The Rat in The Signal

Chapter 20

Rat squeaking, human speaking

Art by me

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The first streaks of dawn light came soon after Seven and Rain woke up, Squeaks sleeping outside when they crawled out of the hidden cave. She was curled in a small nest she made in the sand, the outside dotted with a few shells she nosed over. A small crab was on her back, clicking its pinchers in a very pissed off manner.

Rain was nice enough to pick up a stick and shoo it away before it could attack the feral with a mighty pinch of its claw. Seven did swear though it would probably have flipped them off if it had hands.

Nosebleed came soon after, and before long, the three started to work on moving some of the TVs.

They were incredibly heavy, taking all three of them to push a single one to their destination. They had chosen a small clearing, where it didn't immediately throw any red flags. They made sure to leave spots open for Squeaks to run through if she needed, mostly at Seven's order that there some form of way for her to escape.

It took them all morning and most of the afternoon to slowly push the TVs together, and that didn't include the time in finding them all. Most had bullets holes in them from the Hunter using them for target practice, so what few were still in tack seemed to be be pretty scarce. It was scary how good of aim that man had.

Stacking the TVs was a whole other challenge, trying to lift it up and flip it was near impossible without the help of a strong branch and rock placed under it to pry it up. Eventually, they had their stacks, along with very tired muscles and Seven was sure he nearly threw his shoulder out from picking them up.

At least Squeaks was nice enough to hunt for them. Soon after they were done, panting and resting against screens, she came padding out of the tall grass with a small dove in her teeth.

Where she learned the hunt, Seven had no idea, nor was he so keen to eating the bird raw like the feral seemed to plan on doing. She offered the dove to them, nudging it over with a closed hand, and he and the others refused it, not wanting to catch anything from it. She didn't seemed to care too much, plucking the feathers away with her teeth, spitting them out, making a small cushiony pile next to her. Her jaws opened, pointed teeth ready to bite into the bird before seeing the concerned and slightly shocked eyes of the others.

She glanced at them, slowly closing her mouth and straightening up. A small look of anxiety Seven was all too familiar with creeping along her. It didn't help it looked like they formed a wall around her. The feral looked away, before pushing it away with her hand, looking away from them.

Nosebleed cleared her throat, before offering to try and cook the dove for them. Seven nodded his head, pulling out a small pack of matches he had in his jeans pocket for her to use. She gave a quick thank you before going off to gather a few sticks to burn. Rain quickly left in an offer to help her.

Left alone with the rat child, Seven glanced back to her, seeing her now laying on the ground. She kept looking at the dove, but the look of unease on her face told him clear as day what was running in her mind.

"Squeaks, you can eat if you want, no need to feel embarrassed around it. I'm not gonna judge you," he muttered. He remembered having the same look when he was back in the Nursery, kids having to watch him eat to make sure he won't try to escape.

They would get annoyed if he took too much of their playtime, telling him to hurry up, while some just watched him with disgust as they remembered what he had done the first week he was there. It wasn't his fault her took a kid's arm off, it was Arcane's; but saying it out loud that the talking shadow in your head made you do stupid things wasn't a very good thing to say, especially if you only known them for maybe the ten minutes you were stuck together.