After the Pandemic: The Enemy of My Enemy part 5: The Story of Manhattan (1183 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 1.96 on 35 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by TheCaes (View user info) at 2005-04-06 15:44:24 EDT
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61238 -- Introduction -- Jack McCallum
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61350 -- Variant C -- Jack McCallum
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61505 -- Part 1: Brianna
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61614 -- Part 2: Khalid
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63145 -- Part 3: The Meeting
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63504 -- Part 4: The Conversation
Anthony and a few select members of his cell spoke with Khalid until an hour before daybreak, when he politely excused himself to find shelter from the rising sun. When he was gone, Anthony, Tyler, and Brianna stayed up talking for two more hours, letting the impact of their conversation settle in.
Khalid had told them a little about his past, and had been surprisingly forthcoming when asked about his weaknesses. Like the leeches, he was vulnerable to the sun and damage to the heart or brain. Wounds to either would send him into a comatose state, crippling him until his body repaired the damage. Serious wounds to either, or decapitation, would kill him outright. And unlike his virus-spawned counterparts, garlic and onions had no effect, and running water posed little problem. In addition, sunlight would burn him quickly, and before long would immolate him, reducing his body to ash in a matter of minutes.
Anthony mentally filed all this information away carefully.
When it came to his abilities, the vampyre was more vague. Though he did mention that not all of the vampyres were necessarily strong, or smart, or fast. "The Turning blesses - or curses - all of us in different ways." He had said, in an annoyingly cryptic manner. He was inhumanly strong and quick, and could manipulate heat; Brianna told them this. She also suspected he could somehow read her mind, but in her panicked state she couldn't be sure, so she didn't mention it. Any other gifts he might have had were currently a mystery to them.
In exchange, they had told Khalid the relative strengths and weaknesses of the zombies and leech vampires. The zombies felt no pain and were impossible to kill without destroying the brain. They mindlessly searched for human flesh, but left their fellow undead alone. As for the leeches, almost all of them were ridiculously fast and strong, some moreso than others. They retained their human intelligence, and in some cases became smarter in their living death than they ever had been in life.
If Khalid was evasive when it came to disclosing the true scope of his abilities, Anthony was blatantly taciturn when it came to divulging information about human survivors. He told the vampyre only what he likely already knew: that there was a larger body of plague survivors who managed to gather and co-ordinate a resistance movement. The Immune Resistance spread information to as many humans as possible, creating sanctuaries and refugee camps in areas where the leeches couldn't find them. They organized the Railroad, an underground system of smuggling Immunes out of leech territories they were trapped in.
The I.R. also put their Luke Cells into play, small groups who served as information gatherers and guerilla soldiers meant to destabilize leech society. They were named after leukocytes, the white blood cells that defended the body against infection and foreign agents. Each Luke Cell ran independently, with little or no contact with other cells or even the I.R., so that if a cell was lost, it could not endanger the lives and missions of other components of the resistance.
Chief Turner didn't tell him that he frequently was in contact with the I.R. Generals. He didn't tell him that they were primarily based in northern Canada, where the bitter cold afforded them some protection against vampire spies. He didn't tell him that the I.R. had control over a few satellites that the leeches didn't know about, or their repeated attempts to synthesize the HIV virus into something they could use as a blood-weapon.
Tyler had lit a cigarette and explained the leech regime. Anthony watched the vampyre's face closely as Tyler told him what they knew of the vampire government. He seemed genuinely intrigued, as if it was all new information for him. The leeches had progressed into a loosely run collective dictatorship of sorts, called the Sanguinary. Powerful leech lords who dubbed themselves the Hemophagists ran the Sanguinary.
This government was hardly absolute, however. The country was peppered with fiefdoms, run by local vampires. Some of these local magistrates had allied themselves with the Sanguinary, some had relinquished their autocracy to it, and others remained fiercely independent, running their own regions like cult leaders and dark gods. Many pockets of North America were heating up with leech civil wars, where magistrates would fight each other or with the Hemophagists for territory, dominance and fresh human blood.
There were other parts of the country that the Sanguinary took no interest in, and where no enterprising leech had staked claim. These were lawless lands, rife with wandering zombies who had been pushed out of leech cities, nomadic humans who struck out to fend for themselves, and with vampire outlaws who didn't want a place in the new world order but had no ambition or desire to struggle against it.
And there were a handful of fiefdoms that the Sanguinary did not dare take interest in. One of these was the island of Manhattan.
In the year following the spread of the virus, when hope was not in such scarce supply, North America was at war with itself. The surviving humans fought with gun, tooth and nail against the growing horde of vampires and zombies. This early struggle came to be known as the Corpse War, because the majority of the participants were either already dead, or soon would be. Nowhere was this war fought more feverishly and furiously than New York City.
New Yorkers fought to the man. The Corpse War gave birth to a city of heroes. Middle aged women took to the streets with stakes and hammers. Children armed themselves with switchblades and nail-studded bats. Everywhere there was rioting and death. For weeks the sky went black with wet smoke and the air tasted of burning flesh. Eventually the humans were driven out or conquered. Battling the munchers by day and the leeches by night, they couldn't keep the pace up, not even with the thinly stretched National Guard's assistance. The Big Apple had festered and rotted and turned to poison.
But it was even worse in Manhattan. Something people couldn't explain was going on there. There were stories of vampires who were impossible to kill, leeches who went on rampages of terrible bloodlust in full daylight. They tore apart women and children like paper dolls and gorged themselves on their bloody insides. They ripped at one another like rabid dogs. From the banks of the Harlem River war drums could be heard, never ending, constantly pounding out the same hypnotic beat.
The few survivors quickly retreated, and the monsters chased them. Soon the carnage began to spread, and the Sanguinary, still in its infancy, stepped in. Suffering monstrous casualties, they massed on the banks and pushed their bloodlusted brothers into the waters. They destroyed all access points, all the bridges and tunnels, sealing their borders off from whatever evil made its home there. They mined the rivers. They banished the island from their New World.
Not a single creature, living or dead, enters Manhattan.
No one knew why Manhattan was the heart of the apocalypse. There was speculation that a mutated variant of the pandemic virus had taken root there, turning people into things worse than zombies and vampires. But most people said that The Devil had risen, and Manhattan was his home on Earth.
As with all ridiculous claims, there was a kernel of truth to it. Apparently the excommunicated land was not without a king. Leech and human survivors alike spoke in whispered tones of a powerful vampire, one of the mutated daywalkers who had seized control of the city. He was known by many names; Satan, the Mayor, the Revenant. But most referred to him as the Butcher of York.
What the Butcher does in Manhattan is unknown. But with a telescope you can see the munchers that he has nailed to the ruined bridges as warnings, still writhing and moaning in eternal crucifixion. And sometimes at night, the drums can still be heard, their chilling rhythm vibrating up your spine.
Tyler told Khalid all this, burning through his smokes double-time. Strangely, he did not seem terribly discouraged. In fact, he was wearing a pearly, toothy grin that made them all, even Brianna, a little uncomfortable.
"With your help and the help of my kin, we can take this land." He said confidence. "We can overthrow the Butcher and claim Manhattan as our own base, a den of lions in the heart of the enemy. Surrounded by water, chased away by their superstition and cowardice, they won't raise a hand against us."
In theory, Anthony had to admit it sounded pretty good. But they had no way to even get onto Manhattan, and no way to avoid a certain and painful death even if they did.
"Leave it to me," the Arab said smoothly. "Tomorrow night I will return, and we will have answers. Give me maps and a few of your men and I will find us the allies we need to accomplish our task."
And they left it at that. The three of them were left sitting in the empty room, trapped in a mutually stunned silence. Brianna was the first to break the spell.
"Well?" Was all she managed to say.
Anthony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'll tell you this much. If this guy is on the level, he's either a genius or completely insane. Either way, he's got huge balls."
"So what are we going to do, Tony?" Tyler asked, snuffing his cigarette out against the surface of the table. "Play ball?"
Anthony nodded slowly. "We'll play a couple of innings, but I'm not putting our entire team on the line just yet." He paused to mentally catalogue everything. If this were a leech trick, the only purpose to it would be to take the whole cell out, capture the chief and work him for information on the Resistance. Well, if this were some elaborate trap, he'd be ready for it.
"Tyler, get Heather in here. Tell her I want this place cleared out in an hour. Scatter in groups of three and drop back to rendezvous four, wait for my instructions."
"Copy that."
"Brianna, brief Gus and Rick, tell them I want this place rigged to blow before they do anything else. Remote detonator, done proper. Then bring Rick and Ferdy in here. The four of us are going to meet up with our new buddy at nightfall and see what he has to say.
"And if he doesn't come alone, I'm going to blow that fucker to hell."
User Reviews
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-06 10:45:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-10-19 04:35:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
There are a solid four pages of +2 streaks with 30 or more reviews. That is stupid. I am weeding it all out by giving every one of them a +1; that way posts that have 1.99 with 200+ reviews gets best ever.
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-19 15:27:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
wow.
this is like epic fantasy set in the almost real world.
I love it.
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-07-08 11:51:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Get to the bridge! THE BRIIIIIIDGE!
Submitted by notyou (user info) at 2005-07-05 17:59:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-06-30 20:20:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2005-05-25 13:56:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-05-12 17:56:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have just got done reading these all and I have enjoyed them all. Great work everyone, +2's for all!
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-04-11 09:49:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-10 02:57:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You know, I actually have part 6 ready to go, but I'm going to wait until this bandwagon thing dies down, or it'll be off the front page in about two minutes. I'd rather tweak it a little more anyway. Monday or Tuesday it should be up.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-04-09 14:28:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
where the fuck is part 6?
huh?
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-04-08 20:02:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
nice
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-07 20:31:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Jack went through their weaknesses/strengths in his intro post. As I understand it, they can't swim, eat onions or garlic, smoke cigarettes, or function in daylight. He also mentioned that they have to feed pretty much every night or every few hours.
Submitted by tlozoot (user info) at 2005-04-07 20:14:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I love these, but this post (or maybe the last one?) touched on a point I've been wondering about for a while: What is the downside to being a leech? They basically seem like improved humans.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-04-07 12:41:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm pissed that work is so crazy these days, otherwise I'd crank out a few more of my own. I have one or two left.
This is fun stuff. Thanks for a nice reading break in a bleak day.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-07 00:06:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh, don't worry Lady P. I'll be sure to fit some in...it's just taking longer to get there than I thought.
Thanks for the comments, guys.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-06 22:09:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't be silly. There's opportunity galore for a horrible death or so here.
Submitted by matchstickman (user info) at 2005-04-06 20:14:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63675
forgive me if you think it sucks, it's my first attempt at a fictional narrative in a very long time...
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-04-06 18:36:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-06 18:01:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Autobiographical? At least the research is already done.
Submitted by matchstickman (user info) at 2005-04-06 17:34:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i think i might write a post of my own...after i catch up with my english work. have to write a 1500-word autobiographical essay.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-04-06 17:17:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
5 out of 10
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2005-04-06 17:13:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
MOOOOOOOOORE!!!
Submitted by Satansgotsyphillis (user info) at 2005-04-06 17:12:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
better than yesterday's addition. think about writing something with a penis caught in a mousetrap because no post is complete until there's the word penis.
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:59:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
keep it going, if everyone else has given up... you can finish the story.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:38:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:58:16 (#)
Ranking: 2
I think you're the last one left doing this series
****************************
* sigh * Yep. By the time I got convinced to continue and worked out enough of the plot in my head to get started, the whole pandemic think had kind of died down. Oh well.
Don't worry stateside, I can't stop until I hit 10 posts or bob will kill my pet turtle.
Peon: I do know why. I did that on purpose.
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:25:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't stop I really want to see where this goes.
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:06:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent addition.
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:04:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Extra kick ass!!! I think you know why.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:03:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am so glad to see this revived.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-04-06 16:03:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:59:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
They need to enlist the help of Snake Pliskin.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:58:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think you're the last one left doing this series
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:51:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kicker of all ass (+2)
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-06 15:46:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
So...many...words...
I think this is the fourth post in a row I've written that doesn't have someone dying horribly. Feels weird.