N7, Rat Pack

“Shriik.”

My subordinate was complaining. He was probably hungry, but we needed to end this before we went to eat, so I lightly headbutted Number Two and made him keep working.

We were inside the empty room I had previously found, the one that was missing a nursery. The rest of the tunnels were too small for the four of us so this place was perfect, at the moment the only remodeling I wanted to do was to close the entrance a bit so only one of us could pass at a time, it would hinder the entry of other rats and bigger animals.

‘I don’t want any of those lizards and buff rats visiting us.’

When I had come back to claim this room a pack of rats was nesting inside, they outnumbered us so I had decided to wait for them to leave, thankfully a group of humans had passed by and left the place almost empty, giving us something to eat at the same time.

It had been a lucky coincidence, but I planned to use this place for a long time, I couldn’t risk another big pack taking it from us, so the priority was to make it easier to guard.

I had made my subordinates help me pile some of the debris from the back of the room inside the tunnel that gave access to our new lair, but they were getting tired. After we arrived we had to evict a couple of rats that were using this place to rest after feeding on the bodies of the previous occupants and then we began to move the heavy rocks, doing all that work without respite seemed to be too much to ask of my new minions.

“Shrii, shriik.”

I had also been expanding my vocabulary, I needed more words, or shrieks, to command my little gang. The one I had used meant ‘pay attention’, we were going out to look for food.

‘Whatever we can find.’

Finding food for four was proving difficult, licking crabs and eating their soft-shelled newborns was not enough, thankfully I could make use of the new trick to eat the moss on the walls. If I had more trust in my subordinates I could send them to feed on their own, but I wasn’t sure if they would come back. I would rather have them stick together with me for now.

“Shriik?”

‘Yes, yes, we are going, just wait for a little, Number One, I’m deciding on our route.’

I could somehow distinguish the three of them, they didn’t have any distinctive physical traits, or at least I was unable to tell them apart by looking at their bodies, but they all had slightly different personalities.

Number One was diligent and the most loyal to me, when I gave them any instructions he was the follower that put the biggest effort in trying to comprehend and carry my orders, he even scolded Number Two and Three if they were lazying around.

Number Two was the most aggressive, when we expelled the previous occupants of this room he was the one who took the lead in the fight, I would need to be careful when fighting other animals in the hallways, he struck me as the reckless type. I was convinced he had developed his personality because Number One was always bossing him around.

Number Three was… indecisive, or he simply had problems comprehending my orders, he was normally the last one to react after being given a task and Number One was always on top of him. Sometimes I had tried to give him a hand, hopefully, he would develop into a good lackey.

Those were my impressions after observing them for a few days, I didn’t know if one of the three could give me problems in the future, so I had to keep training them and cement my position as their leader.

“Shriik!”

‘Shut up, Number Two, we are leaving now.’

I promptly guided my three subordinates outside to find some food.

…

We had been lucky the past few days, the warriors coming into the corridors had been getting rid of more packs of rats, more than enough to feed the four of us, I had even decided to take more minions into my band. I hadn’t bothered to give them a name, they were just goons. I had nine followers now, my three original subordinates, and five goons.

Honestly, I didn’t know if the humans killing more rats was good or bad, on one side we had less competition and more food, but on the other, we had to stay away from them. Until now we had been able to avoid a confrontation, I would always lead my gang away at the minimum sign of people, but it might come a time when we would be unable to escape or when my minions would be lured by their smelly bait.

“Shriiiik!”

“Shriii!”

Two goons were fighting for a piece of meat, Number One quickly stepped in and calmed things down before Number Two had the opportunity to jump into the brawl, that mischievous rat really liked to get into trouble. On the other side of the hallway Number Three was eating quietly with another two goons.

My three original followers had somehow become the sub-leaders and mentors of my band, saving me a lot of work. They organized the others when it was time to feed, making sure no one hoarded too much food. Of course, I was the first to eat, and the newcomers didn’t dare to start before their three seniors, it was only after the four of us had taken our share that the hierarchy became muddled.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I felt full after ending my share of the meal, eating my own kind didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, maybe because I didn’t know them or perhaps because I didn’t see myself as a rat.

‘Or everything that happened has erased part of my human values.’ I was sure I would have never eaten a rat before this. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, even the other rats don’t care about eating their kind.’

Anyway, I had to be careful when moving in the hallways, many packs in the area had been decimated, but there were still a few that could pose a threat to us. For now, I was trying to expand our territory away from that of the big rats, I needed to find an equilibrium between not falling prey to the dangerous beasts and avoiding the humans wandering the corridors.

‘I don’t even know why the humans would come here.’ There had to be something valuable in these hallways, but I hadn’t found it yet.

As the others finished their meal I got on my hind legs to get everyone’s attention, for a split second, I felt slightly accomplished.

‘I can’t believe I have never tried this until now.’

Looking at my gang from above made me a bit emotional, I had finally achieved something in this nightmarish place.

“Shrii, shriik.”

All the gazes were on me, I headed for our safe room and the gang followed behind me.

As we were going back to safety I heard some noises made by a group of warriors, I promptly stopped at the helm of the gang and my minions stood still behind me. Then I swung my tail against the floor repeatedly, it was a signal for everyone to disperse and hide in the nearest sewer-like tunnels.

Everyone rushed to hide and I stood alone in the middle of the hallway. I needed to ascertain the humans’ positions, I could hear their steps in the distance, but I wasn’t sure where they were coming from. Without that information I couldn’t decide if we should wait for them to leave, risking being baited, or flee into another hallway.

I walked to the nearest intersection, I couldn’t go too far from the gang or they would get nervous, I had tested how they responded in certain situations and if I was absent for too long the pack became chaotic.

There was light coming from one of the corridors. That was good, they weren’t in the way toward our lair.

“Shriik! shrii shriik!”

I called everyone, my vocal cords didn’t allow me to make a great variety of sounds, but I was working on expanding my list of commands. Everyone assembled behind me and we began moving again.

‘I have done a magnificent job training them.’ Maybe I had been an animal trainer in my past life.

Our destination wasn’t far away and the warriors seemed to be coming back from the depths of the underground hallways, they had no reason to pass near our safe room.

It wasn’t long before we arrived back home, I made everyone stand by in position outside and took a peek from the entry tunnel, maybe I was being too cautious, but better be safe than sorry, I didn’t want to lose minions in an avoidable confrontation, I couldn’t know if some other pack had decided to nest here during our absence.

“Shriik! shrii shriik!”

Our den was empty and my followers entered orderly, it had taken them quite a few tries and quarrels to learn that they could only get in one by one. Now we could relax and sleep for a while, our stomachs were full and we had roamed the corridors for quite some time, so most of us were tired.

‘My plans are going well.’

I had started making plans, plans to take revenge, and plans to grow both my band and my body.

For now, I couldn’t add too many members to the gang, there was the food problem, I didn’t know for how long the humans would keep exterminating rats, and I didn’t want my minions hunting weaker packs for food. They might get used to fighting against their peers. That would increase their aggressiveness and undermine our unity as a group.

I needed to find another way to feed them, and the only source of meat that came to mind was the lizards. I needed to devise a good tactic, I didn’t know how strong they were compared to us.

‘It will be lame if a lizard kills me now.’

If that happened I would have died to all the dangerous things I had encountered in these corridors.

The second problem I needed to deal with before adding more followers to my band was loyalty, I didn’t know when one of them might decide to take my place, I wanted to increase my own strength and that meant growing my body.

‘But I don’t know how long it will take.’

I could only wait for my body to mature on its own. It was frustrating but I didn’t have any way to make it faster. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long.

‘And once my body and pack are bigger…’

At that time I would take revenge with my own paws, I would bite that bastard to death, he had better stay alive until I had the chance to kill him.