Rats: Shai's Story

A Proposal

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who is reading. It means so much to me. Please comment and vote so I know if you're liking it.

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Every Rat sat at the end of their bed in the warehouse. The door was open letting the cool night air in. Two Rat girls walked in pushing a cart ahead of them. They split up and walked towards the beds. They handed every Rat a bowl that contained their meal.

Ren looked down in her hands to see the dark brown food in the bowl. No one knew exactly what it was, but they ate it every night. Only the new Rats complained, the rest were too hungry to care. She picked up the crumbly food with her fingers and shoved it into her mouth.

Officers were posted around the warehouse watching the Rats as they shoved the grub into their mouth. Two more walked in with scanners in front of them and like the Rat girls they split up and began to scan the finger of every Rat. Ren watched them as they talked to the Rats and asked them multiple questions. As the Officer got closer Ren could see it was Mitch.

By the time he was in front of her bed Ren had already finished her small amount of food. The familiar pain of hunger stayed in her stomach. She wiped her hands on her clothes knowing that he was going to scan her finger. The usual annoying smirk was on his lips.

“Now this is going to be interesting,” he said wryly.

Ren just stared up at him. The sleeves of his uniform were pushed up, showing off the black swirls of designs covering his skin. Mr Brenner obviously didn’t know about that, he liked everything to be done properly. No Officer was allowed to change his uniforms. They were all supposed to look similar.

“Need your finger,” he ordered her. She raised her hand and Mitch forcefully pushed it against the scanner. When he let go he rolled his eyes and Ren brought her hand back towards her body. “No shock you don’t have a file. Give me your full name.”

“R…r…r,” she started to say.

“We don’t have time for this, Ren. Just tell me your last name.”

“M…Myer,” she forced off her lips. It had been so long since she had last said her name out loud.

“Age?” he asked.

“Tw…w…went…ty,” she guessed.

“Born on what day?”

“J…Januar…ry 5th,” she made another guess.

Mitch put his hand on her head and pushed it down. Ren knew he was looking at her number. After shaving your head they burn every Rat a number into the back of their neck. It was the main way they’d organize them. It confused Ren to think about why they’d want to assign every Rat a file.  

The sound of the other Officer barking something out at a Rat echoed throughout the warehouse. It was followed by the sharp sound of him slapping the Rat across the face. Ren squinted to see who it was but her vision was starting to fail her. It made her nervous as things far away started to get more and more blurry. She didn’t know how soon it was going to be until she was blind. Most of the Rats looked down at their fingers so they didn’t need to see the way he was beating the other Rat.

Mitch saw Ren trying to see the other Officer and leaned down towards her. Ren felt her body stiffen as she leaned away from him. He put his hands down on the bed beside her and she could smell the scent of dirt and soap coming off of him.

“The others aren’t like you,” his hot breath whispered into her ear. “You can’t argue. You can’t tell anyone want we do to you.”

Ren closed her eyes. There has been many times that an Officer, usually Mitch, pull her out behind the barn or warehouse and rape her. Ren always knew they targeted her because of the way she speaks. But they could just as easily do it to a Rat who can speak, if the told anyone no one would care.