and I am like a son to her. She keeps me safe from the People Hunters. She does not know I feed off the rats so I hide, I hide in the shadows where she will not see me. Just in case I bury the rat behind some of the junk littering the room, and wipe my face clean.

I watch her enter, her eyes searching.

“Silent? Are you there?” Ruth asks.

I dare not answer her, for she does not know I can speak. I dare not open my mouth where anyone may see, for they will know what I am. My teeth will tell them that I am not human.

“Silent, if you are here, I just came to ask you to fetch some food. We have nothing left and our stomachs are waiting for something to fill them.”

Ruth leaves, knowing that I will do as she asks. It is my task to gather food for them, I steal it from the People Hunters because I am the smallest and swiftest, and I know how to keep to the shadows. They think I eat what I want before I give them what I have stolen. I let them think this, for then they will not suspect anything about the rats.

Quickly I dart out and away from the dilapidated building through a large hole in the crumbling wall. I make my way to the west, to the compound of the People Hunters I know is there. Soon it is within my vision. It is ghastly in its height and wicked in the barbs they use to protect it from us. I keep hidden, moving closer and closer to the fence. There are guards pacing, they pass one another. With their backs to me I take my chance and slip beneath the fence.

I sniff the air, and detect/scent no one. I move on, knowing the way to their store rooms. I enter by shifting a section of bricks from the wall. I enter the darkness. I see food, lots but all wilting and not much good. I hear a noise. Someone is coming. I take what I can and bolt, replacing the bricks. I hold only what I can carry easily. Hastily I make my way back to the fence. I see the guards pass one another and again I take the chance offered and make my escape. I am not seen.

I come to our home and give them my prize: two wilting cabbages and a large battered can of something that has no label. Ruth beams down at me and busies herself about cooking the meal. Hungry and dirty faces appear as the smells of cooking waft in the air. When they sit down to eat I lay my head in Ruth’s lap, she strokes it gently, lovingly, tenderly. I am content.

That night I sleep beside her, huddling close for body warmth, there are not many blankets to go around. I sleep when my mother is sleeping, her breathing deep and rhythmic. I wake, knowing something is wrong. I sniff the air, I sense there are strangers nearby. I almost call out a warning to my friends, but I cannot. My name is Silent. Quickly I shake Ruth, my frantic expression tells her what my voice must not. She alerts the others.

Everyone abandons their sleep and runs to any exit they can find, hoping to escape. Many get away but the People Hunters have us partially surrounded and they have weapons. Mother and I are trapped, the last to try to leave, a few others are with us, huddling together. We looked like herded livestock in the confines of the house, surrounded by collected bits and pieces from before The Waste. The People Hunters gave us satisfied smiles. They had done well. They had begun to replenish their ranks of workers.

The People Hunters looked exactly like us except that were clean and have clothes that are uniforms. The harsh grey the same as the soot that littered much of the land. Their faces are not as hollow as ours, nor so dirty. And there is always cruelty in their eyes, which matches the cruelty of their weapons. They take what they want and hurt everything.

“You will all come with us,” one of the People Hunters says.

We are afraid, knowing they will take us to their camp. They will do what they want with us. They will breed with Ruth, and they will kill me when they find out what I am. The others will be sent to work, work that the People Hunters know is backbreaking or dangerous.

He hits me with the butt of his weapon, sending me sprawling on the ground. They tie me up, and the others. Some of them cry. I know Mother hopes the others have escaped. She tries to defend the others using her beautiful letter opener, a gift I gave her. She faces her fate bravely and beautifully. I love her for it.

They take the weapon from Ruth but she manages to hurt one of them. They pat us down, searching for more weapons. They find my rusted knife and sling and stones. Soon we have nothing left with which to fight them. They have captured us within our nest, the old crumbling building which shelters and hides us all.

There are four of the People Hunters and I have only one weapon left, one that they have not seen. I am afraid to use it for the others will see, I don’t know what they will think of me. Realising I must use it to save all out lives, I grow determined. I swoon as they stand me up.

“Let him go!” my Mother says, “The boy is not well.”

The People Hunters ignore them and one puts his face next to mine to examine me. I lash out with my weapon, sinking it deep into the soft exposed flesh at his neck. I have bitten him. Blood gushes over my face as I release him, tearing more flesh away. I have no time to look at my friends because the other captors are upon me.

I stand quickly and deftly deflect the zapper stick, it is like the ones they used on cattle that lived before The Waste. Now we are the only cattle. I fight them, lashing out with each part of my body. Soon two are crumpled on the floor unconscious. I circle with the last, his weapon at the ready. Finally he lunges, I twist to the side and grab his wrists. I exert pressure on the nerve points and he is forced to drop his weapon. My teeth come in for the kill, allowing more blood to splash my face. I feel like it has given me more energy, a new power.

I turn to my friends but they are cowering in fear. I close my lips over my teeth and wipe the blood from my face. They will not trust me now; they will think they too are like the rats I feast on. But it is not my fault for being different, for being what I am.

I know they will cast me out but I will always stay close. I will bring them gifts of food so they will not starve, nor have to venture too close to the People Hunters for surely they will be found.

I gather my courage and turn to my mother. I whisper four words to her.

“I love you, Mother.”

Tears glisten my eyes as I untie them all, and then walk away. I see the pain in Ruth’s eyes, the heartbreak and horror. It tears my heart to know that I am different, especially in her eyes. I have become the rat, the outcast, the plague-ridden, the hunted… and the alone.