The Trench Rats (Original Draft) Front

INTRODUCTION: The original Trench Rats text. Well...at least, the closest thing I've got, considering that it says it's based on an "earlier work." Scribbled in a very roughshod spiralbound notebook with no cover, its own hand-drawn cover fallen off, the pages battered beyond belief. This is REMARKABLY cheesy even compared to the current version. One observation: Even back then I had my sadistic tendency of hurting those I loved, as evidenced merely in the prologue alone. Another observation: In the current version of the story, Black Rat has been virtually absent! He appears only briefly so far, in Part 2 (out of fourteen), and is unnamed! And one more observation--notice my 1990 style of introducing a new melodramatic event every two minutes, and of having a character be sick, then fine, then sick, or be there, then decide to leave for no reason, etc.--and of using out-of-place flashbacks at bad moments. I like to hope I'm past this annoying stage by now. Even D Is For Damien--a novel whose starting point closely coincided with this story's--didn't seem quite so...well, messy as this is. But that might be my faulty memory talking. In fact, I rather fear it is. Enjoy discrepancies and out-of-character actions and remarkably stupid plotlines.

A note: I place a "sic" after most usages of "rat," as IMO this is misspelled; according to my current standards, when it is used in reference to the Trench Rats, it should be "Rat," to differentiate it from "rat" (a generic large rodent).

Since this story there have been at least two more versions, a sort of intermediate version which I abandoned, but which heavily influenced the "current" (on hiatus) version. I think it's interesting the various changes and evolutions this story has gone through. I have a lot of notes for this so I'll place them in the text itself. 1990.

Front, Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Back

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The Trench Rats
by Rachel H. [last name omitted]

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Rachel H. [last name omitted]

Dedicated to all of the REAL Trench Rats who fought during World War I.

Copyright ©1990 by Rachel H. [last name omitted]. All rights reserved, which includes the right to copy this work in any portion or whole, by any means, without written permission from the author.

First draft November (?) 1990 based on an earlier work, The Trench Rats.

The Trench Rats, Inspector Dobermann, Jesse, The Trench Mice, and all Trench Rat characters were created exclusively for the Trench Rat novels. This book is a work of fiction. All incidents portrayed are entirely from the imagination of the author. Any similarities are purely coincidental.