Page 41 of The Rat

“Did he just rip therat’s headoff?” Ollie whispered.

Rory turned to him. He was leaning over thesink with his eyes still scrunched shut.

“No, he didn’t.”

Sebastian took the phone from Rory andshoved it in his pocket. He dropped the scraps of fake rat in thebag, then smiled.

“All done.”

“Done?” Ollieasked.

“Yep.”

Ollie opened his eyes.“Whathappened?”

“Nothing,” Sebastian said, “and don’t worryabout the maggots. I’ll speak to Teddy when he comes back on thewing.”

“Yeah?” Olliesaid.

“Yep,” he turned his attentionback to Rory. “We’ll speak later, but…”

“But what?”

“Make sure you have adamn showerfirst…”

****

Rory waited patiently forSebastian to explain. The lights went out, and the only glow camefrom the floodlights in the yard.He drummed his fingers on his stomach,waiting, then sighed.

“Well?”

Sebastian chuckled belowhim.“Youwant me to tell you about the rats?”

“Yeah.”

“Only people I trust knowabout the rats.”

Rory didn’t bother tellingSebastian he could be trusted. He didn’t think it’d come out of hismouth convincingly enough.

He rolledon to his side, and muttered atthe wall, “That’s me screwed then.”

Sebastian snorted.“You’re mine,so I can tell you. It’s quite simple, really. The guards and thegovernor think the prison’s got a rat problem. Sometimes packageshave been nibbled, and there’s rat droppings all over thefloor.”

Rory screwed up his face.“Gross.”

“Except, I just getsomeone toscratch up the packages. And the rat droppings? Burned grains ofrice.”

“Okay, so norats…”

“Occasionally there is, butthat’s not the point. The point is, the governors and guards believe there is.They worry about health and safety reports. So they hire anexterminator, and he puts boxes of poison outside the prison. Hecan’t put them inside—inmates would kill each other.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“I have a friend on the outside, he makesthe rats, real fur, and tail.”

Rory shuddered, and the bed shook.“Yuck.”

“It’s been cleanedup. Anyway,he throws them over the fence, and the guards won’t go near thedead rats. They get inmates to put them in the bins, and I pickthem up when I can.”

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