Post by Hoax on Oct 18, 2010 4:15:44 GMT -5
Chapter One
In a London laboratory, experiments have been carried out on lab rats for decades. These experiments have solely benefited humans, while leaving the rats feeling enslaved, tortured and violated. Many were born in the laboratory, some were imported from lab rat breeding facilities. They've watched their families and friends carried off to take part in drug trials and medical testing. Some never returned; those that did, never had anything good to say.
Group X-95, used particularly for intelligence testing, decided enough was enough. They plotted an escape route, that would lead them out an air duct into an alley, from there they would escape into the sewers. It took them weeks of careful planning. They knew that they wouldn't be able to break everyone out. Vowing to come back for those that would be, regrettably, left behind.
Finally their day arrived. They waited until all the staff had left, and the janitor to make his rounds through their part of the lab. Once he was gone, Mako picked the lock with a paperclip he had swiped from the pocket of a tech earlier in the week. Several other rats picked the locks with paperclips they had swiped. Soon ten cages, holding four rats each were unlocked. 40 rats made their way through an air duct. Had the janitor not been running a floor waxing machine, he may have heard the noise. Just as quick as they picked their cage locks, they made it to the alley behind the lab. Once in the alley, they darted into the sewers.
A few weeks passed before Mako's group of four lab rats encountered their first wild rat. A dainty little brown rat, Ms. Cassie. They told her of their plight and how they had escaped. She promised to take them to the rat king, Cane, who lived in the sewers. But first she declared she had to feed them. Ms. Cassie marched the group to her burrow in the river bank, offered them food and lodging for the night. During the night a visitor arrived, while they were suppose to be sleeping. She sent him off with a message for Cane.
A week passed before any word was received from the mysterious visitor. Towards the end of the week, Mako began to grow restless. He tried not to bug Ms. Cassie, but he wanted to see the rat king as soon as possible. At night he would pace along the river Thames. Finally word came, and Mako was elated. They quickly set off with the mysterious rat, Bogart, into the sewers.
They walked through the sewers for what seemed like an eternity before they came to what looked like a dam of trash. Bogart led the way over the barrier, showing them where to step and where to avoid stepping. Once over it, they found themselves in a larger chamber like pipe. A large black rat was waiting for them. He introduced himself as the rat king, Cane. He listened to their story. After they finished, Cane sat in a silence which seemed to stretch on for another eternity. Finally he spoke, telling them that he could offer them no help. Because if he did help them and they were caught, his followers would be subjected to the same treatment.
After Cane's denial of help, Bogart led them back to Ms. Cassie's burrow. Once they returned, Mako told her what the rat king had told them. She shook her head in what seemed to be anger, but said nothing. Bogart stayed for dinner, then left. After the other rats in Mako's group headed off to bed, Ms. Cassie asked him to take a walk with her along the river bank.
Once outside and out of ear shot of other rats, Ms. Cassie told Mako about a group of rebellion rats. She promised him that she would get in contact with them, and someone from the group would be there at breakfast to talk to him. Ms. Cassie and Mako returned to the burrow, in his excitement, he didn't know if he would be able to sleep. But sleep came, as did morning. And as Ms. Cassie had promised, there was a new rat there in the morning.
Mako quickly explained their plight, their journey to see Cane, his denial and expressed his distress and feelings of hopelessness concerning the issue. The new rat, Voss, listened just as Cane had. Mako sighed, as he thought he knew what the content thoughtful look meant. After Voss' long silence, he began to nod his head. He told Mako that he and his group would help him, under one condition.
The condition being that after Voss and his group helped Mako set his lab rat brethren free, they would help them dethrone Cane. The rebellion felt as if Cane was too self-centered and egoistical to be in charge of an entire city of rats. Mako agreed with the terms, anything to keep his promise to the lab rats he had called family for his entire life.
