King of Rats

By Gregory Carrico

All that stands between him and a lifetime of food is a Queen, his sister, and a surface world overrun by vampires. Will the King of Alley Rats risk everything for his throne and his pack, or leave it all behind for a pretty mouse in distress?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gramico
• Release date: Jun 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781513012674

Gregory Carrico

Gregory Carrico is an Amazon.com best selling horror and science fiction writer. He loves writing bad guys that readers will care about, even as they despise them. When not creating new worlds and plotting their destruction, Gregory watches British telly with his wife and three dogs, blathers about rescue dogs and puppy mills, and politely urges slower drivers to move out of the passing lane. Gregory writes for Live the Story, his book review blog, and for Addictive Reads, his author collective’s grog (group blog). His first book, Apocalypstick, was awarded a prestigious IndiePendant award for quality by the nonprofit group of the same name, and Children of the Plague earned him a finalist and 3rd runner up position in the Horror Fans Aslylum’s Author of the Year award. But the awards he most cherishes are questions and comments from his readers. He reads them all and makes time to respond to most, so flip down to the Social Stalkers page and connect on your favorite social media network.

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King of Rats

by Gregory Carrico

Published by Gramico

Copyright © June, 2013 Gramico

All Rights Reserved.

Cover by Ravven. www.ravven.com

This story was originally published by Anessa Books in the Amazon.com Best Selling Anthology Tales from the Mist, available in print and eBook.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places in this story are the author’s fabrications, or fictions representations.

eBook 1st Edition, License Notes:

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~Part One: The Alley King’s Plan~

As his cockroach spy and only friend, Skit, scurried away down the earthen tunnel, King Giles of the Alley Rats enjoyed a rare moment of contentment. His age had been showing lately. He was indecisive at times, and had even been seen showing mercy. In a king, these were unfortunate signs of weakness, and in his warren, the weak were shunned.

Four of his subjects had vanished. They had either fled or been taken by an enemy. Either way, it was an insult to the pack and an unanswered challenge to the King. Worse, yet, someone had been stealing food from the pack’s hoard, forcing the smaller rats to go hungry. This meant Giles was no longer feared, at least by some of his subjects. For a king, these were unforgivable signs of incompetence, and in his warren, the incompetent were killed.

Giles had even been seen backing down from his mate, Alice, as she publicly berated him for showing weakness. The irony of it was delicious. He let her live because their newest litter of kittens was still nursing, but to be honest, he was running low on patience with them, too. He suspected they weren’t really his, anyway. But that issue needed to ripen a bit. He’d let her grow more attached to her offspring before doing anything drastic.

It had taken longer than he hoped, but his performance had finally paid off. Skit had identified several rats in his pack with very high aspirations, but insufficient subtlety to keep their plots against him secret. They, along with their mates and recent offspring, just to be safe, had been brutally and publicly tortured, murdered, and butchered for his larder. That should firmly reestablish him as a rat worthy of respect, and a king to be feared.

Skit’s recent news raised his spirits even more. His plot to ambush and kill his final, and most dangerous, rival was ready to hatch. His ever-reliable companion had even found a stash of dried food bigger than they used to have on the farm! In a single outing they could eliminate the greatest threat to his power, and return with enough food to feed even the runts for most of their lives. He would be more than a king, he would be a hero!

Everything was in place. They’d have to leave before sunset, when they would visible to humans and all sorts of other monsters. He hated going to the surface, especially while the sun spilled its horrid light over everything. It was almost enough to make him reconsider.

He wondered if he could go back to being a country rat; living in a comfortable hole on a farm, near a stream where he could swim, fields with endless supplies of food, and a pretty little mate to dote on him.

Bah! I’d go crazy of boredom in a day!

Feeling almost young again, he returned to the main nesting chamber for some rest before his outing.

#

In his dream, Giles was trapped in the butcher’s trashcan, and he couldn’t escape. The corpulent human regularly dumped fresh, delicious meat scraps right on top of him, however, so it was actually quite nice. When a barely perceptible breeze tickled his whiskers, and alerted him that someone was coming into the chamber,