It had been another dull day in the summer, hot and sweaty, not much to do. Later on I would wish it had stayed like that-

Like I had said, the summer was sweaty and hot. Me and the boys usually spent our days at the lakes, swimming, target practice, building new tree ramps, just trying to stay cool in the shade. Today however, we hung out at Triston’s new garage. He wanted to show us a new truck he was working on, and would gladly work on our trucks for us. Triston was having the time of his life, going from one truck to another, polishing, taking things apart, he was happiest when dealing with trucks. The rest of us however, were dying of heat. Even in the shade, we were sweating like crazy. Kayton and Brexit were chugging water like they hadn’t drank in days. The Rigg brothers were trying to take off their metal parts; Crutch’s left arm lay in his lap. Kane wiped his brow, only to do it again a few minutes later. My boyfriend lay on the steel rafters of the garage like some sort of panther. I had no idea how he’d gotten up there, but he seemed content and cool, so i guess it was fine. As for me, i stayed as far away from the group as possible. My rotting disease and hot weather did not mix well. The sweat made it worse. The smell was putrid, thinking of rotting meat left out on a hot summer's day wouldn’t even begin to describe the smell that seeped from underneath my wraps. And my skin and tissue was another problem all together. On days like this, it turned to warm sludge, which was not a very nice feeling to have on your back. 

I wriggled in my shady corner, I badly wanted to rip off my chest strap, shirt, and wraps. In my head I slapped myself, I should've worn a silicone that day. Just another hour or two, then I could go home and rinse, open the drain, and pick off all the skin and bits of rotting flesh. I closed my eyes and smiled, tilting my head backwards against the cold steel wall. That was one of the most satisfying things about showering for me, picking off the rotting flesh so that new skin could grow back. I decided today I’d try a new product that my doctor had given me. It was a sort of drying soap, meant to be used on the bones, so they wouldn’t be wet and moist. I opened my eyes, seeing that Horus was looking down at me with sleepy eyes, a small grin on his face. I grinned back, pretending to kiss him. He rolled his eyes but returned the gesture. I knew he liked it, he just pretended not to. The blush spreading across his face proved my point.

“Are you done yet?” Crutch complained, ripping the brace off this right shoulder. “I'm bored and want a shower. I could also go for a burger-”

Triston rolled his eyes, obviously not amused. “I'm almost done, gimme fifteen more minutes. Then you can do whatever.” 

Kayton groaned from his shady corner, he was very impatient. Triston shot him a dirty look before going back underneath Brexit’s truck. Kayton laughed “I honestly could go for a burger as well, like the ones they sell at that drive through place at the edge of town.” 

“What are you talking about?! The burgers from the bar are MUCH better.” From there the boys started arguing about what burgers were better; from the bar, or from the drive through place at the edge of town. I closed my eyes again, gods it was hot. Suddenly there was the common crunch of gravel outside the garage. We all perked up, not many people came to the garage in this heat. Everyone was interested, except Triston. “What do these people want now?!” He angrily threw a damp towel on his work table. Shoving his gloves into the pocket of his jumpsuit. He walked out, “What do you want now?” He asked. We followed him out, I stood next to Triston to see what all the commotion was about. At first everything was a blur, but as my vision cleared I curled my lip, balling my hand into a fist. I wasn’t happy with who had just shown up at the garage. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dealing with lab rats?!” I hissed under my breath. Triston shrugged, not looking at me. His explanation was that he didn’t want a second “destruction in the woods”. I rolled my eyes; that day had been loads of fun. As Rotter H 916A’s group leader, I had a right to know these things. Lab rats took our jobs.

I never got them really. They came from the city and hunted down rotters in their “clean and friendly” ways. There was nothing clean and friendly about hunting and killing rotters. I despised them, in their clean little lab coats, guns with a taser and tracking beam, the lack of blood. Another thing that bothered me is that they got whatever they wanted. Hunting grounds, permits, new weapons, partners. You name it, if they wanted it, they got it, no questions asked. Most people asked what separated us from the lab rats. It’s simple, we come from the country and are dirty and harsh, they come from the city and are pretty and clean. 

I thought about this while staring at the five cars before us. Suddenly, the drivers door to the car in the front opened. The car was black with purple flames, and was obviously an expensive hybrid; something you could race around in in the city and off road in in the country, even if the car was relatively low. A young man that was probably a year or two older than me stepped out of this car, looking over us with a sort of distaste. As he approached, I crossed my arms over my chest, playing with a small knife I kept stored in my leather gloves. “How can I help you?” Triston asked, giving the lab rat a once over. 

“I need an inspection on my car, it’s making a strange sound.” The man fiddled with something in his back pocket. “I’ve got cash.”

Triston clucked his tongue, slightly shaking his head, “Sorry man, we don’t work with hybrid sports.” The man tried to argue that we were a garage, we should know how to deal with every type of car. With this, Triston got snappy. “Listen here, I don’t know exactly where you’re from, but I’m assuming the city. Out here in the country, we only own trucks, motorcycles, and trailers, none of this fancy, useless, junk.” 

The man's cheeks seemed to blow up slightly at this. Finally he exhaled, “Could you at least take a look.” He took out a few bills, handing them to Triston, I watched as the exchange happened. 

He’d given Triston two tens and a twenty. My friend pocketed the money, grinning slightly, “I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise much.” The man grinned back, and motioned for a car to come forward. It was lime green, a black skull ghost printed on the doors. As it drove forward, it made an awful rattling sound, it sounded like metal against metal. Triston watched, and quietly laughed when the car came at a stop before him. “Oh this is actually quite simple. The electronic pipe is bangged up.” He walked into the garage and came back a few minutes later with a new pipe. “Replace the bangged up pipe with this one and you’re good to go.” 

The guy stared at the two foot long pipe that lay in his hands. “I’m not a mechanic, I don’t know how to attach this.” Triston sighed, rolling his eyes. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out some instructions.

“Here you go,” he said, tossing them at the guy, “if you can’t figure that out, go to a garage that works with cars like yours.” The man argued that Triston was the mechanic, and he should therefore fix it. He had laughed and stated that it was his day off, and that he was only here to work on personal projects. “Now, pay up.” The guy had seen it as unfair, but eventually paid the sixty dollars. Triston riffled through the bills once more, flashing them at me. “Burger money.” He smiled, before pocketing the cash. 

The man still stood there, staring at us. During this awkward time, I studied him. He had black wavy hair that went to his ears, lightly tanned skin, and freckles. He had a scar that ran across his lips, and strange coral pink eyes. He wore a lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a dark grey v-neck, black jeans, and combat boots. Delicate wildflowers had been inked into his skin, each flower a light shade of pink. Both ears had four piercings each, and a small silver chain hung around his neck. He wore thick silver bands around his fingers, and a knife seemed to be strapped to the side of his right boot. 

Triston raised an eyebrow, “Anything else I can help you with?” I could tell the young man's presence annoyed Triston.

“Yes actually, i heard that there were…rotter hunters around?” He said “rotter hunters” as if the words left a bad taste in his mouth. Triston eyed him as he spat in the grass.

I took a step forward, if he wanted to talk about us, he’d talk with me. “Yea,” i said, getting in front of Triston, “what do ya wanna know?” I curled my tongue slightly inside of my mouth.

“Well i wanted to speak with them.” He smiled warmly, but there was an edge to his voice.

I laughed, spreading out my arms. “Then talk boy, we’re Rotter H group 916A, and I’m the captain.” I tapped the brim of my hat twice, displaying the logo.

His eyes went wide for a second, then he smirked. “I’m Aries, captain of Labrator group A95, section six. We’ve been sent by the government to do work out here for a while.” I cursed, walking up to him. I shoved my hands in my pockets and stopped once I was about a foot away from him, glaring. He scrunched his nose, and brought out a spray bottle of some kind, feverishly spraying me with the strong smelling liquid. I covered my mouth and nose with my mask and coughed. It was very strong smelling, and had been sprayed right in my face. My eyes burned from the chemicals, so did my nose. “You my friend,” he said, looking down at me, “smell terrible.” 

As I got over my coughing fit, I rolled my eyes. “What do you expect? I work in the outdoors running around and killing, of course I’m going to smell!” 

He smiled as I got up again. “Yes, but your stench over powers that of your colleagues.” I rolled my eyes once more. “You could come back to the lab with us, we’ll give you something so you don’t smell as bad as everything else. So that ROT doesn’t seep through the cracks of your clothes.” My blood ran cold as he looked me dead in the eyes. “We won’t kill you, no. We’ll study you and make life easier for you.” 

I backed up, how did he know? My hat and hair mostly shielded my eyes, so you couldn’t see the yellow and the glow. I tried to laugh it off, my shoulders moving slightly with fakeness. “What are you talking about, it’s just an eye disease.” I pointed at my eyes, this is how I usually get away with having the rotting disease, “I have phosphoresce80, like him-” I stated cooly, pointing at my boyfriend. Horus had phosphoresce80, color tB98c. I looked back at Aries and laughed again, “I just happen to have an unusually light ork56a-L color. I’ve gotten it checked out, it's rare but it does exist.” I had made that up a long time ago to convince everyone who asked about my eyes. It always worked, except for today. 

Aries eyed me, “Never heard of it; the case or the name type.” He got up in my face again, getting up to my ear and whispering “I know.” His hand traveled to my chest strap. I slapped his hand away, before he could touch the strap or my back. He smiled, liking the tension, the fear in my eyes. He circled me slowly, his boots crunching the gravel below. “We all know what you are.” He stated loudly. “Things like you roam around, a danger to society. What would the government think if they knew one with rotting disease was among the Rotter Hunters. Better yet, that they let them be a captain!” He smiled when he was in front of me once more. “I know all your little secrets Breaker, the disappointment and fear that gnaw away at your core. How you try so hard to be part of our world and be accepted. That's all you want isn’t it?” He smirked, and I curled my lip in distaste.

“How many you got?” I questioned, trying to play the big bad rotter hunter that everyone feared.

Aries smiled, “KIDS,” he yelled over his shoulder, “come out and show yourselves.” Labrators crawled out of the five cars like sewer rats, all with their perfect little labcoats on. One girl came up to Aries, and he put an arm around her waist. “Hi kitten” he purred, putting a finger under her chin.

“Hi baby” she returned, sticking her tongue out slightly. I rolled my eyes for the hundredth time. 

“So Breaker,” Aries called, “this is my gang.” There were abt twenty to twenty-five of them. They all looked relatively similar, all lab rats did. I stared at them in disgust. They reeked of development and chemicals. “You’ll see my friend,” I hated that he called me his friend, I’d never be friends with someone like that, “you’ll see that we easily outnumber you.”

I laughed, “Experience easily overpowers numbers.” 

He smirked “Oh yea? But what about weapons?” He told his “kids” to grab their toys from their cars. He grabbed his own, and decided to show it off. “This is an AR63-canon stalker. Ever heard of it?” I’d heard of it and seen it on the news, but never seen one in person, or in use- “Well” he continued, “this is how it works. First, you select the target, input the blood type, whatever, it’ll track you. Then, you activate the gun.” He fixed his stance and turned on the gun. It made a high pitched screech when it did. “Next, you scan with the gun” a green laser shit out front the gun. He slowly walked by us, the laser scanning us slowly. “This trusty laser never fails, and when it finds its target,” the laser went across my chest, turning from green to red, settling right above my heart, “bang.” He flashed me a toothy grin, revealing the fake canine tooth printed with a lab code. If he spit it out, it’d explode. “Don’t worry, I still have the cap on.” He explained. I just shook my head, and told him to put the gun thing down. He sighed, obviously bored. “Well, the AR63-canon stalker is a perfect shot, never misses. Once the laser turns red, the bullet is fired automatically and never misses. It’s MUCH better than your rusty little guns you carry.” I thought it was lazy that a laser did all of the work. Where was the fun in any of that? You missed the thrill of pulling the trigger and hoping you had the right target, and if you didn’t, you had the thrill of running away, hope you weren’t seen, and hoping you didn’t get caught and charged.

I looked at the gun, studying the laser and barrel. It looked so cheap that I could snap it in half over my knee. And where were their other toys? Were they that boring? Where were the bombs? Dynamite? Electric wiring? Grappling hooks? Chains and chainsaws? Knives and that weird death bringer thing that Brexit owned? Yes, we had an advantage. Not only did we have more experience, but we had the toys as well. You named it, we had it. And their cars, they made me want to hurl. What was with the low wheels and the bright colors? Our trucks were a million times better, and Horus’ old motorcycle was pretty fun too. As I scanned over them all, I saw them less as a threat and competition, but more of an annoyance that I had to deal with. Looking over Aries’ group, I realized that the genders were mixed. About ten to thirteen females, ten to twelve males. Aries must’ve realized that I was checking out his gang because he smiled. “Breaker, do you see the variety that I have here? We have both male and female. I let anyone who was good at decontaminating in.” And can pay enough I thought. Labrators paid their captains for protection from others. That’s what happened when they ran a corrupt system. “Decontamination” was their way of saying “killing rotters'' according to them and the urban public, it was the more “humane” way of saying it. 

Aries stepped forward, eyeing my group. He stopped about two feet away from me. “We include both males and females, we are more equal, you on the other hand…” he motioned with his eyes to my boys, “are all male.” But then he looked down, not at the ground, but at my pants, then he turned his head upward and focused on my chest. “Well” he said, looking at me in the eyes again, “almost all male.” He smiled, flashing all of his teeth at me, I clenched my hand into a fist and snarled.

“What are you tryna get at? Is there a problem that I go by they/them?” 

He smiled again “That’s not the problem. The problem is why you go by they/them.” My head started to spin. No, NO, he couldn’t know. Could he? You couldn’t tell- I must've had a panicked look in my eye because the labrat smiled. He bit his lip, taking his hand out of his pocket and pointing at me. “I see it.” He stated, “I see the way your chest has been crudely cut apart and sewn back together, so that it has more of a masculine shape and look to it. I see how those pants you wear, that come from the men’s section no doubt, don’t fit you right. Oh sure, your jaw may be correct for a male, but everything else?” he smiled wickedly as he said this, “Your body couldn’t decide if it wanted to be male or female, so it decided to be both.” 

I swallowed, trying to stay calm. “I have no idea what you're talking about. And I have no idea why this is any of your business.”

He smiled again. I had made a mistake- “It’s my business, because I work in a lab. I’ve heard of your case, few people actually have it, and it usually goes hand in hand with the rotting disease. It’s usually the first sign that the child may be a carrier.” I exhaled, How long have I been holding my breath for? I hated Aries, the way he could get under my skin, how he knew so many personal facts. His smile turned into a strained grin, going too much into his eyes. “You have Hermaphro93H, something that affects only a handful of people in this world. You are a hermaphrodite, a person who’s body couldn’t choose to be male or female, so it chose to be both.” My head started to spin faster, giving me a migraine. Only a handful of people knew, my doctor, my parents and the boys- I didn’t want to know how Aries knew all this, and what other secrets he knew. It’d drive me insane until the day I died. Aries must’ve found pleasure from my pain because he kept going. “THAT’S why you go by they/them, because you would never fit in the category of male or female pronouns.” I curled my lip in disgust, I wanted to reach for my bat and bash this kid's skull in, watch his brains leak out onto the floor, here him moan in pain before the final blow.

  Aries looked over my shoulder and yelled at my boys. “IS THIS WHAT YOU RUN AROUND WITH??? A HERMAPHRODITE?? DON’T YOU GUYS KNOW THAT’S ILLEGAL? THAT THIS THING IS ILLEGAL AND SHOULDN’T BE LIVING? I’M SURPRISED YOU BOYS HAVE THE GUTS TO WORK WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS!” 

I closed my eyes. He had screamed that out so loud that I’m pretty sure the whole world knew that I was born with Hermaphro93H. I hung my head in shame. Aries was correct. I was illegal. Anyone born with Hermaphro93H had to be killed the second they were born, that’s why so few of us lived. According to the government, we were a threat to society. But why? Because we happened to be both genders in the same body? I never understood why people were so scared of us, and why in the world we were seen as a threat. But that’s the way the world was, cruel and unaccepting. I sighed, looking at Aries from underneath the brim of my hat. He eyed me like a viper, eyes trained on its prey. “Freak.”

My world shattered around me. I was no longer twenty-three and outside the garage. I was now nine years old again, in my little light blue shorts nd while collared shirt, standing in the middle of my bedroom on the rug. My parents towered over me, their faces obscured by the light. All I could see were their smiles holding evil intentions. My father had a thick leather cord in his hand, my mother had some type of black stick: a riding crop. “Freak” they chanted in unison. “Freak, freak, freak. You're such a freak. Who would want a freak like you? Freak. Why didn’t we let them kill you when we had the chance? Freak. When it wouldn’t be scene as murder. Freak. We can’t kill you now freak. We’ll just torture you till you die. Freak. No one would care if you disappeared. Freak. We should just kill you now. Freak. But then we wouldn’t have anymore fun. Freak.” I remember the hot tears pouring down my face, asking why. What had I done to deserve this? Because I was a hermaphrodite, and in my parents eyes, I didn’t belong. In everyone's eyes, I didn’t belong. I remembered hanging my head in shame, the thick leather cord being tied tightly behind my back around my wrists, being kicked in the knees and falling to the floor. My head slamming into the cool carpet, the feeling of the snap of the crop against my back, getting harder and more painful every time it came in contact with my back. My shirt being cut open, sitting up to expose my then deformed chest, a chest that wasn’t appropriate for a nine year old  boy. Feeling my warm blood run down my back, and pool in my shorts and leak onto the rug. The rug was red for a reason. To hide the stains. And this was before they knew I carried the rotting disease. The beatings got worse every time, it was a living hell. I remembered the sharp pains, their words, the dripping blood, the hot tears, their choices of tool for abuse, and screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming till I couldn’t scream anymore. 

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I started to get lost in my thoughts of the past, spiraling deeper and deeper into the dark parts of my mind. I couldn’t deal with it. All of these repressed thoughts and feelings erupted once Aries said “freak”. I bit my lip and shut my eyes, trying to keep back burning tears. I wanted to curl into a ball and die. What ripped me back to reality is when someone’s hand came in contact with mine. 

I found that I was crouched down, hugging my knees, Hiding my face. I looked up to see who was holding my hand. But I could tell by the cool feeling on the person's arm that it was Horus who was holding my hand. He was looking down at me, worried as ever. He crouched down to my level, holding my face. “It’s ok babe, It’s alright. I’m here, I’m not leaving you.” I grasped his arms tightly, not wanting him to leave. He took off my hat, kissing me lightly on the forehead, then putting my hat back on. “C’mon babe, Im not letting these rats hurt you anymore.” I grinned a little, Horus always made me feel better, no matter the situation.

He helped me up, my hand in his, and we turned and faced Aries together. I smiled. It was time we gave these rats a little show. See what we were really capable of. That we gave no mercy to anyone outside of Rotter H group 916A.

Aries stared at Horus’ fingers laced through mine and giggled. “Not only are you a carrier and a hermaphrodite, but your also gay?!? Oh this just gets better and better. No wonder why your parents didn’t want you, now wonder why they beat you. You are an absolute disappointment.” I set my jaw straight and tightened my grip on Horus’ hand. He gave a little squeeze in response. 

I took a step towards Aries, dropping my boyfriend's hand. “Listen here nit wit. I may have been a disappointment to a few select individuals, but to these boys and the town? There isn’t a thing wrong with me. There was a reason why I was chosen as captain. Not only was I a good hunter, but I care about these boys and their feelings. I learned to be a leader. But what about you? Did your daddy pay a pretty penny for you to be in the position?” I flashed a Cheshire Cat smile. I knew I had hit a soft spot in this idiot. Everyone knew that almost all Labrator captains paid for that position, and it was usually paid with their rich parents money. 

He snarled, not happy with my response. “I could have anyone of you right now. Anyone I wanted.” I should’ve taken this as a warning-

“Oh yea? I thought you had something against gays, and almost all of us are guys-” he shifted uncomfortably. I smiled again, I liked that he was suddenly uncertain. That it felt like he was standing on water instead of solid ground.

“I want one.” A voice piped up. I looked around for the source. I looked down and faced the girl that had been wrapped around Aries waist. His kitten. “I want one.” She repeated. “There’s some rugged handsomeness to these boys that I like.” She scrunched her nose and pointed at me. “But not that thing. I never want to be seen with something like that. I want one of the hot ones. Baby, can we get one?”

 Aries smiled down at who I assumed was his girl. “Of course we can kitten. Which one do you want?” She bit her lip while she decided. 

I put my hand out. “You’re not getting anyone of these boys. If they want you, well that’s a different story. But on my watch, you stay away from them.”

Aries curled his lip in disgust. “Why do you mother them like that? They’re old enough to make their own decisions. I have no idea why they follow the things you say.”

Horus stepped in, taking my hand once more. “They don’t mother them, they care about them.” I smiled down at my boyfriend. He looked up and smiled at me.

I turned back to the dumb labrat in front of me. “I know how your system works. It’s so corrupt and just rots away at its core. You would stab each other in the back the second you got the chance. Don’t lie, I’ve seen it. In the end the group no longer works together. They either break up or turn against each other. Every single time. That’s how us Rotter Hunters are better than you, because we keep it together, stay together till the end.” 

Aries snapped, “Why you little-”, and lunged at me. 

I easily side stepped it, looking down as he fell in the dirt. I laughed, stepping on his back, “having fun?” He spit out dirt, swearing like a sailor. I threw my head back and laughed, he was just too much. He started to fight me, trying to bring me on the floor with him. I crouched down next to him, picked him up, and tossed him back. 

He stood up and dusted off his precious lab coat. He glared daggers at me, and I smirked. Then he smiled back, and I got a bad feeling. “Oh Breaker, you should know something.” He got up in my face again. “Us labrators have something you don’t, and that’s money. We can get whatever we please,” he smiled and looked over my shoulder, “and whoever we please.” I turned around and wanted to scream. Aries had distracted me, long enough for his little lab rat gang to go around me and get at my boys. 

Each of the guys had two to three lab rats draped over them, asking them to come home and have some fun with them, anger boiled inside of me. Every single one of them looked uncomfortable, even Crutch, who liked this kind of attention. Then I looked at Ash, and I felt like I had failed as his captain. Ash had the attention of several girls, including Aries’ girlfriend “Kitten”. I had a feeling that they were giving him the most attention because he couldn’t say “no”. But I could see the discomfort on his face, that dark cloud that started to form over him. His head hung low, and his shoulders were slouched. He had about five girls surrounding him, one behind him, another draped on his shoulder, and two others touching him. Kitten seems to be the ringmaster of that hell, her hands around his waist, moving them down to his hips. He swallowed uncomfortably as she looked up at him. “Ya know, I think you really are something. You’re actually kinda handsome, even with the ugly burns. But I can bring you back, we’ll fix you right up. Then you’ll be a handsome boy. You’re actually kinda fun, even though you don’t talk much. Can you talk? No? That’s fine, I like a guy who listens. And…” she got up in his ear, “you couldn’t say no to anything I do.” She smiled at him, sticking out her tongue slightly. Ash opened his mouth, trying to say something, but no sound came out. The other women left, going to one of the other boys. Kitten now found this the right time, she thought no one was watching her, so she made her move. She put her arms around his neck, swaying her hips slightly, starting to grind up against him. I started to slowly walk over, Ash was never into this kind of thing and it always made him uncomfortable. She started whispering to him, but I had no idea what she had said. I watched in horror as the next scene played out in front of me. Kitten removed one of her arms, and put her fingers through the belt loops of his pants. She removed her hand from his belt loop, moving her hands downward. With one finger she slowly traced his pants pockets, moving her hand lower and lower. With three fingers she moved her hand up and down in a specific spot, up and down, light at first, then slowly applying pressure. Ash bit the right corner of his lip, not because it felt good, but because he wanted to scream. He squirmed, so uncomfortable at this point, his shoulders starting to move slightly. 

Kitten went back to using one finger, running it up and down the zipper of his pants. Then she did it. She unzipped his belt, and I watched as it hung by his leg. She unbuttoned his pants and slowly unzipped his fly. She looked up at Ash, and he mouthed “please stop”. He tried to tear away, but she dug her nails into his arm, keeping him there. He hung his head as though his neck was broken. She smiled, and in one swift movement, her hand went inside Ash’s pants. At this point he didn’t even try to do anything. She put her head against his chest and looked up at him, letting go of his arm and moved her hand so that it was right above his heart. “You’re a big boy, aren’t you? You like it?” Her words seemed to drip off her tongue. Ash couldn’t speak, he just slowly shook his head, his eyes now covered by his hair. “I’m sorry babe, I can’t hear you. I assume you like it and I’ll keep going.” His shoulders started shaking violently, baring his teeth; his pride and dignity had been ripped away from him in an instant. By this point I was right behind her…

I clamped down on her shoulders, yanking her back. I caught her hand that she had tried to pleasure Ash with. I snarled, and slowly applied pressure to her wrist. She started to whine, it was starting to become uncomfortable for her. I smiled down at her, winked, and with one swift movement of my hand, I shattered her wrist. She screamed in pain, thrashing about, trying to pull away. I just gripped her wrist harder, feeling her broken wrist shift underneath the pressure. She screamed again, which caused Aries to run over. I smiled at him, then back down at his helpless kitten, eyes wild. I gripped her throat, starting to apply pressure. 

I looked around, Kitten’s screams had been enough of a warning to the others, because they had backed off from my boys and were now by their cars. I scanned the area for Ash, and found him being comforted by Crutch and Triston. Triston had a hand on his shoulder, while Crutch held him close. Ash seemed dead, burying his face in his brother’s shoulder. Crutch looked down at his twin, making Ash look at him. They touched foreheads, a sign of affection, and Ash started to calm down. “I promise that no one will ever touch you like that again, ok? We’ll get her if Breaker doesn’t, leave it to me.” Ash nodded his head, and Crutch put his hand on his brother’s other shoulder. I smiled, yes they were the most psychotic twins I had ever met, which made them absolutely amazing, but when you stripped away the layers, they were just two brothers who loved each other dearly.

I motioned with my head at Triston, and he nodded, signaling that Ash would be ok. With that, I focused my attention back to the girl before me. 

She was tearing at my hand with her good one, leaving little scratch marks on my fingers. I had no intention of letting go. I started to squeeze harder, and she started to make a choking noise, her mouth open wide. Aries looked at me, panic written all over his face. “Please, let her go, she did nothing wrong- she did nothing to deserve this-”

“OH BUT SHE DID!” I yelled, “SHE TOUCHED ONE OF MY BOYS EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AND SHE NEEDS TO PAY!” I looked down at her and tightened my grip, her face going from red to a light blue. I smiled at Aries, then started to lift his girl off the ground. Her legs kicked out wildly, her body thrashing around, still clawing at my hand. “You like that princess?” She couldn’t shake her head or speak, she just choked. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. I assume you like it and I’ll keep going.” I tightened my grip, her face going from blue to a deep shade of purple. 

“PLEASE!” Arise screamed. He looked at me desperately, I liked that he begged, I loved the tension. 

I looked back up at his Kitten. Her face was the deepest shade of purple, she had stopped thrashing and kicking, stopped clawing at my hand, and her chest stopped rising and falling. She started to feel cold, a pulse barely there. She stopped making noise, her body going limp, eyes rolled in the back of her head. “PLEASE! YOU MONSTER- YOUR ABOUT TO KILL HER!” 

I rolled my eyes. “Calm down you big baby. I haven’t killed her, I’m leaving that to the Rigg brothers.” With that I let her go. Her body fell on the floor like an old rag doll, all bent out of shape. A minute passed, then her chest started to rise and fall, her face slowly becoming a normal color once more, her breath raspy and broken.

“KITTEN!” Aries screamed, starting to run to her. I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at her head. One shot and she’d be dead. Aries stopped in his tracks, and I grinned. He got the message, knowing the power I held. I walked over to him, shoving my pistol underneath my belt, my grin turning into a smile. “YOU-” he started, but had no time to finish. My knuckles cracked as my fist hit him square in the jaw. He soared backwards, skidding across the gravel. He sat up, holding his jaw. He spat out four teeth, his mouth and nose both gushing blood. He got up unsteadily and swayed, blood pouring down his chin. He opened his mouth, revealing a huge, punched-in mess. His jaw cracked as he did so, I’m pretty sure it was either dislocated or broken. 

We both looked over at Kitten when she started to make noise. “My head-” she moaned, putting her good hand to her forehead. Her color was getting better, but her voice and breathing was raspy and rigid, I had probably damaged her voice box and windpipe when I had choked her. 

“Get up.” I ordered, motioning with my head. She looked at me woozily but in the end, stood. She stumbled over, she knew that she belonged with her own kind. Aries tried to run to her, hand reaching out, but a double click of carise9 shotguns brought both of the lab rats to a dead stop.

Horus smiled, a gun in either hand pointed at their heads. “I wouldn’t try anything if I were you-” Kane chided from the sidelines, “he’s the best shot in this section, whole country even. And his partner,” he nodded at me, “will bash your brain to bits. As for us” he smirked, “well, we all have our own deadly specialties, so you’ll have a variety in the ways you can go.” Aries put his hand down and I motioned for Kitten to keep walking. She did so, cradling her broken wrist, glaring daggers at Aries as she passed him. 

I smiled, lip slightly curled, hand shoved down deep into my pockets once more. I turned around to my boys and did a gesture with my head. They smiled, knowing what it meant; flush em out. I slowly walked towards Aries, listening to the gravel crunch under my feet. The boys mimicked my pace, and we all walked forward. The lab rats started to cower back, even Aries backed up slightly. I unhitched the large chain that hung from my hip, swinging it around in a loose circle. Aries eyed it’s attachment in fear. Attached to the end of the chain was a large grappling hook, each one of the prongs nine inches long and an inch thick. It was also stained. Flakes of dried blood, mud, hair, and flesh clung to it. I easily wiped it off on my pants, watching it sparkle in the late afternoon sun. How long had these idiots been here? To long in my opinion. This section and the areas around it was our playground. Our rotters. Our people. There was a reason labrators were given the nickname “lab rats”. They came out of nowhere, but originated from the labs. There was no stopping them. They weaved their way into social classes and were there to stay. They infested every section of this country, they were pests. 

I looked up at the group before us. Little to their knowledge, we had flushed them out past their junky cars. They would no longer be able to drive away. If they wanted to leave, they could run. I looked at Aries as he slowly backed up. “Hey Aries!” I called. He looked frightened as he looked up. “Ever met a tar demon?”

He looked confused, his eyebrow arching slightly. “A what?”

“A tar demon.” I said flatly, studying the chain in my hand. “They’re absolutely enormous. It’s something like a horse skeleton kept together by tar. Everyone said that it was only a legend to scare little ones not to go into the woods at night, but…” I looked at him from underneath the brim of my hat, “it turns out that they aren’t a legend, they’re real. They roam the woods at night, looking for unlucky animals to devour. Although they consider humans a treat.” I winked at him and he seemed to get smaller. I laughed and grabbed him by his collar, getting up close to his face. “I’ve seen one before, a tar demon. They’re monstrous, and their call is chilling enough to turn your blood to ice. You better be careful where you put your nose boy, cause you just might end up killed. Now, leave, and don’t come back.” He nodded his head vigorously, showing that he understood. I knew he didn’t, I just had to give him a few seconds to understand that I was serious. “NOW SCRAM, BEFORE I FILL YOU WITH HOLES!” I dropped him on the ground and watched him cower back like a frightened dog. I giggled. “FIVE… FOUR…” Aries scrambled to his feet and started running, his gang following. I laughed, something so psychotic that my boys looked at me and backed away, they knew what happened when I got like this. “WHERE YA GOIN BOY?! I WASN’T FINISHED!” With that I threw the grappling hook as hard as I could, the chain soaring. The hooks found their target, inserting themselves deep in Aries flesh. Specifically the soft spot underneath his ribs. I yanked back and he screamed, the prongs were now protruding out of him. I twisted the chain, bringing him down to the ground. I slowly pulled him towards me as he screamed in pain. He wriggled around, desperately trying to get the hook out of him. If anything, it made the hook go deeper into his side. I saw as he twisted and turned, he started to badly scratch up his stomach and arm, his clothes were also stained a deep crimson, leaving bloody drag marks behind. When he finally got to me, I picked him up, he withered in pain, and I wrapped him in my heavy chain, pulling at the grappling hook, watching as it tore at his skin. I threw him down on the ground, a loud crack coming from him as I did so. I looked down at my hands, a thick, warm liquid coating them; blood. I rubbed it between my fingers and smiled, rubbing it off on my chest strap. I pulled at the chain, getting a groan in response. I smashed my knee against Aries’ spine, kneeling down on him with my whole body. His spine bent and cracked underneath the pressure, a little more weight and it’d snap in half. With my knee on his back, I could feel the grappling hook move inside of him. It pressed deeper into him, and I could now clearly see two of the prongs sticking out the back of him. I yanked on it, and Aries screamed. He begged me to stop, to let him go, to take the hook out, but I only pressed it deeper into his side. He moaned in pain, the hole in his side so big that I could’ve fit my whole fist inside. “I still need you for something buddy.” I sneered, “Let’s call your little group back over.”

He shook his head as best he could while pinned to the ground. “No, please, they won’t listen. You’re right, our system is messed up, they only listen as long as I’m captain! In a position like this, they’ll never listen!”

“Oh yea? I think I’ve got something that’ll make them stop. AIM!!!” Each one of my boys drew a gun, pointing it at the labrats heads. They came to a dead stop the minute they heard the click of the guns. They tried to slowly back away but I had a plan. I pulled out my pistol, yanked Aries up by the chain, and aimed at his head. “COME HERE RIGHT NOW OR I BLOW HIS HEAD OFF!!!” They slowly started towards us, even against Aries protests. “That's it,” i urged, “and don’t try anything funny, you’ve got the deadest shots aiming at your heads!” They looked on warrily, but eventually stood in a line before us. “Now,” i chidded, “I want you to instruct them to do whatever I say.” 

“Never.” Aries spat. I backhanded him twice and smashed my knee on his chin. His head flew back, and when he looked back up at me, his bottom lip was split open. I felt as warm, fresh blood and saliva poured onto my hand and chain, running down my arms, dripping off my elbows. 

“Let’s try again. I want you to instruct them to do whatever i say.” He muttered under his breath, but with a yank of the chain and a loud moan of pain, he complied. “You are to never step foot in this town or these woods again. This belongs to Rotter H group 916A. If any lab rat from this group is ever seen stepping over their borders, they’ll be shot to death.” I added a few more threats and with a few hard tugs of the chain and hook, Aries repeated everything. 

“Yea right!” A brave girl sneered. “Like you could ever do something like that.” Triston aimed at her head, and started to squeeze the trigger.

I looked down at the ground, my hat shielding my eyes. I let out a low laugh while slowly looking up at Labrator group A95, section six. “Kane, show Labrator group A95, section six the bottle containing the remnants of Labrator group B57, section eighty one, category Z.” The labrats’ faces went white at the recognition of the group name. 

Kane chucked a small orange pill bottle at them. They were almost afraid to catch it. “Don’t worry,” Kane said cooly, “they won’t explode…yet-” 

The brave girl opened the small bottle and dumped the contents into the palm of her hand. “They’re teeth.” She gasped, “Labrator teeth-” 

“Give me one.” A guy shrieked, “I wanna see if they’re real or not.” He looked up in horror once he saw the serial number, group name, and the name of the tooth’s old owner.

I gave them a tight lipped grin. “Ever heard of ‘destruction in the woods’? No? Well let me give you a little history lesson. Two years back, a famous Labrator group went in this section to scout these parts and went missing, never to be seen again, not a single trace.” I giggled “That is all that remains of the group.” Kane opened his hand, and they tossed the pills back. 

“Now, you have twenty seconds to run away, to never let us see you again. If we do, well… let’s say you’ll end up something like Labrator group B57, section eighty one, category Z.” I looked down at Aries, “Please don’t scream. If you do, I’ll backhand you again.“

“Huh? WAIT NO!” I shoved my hand inside the hole in his side, grabbed the grappling hook and yanked hard. He screamed as I wrenched it out, blood gushing everywhere. I looked at my hook, now covered in fresh blood and flesh, also some clothing from Aries. I shook the hook out and the large chunk of flesh fell somewhere. I pulled at the chain, making it tighter around his throat so that he started to turn a light blue. I backhanded him twice and punched his eye in. When I let him go he had a large fist-sized hole in his left side, a beat up face, and chain link bruises all over his body, but most visible at the neck.

I looked forward as he stumbled to his group. “Brexit, give me a countdown to twenty.”

“But, our cars-” a lab rat whined. 

“I’ll return them to you.” Kayton snapped. “Meet on the left side of the south border tomorrow at  ten and your cars will be waiting. If you’re there any earlier or try and jump me, I’ll kill you.” The labrats went quiet. Kayton nodded at me for permission, and I nodded back, saying that it was ok to do so.

“Brexit!” I barked.

“Yes cap?”

I flashed a killer smile, “Give em a countdown.”

“TWENTY… NINETEEN… EIGHTEEN…” The rats started running as fast as they could, searching for safety of the tree line. “FIFTEEN… FOURTEEN…” Horus walked up next to me, gun in hand. “TWELVE…”

“Pick em off.” Horus raised his gun, pulling the trigger nine times. Each bullet found its target, lodging themselves in their targets heads. Eight labrats fell, dead before they hit the ground. Kitten had gotten special treatment, two bullets in her head. The shots left the remaining Labrators in a panicked frenzy, trying to get to safety as fast as possible. 

“ONE…!!!” There was silence, no movement, nothing. The remaining lab rats had made it to the safety of the forest. But I knew their games. They’d keep quiet till we were vulnerable, then they’d kill us.

We kept quiet for a while, then I turned to Crutch. “Crutch, let’s have them meet Pleasure.”

“YES CAPITAN!” Crutch squealed like an excited child. He ran to the garage to get it from his truck. “Pleasure” was a 2066 N806 machine gun, size 86, Terison nine. These machine guns were very rare, very few militaries had them. So how did we get one? Well, We stole it off a tank for our own purposes. 

Crutch came back with the machine gun at his hip. He grinned, sticking his tongue out slightly. This was his favorite weapon, and it brought him sheer joy to hear it chatter. He raised the gun, and aimed at the tree line. “Fill it with holes.” I ordered. He laughed like a psycho as the machine gun chattered. There was suddenly crunching of leaves; the remaining Labrators running away. A few screams were heard, then a sound of something heavy falling on the forest floor, then silence. Kan scanned the area, markers lighting up were the bodies lay. I smiled. “Loot em, then come back. We’ll split the money evenly.”

“Yes captain.” they all responded. They all tore off, pushing and shoving, excited for what they might find. Horus however hung back for a second. I grabbed one of his hands with mine, and with the other grabbed his chin and kissed him lightly. When I pulled away a smile played on his lips and he looked away. I gave him another small kiss on the cheek then told him to go loot with the others. 

They came back a while later, carrying tons of cash and weapons, a few pricey items as well. We put it on the hood of Brexit’s Blue pickup and went to the five expensive hybrids. I took out my crowbar and opened the car doors. We took out anything we could find and in the end just decided to keep the cars. They were absolute junk and looked stupid, but Triston said he could strip the cars for the metals and parts and make a profit. We went back to Brexit’s pickup. There we divided the loot equally, and I shined up the new pistol and throwing knives that I had gotten from my share. Triston said that he’d do a quick cleanup in the garage before we left, so that gave us time to hunt for the bodies and decide how to dispose of them. 

The best way, it seemed, to dispose of the bodies, was to chuck them into an empty dumpster, set them on fire, and close the lid and let them cook. When Triston was done, we emptied the remaining ashes into a garbage bag, went down to the river, and poured the contents into the water. While we walked back Triston said we should come to the garage tomorrow so he could use some of the parts from the hybrids and put them in our trucks. “But I am absolutely starving.” Triston groaned, “So who wants to get some burgers and a beer?” 

We all decided that we’d go to the bar because they had the best food and Kayton had never eaten there. We also decided to try the new cigarettes we had gotten in our loot, said to taste like pine ash. We never really smoked because cigarettes had a hefty price tag on them and didn’t leave you in the best condition, but one or two every once and awhile was fine. 

Horus snuck up behind me and grabbed my hand. I smiled at him and tightened my grip on his hand, feeling the coolness of the metal rings he wore. “WAIT-” he screeched, but it was to late. I picked him up and walked with him in my arms as he screeched in protest. 

“Oh shut your trap, I know you like it.” 

I kissed him once and he immediately went silent, his face starting to glow pink. “No-” he mumbled in protest. I just kissed him again and he just went silent. I looked behind me and saw Triston and Ash laughing at something that was on their phones. Ash noticed me and smiled, and I smiled back, I knew he was gonna be just fine. The rest of the boys were picking on each other and I just laughed.

I realized that through the entire ordeal, I had forgotten about the sweltering heat.