For The Rats (One-Shots)

. The Wild Cards .

Divine Intervention. 

"You're in the wire," he guesses, excitement evident in his eyes. He seemed so proud of himself. 

"You got stuck in the wire," he says again, a big smile on his face. 

Stuck? In the wire? That's why I'm here, isn't it? 

No.  I chose this. 

Have you ever woke up in a hay field, wrapped in barbed wire and soaked in gasoline? 

I have. 

My eyelids flutter open, feeling wires digging into me in a thousand little places. I try to move but I can't, the sky above me is dark and I'm cold. I'm laying on the ground. I look down at myself to see what's going on, grateful that I had buzzed my hair off because if I hadn't it would be all in my face right now. Sticking together in clumps because I was wet. Had it rained on me? My nose burned, and it smelled of gasoline. 

But it couldn't be. 

My body is wrapped tightly in the extra wire from the fence, old rusted metal caging me in. It stabbed at me, and more than the discomfort of it I feared getting tetanus. My clothes are soaked and cling to my body, and I look up at my surroundings. That's when I see him. 

He towers over me in the darkness, a satisfied smile on his face. In his hand is a small box-- matches. 

"N-no," I utter, looking up to him. 

My heart begins to race, and my eyes flick from his hand to his face wildly. 

"No, please," I beg, frantically writhing now. I couldn't get out of the wire, I couldn't get it loose. The more I moved, it just dug into me. I try to ignore it, and continue struggling, and I can practically hear his amused smile. 

I swear mentally, panicking. I thrash more, my body long like a fish. I twist, hoping to god it would break, but even then what would I do? How could I run away? 

No, we need to stop thinking like that. 

I grit my teeth. That's how you loose your life. 

He slides the box open above me, pulling out a match. No, no. 

A dry sob escapes me and I continue thrashing. I wasn't supposed to die like this. In the woods, 80 miles from civilization. No one would find me here. No one would ever know. That's not-- 

Was I meant to die here? 

He strikes the match, and I watch it in horror, but it doesn't catch. He strikes it again, but again it doesn't light. He glares, trying again, and I can feel the annoyance starting to radiate from him. I watch him, wide eyed in horror as he tosses it to the ground and pulls out the next one. 

I cringe, and he holds it, about to strike it. 

What if this one doesn't light either?  I try to convince myself. I stare hard at the match, my heart pounding. You better not light. 

He strikes it, and it fails. My heart skips a beat. I pick back up struggling, trying to pull on the wire and make it snap. It dug into my arms but I push the feelings away, keeping my eyes wide open as I flex and push. He looks down at me and scoffs. 

"You think you're fucking strong enough to break barbed wire by pushing it?" he mocks, shaking his head at me. I don't reply, and he draws his foot backwards. I flinch and try to pull inward on myself but he's faster, and his foot collides with my ribcage. I groan, shifting away from him. 

He pulls out another match, testing it. But it too wouldn't light. He throws the box down at his feet forcefully, growling. 

"You stay here and don't move," He orders, kicking me again harshly in the side. I fold, my face twisted in pain. "You know what happens if I catch you." 

I nod, trying to appear dejected. I slump into the ground and look away, my chest moving raggedly. He seems satisfied and starts walking briskly back to the main house, a long way from where we were. We were nearly at the end of the hay field. 

This is why, once you leave you never come back. 

I begin struggling again once he's too far away to see me in the dark, panicking again as time ticks past. I lift my head and squint, seeing him duck inside the house doors about 700 feet away. It was like two football fields, ish. It was far, but still close. How fast would he find the matches? 

He'd be back soon, and-- 

No. I stop struggling. 

Breathe, I whisper gently inside my mind. Slow down to speed up, create stillness. Clarity. I couldn't do this on my own. I needed a tool. Or something sharp. I was in the hayfield, what did I have? 

I lay down flat on my back, trying to rock myself side to side until eventually I roll, and I keep rolling toward the fence. I find one of the nails that is sticking out near the bottom, holding a piece of rusted wire behind my back. I hold it over the nail, praying that it would stay stuck in the wood, and I push down hard. It creaks, and I try twisting the wire a few times in my hands, shrinking in and clenching everything to get as small as possible, giving me space to work. This had to work, because otherwise, I'd be dead. I was scared. I was fucking terrified. I hated that man and I hated this place, he wanted to burn me alive. 

Maybe it's best that he just burns me. 

Maybe that's the easiest way to die. 

What if I escape and he finds me? 

Maybe I should just let him kill me now.. 

No, no. 

I try again, forcing the nail between the barbed wire hoping it would break. I still had a future, I could still have it all. I deserved a good life. I would get it. 

I break the wire, almost crying as I hear it snap. My chest heaves, my mouth open. I glance back to the door, not seeing him anywhere near. 

Fuck, we need to get out of here. 

I thrash again, trying to peel the wire off of me. I hook one end around the nail, splitting the wire between a loop, and I roll in the other direction, my hands behind me doing their best to keep the wire free and not caught on anything. I keep rolling, until I pull too hard and the wire unhooks from the fence post, a large amount of it coming back at me. I muffle a yelp, trying to shake the wire around me loose. I push at it, snaking my arms up my body to free them. I push the wire off of me, kicking and thrashing my feet, until it's off and I'm free. 

My heart races, and I begin sprinting down the hayfield to where it met the road, away from the house. I can hear the door to the house move, barely detectable over the frogs singing. They were singing now? 

I don't look back as I dash into the woods, keeping away from the road. I sprint through trees, racing downhill, further and further from the road. I knew these woods well. Later I could think about what the fuck just happened, but right now I just needed to escape. 

I would survive, I knew that. And though I was scared shitless, the universe had my back.