Jaci Dawn

“Rats like mice, don’t they?”
“I – I don’t think so.” Ella stepped back into Billie. “Sorry.”
Billie squeaked. “Can’t you talk to them like you did the deer mice?”
“I’m trying, but they smell different, and they, um, feel hungry. Like they are looking at us…”
“The way a velociraptor would,” Dish finished. Indeed, the rats seemed to be circling the mice, their noses actively smelling up the smaller rodent versions of themselves.
“How many are there?”
“They keep moving.” Kyle bumped into Dish. “I can’t keep track.”
“We must stay calm,” Richard spoke with authority. “Everyone, control your breathing. If they sense fear, I am afraid they will attack.”
“Can we sort of skootch along one of these cords, at least? Maybe find a place we can get our backs against a wall?” Ella grabbed Billie’s hand.
“Yes. Hold hands. Make ourselves look larger than we are.” Gran reached out and grabbed Madison’s hand.
Aric had whipped out the first of his paperclips and was busy untwisting it. “I’m going to at least try to fight back,” he muttered.
“You’re nuts,” Gran hissed. “They’re bigger than we are.”
“Yeah, and all they have to fight with is their teeth. I’ve got paperclips.”
“Did you really just say that?” Gran was incredulous. “You watch too much old television.”
They had managed to move several inches along one yellow cord. Ella kept her flashlight focused on the cord, but saw a rat coming closer and lifted the light directly into its eyes. Temporarily blinded, the rat blinked and fell back.
“They don’t like light in their eyes.”
It was true: the rats turned their heads away when light was pointed directly at their eyes. They didn’t fall all the way back, however, but changed tactics. The very dark one held its noses high in the air, making it harder for the mice to shine the lights directly into its eyes. Still, he had to drop his head when he was close, and a beam of light in the eyes temporarily stopped him.
They came to the point where the yellow cable went up, next to a post. The hole it went through was just large enough for the wire, and Ella groaned. “Maybe the littlest of us could squeeze through…”
“But I would never make it,” Kyle added.
“We’ve got to try the other cord and hope it goes up in a bigger hole, or we at least come up to a wall.” Richard kept his voice calm. “This way, Team.”
Aric kept his back to the group and he fashioned his paperclip skewers. Dylan used his flashlight to keep the rats back while encouraging Aric in his endeavors. “I think you have the right idea, man.”
Madison let out an exclamation. “A hair clip! I can use this like Aric uses a paperclip! And a safety pin.” She let go of Gran’s hand to dash forward and grab the two items. She was back in line in half a breath. “Bet they won’t like getting poked with the sharp end of a safety pin!” She handed the pin to Kyle.
Richard picked up a dime. “This could come in handy.”
They continued inching their way in the general direction of the other cord, and the rats continued to feint and parry, getting a little bolder each time. There were four rats, most likely a small family, Ella determined. She could sense they were getting excited for the kill: a dead mouse would be fresh meat, and they hadn’t had that in some time. She was beginning to get pictures from their heads, all jumbled up and crazy.
I may have nightmares the rest of my life, she thought. She tried to send calming pheromones and deer-mice-happy-vibes. “How much further, Richard?”
Just then, Billie let go of her hand and picked something up from the floor. “Push pin!” Billie traded hands with her flashlight and held the pin out like a little pocket knife. “I hate rats!”
Aric passed one of his make-shift paperclip pokers over to Dish, and one to Dylan. “I can make you one, Gran,” he called.
“No thanks, hero boy. I’ll use my flashlight.”
The big dark rat charged, mouth open and yellow teeth gleaming before the flashlights. Aric raced forward and met it in the nose with his paperclip. The clip skidded along the rat’s face, narrowly missing its left eye. The rat screamed in pain and backed off quickly.
One of the slightly smaller rats raced in at Kyle. Kyle balled up a paw and bopped it on the nose as hard as he could and used the other hand to jab at it with the bent open safety pin. Madison jumped in and poked it hard on the side of the face with the dual-end of the hair pin, drawing twin pricks of blood. The rat squeaked and turned away, it’s thick tail narrowly missing tripping Madison as she withdrew.
Richard flung the dime like a discus at the grey rat, and they all heard it hit the side of the rat’s thick head before bouncing back and clattering on the floor.
The rat was temporarily dazed, but came at Kyle with its yellow teeth gleaming. Kyle poked it as hard as he could, wounding it in the shoulder. It hissed backward, knocking the safety pin out of Kyle’s hands and out of its shoulder.
The last rat charged both Ella and Gran, the only unarmed mice. Ella’s flashlight fell to the floor and she smelled the putrid breath of the larger rodent over her. Dish poked it on the side of the head with his paperclip. Billie rush in and sank the pushpin into the rat’s neck. The rat jerked back, and the push pin, still firm in Billie’s grasp, came out. A thin stream of blood spurt out of the wound.
“We’re here!” Richard cried out. He turned his flashlight up along the cable and smiled. A rat-sized hole.
Billie and Gran pulled Ella to her feet. “We’ve gotta scramble, before they regroup!”
Aric and Dylan took up position at the bottom of the cable. “We’ll come up last. Go!”
Richard went first.
“What if there are more rats up there?” Kyle said, doubtfully.
“Just go!”
Ella, Billie, and Gran followed Kyle upward.
“Well,” Dylan said. “Which of us goes last?”
The rats had not reformed, but remained off in the dark, making small noises.
“Me,” Aric declared.
“I don’t know. I kinda want to see this one out.”
The dark rat was crawling back toward them, as well as the grey one. A flashlight in their eyes revealed something akin to anger and menacing, more so than when they had been merely hunting the mice. Dish poked his nose down the hole, “Come on, guys. We’re in!”
“Can’t. We have two mad rats.”
Dish disappeared from view, and a second later dropped down to join them, armed with a letter opener shaped very much like a sword. “Three against two. What happened to the other two?”
“I don’t know, but these two look very mad.”
“I say we charge them when they get close enough, go in with all our force. I think rats are basically cowards,” Aric shifted his weight. “Ready guys?”
“What’s our victory call?”
“Deacon.”
“Okay…”
The rats split up.
Dylan raised his paperclip like a fencing sword and Aric held his like a spear. “DEEEEEEEAAACOOOONNNNNN!”
They charged the grey rat, hitting her in the nose and eye. She leaped back, taking Aric’s paperclip with her and hissing something terrible. She stumbled, twirled, and shook in pain. The boys could barely stand to watch and turned in time to see Dish push his letter cutter into the throat of the big black rat. It reared up and off of the letter cutter, clawing at its throat. Then it fell forward, just missing Dish. A single twitch of its feet, and it was dead.
The boys didn’t hesitate, but bee-lined for the cable and the way out of the crawlspace. But before they could reach the cable, the small gray rat blocked their path. It had a twin set of blood pricks on one side, but it clearly was not very wounded. It seemed more curious than angry, sniffing the air, and peering down at the boys.
“I don’t have any more paperclips.”
Dish and Dylan hesitated for a second.
“This time, for Natalie!” They charged the rat, but it thought better of a confrontation and turned and scuttled off.
The mice reached the cables and hurried up, Dish in the rear. He hesitated before he disappeared up. No rats moved.