Aethosphere Chronicles: The Rat Warrens by Jeremiah D. Schmidt Page B

himself dead leaving them completely alone. Even Time, for
all his warm smiles and flashy promises, had turned out to be a
charlatan, intending to leave him in the lurch with that ‘big
score’ of his.
    No, Fen’s mind was made up, he’d ditch the
boys, make for the stash, and disappear with it into the light;
taking the only other person that mattered to him, his sister.
    Fortune had it that today was Wednesday…at
least he thought, which meant his sister was home.
    All he needed was the opportunity, which came
just as Fen and his escort passed by the Three Little Brothers.
“Sunshine!” He heard yelled, and he’d never been so happy to hear
that stupid nickname in all his life.
    “Boys,” he hollered back in warm
response.
    “Who’s that you got with you,” asked Nickle
predictably. “You got yourself a new gang or something,
Sunshine…?”
    “Bogies,” yelled Fen, using the gangs’ code
for rivals, as he turned suddenly right, vaulted over a pipe, and
broke into a run towards their direction. Time’s thugs were bigger
and older, but with the Bednest Boys Fen had numbers on his side,
and a familiarity of the terrain. So when he saw Eddy, Shoat,
Beaut, Durreem, Nickle, and even Ratter forming up for a brawl, he
felt a flush of relief. Seven on three would be enough to turn the
tide.
    While ducking and hopping his way through the
pipework, one of the Fat Sisters’ horns bellowed a long and throaty
tone and the complex rocked and shimmied. Fen couldn’t hear the
Syndicate boys grunting in pursuit anymore, but he could feel them
swinging for his heels. He pumped his legs harder, careened between
two pipes, and then slid beneath another, right into the waiting
line of his mates. They cheered and welcomed him with encouragement
as he lay there on his back huffing and puffing. But Time’s goons
were there before he knew it and he’d only managed to roll onto his
stomach when they thundered in around him.
    Fen braced for a fight; a fight that never
came. Instead Time’s boys strolled up to the Bednest gang and
Nickle and Sam clasped hands as if they were old-time mates
reunited.
    Fen’s jaw nearly struck the cold hard
ground.
    “Time sends his greetings,” Sam declared to
Fen’s allies-turned-traitors.
    “Guess our covers blown,” replied Nickle
offhand, and when he looked down at Fen with his red-rimmed eyes
glistening wetly he shrugged. “Sorry, mate.”
    “Time was right to be suspicious of you,” Sam
accused Fen, just before he turned and directed the other two boys
to grab him. Fen tried for the switchblade hidden in a pouch in his
jacket, but they seized him roughly first, one grabbing him by the
arm and the other grabbing a fistful of his jacket at the lower
back. Together they hauled the helpless boy up to his feet. “Time
thought you might try pulling something, given the opportunity. So
he set up this little meeting to test your sincerity, and
commitment. And gotta say, you failed it big time.”
    “Fen’s always been a lone-wolf,” explained
Nickle. “Ain’t you? You should’a come clean to us about that haul
of yours. We were all supposed to be mates after all there,
Sunshine, but you’ve never been one to share, you up-level
snob.”
    Fen gritted his teeth and struggled to free
himself. “What’re you on about, Nickle, I ain’t—”
    “Yes you are, Fen,” interrupted Eddy. “You’ve
always been detached, like you were better than us; even as a wee
nip; talking on about tenements this, and secret sunspot that. Why
do you think everyone calls you Sunshine?” The garishly-dressed
girl turned her eyes on Fen, and he thought maybe she looked upset,
though it was hard to tell through the layers of makeup.
    This proved too much for Fen to handle, he’d
been betrayed on every front, and the sting of it fueled his
outrage. How can they turn on me? I’ve been with them
practically forever, and all these things they’re saying don’t make
a lick of sense; even Eddy isn’t