The Rat Who Loves to Spread Plague

Right when he spotted a half-eaten pudding cup, a bright light flashed behind him, signaling that he'd been caught. With how his back was hunched over and covered by his unkempt, earthy hair, it would have been easy to mistake him for a wild animal. Fully embracing this role, he slowly turned his head and growled as a threat, his deep brown eyes wide and attentive.

However, rather than yell or run, the man in the black suit held his phone to his ear and calmly stated, "I found him, Mr. Midas." A pause. "Yes, sir. I'll bring him to you now."

Oh, no. The boy wasn't sure if this was the police or something worse, but he wasn't about to find out. He dropped everything and went into a full sprint, aiming to duck away into the nearest alleyway. His bare feet were light and swift, barely touching the ground with each step. He grinned as he approached the alleyway, confident that he was almost free.

Then a pair of hands appeared on his chest. His grin dropped to an agape gasp when he realized what had happened. Somehow, his chaser had kept up and was picking him up from behind. The man in the black suit kept an iron grip as the boy struggled, squirming his arms and legs around in vain.

"H-How?!" the boy asked, frustrated that he had been outmatched.

"Children aren't really as fast as they think," the man said. "Most adults don't bother to keep up, is all. For a solider it's different. If you can't keep up, you'll die."

The boy fell limp, resigning to his fate. "Fine. Go ahead and toss me in jail. At least I'll have a bed to sleep in tonight."

"Ah, you misunderstand. I'm not a policeman. My client Mr. Midas would like to invite you to a dinner meeting to discuss a potential business deal."

The boy's eyes lit up the moment he heard 'dinner', and he happily replied, "Yeah, yeah! I'll do it! Whatever it is! Let's go!"

Seeing the boy was ready to comply, the man set him down and led him to the black car that would take him to Mr. Midas. The boy jumped in without question.

---

Chicken, bread, spaghetti, steamed vegetables, steamed pork buns, and fried foods galore. All of these things and more were wolfed down by the boy who sat at the fancy, ivory dining table, ignoring the gold cutlery in favor of using his hands. Mr. Midas sat across from him, observing the boy as the fireplace warmed his back and enveloped him in an orange glow.

"My, what an appetite!" Mr. Midas said, then placed his elbows on the table and folded his hands. "You did good to catch this rat, Miles."

The guard humbly bowed. "I merely did as instructed."

The boy paused from his meal to wipe his food-covered mouth with a cloth napkin, then glared directly at Mr. Midas. "Okay. You got me. What's all this for? You don't seem like the kinda guy to pick up random kids off the street."

Mr. Midas giggled. "A smart one too. Yes, you're correct. I usually couldn't care less about the riffraff digging through my garbage, but you have quite the reputation. A reputation that leads me to believe you're the man I need for a very particular job."

The boy could take a guess at what he meant. It wasn't easy being a rat. If you didn't die on your own, someone was willing to do it for you. Traded, experimented, tortured, who knows what happened to those that were caught. He refused to find out. He had seen others wither into husks, eyes sunken and cheeks hollow as they walked straight into traffic to end their suffering already. He didn't want to be one of them. He wanted to live by any means necessary.

"And what do I get out of it?" the boy asked.

"The best reward possible!" Mr. Midas answered, then stretched his arm out to point out their surroundings. "All of this! I'll adopt you as my son and give you everything you could ever need!"

The boy's brows furrowed, skeptical, and he looked around the lavish mansion with its expensive paintings, fur rugs, and ornate furniture. He then smirked and replied, "What do you want me to do? If you're asking a kid like me, you must be REALLY desperate."

Mr. Midas sighed and leaned back in his cushioned seat, placing his hands on top of his stomach. "I underestimated you. Indeed, I am desperate. I am a man of trade. My shipments need to travel to and from Glamor to those who need it. However, there is one problem. A man named Santo owns the rights to a very important bridge. The bridge is the quickest and safest method of going across the river. Going north to the ocean has pirates, and going south to the end of the river has marauders. Therefore, I am required to do business with Santo every time I need to cross. And the truth of the matter is..." Mr. Midas tilted forward, his face stern, and his voice dripping with venom as he said, "I despise that man. I want him gone."

The boy munched on a piece of bread, unfazed by the man's hatred, and replied nonchalantly, "So... you want me to kill him?"

Mr. Midas bellowed out a laugh, snorting a bit. "Heavens no! I would have done that myself if that was the case. No. I need you to infiltrate that sorry excuse of a 'town' he lives in. He only allows children to stay, so just give him a sob story about being homeless and he'll take you in. While you're in there, find out anything you can about him that I could use against him."

"So you want me to be a spy. Got it."

"Precisely!"

"I'll do it."

The two stood up to shake on the deal. Their grip was firm and greasy.

"What is your name, boy?" Mr. Midas asked while wiping his dirtied hand.

"I don't know," the boy said.

Mr. Midas took a moment to think. "Hm... how about Judas? I think it would suit you."

"Isn't that a bit on the nose, sir?" his guard interjected.

Mr. Midas waved a dismissive hand. "Nonsense! You think it's good, don't you boy?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders and simply accepted it. The rat now had a name. Big whoop. He was more concerned about finishing his food.

---

The two-mile hike from where Miles dropped off Judas was a long and boring one, yet he managed to reach his destination nonetheless. The fact that he had been tired out from the walk would make it more convincing that he was a poor, helpless child after all. He dragged his sore feet towards the entrance, trying not to trip over himself as he approached the two boys guarding it.

The two boys were practically twins in their height and facial structure, but everything else was starkly different. One boy wore a black eyepatch over his right eye that matched his short, choppy hair. He stood up straight with his arms crossed, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings. The other boy sat hunched over in his chair, staring down at his lap as he fiddled with his hands. He tucked a blond lock of hair behind his ear as he raised his head up to see Judas arriving.

The eyepatch boy was quick to react, running up to Judas and blocking his path as he firmly stated, "Halt! Who are you? I haven't seen your face around here before."

Judas put on a friendly smile as he said, "I'm Judas. I heard about there being a place for kids to go to if they don't have anywhere else to go. I'm tired of digging for scraps to survive, so I hope there's room for one more."

The blond boy walked up beside the other boy, slightly behind him and his chin tilted down with his baby blue eyes looking up. "Um... M-Mr. Santo should be in his office. S-Should we take Judas to him, Dennis?"

"I guess so," Dennis said, then circled around Judas to scan him over from front to back. "Don't see any weapon or nothin'. Not like he could keep anythin' in those rags..."

Judas hugged himself with a playful smirk. "Not going to give me a thorough inspection?"

"Ew, no!" Dennis replied, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Whatever. Let's go. Keep an eye on 'im, Freddie."

The boys led Judas to Santo's office, which had a sign with a child's drawing of Santo's face on it. They knocked on the door, and as they were allowed to enter, Judas spotted Santo putting away some papers into a steel cabinet and locking it. Guess breaking into his files wasn't going to be so easy.

"Hello there," Santo said, kneeling down to Juda's level to speak. "You can call me Santo. Or Mr. Santo, if you prefer. We don't often have children come here on their own volition. How did you find us?"

"A kind man gave me a lift," Judas said, starting with the truth before weaving his tale of lies. "He saw that I was alone and starving, so he brought me here, knowing I'd be taken care of."

"I see. Do you know who the man was?"

Judas shook his head. "Sorry, didn't catch his name. He did buy me lunch though, so I trusted him."

Santo sat up and rubbed his chin, pondering the situation, then said, "Well we do have plenty of room. But can you tell me a little more about yourself? That way we can figure out your arrangements."

"There really isn't much to say, honestly," Judas replied with a shrug. "Been a street rat all my life. I don't even remember what my parents look like. All I got is my name and the clothes on my back."

Santo frowned, feeling sympathy for the poor boy. "Then I'm glad you were fortunate enough to find your way here. Is there anything else we should know? Such as your condition or any phobias?"

"Nah, I'm good. I don't know how to read and I don't got any muscle. I am fast though, so I could do deliveries or something."

Freddie stepped into their conversation by gently tugging on Santo's white robe. Santo leaned down to let the boy whisper in his ear. They both nodded and looked back at Judas.

"Freddie thinks you would be a good watcher," Santo said. "With your size, you would be able to crawl through the emergency escape tunnel easily. We need someone like you to notify us if someone is trying to scale down the cliff to attack us. Do you think you could handle a job like that?"

"Would I get a gun?" Judas asked with a straight face.

"No."

"Darn."

"The best I can offer is a tranquilizing gun for emergencies. It's strong enough to put out most adults, but you only get one shot, so you would have to be careful with it."

"Good enough."

Santo smiled and extended a welcoming hand. "Sounds good. These two will show you around. Welcome to Nevertown, Judas."

Judas smirked and eagerly accepted his hand. "Glad to be here."

With all of that settled, the two boys escorted Judas once again out of the office and towards the chapel. At first, Judas was confused since he thought he was going to the cliffs. However, to his surprise, the chapel had a secret hatch behind the pulpit. The hatch led down to an underground tunnel kept lit with hanging lights, and at the end of it was a series of ladders that took several minutes to climb. As you finished climbing one ladder, there was a platform someone could rest on if needed before climbing the next. It was cushioned with some kind of material that was firm enough to walk on, but wouldn't hurt as much if someone fell on to it. They really did try to make this the ideal place for kids.

Finally, they reached the top where there was a small cave leading back to the outside world. In the middle of blankets, opened lunch boxes, and toys being charged by generators, there sat another boy. His curly, blond hair was as pale as his freckled skin, which smelled heavily of sunscreen. The boy's emerald green eyes turned up from the handheld gaming device he was playing with to see how had come up.

"Oh... hey, Dennis. Hey, Freddie," the boy meekly said.

"Hey, Timmy," Dennis said, then patted Judas on the back to move him forward. "This is your new watch buddy. Lemme know if he gives you any trouble."

"Um... okay." Timmy went over to Judas while nervously twiddling his thumbs. "Uh... i-it's nice to meet you. I'm Timothy! But... most people call me Timmy."

Judas saw the opportunity in front of him and grinned as wide as he could. "Yeah, nice to meet you too! I've seen other kids playing those kinds of games. Maybe you can show me how they work?"

That seemed to help, since Timmy relaxed his shoulders as he replied, "Y-Yeah! Sure, I can!"

As they were talking, Dennis leaned over to Freddie and whispered, "You sure this is a good idea?"

"Timmy could really use a friend," Freddie whispered back. "I think they'll be okay."

"If you say so..."

Judas briefly stepped out of the cave to explore his surroundings. When he turned the corner around the cliffside, he made a very important discovery. There stood a bridge that crossed the long and deep river that flowed into a waterfall at the end of the cliff. From there, the river traveled down and through Nevertown, providing them a fresh water supply when combined with an automatic filtration machine.

"Wow, we're really high up," Judas said as he gazed down at the town from the edge of the cliff.

"It is a nice view," Timmy said as he joined him. "Since the cave is facing away from the bridge, anyone passing through it won't notice us. We'll see safe as long as we know how to escape."

"Right. Escape..."

Judas had a lot of work to do.