After The Pandemic - Smith: The End of the World (8) …the end is near… (1199 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: After_the_Pandemic Smith
Rating: 1.77 on 38 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2005-08-17 14:52:27 EDT
Related Tales...
ATP - Intro http://www.ubersite.com/m/61238
ATP - Background
-Corrigan http://www.ubersite.com/m/61296
-Variant C http://www.ubersite.com/m/61350
ATP - Smith tales
-Archangels 1 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61513
-Archangels 2 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61755
-Archangels 3 http://www.ubersite.com/m/61985
-Archangels 4 http://www.ubersite.com/m/62289
-Archangels 5 http://www.ubersite.com/m/62570
-Smith in D.C. http://www.ubersite.com/m/64167
-Smith at Sea http://www.ubersite.com/m/64857
-Smith: The End of the World (1) http://www.ubersite.com/m/66658
-Smith: The End of the World (2) http://www.ubersite.com/m/68176
-Smith: The End of the World (3) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69626
-Smith: The End of the World (4) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69714
-Smith: The End of the World (5) http://www.ubersite.com/m/69802
-Smith: The End of the World (6) http://www.ubersite.com/m/71864
-Smith: The End of the World (7) http://www.ubersite.com/m/72036
=(8)=
Smith felt weightless.
He opened his eyes. He was hanging from a rope tied around his middle.
Far below him was a raging fire in a deep, dark pit.
Rising up around the pit were walls of barren, heat-fractured rock upon which thin, naked figures scrabbled to hang on, crying out for deliverance.
Above the raw rock the walls leveled out and became a series of stepped terraces, each more green and lush than the last. Figures toiled there too, but the further they were from the pit the easier their work became. Some struggled to find food and drink, others had sustenance in abundance.
Smith turned his head, looking up. The terraces with their rich green lands and sparkling clear waters disappeared into clouds.
Above the clouds were the vast expanse of blue sky and a crown of dark night bright with stars, flickering not unlike the fiery pit below.
Cutting across the sky was a great arch made of gold.
Smith was hanging from that arch.
Every few seconds a streamer of light was lifted from one of the terraces and rose up towards the arch like a firework, giving off a sound like ringing crystal. Every few seconds a scorched and blackened thing tumbled from a terrace into the pit far below, mewling and trailing acrid smoke.
Halfway between Smith and the arch three figures were clinging to his rope. One man was chewing at the rope with his teeth, trying to break it. A man and a woman worked together, pulling untouched lengths of Smith's rope together and weaving the frayed portions into something stronger.
The man and woman who were trying to save the rope paused and looked down at Smith.
"I am your father," the man said.
"I am your mother," the woman said.
The man who was chewing at the rope said, "I am he who made you, and I will see you damned."
A shout made Smith twitch and jerk like a fish on a hooked line.
"Hells bells, buddy, good to see ya!"
Smith looked around and saw a younger man hanging from a similar rope, grinning at him. The man looked familiar.
"Billy? Billy Corrigan?"
Billy laughed out loud and nodded, bobbing up and down on the end of his rope. "Yeah, that's me, partner! Ain't this just grand!"
Billy slapped Smith on the shoulder and they both started spinning.
"You're deader than dogshit," Smith said.
"And so are you," Billy said, hanging his head. He sniggered, and then faced Smith with a big grin. "Aw hell, I can't keep a straight face. You ain't quite completely dead just yet."
Smith looked up, at the arch of gold. "Heaven?"
Billy nodded and gave Smith a thumb's-up.
Smith looked down. "Hell?"
Billy looked down, briefly, and nodded again, more solemn now.
"For fuck sake," Smith said.
*
Trina's stomach lurched again, and just like that she knew what she had to do. She bit into her bottom lip, drawing her own blood, sucking and swallowing. Trina paused, breathed, tried to relax. Then she leaned forward as if to kiss Smith again, this time parting his lips with her fingertips. Mouth touched mouth. She pressed against him as hard as she could. With one hand she pinched his nostrils shut.
Trina's body spasmed and she violently regurgitated right down Smith's throat.
*
"Not what you expected, huh?"
Smith looked at Billy, gave him a shrug.
"Well, we could just sit and jaw about this all day," Billy said, "But you got a decision to make old friend, and time is real short."
"And what does that mean?"
"It means your fate hasn't been decided," Billy said.
A flaming shape dropped close to Smith, snapping and popping like a pine bough.
"I been sent down here cause I wanted to come," Billy said. "You saved my boy, and Shally. I'm livin' on in the world through him cause of you. So when we all heard you was in trouble—"
"Who is we?"
Billy looked surprised. "Well hell, Mr. Smith, all of the people you done saved! Ever since you been a boy you been pulling people's fat out of the fire. I guess you was right when you told me you age slow. Some of them up here on your side died after you helped them, through accidents or leech attacks or plain old dumb luck... but some of them died of old age, and you sure look good for your age, by the way."
Smith dropped a few inches and stopped dead. The man who had chewed clean through the rope was laughing as the other man and the woman struggled to pull the severed ends together and tie them off.
Billy hooked a thumb at the laughing man. "As you probably figured already there's those up above who want to see you live, and those down below who want you dead."
Smith gave his head a shake. "What does it matter if I live or die?"
Billy looked astonished.
"Buddy, you ought to retrace your steps some day. You're just plain famous back home in the U.S. of A. There's parts of the country were little boys and girls is growing up hearin about the things you done. Hell, my own son hears that stuff instead of lullabies. The point is, the story is spreading. Getting bigger. Heck, in some versions you've taken on a thousand leeches single-handed and whupped 'em all in one go. You're like Abraham Lincoln or Paul Bunyan or Cherokee Mike, a real folk hero, a force for good."
Smith looked like he was being sold a miracle salve for burns, backache and baldness.
"Anyhow, there's a whole great big crowd on both sides now, half wanting you alive and doing good and half wantin you dead and burnin' down there. And in all the fuss a few of us figured you needed help right now. Help to keep going on."
Smith adjusted the rope where it was pinching his belly. "So if I want to return to life, I can?"
Billy nodded.
"And if I want to die, I can do that too, and just go along with you?"
"Well," Billy said. "Not exactly."
*
There was commotion outside the cell and in the castle beyond. The walls gave off the faint reverberation of... something.
Trina wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she knew it had been long enough for whatever was in her to go to work. She was a true Variant C. Her blood had the power to restore and rebuild. The power to reanimate dead flesh. She had been in Smith's mind long enough to know that he had the power to counter almost any illness.
Now she was hoping. Hoping that her blood mixed with his would bring him back to life and give him the strength to heal himself, without succumbing to the virus that made her no longer human. She had bandaged the wound in the side of his throat. Now she hoped she could help heal that wound, and the others.
She opened Smith's shirt and raised one fist, hoping she didn't break any bones.
She struck his pale, scarred chest. And again. And again.
*
Smith was started to get pissed off. "What's this 'not exactly' bullshit?"
Billy raised his hands, forced a smile. "Now don't get all riled up. It's just that you may not be able to go up there if you decide to let go of life."
"Huh?"
"Look. You got a whole lot of darkness wanting you dead. You are hope, in a world that's sorely lacking in that commodity. Even if you was to wipe out nine out of ten vampires in the world with your fancy light-bombs, humanity still has a long way to go. People got to be educated. People got to remember. People got to have something special in each and every one of 'em to be able to survive over the generations to come."
"Generations?" Smith laughed.
"Look, I ain't got time to tell all about that," Billy said. "Let's just say that a lot of the good side of things feels that if you throw your life away... maybe they shouldn't ought to let you come up with me. Maybe you should be left to fall, down there."
Smith couldn't contain his rage. "That's fucking blackmail!"
*
Trina put her mouth over Smith's, and breathed for him.
"Come back to me," she whispered. "I don't care if it's paradise over there. I don't care if you think I'm selfish. Come back to me."
She sat up, and struck Smith's chest again.
*
Billy nodded. "It is blackmail. I figured if anyone else tried telling you where the bear shits in the buckwheat you might not believe."
Smith fumed. "Hell, it's not like I was ready to jump off a cliff you know. I just don't like having my options taken away. It isn't fair. It's a screw-job"
Billy looked up. "You might want to take it down a notch. Just in case."
Smith extended a finger to the heavens. "Fuck them in their high and mighty asses!"
"So..." Billy's voice was small. "You'll go back?"
"If I have the choice?" Smith laughed. "God-damned right I'll go back. I've got someone to rescue. The rest of the world and your fucking generations to come can go to hell."
Billy reached out and grabbed Smith's rope, giving it a mighty swing. Smith started moving, and the rope snapped somewhere above him.
"See you in a hundred years," Billy shouted, his face lighting up with another big grin. "Give or take!"
Smith was flailing, falling, dropping towards one of the terraced landscapes. It wasn't paradise. It wasn't purgatory. It was the Britains.
The land was rushing up at him, and as Smith closed his eyes and expected a painful end, he briefly wondered about Billy's last words.
Give or take a few years... or a few hundred?
Smith slammed into the earth—
*
Trina struck him again, and suddenly Smith sat upright, sucking in a breath and grabbing her. She held him against her, running her fingers through dirty, matted hair.
"Hi," Smith said, his voice a dry rasp.
"Hi," Trina replied. She snuffled and wiped tears away with one sleeve.
Smith's voice was weak, a whisper. "I've been meaning to ask you... How did you ever find me?"
Trina smiled. "I called out to the world, knowing the one who could save me would hear me. I've been calling all my life. And I thought I had lost you."
"Well, I'm back," Smith said, and then he slumped in her arms.
Trina eased him back, leaned close, listened.
His lungs were working. His heart was beating.
He was sleeping. Healing.
Trina lay down beside him and closed her eyes.
User Reviews
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2008-06-29 17:13:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-10-07 19:31:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1) I kind of imagined Smith's father as being less "I'll help you son" and more "unnhh...braaaains".
2) why would Trina's vomit contain her "healing" blood?
3) if she will survive the light bomb, then all variant C's will, no?
4) Smith and Trina are going to breed a super-race, aren't they?
5) after Daric gets his shit fucking ruined, of course.
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2005-08-22 10:59:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
great as usual
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-08-19 03:27:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ahhhh Nuts!
I a little the worse for wear and didn't realise I had spastic hands tonight
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-08-19 03:25:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great as usaual Jack. For some reason as I was reading this the Dune series popped into my head. I thinkbecause you veered off on such a tangent frm what the series had been before. Well I for one was not expecting to see smith in purgatory (kinda).
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-18 22:23:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:56:07 (#)
Ranking: -1
Are you insinuating that I minused this post because "I don't like you"????
where the fuck would you get THAT idea?
You're one of the few people I actually enjoy in this shithole of a web site...one of the few without a vagina, anyway.
--
Hey, I just found out today I have to shell out two fuckin' grand for a bunch of new bathroom fixtures. Gotta take it out on someone, and you were there. You know the drill.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:56:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Are you insinuating that I minused this post because "I don't like you"????
where the fuck would you get THAT idea?
You're one of the few people I actually enjoy in this shithole of a web site...one of the few without a vagina, anyway.
No tips on the ointment or enture creams, but I have a couple of tremendous stock tips if you need 'em.
Oh, and I could probably share some tips on how to get laid. Let me know.
I thought we were "friends", dipshit.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:45:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Any updates on the latest denture creams, hemorrhoid oinments or the new truss you are wearing?
Wouldn't want you to run out of reasons to keep coming in here and dropping negative ratings on the poster and not the post.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:39:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
...and as an aside...as a huge Oakland A's and Raiders fan, I LIKE SF. Every other year (not this year) when we come out to see games, we stay in SF and BART our asses over to the shithole in Oakland.
You got the "old man" comment dead on. Turned 45 today. But I don't act a day over 15.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:37:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
"Are you still GOING....to San Fran-cisco....make sure to WEARRRRRRR some flowers in your hair...."
SF really has nothing to do with anything. I just like seeing you get riled up, Jackson.
It ain't hard.
Hey...I said I like both bands...I just like the "Oot and Aboot" disc better than the latest Flogging Molly disc.
And I like Dropkick Murphys better than both of them, anyway.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-18 21:09:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 19:21:18 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 22:05:13 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-17 21:12:31 (#)
Ranking: 0
Corn Nugget- If you like Flogging Molly...and the Ramones...you'd REALLY like The Real McKenzies.
--
You gotta be shitting me.
The Real McKenzies blow cock when compared to Flogging Molly.
What the fuck do you know? You live in or near SF. Shut the fuck up.
--
Go back to pulling your pud, old man.
The RMs are pointless noisemakers, just like yourself. Flogging Molly has a geniune writer creating their tunes, and an incredibly talented band backing things up.
And what the fuck does my living in San Francisco have to do with that opinion? You spend all your time on the golf course, so using your logic I'll be sure to get in touch if I ever need an expert opinion on what plaid pants go with what cashmere sweater, or how to be absolutely sure the shit I just stepped in came from a gopher or a mole.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-18 19:21:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 22:05:13 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-08-17 21:12:31 (#)
Ranking: 0
Corn Nugget- If you like Flogging Molly...and the Ramones...you'd REALLY like The Real McKenzies.
--
You gotta be shitting me.
The Real McKenzies blow cock when compared to Flogging Molly.
What the fuck do you know? You live in or near SF. Shut the fuck up.
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-18 10:27:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
didn't read this one, but I've got up to part #2 of thecaes' and have read some of the independent ones. thought I'd drop a +2 on the most recent one as well.
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-08-18 09:56:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sell the screenplay, you rat bastard
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-08-18 09:29:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I loved it
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-18 00:22:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-08-17 22:56:36 (#)
Ranking: 2
Very solid my man. It's pretty nasty that the folks in heaven were willing to blackmail Smith (that is if the whole thing wasn't just in his mind).
Any hints what other group story ideas you have planned?
--
Working on a few. More mainstream, less horror/sci-fi, hopefully more people will join in.
Fuck knows when I'll post it though. There are probably two Smith installments left, maybe one more Pandemic single story, and then I'm done with this world.
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-08-17 22:56:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very solid my man. It's pretty nasty that the folks in heaven were willing to blackmail Smith (that is if the whole thing wasn't just in his mind).
Any hints what other group story ideas you have planned?
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-08-17 19:38:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
After the Pandemic needs to be a television series.
Smith could be played by bruce willis.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-17 18:03:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
this really was excellent
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:57:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awwwww yeah.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:56:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
motherfucker, I had forgotten he was the one who took the drop.
You're just too fucking smart.
Submitted by horse87 (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:55:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good one...as usual...
BTW, Nice painting....
Waterhouse's "La Belle Dame sans Merci" unless I'm mistaken....?
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:27:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:09:03 (#)
Ranking: 0
T - Billy did have a cornpone thing going on, but remember, this is the esseence of Billy. Or is it all in Smith's mind?
He is hanging from a rope because that's the fix he and Billy were in when Billy sacrificed himself to save Smith, Shally and her baby, and the St. Louis Arch.
***************************
DOH!! Your clever symbolism was wasted on me. Now I feel like a fool. A fool I say!
Nice tie-in. It aaaallll makes sense now...I'd like to think I would have caught that had I read that installment a few weeks ago instead of a few months ago.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:11:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Having a rope tied around your stomach seems a little undignified and mundane for such a monumental moment.
--
Dignity is overrated. Smith shits, pisses, pukes and fucks just like the rest of us.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:09:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
T - Billy did have a cornpone thing going on, but remember, this is the esseence of Billy. Or is it all in Smith's mind?
He is hanging from a rope because that's the fix he and Billy were in when Billy sacrificed himself to save Smith, Shally and her baby, and the St. Louis Arch.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62570
Archangels - conclusion.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-17 17:00:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yay a post ABOUT something!
Nice one as usual, Jack. I liked the swinging-on-a-rope analogy for being in between heaven and hell...though maybe he should have been sitting on a swing or something. Having a rope tied around your stomach seems a little undignified and mundane for such a monumental moment.
Also I don't remember Billy talking that way, but you'd know better than I would.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2005-08-17 16:48:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fuckin incredible, man. I had forgotten all about Corrigan.
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-08-17 16:37:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awwww, Hells yeah. When are you having my babies? I mean, um... crap....
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-08-17 16:23:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:24:06 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:08:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh yeah, I seen this one - Smith wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette and tells her about this crazy dream he had that he was a New England innkeeper - classic!
--
That's the dumbest shit I have ever heard.
What really happens is Trina wakes up and finds Smith in the shower and realizes that his death was just a dream...
-------------------------
This is all irrelevant. It is just a set up so some smutt peddler can release "After the Porndemic" Mr. Smith Goes to Lesbian Nurse Stewardess Vampire Academy
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:51:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:28:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
=D
YAY
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:26:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No, no, that's not it, they're really all living in a snowglobe, and Smith and all this Variant C shit was in the head of this autistic retard kid...
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:24:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:08:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh yeah, I seen this one - Smith wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette and tells her about this crazy dream he had that he was a New England innkeeper - classic!
--
That's the dumbest shit I have ever heard.
What really happens is Trina wakes up and finds Smith in the shower and realizes that his death was just a dream...
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:08:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh yeah, I seen this one - Smith wakes up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette and tells her about this crazy dream he had that he was a New England innkeeper - classic!
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:06:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:02:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
finally a post with some content today.
i'm going to spend the next 10 mins reading this
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:01:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2005-08-17 15:01:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.ubersite.com/m/73370
PAY YOUR RESPECTS!!!!