The Rat in The Raincoat

Chapter 1

Note for future chapters, this is rat speech and this is normal human speech.

I thought this would a lot easier incase I decided to suddenly change perspectives.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Silence.

That's all the small rat could hear. Her tan pelt laid flat against her body, small pink ears pushed forward, shiny black eyes staring into the dark shadows around her.

Silence can be your friend, or your enemy.

From the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She looked over, small claws digging into the metal under her paws.

Silence can give birth to anxiety, and with it, paranoia.

Her tannish fur stood up, taking a small step away, eyes never leaving the shadows in front of her. Quietly, a growl a heard, footsteps following hers, circling around the small rodent.

And paranoia gives way to instincts and the will to survive.

From the shadows behind her, the rat was pounced on by a blur of yellow with a small roar. The rat let out a shriek, being sent rolling with her attacker. The light pressing of pointed teeth on her shoulder and short blunt claws on her sides made the rat squeak loudly with a small bout of laughter.

"Uncle! Uncle!" A satisfied snickering came from the yellow coated attacker, pulling away. The rat got to her paws, shaking out her fur before glancing at the other, who smiled brightly.

"Gotcha, Trinket," she squeaked, grinning as she laid and looked over at the other. The small tan rat, Trinket, give a sigh, rolling her black eyes.

"Yeah, yeah-- but only because I wanted you to!" Trinket said back, before resting on her haunches, licking her small pink paws and running them over the fur on her head and cheeks to clean her now slightly dirty pelt.

Six watched for a few heartbeat, crossing one of her paws over the other, laying on the ground with an amused look from her victory of sneaking on the rat.

She was fourteen now, she had filled out most of her yellow, sleek slip-on fur, and was just another normal rat in the colony.

Well, as normal as she could get, being completely furless (not counting the fur on her head) and her weird rubbery yellow pelt. Sure she had shorter teeth, blunt claws, no tail, no big ears, or anything like that; but, she still counted herself as being in the colony.

The rat with her, Trinket, was her older cousin; large pink rounded ears and beautiful black eyes. Her fur was soft, always plush from her constant grooming. She was Aunt Violet's daughter, the two of them were raised together since they were small pups.

It was hard to believe that just thirteen years ago them and all the other remaining pups were cuddled up around one another, now that Six thought about it. It felt like just the other day she was still in Marigold's nest with her and her adopted brother, Frost, another orphaned pup Marigold took in around the same time as her.

It was hard to believe they were nearly fifteen already, almost adults.

"Hey, Trinket to Six, c'mon, we got to get back to the colony camp and check on mom and Aunt Mari. We can't keep playing games all day anyways," Trinket said to her, dropping down to her paws. Six looked at her, before giving a small sigh.

"Fiiine, but only if you're up for a race," she stated quickly, getting up on all fours, nearly perfectly mimicking her cousin's stance. Her front paws were curled to avoid hurting her soft palms, something she learned quickly when she was learning how to walk. Her paws weren't padded like her cousin's, but she made it work.