Beast Tamer's Rebirth National Treasure Edition novel Chapter 291

Chapter 291

While Sierra could only gawk at Elliot in stunned silence, he was so panicked by the rats that he didn’t even look at her.

Elliot was fearless about everything, except rats. Those things genuinely freaked him out. Especially this one. It looked creepier than any rat he’d ever seen.

Most rats were no bigger than your hand, but this one was almost the size of a small dog. It completely caught him off guard. This thing was basically a mutant rat.

Elliot tried to steady himself, his heart still pounding. Then he turned to Sierra. “Sierra, don’t be scared. I’ll protect you.”

Sierra said, “But I think that rat wants to talk to me.”

Elliot just stared at her, lost for words. Elliot stiffly turned his head and stared at the massive rat plastered against the rock, completely motionless. He thought, “That thing’s gotta weigh at least 11 pounds.’

Gritting his teeth, Elliot trudged over. He pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket, carefully grabbed the rat by its long tail, lifted it, and swung it through the air.

The rat protested with a squeak, “Are you kidding me? What am a spin cycle? Quit swinging me around!”

The rat, which had been knocked out, was jolted awake. If Elliot kept swinging it, the poor thing would probably get knocked out all over again. Sierra heard the rat gagging nonstop and quickly told Elliot to stop.

Elliot heard the rat, too. Even though he couldn’t understand what it was saying, the way it glared told him it was cursing him out with some seriously foul language.

Elliot nudged the rat with his shoe and said, “Hey, big rat. If you’ve got something to say, spit it out. If not, then scram. I’ve never seen a rat this ugly like you before.”

‘No way I’m letting Sierra’s eyes get polluted by this thing,’ he thought.

The rat shouted, “Hey, human. If you’re not gonna use your mouth for anything useful, why not just donate it to someone who actually needs it?”

The rat scurried over to Sierra and let out a snort. “Whatever. A self-respecting rat doesn’t argue with small-minded humans. I’ve got important business. Speaking of which, you down here looking for someone? Think you could help my friends?”

Sierra stared at the rat. It was about as big as her arm, and it starek right back. She’d never seen one so huge. No wonder Elliot freaked out. A thing like that would scare the daylights out of anyone.

Sierra crouched down, but she didn’t reach out to touch the rat. Instead, she gently asked, “Where are your friends?”

The rat’s eyes bulged. “Wait, you can really understand what I’m saying?” It had just been trying its luck. Never in a million years did it think a human would actually get what it was saying

Sierra nodded. “Yeah, I can. Are your friends animals or humans

Everyone knew rats could be as smart as an eight-year-old kid. Sure, there was no real science to back it up, but rats were seriously clever.

The rat took a second, then blurted, “They’re humans. A whole lot of them, all decent people. For five years, I’ve been living in these dark tunnels, and they always shared their food, keeping me from starving.

“I know humans aren’t supposed to live down here. They can’t handle it. But my friends aren’t even as sharp as I am. They just keep coming down.

“The folks outside won’t let them leave, just keep making them work. If they get sick, there’s nothing they can do but wait to die. And if they don’t hit their quota, they get beaten.

“Hey, human. I’ve seen you around for a while. There’s this white glow around you. I can feel you’re a good person. Can you please help my friends? If you don’t get them out tonight, they’re not gonna make it.”

“You mean they’re going to die tonight?” Sierra’s eyes widened in shock, barely able to believe what she was hearing.

The rat blurted out, “I heard the people outside talking. They think the cops are getting suspicious. They’re terrified, so they’re planning to kill all of my friends. If they do, there won’t be anyone left to tell the truth.”

Suddenly, a screeching blast went off in Sierra’s head. ‘Why is Cesar moving so fast?’ Sierra thought, her heart pounding.

“Where exactly are your friends?” Sierra said, her voice tight with worry.

The rat pointed at the wall of the mine. “The people outside forced them in there and blocked the entrance with rocks. It took me a ton of effort to finally track them down.

Suddenly, a bunch of kids finally reacted. Their terrified eyes filled with tears that started spilling over. One of the kids cried out, “I want my mom!”

Another shouted through tears. “Mommy, help me! I wanna go Home!”

In an instant, the whole place erupted into a mess of crying and chaos. As soon as the kids started crying, the miners lost it and started bawling, too.

From the moment they came in, most of the miners just stared off into space, looking lost and numb. With the way they moved and the blank looks on their faces, it was clear that these miners were suffering from intellectual disabilities.

Anderson watched, his eyes blazing with anger. He practically snarled through clenched teeth, “Cesar, what have you done?”

Sierra said urgently, “Anderson, now’s not the time to get mad. There are miners in Mine One, so there must be some in Mine Two as well. We need to get over there, fast.”

Anderson nodded. “I’ll call for backup right now. You guys get the miners and kids out of here first.”

Sierra nodded and turned to the wildlife rescue team. “Sophie, Ethan, Mine One is all yours.” Then, she waved at the rat and asked, “Do you know where the people trapped in Mine Two are

The rat replied, “I don’t know, beautiful lady. But I can help you sniff them out.”

Sierra said, “Thank you for helping out.”

The rat scurried off into the depths of the cave without a second thought. Soon enough, it came back, and this time, it had a whole squad of even bigger rats trailing behind.

When Elliot saw five rats the size of dogs squeaking, his eyes nearly rolled back in his head, and he almost fainted right there.

One of the big rats asked, “Humans, we found the people in Mine Two, but they’re in real danger. Are you still going over there?”

Sierra didn’t even blink. “No matter how bad it gets, we’re going in.”