31 Luke

Trap, well, he wasn't the most stable of individuals. He was easily excitable, easily angered, and very openly emotional. Never really somber. It was either joy or anger. He wasn't a big person. He was younger and smaller than me which was a welcome change.

So why did we keep a mentally unstable extra mouth to feed around? Well, he gave our mouths something to feed. Hence the name, Trap was great at trapping things. Really. One would think he'd gotten an education on it, but when I asked, he just said that it was simple.

He's been keeping us fed on rats for the last 2 weeks, around the time Danev said he saw supplies coming into the city again. Watching that first rat roast on a spitfire was the most apprenticing thing I had smelled or seen in the last month and even when it was split amongst the 22 of us, I would have happily died there with a somewhat filled stomach.

Today, when we heard Trap's shout of glee from the abandoned part of the apartment complex. The group of us that weren't out of the Hive or asleep usher down to see what we would be eating.

Yet when we got there, there Trap was, kneeling by the caught rat, watching. It was big. Really big. It could have been split 5 ways right here and be considered a feast, but Trap hadn't killed it. He was watching it.

"Holy hell" I heard Ladle said. "That's perfect!"

"What are you waiting for, Trap? Kill it!" I said.

"I think. I. I think I'm gonna let it go.

What? "No." I said. "Fuck that. That's the most food we're going to get any time soon. Kill it now and let's eat it."

"No no. Really." He said defending itself. "If I let it go. I might think its safe and lead more here.

"That's not how it works, Trap." Said Ladle. "They don't think like that. They don't think at all."

"No really. I shouldn't have killed that first one in the first place or we'd have even more now." He paused then reached down. "I'm letting it go."

Ladle, obviously pissed, kicked a rock across the building and walked away, grumbling.

The rat scurried out as soon as its tail was freed, sniffed the ear, and retreated into the cracks of the wall. And that was dinner that had just ran away.

"Trap." I started, only half joking. "You better be right or I'm eating you."

Trap, turning around from where he was crouched chuckled and said "I'll be right. Just watch."