After The Pandemic: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1 of 1) (1282 hits)
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Rating: 1.78 on 30 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2005-04-12 19:31:07 EDT
After The Pandemic: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1 of 1)
The skimmer moved easily across the dark water, the buzz of the small alcohol motor carrying far in the chill morning air.
The sun was an hour over the horizon, and there was little movement in this gray, blue and black tableau on the cusp of winter.
Water-dancers and ski-bugs skittered across the glossy face of the Old Potomac. Below the surface were perch and pickerel, sergeant bass and bubbling funks, moving through the water like the ghosts of dead bureaucrats.
On the far shore small birds kept grim watch for these edibles from perches atop the jutting ridges and raised flats of an old highway broken and tumbled long ago. Stone, grass and soil wore white veils, fans and filigrees of frost.
Beyond the highway reef was the wide and dark pool called Cemetery Hole. Dead soldiers rested there once, and from time to time their coffins came to the surface and traveled with the tide.
On the near shore a kingfisher watched the skimmer pass from a worn rubber tire.
Dee Cee, once the seat of power in America, was now a near-empty ruin, its ancient wonders undone by earthquake and flood. Like the Colossus of Rhodes and the Great Library of Alexandria, the monuments of old Washington were only rumors of greatness, weathered ruins and murky shapes under the water.
Smith steered the skimmer around a swaying cluster of fine weeds reaching toward the surface of the water like the hair of a drowned maiden in a fairy tale.
He had once walked the length of the toppled Washington monument east of here. Now it was a hazy green obelisk, submerged, clothed in algae, forgotten. The White House had burned long before rising floodwaters swallowed the ashes and cinders that remained. The Capitol Building could be seen from the wheel of Smith's skimmer. The waters were higher than they had once been and he could see across the drowned city to the gray haze of the sea on a horizon much closer than it had been for Smith's forefathers. The great white dome was still white, but it was canted at an odd angle, now the home of rock pigeons, gannets, cormorants and other seafowl which had for generations coated the old cast iron dome with guano.
The kingfisher darted from the tire faster than Smith could follow. He heard a splash, and by the time his eye caught the bird it was flying away, twitching silver in its beak. Smith looked at the tire that had been the kingfisher's roost. To one side was a mass of rusted chrome and steel. The vehicle must have been long. It had come to rest on one end. In a clouded, narrow window above the place where the driver sat was a faded banner enclosed in glass.
"13A to Pentagon Station," Smith read, guessing that the words referred to the route the vehicle took, long ago.
He turned the skimmer to the rising sun, using the Jefferson Memorial as a landmark. Legend said that small building was built on reclaimed land, yet it was one of the few old structures to survive quake and flood intact.
Smith would travel as far across Mary Land and Dellaware as he could using the skimmer. He hoped to reach Jersey, and then the sea. He hoped to take the skimmer as far as possible. Leeches didn't like deep water. They didn't like rivers. They didn't like swamps. Smith was traversing all of those.
Munchers did take to water, when they were damaged and could no longer walk. The buoyancy helped them search for food, not that they could catch much
To the north was the leech republic of Baltimore. To the south was the Chesapeake Basin, part of the vast land mass that sunk below sea level after an massive earthquake twelve years before. Smith remembered feeling the earth move that day, even though he had been in Kansas getting a face-job from (after giving one to) an attractive but very tough blonde girl who was part of the Mule Express. Thus, he attributed the tremble in his legs to a much more intimate cause.
A horse can get the bug. A donkey can get the bug. Cross a donkey with a horse and you get a mule. Mules are sterile. Mules are also immune.
The Mule Express had been ferrying news and letters across the continent for a few years now. Sure, the leeches had planes and trains, but if you wanted to set up an information network in the outlying places connected my unmarked roads or no roads at all, you set up the Mule Express.
In his pocket was a letter. It was wearing out. Smith had read it a lot. Shally had made it to Tulsa. She found some good people, and had her baby. When she wrote the letter, Billy Corrigan Junior had been six months old.
Kid has probably celebrated his first birthday by now, Smith thought.
Smith would get as close to the sea as he could, and then find a way to cross the Atlantic. He had heard that there were oceangoing ships leaving Jersey and bound for Europa and the Britains. The leeches considered these small shipping concerns pirates. The sailors called themselves enterprisers and free marketeers.
The skimmer wheezed, and a quick examination showed air bubbles in the feed line. His tank was low. He opened his last big alcohol flask and poured it into the tank. That would give him another fifty miles or so. He bled off the bubbles and closed the watertight housing.
As he guided the little boat diagonally across what was once called the Mall, Smith saw bubbles rising to the surface here and there. The waters of Dee Cee never froze. The old quake had opened dozens of small thermal vents that kept the water quite warm. If you wanted to risk it, it made for a pleasant swim, especially on a moonlight winter night. Smith had done that once. It was surreal. The tops of national monuments glowing white in the moonlight, snow and ice covering higher ground, the warmth making you a little too relaxed.
Smith heard someone gargling and looked over his shoulder. Three munchers were splashing his way. Two of them were just torsos and arms. One had no arms and swam well enough. They were splashing far too much. Smith was sure they wouldn't last long.
You didn't splash in these waters, just as you didn't soak too long in the heat under a winter moon. If you did that, you'd be gatorbait, or end up in a croc's belly.
Word had it there used to be things called zoos. People went into the wild and caught animals. Then they put them in cages. Then they just... looked at them. It seemed ridiculous to Smith, who had seen a lot of animals crossing the country.
When the bug came it infected most animals, but reptiles were immune. That didn't make a hungry croc or a snapping turtle any friendlier, though. A lot of animals had died. Some survived. Smith had heard that crocs and gators from the zoo had hung on to life by lurking in the sewers. When the big quake hit, and opened the thermal vents, these prehistoric beasts were in heaven.
Or maybe they came from other zoos, following thermal vents all along the coast from points further south.
Here they were now.
Smith only saw thick, scaled backs and arching jaws. The munchers didn't have a chance. The undead wailed. Big lizard tails flailed. It was kind of beautiful, in a way.
When the munchers were gone the gators drifted way. They didn't bother boats.
Smith took a deep breath. He could smell the ocean.
Soon he would cross that vast body of water.
The girl of his dreams was still out there, calling to him every night.
Smith still had a long way to go.
User Reviews
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2008-06-29 14:57:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-09-25 14:30:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
a nice little vignette.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-03 12:22:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Supreme Overlord damage control...
Submitted by Supreme_Overlord (user info) at 2005-07-21 22:31:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
shite
Submitted by notyou (user info) at 2005-07-13 11:48:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-05-20 20:40:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-05-20 16:56:08 (#)
Ranking: -2
At least today is Friday.
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-05-12 17:57:23 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 mbstateside (user info) at 2005-04-22 11:45:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this but what's in the letter and why does he need to cross the Atlantic
Submitted by matchstickman (user info) at 2005-04-20 01:00:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
boo freakin' ya.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-04-14 16:52:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-04-14 14:23:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
As Peter Griffin would say:
That was friggin' awesome.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-04-13 18:23:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-13 12:49:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-04-13 12:03:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
love it.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-04-13 03:32:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1 of 1
Submitted by Revolutionman (user info) at 2005-04-13 03:27:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Viper_04 (user info) at 2005-04-13 00:39:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1 of 1.......you lie!
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2005-04-13 00:14:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This series needs to be kept alive, there's too much potential.
Submitted by tlozoot (user info) at 2005-04-13 00:06:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"(1 of 1)"
Are you sure about that?
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-12 23:14:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh, and try to keep up. http://www.ubersite.com/m/64024
(i only linkwhore because i know you care -- *sniff* )
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-04-12 23:10:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Dude, that description of flooded DC was really great. Pure poetry.
Awesome awesome awesome. Oh, and great title.
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-04-12 22:22:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-04-12 22:15:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Laurie Dhue (those lips, those eyes) was just on Fox talking about:
1- A deadly flu virus that could kill people born AFTER 1968 and
2- Breast implants.
The mind reels.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-04-12 22:09:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
where can i buy your book?
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-04-12 22:08:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Tim, that half-assed Cei shit is basically a connect between a book I've already written and more stories with some of those characters. There will be a very brief appearance by a cop who had a big role in the book. That will be followed by an abridged story I'll post here with that cop, and that story will serve as detailed notes for what I hope will be one of two novels with that character.
In short... there may not be much more ATP. Then again, I like Smith, and I want to see what happens when he gets 'across the sea' to Edinburgh, so...
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-04-12 21:15:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i'll allow you to stop writing this series under one condition:
you make it a book.
if not, i'll harrass you forever.
keep them com ing...this was intreging...intreaging...intreaugeing...fucking good.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-04-12 21:09:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
YES YES YES!!!!
my harrassing payed off.
now to read...
Submitted by spedmonkey (user info) at 2005-04-12 20:32:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
yay, more ATP!
Submitted by NoahsArk (user info) at 2005-04-12 19:41:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think so
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-04-12 19:32:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm in kind of an out-of-it, mellow mood today. This just popped out of nowhere...