After the Pandemic: The Enemy of My Enemy (part 20): From Below (1355 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 1.9 on 36 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by The Caes (View user info) at 2005-08-08 20:41:28 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
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63663 -- Part 5: The Story of Manhattan
http://www.ubersite.com/m/64024 -- Part 6: On the Streets of Jersey
http://www.ubersite.com/m/64325 -- Part 7: Tome
http://www.ubersite.com/m/64611 -- Part 8: Faing
http://www.ubersite.com/m/65301 -- Part 9: The Gathering
http://www.ubersite.com/m/65871 -- Part 10: Men Amongst Giants
http://www.ubersite.com/m/66684 -- Part 11: The Temptress and The Aristocrat
http://www.ubersite.com/m/66752 -- Part 12: Trial by Blood
http://www.ubersite.com/m/67296 -- Part 13: Words and Swords
http://www.ubersite.com/m/67769 -- Part 14: Details and Divinity
http://www.ubersite.com/m/68760 -- Part 15: Into the Breach
http://www.ubersite.com/m/69588 -- Part 16: The Ambassador of New York
http://www.ubersite.com/m/69741 -- Part 17: The Devil in the Details
http://www.ubersite.com/m/70550 -- Part 18: The Joker's Wild
http://www.ubersite.com/m/71764 -- Part 19: The Remnants
Joanne checked her watch. Five minutes past the hour. Five minutes past the point where she should have ordered the trigger pulled on this tunnel. She stared down the cavernous maw of Stuyvesant's Passage. There was nothing but blackness.
"Shit." She said to no one in particular.
She climbed back out of the hole and onto the dewy grass of Stevens Park. One of her men offered her a hand. She ignored it.
"What's the story, boss?" Ron asked as Joanne pulled herself up. He was her second-in-command.
"I don't know. No word on the squawk box. But something's going on, I can feel it." In fact, they had all felt it. A slight tremble in the earth, so slight she wasn't sure if she imagined it or not. And now, no word from the Bowery team.
"Do we blow it?" Ron checked his watch.
"No." The answer surprised her. She didn't know what she had decided until someone actually asked the question.
"No," she repeated more firmly. "Five minutes isn't enough time for me to feel right about trapping our team behind enemy lines. We wait."
"The Chief's orders were clear, Joanne."
"Yeah, they were. And so are mine."
And so they waited. Ten minutes passed.
Joanne checked her watch. "Shit, shit, shit." She muttered. Ron was right, Tony was very clear about the deadlines. He didn't want to risk the ceevees getting off their prison-kingdom. And the check-ins had been like clockwork, to the minute. Ol' Gus knew what he was doing; he wouldn't slip up on something like this. Something had gone wrong.
Joanne dropped her face to her hands and took a deep breath that shivered down to her belly. "Ron." She said into her palms.
"Yes boss?"
"Blow it."
Ron paused. "Yes boss."
That was it. They were done. They took a chance and it backfired, and for what? Joanne couldn't supply an answer. For all intents and purposes, she had just dropped the guillotine on Luke Cell 36.
Wait. What was that? She heard a noise, faint and distant.
"Belay that order, Ron. You hear that?" He stood still, listening. He nodded.
"What is it?"
"I don't know," Joanne replied. "But it's coming from the tunnel." She signaled for everyone to ready weapons. They pulled back from the tunnel, guns cocked and loaded, and a finger on the explosive switch.
The noise grew louder by the second. Soon it became familiar.
Ron cocked his head to hear. "Isn't that -- ?"
Joanne nodded. "Get the medics."
Heather came limping out of the passage like a one-legged sprinter, screeching in a raspy voice. The moment she burst into the night air, a half dozen hands were on her. They hauled her out of the pit and sat her on the grass. She was brown with dirt, and her every movement produced a miniature dust cloud. Soldiers were questioning her like paparazzi, but she could barely hear them. When she did speak, everyone flinched and shushed her. She supposed she must have been yelling.
She recalibrated her speech to a more acceptable volume, though she couldn't hear her own voice.
"The church is blown. The Chief's team is missing. We're staying here to guard the tunnel."
"Those aren't our orders, Heather." Ron sounded like he was talking into a pillow, but was just audible enough to make out.
"I don't care what our orders are. I'm senior officer and I'm in command here. We wait."
"And if ceevees start pouring out of that tunnel?"
"If that happens, they drown."
************
Tyler had to bury his friend in a sewer. He laid Tony down in a rickety box they cobbled together from rotted wood. He and a few other Lukers carried his excuse for a coffin down a tunnel and shoved it, grunting and panting, into an unused pipe. He couldn't even cremate him. The Butcher's soldiers were still searching the sewers for them, and the smoke would roll through the tunnels like a red carpet.
They had only been on the run for a day, but it felt like a month. Tyler would remember his friend's horribly unfair burial ground. He vowed to come back here when this was all over, and make things proper.
He scoffed bitterly at himself when he made that promise. He couldn't even promise the men - HIS men, now - that he could keep them alive. Hell. He didn't know if he'd live long enough to disappoint everyone.
**********
When they had finally found a place to rest in their frantic dash from the Empire State Building yesterday, Tyler told them all that the Chief was gone. Not unconscious. Gone and dead. He saw their hearts drop. It was written on their slack-jawed faces as plain as a billboard. He SAW it. Their leader was dead and they knew how lost and doomed they were. Anthony had always been there, always strong and confident, yet somehow still human. It was like losing a parent while you're still too young to care for yourself.
Then, something ridiculous happened.
One by one, the Luke Cell survivors looked at Tyler, doe-eyed and hopeful. Tyler looked at their pleading and grimaced. Without words, they were asking him to save them all, to make it all better somehow. Only Rick stood apart from their silent plea. He kept his eyes on the ground and didn't look at much of anything. And when he eventually did glance at Tyler, his eyes were sharp and angry.
Good, Tyler thought. At least one of them still has some sense.
He didn't want this. He was support, not leadership. This wasn't his role; he was never supposed to do this, to lead the entire operation.
But if he didn't, who would? These were good men and women, but right now the unit was as stable as a house of toothpicks in a windstorm. Someone needed to step up and take control before they were destroyed by panic and emotion, and right now, in one perfect, horrible moment, they were all asking him to do it. Tyler knew they would never fully accept anyone else.
His shoulders slumped and he bowed his head. He started to fumble for a cigarette, but he didn't want them to see his hands shake.
"We'll be fine," he said with a voice that was firm despite the roiling in his belly. "We're safe for now. We have contingency plans. No one panic. I swear we'll get out of this."
Tyler reminded himself of all the emergency announcements that were broadcast in the first days of the pandemic. "Everything will be fine," icy-faced anchormen with haunted eyes repeated to them from sterile, safe broadcast rooms. "There is no risk of an outbreak. These are isolated incidents. Do not panic. Remain calm."
The survivors had reacted to Tyler's words with worried nods. But their silent begging had stopped.
He hoped he didn't sound like as much of a fraud as he felt.
************
Tyler had expected resistance from Khalid's...people. But to his shocked relief, they accepted his new position with more ease than he himself did. Cash tipped an imaginary hat towards him, and Faing went so far as to offer a congratulation in the form of a back-slap that almost dislocated his shoulder. Bashir and Domokos were less enthusiastic, but they didn't challenge him. Domokos squatted in dark corners and hissed to his rats, while Bashir seemed content to stand stock-still in one place and look scary. Tyler thanked whatever lucky stars they had left that none of the Kin in attendance were leadership-types. He suspected that if Abayome had escaped with them, she would have taken control of the entire squad and turned him into a pair of boots in the process.
So far they had been successful in evading veecee sewer patrols. Domokos's rats were spread around them in a ten-block radius, and kept their master well informed of enemy scouting parties. They tracked through Manhattan's concrete veins like an elusive virus.
And that's not all they did. Domokos's little vermin spies also provided daytime reconnaissance above ground, as well. And Bashir was a ghost under moonlight. He came back each morning with detailed descriptions of the Butcher's surface kingdom, and had even snuck back into the ESB for some reconnaissance. Under his guidance, the Lukers even managed to get above ground from time to time to use the radio. When Heather's crackling voice informed him that the Manhattan entrance was destroyed but that the tunnel was still intact, Tyler breathed a sigh of relief despite himself. He didn't have time to mourn the dead. He had enough on his hands trying to save the living.
He was comforted to hear that the passage was secure. He knew that it would be lost to them for the foreseeable future, as the variants were no doubt digging the tunnel open again. But knowing that the Jersey team was still kicking lifted some of the weight from his shoulders. They weren't the only ones left. Even if their companions were on the other side of the Hudson, they were not alone.
As information kept flowing in, Tyler began to make decisions. As the plan began to take shape in his head, he wondered if he had gone insane under the pressure and stress. Two days after their narrow escape, one day after he had stuffed his friend's corpse into a shitty box and laid him to Rest In Peace in sewage, he gathered his men together and told them his plan.
Tyler took a drag from his dwindling supply of cigarettes and let out a long jet of toxic breath. There was really nothing to do but say it.
"We're going back at the Butcher."
The Lukers murmured and shifted their eyes around to one another, as if confirming they had all heard the same thing.
"I know, I know," he said. "Sounds crazy, doesn't it?" He resisted the urge to chuckle.
"That's because it IS crazy!" Neil said. He was the radio operator. His face was quite pale.
Tyler nodded. "Well, sure. It's fucked up, I'll give you that. But look at us. Look at where we are." Tyler motioned to the grimy walls of the storm sewer they had settled into. The smoke from his cig trailed the path of his hand. "We're in the sewers, for God's sake. Like rats." He looked quickly to Domokos, crouching against the wall. "Uh, no offense." The vampyre hissed quietly, but said nothing.
"The point is," he continued, "we're trapped down here. We can't run around here forever. Eventually they'll find us. Our rations have almost run out. There's no way off this island."
"There has to be a way outta here," Neil said.
"How? Swimming through the mined rivers? Catching the Staten Island Ferry? That's bullshit and you know it. Snake Plisskin's not going to drop in here and save all our asses. We're on our own and there's nowhere for us to go."
"There's got to be SOMETHING," he said crossly.
"Neil, you're a good guy, but you're dreaming. We can hide, but not forever. Think about it," Tyler said, his nostrils sucking in the smoke from his mouth. "Think about starving to death down here."
The room was silent. They weren't fighting him. He had their attention now.
"There's one way to get through this. Only one. But the Butcher's blocking the road. We need to take him out if we want to survive. Plain and simple." The cell members looked at their shoes. Time for the hard sell, Tyler thought.
"HEY!" he barked. "We're soldiers, goddamit! We've been fighting this war for years, and now you want to roll over and die? Like the pets those hole-sucking shits want us to be? Fuck that! Our backs are to the wall here. Now is NOT the time to back down. You want to live?" Nods all around. "Then you've got to fight for it. What else is new."
Holy shit, it was working. He was shaming them into the right decision.
"We're going to do what we came here to do. We're going to take this city back from these freaks. And I'm not gonna let some jacked up fucking mutant stand in my way.
"Now, make your choice! You can go on your own and run with your tail between your legs. Or come with us, and make these freaks sorry they ever messed with us." Tyler flicked his dying smoke to the floor and stepped on it.
"What's it going to be?" Tyler asked fiercely. His stomach clenched as his lips worked to form the crucial question. "Who's with me?"
The Lukers answered back with a shout, pumping their fists in the air in agreement. He had found their fire. He fanned it and stoked it and it had turned into an inferno again.
I think I'm going to have a stroke, Tyler thought to himself.
************
Tyler went over his plan with the remaining forces. Bashir had provided excellent intelligence on the interior of the ESB, including the location of the breeding pens and detention rooms. He even confirmed that Khalid was still alive and being held on the 42nd floor, though he could not promise he was in any kind of useful shape.
They would need all the manpower they could get. First order of business was to free their comrades and arm them. Bashir would lead teams to the pens and to Khalid. The assassin would then track down the Butcher and the remaining kin would take a run at him.
At best, they would cut off the head of the variant organization - if what Tome said was true, anyone who defeats the Butcher becomes the new King of Manhattan. At worst, they would all die, instead of going out on their backs.
The details were examined, assignments doled out. They would go at dusk. Tyler marveled at how easy the planning came in comparison to the amount of effort and prep put into the strategy of their first attempt. He realized that it was because they didn't have very many options to complicate things. It felt insane to be flying by the seat of their pants on something this big, but there was nothing they could do. This would either work, or not work.
Tyler found the grave simplicity of it strangely comforting.
Rick approached him after the men had split up to make preparations. He sat through Tyler's master plan and watched him closely. The fact that Tyler had hardly bothered consulting Rick about the strategy irritated him. Sure, Rick was no great strategist and he knew it, but that was beside the point. He was the senior officer here and deserved the right to give his input.
"Tyler."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't there something you're not telling us?" He asked with a low voice.
Tyler's brow furrowed. "I don't think so."
"C'mon, don't try to pull a fast one on me. I'm wise to what this is really about."
"Rick, I have no idea what you're saying and I don't have time for this. Spit it out or leave me alone."
Rick's eyes narrowed. "All right, tough guy. You want me to just say it, I'll say it. This plan is a bullshit excuse for you to play hero, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Tyler responded, his voice rising. "It's a team effort. In case you haven't noticed, we're fighting for our lives here. I'm not trying to look good, I'm trying to keep us all alive."
Rick scoffed. "Yeah, we're a team all right. And you 'just happened' to be heading up the team to rescue our cellmates. So you can be the one to bust in and save the damsel in distress. Don't you think you should be leading the assault force? I'm already on the rescue team, so why ain't I leading it? You're the wise and powerful leader now, aren't you?" His words came out biting the air. "Admit it, you sneaky little bastard. It's just an excuse to look good saving your girlfriend."
Tyler's eyebrows had knotted themselves together. He felt heat come up from underneath his collar. He had been trying not to think of her, captured and helpless in some kind of rape room. Assuming she was even alive. He had enough to worry about without having to fight the horrible tightness that crawled up from his belly and into his throat every time he thought about her, and what they might be doing to her. And here's Rick, pushing his buttons and getting in his face like a stupid schoolboy with a hero complex.
There was a moment before Tyler spoke, and when he did, his voice was like a wave that was on the verge of crashing.
"Listen. Listen careful. I've allocated our manpower as best I could given the situation. I'm in control now. You think you can do better? If you want to take over, if you want to plan this fucking Hail Mary, be my guest. Is that what you want?"
Rick shook his head.
"Fine. Then we'll do things my way. And my way puts you and me on the rescue team. If you don't think you can handle taking orders from me, I can put you on another team. We don't have room for errors. This isn't a fucking day camp and I don't have time to coddle your ego. Are we clear, soldier?"
Rick glowered at him. "Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes sir," he hissed.
"Good. Now go prep." Tyler started to walk away, and then stopped suddenly. "Oh, I almost forgot to answer your question," he said, turning to Rick. Tyler walked back towards him. "Is this just a smokescreen so I can save Bree?" Their faces were barely inches apart. "You're damn right it is. I'm gonna make sure she gets out of those pens without a scratch on her. I'm not gonna let anything go wrong in that op. Now if you have a problem with that...guess what? I don't give a shit.
"Now go. Dismissed."
They parted with a bitter taste and four shaking fists between them.
User Reviews
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-06 11:08:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-28 13:24:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"while Bashir seemed content to stand stock-still in one place and look scary."
that line made me laugh out loud.
time for some revenge.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 00:28:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Okay bob.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-21 23:02:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I WANT ANOTHER FUCKING INSTALLMENT
NOW
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-08-16 16:26:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome once again.
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-08-11 11:49:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-08-09 02:04:48 (#)
Ranking: 2
I have nothing to say that I haven't already said.
Excellent, excellent work my friend.
------------------------------------------------------------
Hammer meet Nail meet Head
Great stuff Ceas
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-08-11 02:48:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hey Caeser...My MSN's busted and therefore I haven't been able to get a hold of you, seeing as how I don't have your e-mail.
Drop me a line... kre8rix.at.gmail.com
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-11 02:12:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That is not an option nigga
Submitted by Viper_04 (user info) at 2005-08-11 01:51:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm really running out of ways to praise this series.
You never cease to intrigue or amaze, yuo should be commended on your tremendous writing ability
Submitted by Grownasskid (user info) at 2005-08-10 17:56:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
woot woot
i wish i had the skills...
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-08-10 12:34:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Still Lovin it
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-08-10 00:37:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Outstanding work. It will be a sad day when ATP ends.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-10 00:24:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Bob, you're sweet but I'm not going to kiss you.
Professional Peon, on the other hand...
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-09 23:13:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-09 20:21:39 (#)
Ranking: 2
Snake Plissken, heh
*************************
Ahhhh, someone got the Escape from New York joke. Thanks Jonny.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-09 20:58:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I WANT A FUCKING BOOK OUTTA THIS!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-09 20:21:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Snake Plissken, heh
Submitted by stardamage (user info) at 2005-08-09 09:26:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fucking AWESOME.
I mean, as per usual, of course.
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-09 09:13:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously though this is awesome!!
BLOW SOME MORE SHIT UP!!!
Sorry I'm getting all worked up early in the morning *sigh*
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-09 09:12:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
YOU!!!
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-09 09:12:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
LUV
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-09 09:12:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-09 07:53:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I blame all of you!! YOOOOOOOUU have done this to me!!
Thanks for the comments.
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-08-09 07:35:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
And to think, when you first started this, It was just gonna be a 2 part short story, then you said it was going to be a 10-parter and now we're on 20 and you're talking of doing another 5 or 6.
Submitted by supadupapupa (user info) at 2005-08-09 05:52:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-09 00:50:15 (#)
Ranking: 2
am i the only person that thinks that this could be made into a novel?
fucking shit.
best series on uber.
period.
---------------------------------
Amen. With a little work this would be an excellent novel. Would prolly turn into something incredibly lengthy like "The Stand." I've really enjoyed reading all of your stuff on ATP and I hope that you pop the rest of the babies out really soon! It's difficult to wait.
Submitted by ThineJericho (user info) at 2005-08-09 02:09:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A plus two, because I want to re-read the earlier ones before this one. I believe I've missed a few.
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-08-09 02:04:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have nothing to say that I haven't already said.
Excellent, excellent work my friend.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2005-08-09 01:10:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am using tweezers to frantically try to maintain an erection in anticipation of the carnage which must surely follow.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-09 00:50:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
am i the only person that thinks that this could be made into a novel?
fucking shit.
best series on uber.
period.
caesar, if you werent in canadia, id come kiss you right now.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-08 22:14:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
as always my man.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-08 22:05:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Why the fuck am I talking about subways?
The really creepy thing about old sewers in VERY old east coast cities like NYC and Boston is that they have been built and rebuilt so many times that there are sections lost to time. Great setting for a horror novel. Fucking anything could be down there.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-08 22:02:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
If my bowel movements were as solid as this entry I'd be a very happy guy.
Good stuff.
Yerright about the NYC subways. Incredible. Especially the old sealed off sections that haven't been changed in decades.
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-08-08 21:41:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I havent been able to keep up with the whole series, but they never disapoint.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-08 20:58:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Hey Ax. I've been keeping tabs on your series...when I have a bit of a lull I'll start reading it.
I'm winding this thing down. The big showdown is coming and after that I'll stop. Technically this could go on forever because it's such a big, open background, but I just want to finish this storyline and stop. It's taking up a lot of my time. So, maybe 5 or 6 more posts? Maybe more, maybe less, depending on how it works out when I write it.
Thanks for reading, dude.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-08-08 20:54:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
GO UNTREATED SEWAGE WOOOO!
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2005-08-08 20:54:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome, as always.
I just finished my massive UberNovel. http://www.ubersite.com/m/72741
How long will ATP be?
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-08 20:45:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Fun facts about New York sewers, taken from http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/20031020/200/569
"Sewage was probably the last thing on the minds of most New Yorkers during the August 14 blackout. But while millions of people struggled to get home or contact loved ones, city workers watched helplessly as untreated waste poured into the East River from a pumping station at Avenue D and East 13th Street. With no electricity, nothing could prevent the pressure of the water from pushing open the gates that control the discharge of untreated sewage and so it simply blasted out.
By the time the power came back, 145 million gallons of raw sewage - water from toilets and sinks as well as storm runoff -- had flowed into the East River from 13th Street and another 345 million gallons had spilled from treatment plants along the Hudson River in Manhattan and Brooklyn."
"New York City's sewer system, an engineering marvel and a murky source of urban legend, contains 6,600 miles of mains and pipes. Placed end to end, the city's sewers would stretch from Times Square to Fairbanks, Alaska and back. About 70 percent of that vast sewer system consists of combined sewers, which carry runoff from storms as well as waste from sinks, tubs and toilets. Some of the pipes still in use were laid 150 years ago when the modern sewer system began."