Rats: Shai's Story

To The Station

Author's Note: Sorry I've taken so long to write this! Only two more chapters left and then a sequel. I'm so excited! I hope you've been enjoying this story so far. 

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Todd, Shai, Ren, Jasper, and Mikko abandoned the car at the edge of the Slums. No one drove cars outside of the derby, and the rumble of the engine would attract a lot of attention. They were dressed as Brighties, so if anyone saw them they'd be robbed in minutes. Todd and Shai were used to sneaking to and from the Market to their apartment, but they've never had to go this far before. The extra people put them at a bigger risk of getting caught too.

"I forgot how drab this side of town was," Mikko said.

"Ssshh," Shai shushed him.

Todd was leading the group. He stopped at the edge of each building, and peered out. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he ran to the next alleyway, and they followed close behind. The sound of the Market became louder and louder and Shai knew they were close.

"We need to split up," Todd said. "At least until we get into Bright. I don't want to raise suspicion."

"Good plan," Mikko said. Shai noticed that he was a lot more agreeable with Todd than any of them. "You go first and we'll follow soon after. Buy your tickets at the station and we'll meet you there."

Shai furrowed her eyebrows and looked over her shoulder at him.

"We?" she asked.

"Yes, we," he said. "I'm not prepared to fight on my own and I saw Tegan stealing my knives earlier."

"You stole knives?" Shai asked him.

"I'm not about to walk through Bright without any protection," he said.

"You'll have to get rid of these Rat like behaviours when we get to Royale," Mikko said.

Todd fished through his pocket and pulled out a small pocketknife. He handed it over to Shai and she tucked it into her pocket.

"I can't believe you didn't bring anything," Todd said. "It's like I taught you nothing."

"Now that we have that sorted, get out there kids." Mikko pushed Todd and Ren out into the Market.

--

Ren hadn't been to a Market since the day she was arrested. Her eyes kept darting up to the Officers that were wandering around. She tried to keep her eyes down, and she pulled the brim of her hat down a bit to cover her face.

"You know," she heard Todd say. "We should be acting like we're hopelessly in love."

Ren wanted to shove Todd, but Brighty girls probably never did that. She wished someone gave her a quick run down of how to act like a Brighty. Her plan was to just keep her eyes down and stay by Todd's side.

She felt like she was wobbling with every step she took. She wasn't used to the pointy shoes that she was wearing. If she was lucky enough to get shoes at the farm they were full of holes and worn down. She was paranoid that her wig was slipping and everyone could see her dark stubble of hair. Mikko gave her a jacket to wear before they left the house when he saw the crisscrossing of white scars across her back. She and Todd had to make sure their collar's were up high enough to cover the numbers that were burned into the back of their neck. Now the sun was bright and she could feel the sweat build up on her temple.

"You should probably be wearing a ring though," Todd said. "Hide your fingers."

He held out his arm toward her and she grabbed his arm. She curled her fingers in so that his body was hiding that she was hiding her bare fingers.