Eric Flint - Rats, Bats and Vats

Doc looked down his long nose at her. "I didn't say I was going. I just said I would have none of this pretense."

"I'm sorry guys. But you're all going." They hadn't heard Chip speak in that tone of voice before.

Doc looked at Chip. "We rats are not naturally brave, or loyal. We're fast, and we're good Maggot killers. But our loyalty can be earned. You've earned it. We won't leave you."

Chip found speaking difficult. "I'm grateful. And I would hate to leave you guys. Honest. I've… I've sort of forgotten that you aren't really human. Hell. I think you're… better than human." He paused. "But you must get out. You must. Ginny and I can't. Firstly, you must get back over the lines. All the Maggots in creation are around here, nowhere else. If you go right now and hide just inside the shield, some of you should manage to get out when it goes up. You bats especially. You should be able to tell our side so much. Stuff that'll keep grunts who are just like me and Gin-Dermott alive. And. .. you could tell them Doc's story. I'm not saying anyone will believe you. Just tell them."

He sighed. "Secondly, if you feel that way about leaving Ginny and me, we feel just as bad about you staying. Hey, Ginny?"

Behind her glasses her eyes sparkled with tears. "Yes. Go. Please. Please, please go. I couldn't bear it if any of you stayed. You all been my first ever real… friends. And Chip is right. So many sacrifices have been made to get us this far. For Phylla, Siobhan, and Behan's sake you must get back to the human side of the lines. For our sakes too. Don't let all of this be in vain. Please… dear friends."

There was another one of those jellylike silences.

Then Eamon said. "You're right, indade. We'll get the rats out, and then return to stand by you. Wing to shoulder, eh!"

Chip shook his head gently. "No, Eamon. You must go with them. Without you bats they'd have no chance. You couldn't abandon them while there was still hope, could you? With you, especially you, because you are biggest and bravest, they have some chance. We know we can trust you and rely on you."

The big bat promptly hid his wrinkled face in his wings.

The farewells were done. The bats had taken the line up to the ventilation hole.

Fluff had just clung to Virginia's neck, big eyed and miserable. Besides the contents of sixteen Molotov-cocktail bottles, every single rat except Doc had given Chip a bottle. The thought that the two of them would at least not have to die sober appeared to mean a great deal to Fal. Doc had made up for his lost alcohol with a snippet of philosophical thought that Chip would have found comforting and brilliant… if he'd understood one word in ten.

Finally, they went.

Eamon had fluttered down at the last, when the cord had already been pulled up. "If we do get back… we'll immortalize you in song. Batdom will never, never forget you."

They were left staring at the roof. Finally, Chip sighed, and drew the Solingen.

"What are you planning to do with that?" she asked, her voice a little tight.

"I dunno. See if I can sharpen it? Maybe I'll get a few more Maggots with it that way."

"What does it really matter?"

"I dunno. I couldn't just give up."

"Um." She spoke now in a very small voice. "I've got something to give to you." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small shapeless lump of what might once have been silver paper. "Melene.. . gave me this to give to you." Her voice was almost inaudible.

Chip looked at it. "Er. Just what is it?"

She looked into his eyes. He saw there were tears starting in the corners of her eyes again. She sniffed. "It was her most precious possession. She'd… only ever had one before." Ginny's chin quivered. "It… it was a chocolate."

Chip stared at her, open mouthed.

Ginny sniffed determinedly. "Rats don't really understand. I told her, you… Uh… Anyway, she said I must give it to you. She insisted."

Chip took Ginny in his arms. "Quite a girl, that rat," he said reverently.

She sniffed and held tightly to his tunic. "She's the first girlfriend I've ever had. And she was the best I could wish to have. She said not to waste this time…"

"Funny, that's what Nym, Pistol and Doc said. Fal said I should get drunk too, but not too drunk."

Ginny gave a choke of laughter. "Do you know that was almost exactly what Doll said?"

Chip grinned at her. "I can well believe it. That's one wild, bad rat-girl, that!"

She looked at him with big serious eyes and said quietly, "I'm not a wild, bad girl, Chip." She looked down and then looked him straight in the eye. "I don't know what to do. I've never even been kissed before. I don't want die before I've even been kissed properly."

"But all you Sharehol-" Fortunately, this time he caught himself. "This is how you do that."

After some considerable time had passed, he managed to speak. "Seeing as we are going to die anyway, why don't we go ahead and take the rest of that rat advice?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Oh, yes. Oh, yes!"

He looked up. "Well. Let's move away from here a little. I wouldn't put it past Eamon to come back. He really wasn't happy about leaving. And he has a habit of doing his own thing."

Eric Flint

Rats, Bats amp; Vats

Chapter 39:

The waiting.

THIS WAS ALWAYS the worst part. The waiting. Fitz hated it with a passion. The sky was definitely pale now. He looked at his watch for the third time in as many minutes. At first it had been… like going back to boarding school. What had really got to him was the smell. Somehow, perhaps because all vertebrates were once scent oriented, that stirred deeper and more evocative memories than anything else. In the dark, the smell had been especially noticeable. Mud, feet, urine, humanity, and the sharper animal scents of rats and bats, along with the smell of fear. Yes. Fear smelled.

But he'd come over the top. Out of the trenches, walking, with no enemy to fear. As long as he stayed between the flag-and-cord marked lines he was safe from those AP mines too.

Colonel Nygen had demanded an explanation during the drive. "It's simple, Colonel," said Fitz. "Part of the Magh' front line has been deserted. They've pulled all their troops back inside the shield to deal with a problem. Some of our MIAs have gone on the rampage in there."

The colonel was silent for a bit. "Are you sure?"

Fitz nodded. "Absolutely certain. Your precious Charlesworth had a request for support from sector Delta 355 when Colonel Abramovitz moved his men in about midnight. I checked with Lieutenant Guerra, your comm officer. He got his ass chewed for waking up the brigadier."

"Stupid bastard," Nygen said grimly. "No bloody wonder HQ sent you down." He turned his head. "Driver. You never heard me say that."

"Sah!" said the big Vat.

Nygen continued. "Good-but what I actually meant was about the MIAs. I mean, to pull the Magh off a whole sector… "

Fitz interrupted. "Colonel, we've been able to follow them with satellite tracking. They got hold of a vehicle and, heaven knows how, a hell of a lot of explosives. You won't believe how hard they've knocked that scorpiary."

The driver nearly had the ten-ton truck off the road. "Shit! You mean some of ours are alive on the wrong side of the line? Oh! Sorry, sir. Spoke out of turn, sir. Lost some friends, sir."

"If you don't mention speaking out of turn, I won't," said Fitz, dryly. "And don't get your hopes up for your friends. I don't know what the boys back there got into their heads, but they've tried a suicide mission. We think they're trying to blow the shield-generator."

"But you should have seen the explosions they pulled so far on the satellite pics," said Ariel enthusiastically.

Colonel Nygen's tone was sharp. "What does HQ think they're playing at? We're been dragged out in the small hours for this? Those MIAs are never going to succeed. That must surely be the most guarded installation…"