Day ???

There is not any word I know right now that can summarize the
events which I have gone through the past few months. I can now write legibly,
I tore out the prior few pages which I practiced my writing on so this would be
a full-fledged journal. I suppose it was kind of a waste of paper, but I still
have over a hundred left. How much longer can this go on?

My name is Leon. I can't really say much about myself, I'm about
15 months old, that's about...Let's see... about 15 or 16 in human years given
what I know, which is much more than the average rat. I can't really explain
this sudden jump in knowledge and learning. If I hadn't come here, I never
would have learned to read and write. I think it's the shot I get every other
day that does this. Whatever the scientists give us, it's not the best feeling
thing in the world, I usually have a stabbing pain in my stomach for about an
hour or so after the shot.

You're probably wondering where I am. Well, I'm in the same
place I've been for the past few months. In a small cage in a place the humans
call NIMH. I don't really know any words to describe this place either. I think
I heard an intern say that working here was hell. I'm still not sure what that
means, but if I read his actions correctly, than hell means bad. Therefore,
being a subject in a cage at NIMH can be described as hell, I suppose.

I guess you're probably wondering about how I came about this
journal since I've been locked up for so long. That's a long story, but since
I'm going to be here for a while, and the lights don't go out until the clock
has the short hand on 6 and the long hand is on 12. Right now the short hand is
on the 5 and the long hand is on the 4. So I still have some time.

On the day before I was caught, a human dropped a small address
book on the ground right next to the grate where we all live. We (My family and
about 10 other different families) lived near some sort of farmer's market. We
all lived off of the food dropped by the vendors and such who sold their food
there.

We usually stay inside the sewers until it got dark outside and
everybody was gone, but I felt more than compelled to grab that book on the
ground. I ran from the grate, grabbed the book, and ran back. Scaring a lot
people half to death.

As soon as I got inside I opened up my prize to see some strange
scribbling. It was writing, but at that moment I couldn’t discern words to the
symbols of English, so I ripped the pages out. My mom had picked up a fallen
pencil (it was customary for rats to take whatever they saw) and had given it
to me when she saw I had the book. She bit off the wood and gave me the lead.
Just as well, it's much easier to write with it.

I couldn't read or write when I first had the book, so I
resorted to scribbing pictures. I was the envy of the family for about a day,
that is, until I was captured. I remember it clearly, I was drawing a picture
of one of the food tents. A crude square with four lines jutting off of it,
when my brother, Daniel, came rushing in, babbling about a "Huge pile of
food right in the middle of the market."

Being quite hungry, I dashed outside. I am so glad I held onto
my sketchbook when I went out there. As I left the grate, I could see a huge
pile of food. It looked almost artifical, but I ran stupidly towards it.

Then the lights came on. Huge spotlights, right in front of us.

I was petrified, but Daniel had already started running backwards,
"LEON, RUN!!" He grabbed my arm and I loosened up and bolted towards
the grate, then the nets fell on top of us. I struggled to break free, but the
ropes were too strong. Biting wouldn't break them. I didn't have much of a
chance of escaping, but if I'd known I was coming HERE, then I would've tried
harder.

After about a half-minute, we were picked up and thrown into a
truck. I relaxed a little, knowing that we weren't going to be getting away,
however, many others in the net were still clawing and biting. I crawled around
a little, trying to see who else was in with me. My best friend, Steve, was
there, along with my brother Daniel. Steve's dad, Jenner was there too. My
parents were not there, but one of my sisters, Manon, was there. I asked her
where we going, but she didn't know. Nobody knew.

Well, that was that. I managed to hang onto the journal and
pencil since the scientists just picked me up and threw me into a cage. I spun
around to see the door slam shut in my face. That was the last time I'd ever
see my friend Stephen and my brother, Daniel again. I’m pretty sure that they
were both put in the Control group. I overheard Dr. Schultz, (He bosses around
the staff here, so I think he's the boss) say that the whole control group had
died during the past month.

I don't know too many other unfortunates here with me. The cage
to my left houses a rat named Nicodemus. He's pretty smart and is taking part
in some "other" experiment along with the regular shots we get. How
he puts up with it I don't know. He was the first to be able to read the signs
at the other end of the room on the bulletin board and find out the name of
this place is called NIMH. The notes on the bulletin board are changed
frequently so it provides some extra reading material for us. That, and the cue
cards the scientists give us. I wanted to tell the scientist that they were
really easy, words like CAT and RAT and DOG. Ridiculous. Justin and Nicodemus
told me to keep my mouth shut, because if they knew we were smarter than they
thought, we'd have a much harder time getting away.

Oh, yes, to my right is Justin. He is really courageous. He
likes to jump out of the scientist's hands and, from what I first discerned,
run amuck causing trouble. It wasn't until last week that I realized that he
was actually trying to find a way to get out of here.

Justin and Nicodemus speak to each other a lot. That requires
me, since I am the one in the middle. I have to pass the messages from Justin
to Nicodemus and vice-versa. I really don't mind, as it gives me something to
do during the dull hours.

Oh, great, the lights are going out. I hope that the scientists
forget to give me my shot tomorrow, they always give me stomach aches...

Day ???

I spent all of today trying to find my brother, Daniel. I can
see some of the different animal cages on the other side of the room, but
Daniel isn’t there. I’ve asked Nicodemus and Justin to spread the word left and
right down the cages to try and find him, but it’s been several hours, and not
one positive response.

Wherever he is, I’ll bet he isn’t as scared as me.

Day ???

I can't believe what's going on here! Okay, well, it seems that
during the night, Justin wanted to speak to Nicodemus about something. He woke
me up, (Which he does frequently) and told me that he thinks the ventilation
system is the best bet for getting away.

"Getting away?" I whispered, "Are you crazy!?"

Justin shushed me, "Dammit, Leon, tell Nicodemus! We could be out of
here in a week if we all know about it!"

I paused, then turned and walked the five paces to the other side of the
cage. I woke up Nicodemus and told him what Justin had told me. "Good,
good. Ask him if he knows what kind of air the vents are giving off." I
walked back and asked Justin. He said, "Hmm...It was cold air."

Back to Nicodemus, who told me that if it was giving off cold
air, that meant that it was cooling down the building, which meant it was hot
outside, which meant we could get away and not freeze to death. I told Justin
and he told me to tell Nicodemus to spread the word to the left, and he would
spread word to the right. To be ready in four days.

I, of course, had my doubts when I told Nicodemus this. After giving me his
usual, "Good, good." I asked, "Just how do you expect to get out
of our cages?"

I could hear Nicodemus laughing, "Leon, my boy, look at the cage door.
Read the words..."

I did this, and saw the words on the side, "TO OPEN DOOR, LIFT
LATCH".

Of course!

I went to sleep with hope. I would be out of here in four days...

I woke up the next morning to a big syringe in my stomach. Of course, I
screamed, loudly. It almost made the scientist drop the needle, but she kept
pumping me full of liquid. I almost swore at her (I’d picked up a few things
from the interns and security guards), but I held back at the last minute. I
couldn't talk. I could scream, but not talk.

She threw me back into the cage and slammed the door shut, Damn
needle! I was keeling over from the pain, my knees folding under me. You'd
think I would be used to it by now, well, I wasn't. It still hurt like hell.
But this time, my stomach hurt more. So much more, that I passed out, actually.

Waking up, I realized that I had been out the whole day. I woke up to
darkness. I heard Justin's voice calling me, "Leon, Leon, you okay? You
awake?"

I staggered over to his side of the cage, "Justin, what...what happened?"

I could hear relief in Justin's voice, "Oh, thank God, you're alright.
That damn nurse gave you a… an, uh…" Silence for a moment, then I heard
his voice again, " an OD."

"A what?" I asked.

"An Over Dose. Too much of the serum. She was fired on the spot after
you passed out. Schultz went beserk and was waving the bottle of the stuff
around screaming at her, talking about how much it would affect his work on us.
We thought for a bit that he might have been worried about you, but he was just
worried about the waste of the serum. Apparently it’s worth more than us."
There was a brief pause, then I could hear him again with a bigger hint of
relief in his voice, "You're very lucky to be alive, kiddo."

I clutched my stomach, "It still hurts..."

Justin sympathized, "I'm sure it will for a while. Just try to be
better in three days. We're getting out of here for good."

I asked something that I had been meaning to ask him since the night before
last, "Justin, aren't the vents going to be like a maze? Won't we get
lost?"

Justin said, "No, for the past few nights, me and a couple others have
been using a spool of string to find a way out. I stayed here tonight so I
could see how you were doing. The others are in the vent as we speak. Hey,
Leon, you should get to sleep, you'll need your rest. I think Schultz may take
a bit of blood from you for testing, but that should be all tomorrow, you get
to sleep now, right?"

I agreed, "Thanks, Justin."

Then I went to sleep. The light from the hall went out, so I need to stop writing
for now.

Day - May 14, 2000

I finally got the date when I overheard one of the scientists,
but that is all I can write today, my stomach is hurting so much and Nicodemus
is telling me to rest right now so I guess I should. Only a few more days...I hope
I feel better by then.

Day - May 15, 2000

My stomach's getting better. It only starts to hurt when I move
around too much. Dr. Schultz has been giving the shots himself lately since the
overdose. I haven't gotten a shot in two days, and Justin was right about the
blood test. Needles really are frightening, even for me, who's been recieving
shots every other day for the last few months. Justin and Nicodemus told me
they finally found a safe way outside throught the vent system, but a huge fan
came on every few minutes, so we'd need to hang on or we would get blown away
and sucked into the fan. I grimace at the thought and my stomach has started to
hurt again. Will I make it? I'll try not to worry about it too much.

Day - May 16, 2000

Well, tonight's the night we get out of here. I am so overjoyed
that we actually have a chance of never seeing this place again. I still have
to wait for another few hours for the lights to go off.

I got another shot today, so I guess Schultz isn't worried about me dying,
so I guess I shouldn't be worried. When the small hand on the clock reached the
three, I felt a quick, stabbing pain in my gut. I was paralyzed for about a
minute. What would happen to me if that happened when the fan came on? I'd
probably be dead... Well, I have another few hours to stew on that thought.

Day - May 16, 2000 (Night)

I can't see too well right now because it's very dark in here.
Nicodemus woke me up and told me that we were leaving. I reached my arm out of
the cage and felt around for the latch. After my paw found it, I clenched it
and lifted it, as the directions told. Nothing happened. Still holding onto the
latch, I leaned over to Nicodemus' side of the cage, "Nicodemus! My cage
isn't opening!"

I could hear his door open, he was out and was carefully walking along the
ridge that separated the cages and the four foot drop to the floor. He was in
front of my cage examining my paw, "Leon, you have to pull the latch to
the right then let go."

I felt stupid, "Oh, right, thanks."

I did as he said and I pushed my door open. I almost forgot about the drop
to the floor and Nicodemus had to stop me from plummeting to the ground.

Nicodemus led me to the end of the line of cages and said, "Leon, the
cages are made of wiring. We have to climb down them to get to the floor.
Whatever you do, don't let go until you feel the floor beneath your feet."

I nodded and started my descent, my jounal still in my hands. It was a
difficult task, but I managed to make it to the floor in a minute or two.
Nicodemus followed suit. When I got to the bottom, I noticed Justin was waiting
for me. He said nothing and led me to the ventilation shaft. The grill had been
removed and pushed to the side. The duct looked like a monster's mouth, waiting
to devour anything that entered, but that didn't seem to stop Justin, who was
already walking in.

We were almost all inside the duct when we heard a small voice coming from
the other side of the room, "Hey! Hey you guys! Over here!"

Justin motioned for Nicodemus to go into the duct and wait for him there.
Justin went towards the voice, and I followed him.

It seemed that the voice was coming from the mice's cages. They had been
given the same serum we had been given, and they asked if they could join them
in their escape. Justin ran back to Nicodemus and the others to ask them.

I chatted with the mice for a while, one of which was very polite to me. His
name is Jonathan, he's about the mouse equivalent of Justin, which is fine by
me.

After about five minutes, Justin returned and said, "You can come with
us, but if you slow us down..."

I could hear Jonathan say, "We will not slow you down, we want freedom
as much as you. We promise to keep up with you if you can get us out of
here."

Justin nodded and told me to open the cage latch, which was too far down the
cage door for the mice to reach. I lifted and pushed the latch, and about
eleven mice came jumping out.

Well, I'd better get to the shaft so I can get out of here!

Day - May 17, 2000

I'm just guessing the date. It could still be the 16th, but I
really don't know. For now, I'll say it's the 17th. We're all outside now,
taking a brief rest in a ditch by the side of the road. We've been running down
this road for about an hour now, hoping that we will be far enough away from
NIMH when the scientists realize we're gone. I must say, though, that our
escape wasn't exactly perfect. I hurt my right foot in the duct and almost was
killed... I guess I'll start after I left off:

We were in the duct, there were about twenty rats and eleven
mice as I said before, and we were following a long red string that had been
placed on the floor of the duct. We finally made it to the grate at the end of
the shaft, but then the fan came on. I grabbed the string, trying to keep
myself from being sucked down the shaft, but my grip wasn't too good, and the
string slipped out of my hand. I flew about three feet down the shaft, then my
foot slammed itself into the wall. I took advantage of the slowdown (Me hitting
the wall) and grabbed the rope again, this time bringing my hand around it so
even if I let go, I would still be safe.

After I secured my grip, I noticed that all of the mice, (Who had gotten
ahead and were near the front) were flying past me, getting sucked down the
shaft. I watched two or three fly by, then I started to try and catch them. My
first two attempts failed, (I'll never forgive myself) but on the third try, I
caught one. About a half minute later, the fan stopped. The mouse I had caught
had named himself Mr. Ages. He didn't have a name when he was caught, so his
friends in the cage suggested that he make one up of his own. Unfortunately,
all of his friends were sucked into the fan.

After the fan died down, Justin pleaded with the others to let
him go in search of them. Jenner, (I can't believe he's still here! He must be
really crushed about Stephen.) said that we shouldn't as it would take time and
we didn't really know how far they went. They could have been sucked to the
other end of the building for all we knew. Justin reluctantly agreed and we all
walked to the end of the shaft.

There, I found out, that only two mice had survived. Jonathan
and Mr. Ages. Nicodemus had grabbed Jonathan's paw just before the fan went up
to full blast. That was good, because we were faced with a big problem: The
vent cover was blocking our way out and the wiring was too small for any of us
to fit through. All except for Jonathan that is. He managed to squeeze through
the bars and unscrew the screws that held the cover on. After about ten or so
minutes, the cover came crashing down and we all ran outside. FREE at last.

Anyway, I should probably put this journal back into the pack that Jenner
gave me. He said he FOUND it while snooping about the desk in the corner of the
room one night. He gave it to me, saying, "Well, seeing as you're the only
one with possessions, I suppose you should use this."

Well, down to all fours, I'll cover more ground that way.

May 21, 2000

I haven't written in a few days because we've been traveling
nonstop. No rest or sleep. I'm so tired I feel I'll fall asleep running! We've
managed to get into a few gas station markets along the main road and steal
some food and water. God, how can the humans eat that stuff? It tasted
like...Well, I'm not too sure, but it was terrible food. I ate what I could, I
drank what I could, then I started to walk or run again. Justin, Jenner and
Nicodemus seem to be running the show here. I really don't care, I like all of
them a lot. I haven't spoken to Jenner since the day we were caught, and
apparently he was in the cage right below mine. I was as surpised as him, but I
couldn't compare surprise to when I told him about Stephen. He moaned a little,
and didn't cry at all. He's really strong in the head.

I bawled after I found out about Daniel. We were basically best friends in
every sense of the words. Still, for some reason, I don’t feel as bad as I
think I should… Maybe I haven’t really seen the last of him? Maybe he escaped
before us, or maybe after us? Maybe he was kept in a different room? He’s
smart, so he might escape.

We haven't had any time to stop and see each other just yet. I only know of
the three leaders. Oh well, I can still hope.

May 22, 2000

A complete stroke of luck! We all stopped after traveling
through the woods for a couple of miles to find a huge mansion towering above
us. It looked completely deserted, so Justin and Jenner went to investigate.
They came back an hour later explaining that the house would be abandoned for
another year or so because the owner was visiting some foreign country. They
had found a detailed letter to the mansion's gardener inside explaining what
the home-owner wanted to be done. None of it involved indoor work, so we could
live there for the whole year!

In the hour Justin and Jenner were gone, we all went around and introduced
ourselves.

There was another there, Cid, who had lost his whole family to the Control
Groups. He was the only one left in his family. I sympathized for him, as he
did for me. We're getting to be good friends.

I suppose I'll have to befriend everybody in the group. I talked a little
with Jonathan, Mr. Ages, and Nicodemus for a while. We were still all confused
and worried about what would happen to us and where we would go if the mansion
was occupied.

Even now, as I sit in the mansion's elaborate library (More reading
material! YES!) with an open copy of "Great Expectations" on the
armrest, I wonder what will happen in the following years. Where will we go
after the owner comes back? What will happen if we get caught again? I don't
even want to think about it. Unfortunately, it is the truth and once the truth
is realized, there is no erasing it. I guess I'll read more.