Rats: Shai's Story

A Few Disguises

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone reading. Please keep commenting and voting.

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The room was dark, but the lights from the screens had cast shadows across the floor. Shai sat on the ground with her legs crossed underneath her and Jasper was lying down beside her. His hands were locked under his neck.

Mikko had been running around the room furiously for the last couple hours. There was always something new he had to attend to on every screen. Shai and Jasper were in the middle of the room so they were out of the way. Jasper tried sitting in Mikko's chair before he was quickly pushed out. So they stayed beside it.

Jasper had his eyes closed but Shai was too hypnotized by what was on the screen. Multiple photos of Tegan as a child surrounded them. Some screens were a series of numbers and letters she didn't understand. Other screens were just full of letters and she had gotten Jasper to read them out to her, but he couldn't even pronounce half of the words.

"How long do ya think he'll be?" Shai whispered.

"Don't know," he whispered back. "I don't even know how long we've been in here."

Shai looked up at the window to see it was covered up with a thick layer of yellow paper. She knew the sun was still up, but she couldn't judge how much time was left until Curfew.

She let out a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She was getting impatient waiting for Mikko, and not knowing what he was doing made it even more frustrating. The images of Todd being whipped or hung were all that she could think about. Tangling strands of her dark hair together was all she could do to keep herself occupied.

"I've got it!" Mikko shouted out. Shai's lips lifted into a smile and Jasper sat up. "I always knew this program would work. I can shut down their entire security system for as long as I want and they'll never know it's me."

"How's that going to get Todd out?" Shai asked him.

"Tegan, Shoe. We are focussing on Tegan first and then I'll help you go find your friend. But what I'm thinking is that if the security is down you'll be able to go right in and pull Tegan out and bring him back here."

"What about the Officers?" Jasper questioned him.

"Ah, I forgot about those bastards."

Mikko crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the screens. He bit his bottom lip and tilted his back before snapping his head back up and letting his eyes grow wide.

"I've got it again! We'll just knock them right out. Well not us but you two will," he told them.

"So you want Jasper and I to attack every Officer in that camp?" Shai asked sceptically.

"This is a rescue mission, not a suicide mission. I have a little recipe for a sleeping gas. You just roll a couple of these canisters into the camp and everyone will be unconscious."

"Great plan, but won't we be unconscious too?" Jasper asked wryly.

"Wow, you really don't learn anything in the Slums," he said. "There's something called a gasmask. Basically you just put it on and then you've become immune to the gas. It has no effect on you."

Mikko ran across the room and opened the door. The light from the hallway poured in and he left. Shai and Jasper both got up of the floor and followed him. Her legs were sore from sitting for so long.