53 Luke

If somebody were to walk past me on the street and ask me about Trap, there's one word I'd use to describe him. "Off." Yeah. "Off" is a good enough word. Frankly, I couldn't think of anything else that would be an appropriate match for him. When I first met him when I had joined the Hornets, I saw him as some kind of fucked up lunatic. Later, when we were running low on food, nearly starving, my thoughts on him were only validated as the son of a bitch would let his rats go saying that letting them feel safe would only help us in the future to get a jump on them.

I don't know if that kid is a fucking psychic, but if you told me, during that time when I was starving my ass off that Trap was one of the smartest people alive in the damn city, I would've willingly puked my guts out laughing one last time before dropping dead out of hysteria.

So, 7 nights ago, when Trap led me outside to where we had seen that rat taking pickings at our stash of gear in the alleyway, only to see 4 Rats, taking picking at our gear, I started to get the idea. He handed me a knife as I had come out unarmed as I was in the middle of sleeping that night and told me to "watch and learn." Then, he whistled the most beautiful yet terrifying of whistles, summoning 7 other of our Hornets who I hadn't even seen atop the rooftops to stand up and raise bows and spears and swords, and other varied weapons at the Rats waiting below, caught in one of the most well executed traps I had ever seen. One ran off, got an arrow in his back that came out straight through the belly, and fell dead. The rest had laid down whatever arms they held and were on their knees. Trap lept down from the roof first, laughing all the while, letting a snort leave here and there. He would look back on me every now and then as he and the other Hornets tied up the Rats, but I guess my look of dumbfoundedness only increased his laughter. It was when the Rats had been led out of the alley back to the Hive, and the bait gear was packed up that Trap, finally recovering from his hysteria, looked back at me and said, "You all thought I was an idiot, didn't ya? It's like I told you all, let one Rat leave, and more will come."

Sleeping that night, was, well, tough. To say the least. I don't know if it was because I still couldn't believe how wrong I was about Trap's potential for intricate thought, or if I had become absolutely terrified of him. Shit. Maybe both.

It didn't help to alleviate my fear when I was the one sent to guard the Rats' cell, waiting until the next time that Trap and some other Hornet, whether being Goni, Sar'di, or even Riu. The cells, being made of stone, blocked most noise. Most. What I did hear wasn't pleasant to say the least, but, it worked. Every time, Trap would come out and tell me what we learned with the same enthusiasm of a child showing his parent what he drew at school that day.

One day, it was a stash location. The next, it was a patrol route. Trap was convinced he was getting close to the Rat hideout. Then, Sar'di, being the aggressive fuck, he is, beat the shit out of one of the prisoners when an interrogation wasn't going so well. I heard the screams from outside the cell and rushed in to find Trap huddled in a corner while Sar'di was beating on the Rat in the center of the cell as the two others were chained to the walls, mouths gagged. I had to call in Goni to rip Sar'di off the poor kid. Kid was half dead, eye swollen shut, mouth bleeding, nose bleeding, shit, everything bleeding. He didn't survive 'till the night.

I don't know what Riu was more pissed by. One of his own killing a prisoner, or the fact that the two remaining prisoners refused to talk since. Probably the latter if I'm being honest. Now, I'm guarding a cell with 2 near dead boys who are barely being fed ad watered. Danev's back and we have new orders. Kill all Rats. I had a bad feeling about what that meant for a fair amount of people living in the slums of Citadel, but an even worse feeling for the two remaining kids inside. I hadn't even gotten their names, but felt pity for them all the same. Way I saw it, today was their last day on earth. We had a whole list of Rat targets to hit thanks to them. All but their hideout. Even if they were so courteous as to tell us, they would die all the same. Those were orders, weren't they? "Kill all Rats."

Down the hall, I saw Danev and Riu, Trap in between them walking towards me and the cell. So, this is it. I stepped aside. I wasn't getting in anyone's way. I opened the cell door and could've sworn I heard the whimpering of frightened Rats as they took their steps inside. I'm sorry. But nonetheless, I closed the door behind Riu and the others. There were 5 inside right now. 3 would come out in a few minutes. In a few hours, 2 more would be coming out. The state in which they would be coming out was something I didn't want to think about at the moment.

We were going to war. Was I scared? Yes. I had seen gang warfare in Citadel, but I was never on a single side. I played both sides. Gave information to each. This would be, what? The third gang war between the Hornets and the Rats. The first was a clear win for the Hornets. The second ended with a mutual ceasefire with the Rats having a clear advantage. Tides shifted, and tables turned. Now, we were the underdogs. Or at least that's how the slums saw it. I heard the screams coming from the inside as the final of the many interrogations took place. It's going to be a rude awakening for the slums.