Free Sewer Rats by Sigmund Brouwer Page A

want to throw up. The same feeling I get every time I go into the tunnels for a paintball war.
    Zantor, soldier of the galaxy
, I whispered in my head.
Zantor has removed all emotion as he watches the rookie soldier battle the alien swamp
.
    By creating this pretend world, I was able to make the ball of spiders stop wriggling in my stomach. I did this when I was scared —in school before a test, and in the tunnels.
    Scared as I was in the tunnels, there was no way I could let Micky or Lisa know it. Ever. The Sewer Rats were my only friends. I was more afraid of losing them than I was of the tunnels.
    Zantor smiles
.
The swamp test provides amusement for galaxy soldiers
.
    The spiders of panic in my stomach stopped wiggling.
    Lisa stepped back from the fence. Sounds of nylon and zipper told me that Lisa was opening her backpack. She began to dig through it.
    I didn’t take my eyes off Carter.
    â€œWhat’s this?” Micky said to Lisa a few second later.
    â€œWhat’s it look like?” she said. “A violin?”
    I finally looked over. Lisa had an air horn, the kind that uses pressurized air to make noise. Loud noise.
    â€œThink he’ll be able to handle it?” Lisa asked.
    â€œYou wouldn’t,” I said.
    â€œWant to bet?”
    â€œDon’t do it,” Micky said.
    â€œDon’t do what? This?” She pushed the button on the air horn and the sound almost broke my eardrums.
    At the walkway, Carter staggered like he had jumped a little at the sudden sound.
    Micky spun and shouted at her. “Are you nuts? Don’t—”
    Lisa cut Micky off by blaring the air horn again.
    Lisa blared the air horn in more short blasts.
    Two things happened by the lagoon. A big security guard came running around the corner of a holding tank. And Carter saw the security guard and lost his balance. As he fell his head bounced off the guardrail.
    Carter dropped into the goop like a giant rock. No splashing around to swim. No coming up for air.
    The security guard shouted.
    There was still no splashing around, still no sign of Carter.
    The security guard dove in after him.

chapter two
    The next morning we were in the Miss Pohl’s office. She was our principal.
    She looked at us and said one word. “Losers.”
    That surprised me. Sure, our nickname for her was Bean Pohl because she was tall and slender. She was an older woman. I read somewhere that as people age they get the face they deserve. Crabby people have a face that looks crabby from all the hours andhours spent with a crabby expression on their face. Mean people get a mask of a face with all their meanness settled right into it.
    I think there’s truth in that. Miss Pohl has the face of someone who smiles a lot and cares about people. That makes it easy to talk to her. Of all of our teachers, she was the one who seemed most human. And here she was, calling us losers to our faces.
    Which is why I was surprised at what she said.
    She walked to her window and looked outside for a few seconds.
    â€œLosers,” she said again without turning to us.
    I was standing at the back wall with Lisa and Micky and Carter. Micky frowned. I touched his elbow. He looked at me. I shook my head. It wouldn’t do any good to show that we were mad.
    She said it one more time. Sadly. “Losers.”
    We have all been called much worse before. I know some of the teachers say we’re dysfunctional, as if we have a disease.
    I’ve been called a loser before. I’m skinny and dark-haired, with a big nose that’s always stuck in a science fiction book. If I’m going to be honest, I’d better admit I’m short too. Okay, really short. But I don’t let that bother me. Okay, I do.
    Lisa Chambers is blond and pretty in a tough-looking way. She is even tougher than she looks.
    Micky Downs? He has a crew cut, square face and big shoulders. He could be one of the best athletes in the school if he ever