Rats: Shai's Story

Remembering That Night

 Ren felt odd having Todd's arm around her waist. She pushed him off of her when she felt stable on her feet.

"You okay, Stutter?" he asked.

She nodded her head and looked out at the empty street ahead of them. She couldn't remember the last time that she had seen a road. When she was at the factory, she was chained to a machine all day and all night. When she was at the farm she never passed the fence keeping them in. The asphalt was cracked and a mangle of weeds and roots were poking through. Most of the houses had smashed windows, the doors ripped off, and the roofs were caved in.

Ren knew that you weren't supposed to be outside during dark. Back in Selkirk, many people were arrested for staying out past Curfew. She doubted that any Officers were this far out. It was completely silent, and she couldn't hear anything or anyone.

"Let's try this one," Todd said.

He headed to a house with a turned over car in the front yard. The windows were broken, and the wooden porch was ripped and torn up. She followed Todd up the crumbling steps to the porch. He opened the door to see that the top hinge was broken and the door was falling to the side. Todd chuckled.

"Home sweet home, I guess," he said.

Ren rolled her eyes and stepped into the house. Todd's arm shot out and he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. Ren let out a yelp and Todd's other hand covered her mouth.

"Sssh," he whispered. "We don't know if anyone is here."

He pulled her out of the doorway and stepped into the house. Ren shook her head and followed close behind him. Ren squinted her eyes so that she could see better in the dark. Some of the furniture was flipped over and things were thrown on the ground. Todd opened up the first door and it was a bedroom.

"Stay here," Todd told her. "I'll go check out the other rooms."

Ren didn't want to stay, but it was no use trying to fight with Todd. She saw clothes hanging from the closet and it peaked her interest. She still had on the brown uniform from Brenner's farm. The smell of dirt, grass, and sweat seemed to follow her. She went over to the closet and pulled out the first thing she saw. She found a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. The tore off Brenner's clothes and kicked them to the side. She put on the new clothes that she found and rolled up the bottom of her pants so that she wasn't stepping on them. She wandered over to the window. It was broken, so she felt the cool breeze from outside.

"All the other rooms are clear," she heard Todd say. She looked over her shoulder to see him leaning against the doorframe. His arms were crossed over his chest. "I see you found something. That's a good idea. Brown never was my colour."

Todd spun around and walked out into the house. Ren went back to the closet and began to dig through it again. She didn't know when she'd find clothes again, and she didn't want to give up the chance to have something new to change into. She found a bag, and began stuffing it with all she could find. She saw another bag, but this one was a lot smaller. She opened it up and saw that it was full of things. She went back to the window and used the moonlight to see what was inside. She sat on the ground and pulled out a few tubes that she had never seen before. Her eyes lit up when opened up a smaller bag and saw that it was a pile of cash. Ren's jaw dropped when she flipped through the bills. She had never touched so much money before in her life. She folded up the bills and stuck them back into the bag.

She ran her hand along the inside of the bag and felt a small cardboard square. She pulled it out and flipped it open to see a row of matches. Ren jumped up off of the ground and ran out of the room. She found the kitchen and narrowed her eyes to try and see better in the dark. She spotted a candle on top of the refrigerator, and grabbed a chair and climbed on top of it. She got the candle and went over to the table.