6 Turbulence

"You're human aren't you." He said

His words shook me. My brain took a while to process his question. Of all the surprising things I saw those past few minutes this was perhaps the biggest shock.

"I...am...are you...?" I asked with hesitance.

Chief then walked over from behind his desk and faced me. He was no further than one rat away from me.

Then suddenly out of nowhere he raised his hands up violently then slammed them down on my back with a huge smile.

"I knew it. You're a comrade! Ahh welcome welcome." He yelled as he embraced me. I could feel his claws touching my back, our furs rubbing against each other. Being hugged by a rat....it's a peculiar sensation but I had more important things to mind.

"W-wait you died too?!" I yelled in response.

"Yes yes. Were you sent here by that same whore?" He said.

"Yes yes! Yes that one you too?" I shout, excitement now overflowing from every word I utter.

"How long have you been here comrade?"

"I only woke up today"

"Today?! Oh my, You must be very confused. I was too. Come now, I'll show you everything." He said patting me on the back again then crawling behind his desk again. "Ask me anything and if it's to my knowledge I'll answer. But in return you must answer all my questions as well. Are we in understanding comrade?" He said, now calmer than before.

"Yeah that seems fair. Well first of all what's your name?" I asked

"Names are irrelevant my dear Brady, who I was before bears no significance of any kind. Now we're all rats. Sewer crawlers. Plague spreaders. The lowest form of life save for an insect. What we were matters not. Only what we are." He said with a grandeur tone. His speech resembled politicians or world leaders. And him dodging the question was certainly also not too different from a politician for that matter. But nonetheless I had so much to ask that I didn't care about that for now.

"Ok then. Second question. Why did this happen?" I asked

"Reincarnation my friend. Had the whore not told you? We both must have been equally vile men in our lifetimes. To be reborn as a rat is one thing. But to be aware of it. That is indeed hell." He laments.

"I see. Also this little bunker. A bit too fancy for rats no? What exactly is this place?" I asked inquisitively

"Ah, that is, as they say, the elephant in the room isn't it?" He replied. I wanted to elaborate that there are in fact enough elephants in the room to fill a circus but I was too interested in what he had to say to make snide remarks.

"This comrade; is the fruit of my labor. Of our labor. As you know we, rats, are the carriers of the black death. I would've thought whatever this world was it would not stick that closely to our version but alas it does. Or rather we were thrown here because it does." He then got up, used his claws to scratch his head then continued.

"Rats are hunted left and right. Avoided. tortured for science and for fun alike. It is indeed too similar...so after waking up to such a horrible world I decided to harvest it. Cultivate it. Make use of it. I preached to the rats using my superior knowledge and had them build us this base. I also taught them how to measure. How to do crafts. Rats are quite intelligent creatures I must say. At least in this world."

"Oh wow you did all that? How long have you been here?"

"7 months."

"All that in seven months only?" I asked with eyes wide open.

"Yes comrade. Rats are hard working creatures."

"That's quite astonishing to be honest."

"You flatter me." He said laughing shyly.

"Another question. When I came here I saw some farmer pull out a book and fire some sort of energy thing. What was that?"

"Don't you think it's time I asked some questions comrade?" He said.

"Oh god yeah of course. Sorry if I..."

"Don't" he shouted cutting me off mid-sentence. "Don't utter the word 'god' before me one more time comrade. Do you understand?" His eyes became tense again and his fix ever the sharper. I had let my guard down due to his earlier friendliness but after that I was reminded of the oppressive aura I had felt before.

"Ok...I won't."

"Thank you comrade. Now to my questions. Firstly, what was your occupation in the other life?" He asked with a very serious tone.

"I thought you said the other life didn't matter."

"It doesn't. But the skills carried through are vital. So, what did you do?"

"Well ehh...I was a data analyst for an app development company."

"Elaborate. What exactly does that mean."

"Well basically I just run numbers and get results."

"Ah, a mathematician then. Good good. Now secondly, how did you come here?"

"Oh I was found by Corn and he brought me here." I said. Chief's face suddenly wore a very puzzled expression. I didn't know why.

"You were brought here...by a plant?"

"Oh no no, Corn is the name I gave to the rat who was just here a moment ago."

"You gave him a name?"

"Well...yeah I didn't know what to call him."

"I see...well last question. Do you plan on living here? Or do you wish to roam free?"

"I...haven't really thought about that. This is all new to me. But I suppose here would be better than out there."

"Good call comrade good call. However you see." He crawled from behind his desk again and came face to face with me. "If you plan to live here you must abide by the place's rules. One of which is that you shall not name any of the rats."

"What? Why?"

"Names are an unnecessary distinction in our little society. Here you are only worth your labor. Thus the only identification you need is your job. Nothing else. That is an unquestionable rule. Do you understand?" He said with a very authoritative voice.

"What? No that's stupid. You can't force me not to name them." I retorted.

"I see, it seems we have a problem then. I don't like problems Brady." He said quietly as if he was suppressing his rage. "I won't force you to stay here. But if you do wish to stay and break the rules that is the basis of our community; I will have your head on a plate" He said; with eyes cold as the norther pole, not a hint of jester in those eyes. It cause my heart to skip a beat. Seeing his huge intimidating rat face in front of me and threatening murder...it froze me. But that only lasted for a few seconds. Afterwards he followed up.

"But I'm confident you won't do that, you carry the demeanor of a pleasant person. I'm sure you'll be just fine." He said smiling.

"Scavenger! Come in." He shouted at the door to call Corn who was standing idle outside. The door opened and Corn went in.

"Show our guest to a room he can sleep in tonight he must be very tired." He said

"Yes sir." Corn replied.

"That will be it for today, and remember comrade. Don't do unnecessary things. We'll talk again tomorrow"

He then signaled to Corn to escort me outside and Corn took my hand and we exited the door.

It looks like my stay here won't be as simple as I had thought.