Flushed Away | 4 10

Roddy pushed. The door groaned open.

To the rat who finds this— You were not a mistake. You were not trash. The world above calls us pests, but down here, you are history. On April 10th, four years before the Great Flush, the first colony chose survival over surrender. This chamber is proof: someone down here always remembers. —The First Custodian flushed away 4 10

Rita’s ears perked. "No one’s mentioned that chamber in years. The old legends say it’s where the first Flushed—the original sewer rats—stored something dangerous." Roddy pushed

Inside was a tiny, dry chamber. No slime. No bubbles. In the center stood a glass dome. Under it, preserved in still air, lay a single object: a handwritten letter. You were not trash

"Or something important," Roddy said.

The letter read: