After the Pandemic: The Enemy of My Enemy (part 21): Rise and Shine (1022 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 35 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by The Caes (View user info) at 2005-08-23 00:56:07 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
http://www.ubersite.com/m/72757 -- Part 20: From Below
The King of New York ran his tongue along his crocodile teeth as he looked at the platter of syringes on his dining table. Thick velvet curtains were drawn across the windows, blocking all but a few of the sun's rays. Like most C variants, the Butcher could walk about in the daytime as easily as one of God's creatures, but he found the sensation unpleasant. Though none would admit to it, some of his subjects were susceptible to sun sickness and heat stroke. The raging sun that would incapacitate the Hemophagists or outright scorch the ancient vampyres only imposed an uncomfortable tingling of his skin, barely noticeable. But it served as a reminder of both his nocturnal heritage and the weakness of his enemies.
Vilhelm had returned on the night of the failed human invasion with poor news. He had underestimated the meat, allowing them to collapse the passage entrance with a significant yield of explosives. Even with his forces working day and night, it would take over a week to dig it out by hand. And even when they did, there was no guarantee that the rest of the tunnel was still intact. His gateway to Old World, his key to crushing what was left of America under his heel, gone. His dreams hung on by a thin thread.
Poor news, indeed.
It was all the Butcher could do to not snatch the prissy fool's head off his shoulders by his neatly groomed hair. It was a struggle, but the Butcher concluded that Vilhelm had not yet outlived his usefulness.
Not quite yet. But soon. He wondered how his would-be conquerors stomached his presence for as long as they did. The arrogance he had in the face of his betters was astonishing. He had been stunned by the explosion, and was unable to convert himself into mist. But his powers of transformation were swiftly returning. Come nightfall, he would send the vampyre over the river to spy on the entrance of the Dutchman's passage. Once he had news of this, he would take no small amount of pleasure in personally destroying the sniffy traitor. He was too dangerous to be allowed to float free wherever he pleased, and the Butcher was not confident that they could restrain him for any research. The Doctor would be disappointed, of course. But he would get over it.
He picked up the first of the syringes. They were the kind of needles that vets used on horses or bulls, but they looked small in his hands.
It took him and his chemists a year to synthesize this particular cocktail and tailor it to the Butcher's specific body chemistry. It was a mixture of anabolic steroids, cocaine, beta-2 Agonists (to stimulate the system and build muscle and bone), plus some EPO to increase oxygen delivery. It was undoubtedly fatal, if you were still human. But the Butcher's liver and kidneys had dried up long ago. He had outgrown the need for all such fragile human trappings. He only needed his heart, his mind, and his will. The rest rotted inside him, useless and forgotten.
He had no trouble finding a vein. The slightest motion made them bulge against his skin like oak tree roots. The Butcher dropped the needle into his arm with casual ease, and pushed the fluid into his pipes. He felt the drugs -- the marvelous drugs --spread, burning sweetly like acid through his pressure-hose veins. His muscles burst forth as he clenched and tightened, looking like they would rip through his flaking, scabbed skin. His toes curled, and he moaned through a reptilian grin.
He gasped as the rush faded. It sounded like furnace bellows. He reached for the second course of his daily dose. There was a knock at the door. Perturbed, he put the syringe down.
"Enter."
Commander Quill stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Maximus Rex," he said with a short bow.
"What is it, Quill."
"The Arab woke up. You told me to tell you when - "
"I know what I told you," the Butcher said, waving him off. "What about the sewer search?"
"Nothing yet, Overlord. It seems the remnants disappeared. We have soldiers searching the sewers night and day."
The Butcher offered an annoyed grunt.
"They can't run forever, Overlord. We'll find them."
The Butcher sat quietly. The drugs made it hard to think for a short while, but there was something he was missing. Suddenly it came to him, and he slapped his beefy hand on the table, making the syringes jump.
"Kill the rats."
Quill's eyebrow rose. "My lord?"
"The ugly one, he speaks to rats. The traitor told me. Perhaps he's using them to stay ahead of our patrols. Get a cohort down there to get rid of them. In the meantime I'll have the scientists to work on some poison to speed things up."
Quill clicked his heels and bowed.
"Let's go visit our prince."
************
Khalid groggily lifted his head. It was harder for him to concentrate than usual. Khalid could sense that it was day, and his kind was not meant to be active during these hours.
The Doctor was not boasting when he said he was an expert on pain. The sessions they had gone through had taken a toll. His undead body struggled to keep up with his various wounds. Khalid tried to stay in a meditative state as much as possible. This had the triple benefit of dulling the pain, focusing his recovery, and causing no end of irritation to the Doctor. His knee had mostly healed, and he could almost see out of the eye that Quill's shotgun blast had ruined. But he was slowing down. He needed blood to replenish his strength, but doubted that his captors would be so accommodating.
For the hundredth time, he reached out with his mind. He pushed at one of the scalpels on a nearby tray. Two hours ago, his will dispersed around it like a tiny breeze pushing at an oak tree. But now, the force was more tangible. The scalpel budged an inch. The Arab closed his eyes and tried to collect his will through the murky narcotic haze. In his mind he saw threads drifting lazily, floating like spiderwebs in the darkness, and every time he imagined his fingers closing on one, it slipped from his grasp.
Concentrate.
Focus.
Focus.
Finally his fingers closed on a thread. And another. And another. He tied them all together into something firm and solid, something he could touch and feel even through the cotton in his brain. He gave the three threads, now one, a stout tug.
The scalpel jumped off the tray and clattered to the floor. Khalid smiled and sunk in his manacles, exhausted. Some time later - he did not know if it was minutes or hours - he heard the door open.
He was dimly aware of three men entering the room. It was the Butcher, the Doctor, and Quill.
"Good morning, prince." The Butcher greeted in his granite voice. He looked him up and down. "My, you seem resilient. Well, more resilient than your partners here." He motioned to the unconscious forms of Svetlana and Abayome. "But then again, they are females. Wake them up," he said to the Doctor.
He pulled a syringe out of his bloodstained lab coat. A clear fluid sloshed around inside it. He jabbed the needle into Svetlana's chest and injected half its contents. He did the same with Abayome. In a few seconds, the two vampyre women were jerking and sputtering as the chemicals forced them into awareness.
"Good day, my guests," the Butcher smiled. "And it IS day, in case you were wondering."
Abayome was blinking the world into focus. After the fifth blink, everything snapped into perfect clarity, and her bear-trap gaze locked onto the Butcher's golden eyes.
"THIS is the rancid half-breed that rules this wasteland?" She sneered the way that only queens can. "How pitiful."
The Butcher swatted his hand across her face like a brick. Abayome's head snapped to the side and rolled around on her shoulders. She shook her head to clear the fog from her eyes.
"Shhh. Don't talk." The Butcher said. "If I wanted you to talk, I would have asked you a question."
Abayome threw an expression at him that looked as if it could peel paint from the walls. The Butcher dismissed it as he would the glare of a child, and looked at the Arab.
"The Doctor tells me you haven't been very forthcoming, Khalid. Is this true?"
Khalid smiled slightly.
"You see?" The Doctor said tersely. "He's absolutely recalcitrant. He says nothing, hardly even screams, and the two women do nothing BUT wail and curse."
"It must be very frustrating for you," Khalid said flatly.
"Give me a few minutes with him," Quill said, cracking his knuckles. "I'll have him singing whatever tune you like."
"That's an excellent idea." Khalid said. "Loosen my bonds and give your lapdog more slack on his leash, Butcher, so he and I may have a conversation."
Quill took a step forward.
"Quill!" The Butcher barked. "Enough. Go wait outside."
"What? Overlord - "
"I will not ask again, Commander." The Butcher bit off the sentence with a crunch. Quill instantly fell silent.
"Do as your master commands, lackey." Khalid said. "It is all you are meant for."
"We'll talk soon, sand-nigger." The Commander growled. Quill stormed from the room, nearly taking the door off its hinges in the process.
The Butcher stroked his chin, sending skin flakes to drift to the stained floor. "You're very dangerous, Prince. But so is my Commander. And so am I. Tell me, why shouldn't I kill you right now? Why do I spare your life?"
Khalid grinned through pearly teeth. "I've been wondering that myself. I think perhaps you see value in having a reminder of how far from greatness you truly are."
The Butcher's abrupt laugh sounded like a rockslide. "Is that right? I'm King of my own island, master of everything you see. And in a decade, I'll be master of my own continent, whether your little tunnel stands or not. I hardly think greatness has eluded me."
"Send a mongrel into a chicken coop, and surely he will conquer it. But he will still be a mongrel. And his kingdom will still be a chicken coop."
The Butcher's eyes darkened. "Pfah. Your opinion isn't important. You are chained and beaten and useless. The only thing you can offer me now is information, which the Doctor tells me you've been quite stubborn about. But that's about to change. Doctor?"
The variant was already busy with a device in the corner. It was a large disc that was facing the shuttered windows. Khalid had not noticed it before. It must have been brought in while he was unconscious. As the Doctor adjusted its angle, he saw it was a large mirror.
"You know what it is, don't you?" A smile had crawled across the Butcher's face.
Khalid nodded. He had wondered how long it would take them to think of something like this.
"Open the shutters."
The Doctor pulled a lever near the windows, and the rusted metal slats that covered the glass tilted horizontally. Sunlight cascaded into the room. The scorching light fell far short of the three captive Kin, but their skins instantly began to prickle and itch. Svetlana cursed in Russian, and Abayome let out a wicked hiss.
The mirror snatched the sunlight and fired it off across the room, away from the vampyres. The beam fell against a metal stand with a strange shape. It looked like a coat-rack with a flat oval face where the hooks should be.
"You're going to tell me about the remainder of your little attack force." The Butcher ordered. "You're going to tell me about their fallback points. You're going to tell me where they are. Then you're going to tell me where you came from, and where you get your interesting powers. You will talk, or you will burn."
Silence was the only reply.
"Vilhelm tells me that sunlight is very, very painful to your kind. He says that it burns like napalm, and that the wounds take an extremely long time to heal. The Doctor is very interested in examining this effect. Tell us where your friends are, and I might change my mind about letting him."
Khalid began to laugh. Though barely a chuckle, it gathered momentum like a snowball rolling down a hill, until his laughter boomed and echoed off the walls. Abayome and Svetlana were looking at him with concern.
"Stop it." The Butcher demanded. "Stop it! What's so funny??"
"You are," Khalid answered as the laughter trickled out of him. "You're clearly unaccustomed to enforcing your will on people who aren't afraid of you. You expect me to believe that if I reveal everything - assuming I have the answers in the first place - that you will leave us in peace and make our stay comfortable? That's so idiotic as to be absurd. I'm disappointed in you, Overlord. I come all this way to depose a king, and find that he's nothing more than a petty bully."
"I am a KING, you little shit!" The Butcher roared. The bull-ring piercing in his nose bounced with each word.
"You are a child. Between the three of us we have thousands of years of experience. We've seen the world unfold before us. We've seen bullies like you weep like babies and shit themselves when death comes for them. We've seen people who were twice the king you could ever hope to be break like porcelain. You will be no different, little king." Khalid spat upon the ground. "We will see you break as well."
"What you will see, you failed upstarts, is entirely up to me." He said through clenched teeth.
"Doctor. Pencil width beam on the Arab."
The Doctor nodded. "I'm not one for theatrics, as the three of you can attest, but I'm pleased with this little device, and as such I've dubbed it the sun-scorcher. Let's see if it works the way I predict, shall we? The sunlight should reflect onto -- "
"Doctor. On with it." The Butcher snapped.
The Doctor turned a crank on the stand a few degrees, and the metal that encased the oval retreated from the center, creating an aperture the diameter of a dime. Underneath the metal was another mirror.
The reflected sunlight bounced from the large disc into the face of the oval stand and onto the tiny mirror circle. A thin beam leapt from the surface like a laser onto Khalid's bare chest.
Instantly it began to sizzle against his skin. The Doctor swiveled the face slowly to the left, and it scorched a trail of burned skin from the base of Khalid's ribcage to the tip of his opposite shoulder. He grunted as his skin burned. Khalid could hear Svetlana and Abayome cursing and shrieking, but their voices sounded distant compared to the noises of cracking and hissing. The smell of his own burning meat wafted into his nostrils, and he began to scream. Then suddenly, the pain lessened.
The Butcher had put his hand in the path of the beam. It diffused harmlessly against his scarred and flaking skin.
"That was just the beginning." His voice was a gravelly promise. "You're going to answer my questions now. Or would you like to brag some more?"
It felt like a trail of fire had been blazed across his chest. Khalid's dark eyes bore through the curling smoke and into the Butcher's piss-soaked pupils. "Kul khara, fatah. You're wasting my time."
"You're probably right. Well, let's see if you learned chivalry in all the years you've been watching kings die. Doctor. Widen the beam and hit one of the females."
The Doctor turned the crank a little further, and a saucer-sized portion of the mirror was exposed. With a squeak he turned the mirror towards Svetlana. The killing light engulfed her hand. Her scream split through ears, an animal wail punctuated by semi-coherent cries. Skin peeled from her fingers like plastic. After almost half a minute, fire sprang to life, feasting on her hand.
"Fascinating," the Doctor exclaimed, closing the aperture and killing the beam.
He walked up to her, squinting at her burning hand. The fire died as he watched. He waved the smoke away and inspected the damage. Her hand was crisp and black. Ignoring her whimpers, he poked at it with his pen, and one of her charred fingers dropped to the floor and disintegrated into ash.
"Fascinating," he repeated as he stooped to sweep the ash into a test tube.
"Well?" The Butcher said to the prince.
Khalid said nothing, only shook his head.
"Doctor, they're all yours. Let me know if you discover anything interesting." The King of New York left the room, heavy footsteps echoing down the hall.
"I'm taking this to the lab. What is it about sunlight that elicits such a vigorous nociceptive response?" the Doctor muttered, holding the test tube up to the light. He looked at his watch and frowned. "The sun is beginning to set, so we might as well continue in the morning."
"Pathetic little toad," Abayome spat. "You have no idea what awaits you."
He turned an inquisitive eye to Abayome. "I'm particularly interested to observe YOUR reaction to this process. I wonder if you will be so rude if I burn the tongue out of your mouth.
"Until tomorrow, then." The Doctor exited the room, scribbling notes on his pad as he went.
User Reviews
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-06 11:09:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice muscles
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-09-01 11:12:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
incidentally - that photo... WHY?
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-09-01 11:12:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This section has some of the best lines of dialogue I've ever read - that includes stuff outside of Uber. I love the chicken coop analogy. Caes, I congratulate you, please keep this up.
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-08-29 15:34:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Caes - yeah, i send my Dad links of good stories on Uber - he enjoys a good short story coz he doesn't get time to read a book proper like
btw, i'd dig to pick your brain sometime.... s00perads.at.yahoo.com
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-29 15:11:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-29 11:54:39 (#)
Ranking: 2
What's with the muscles???
Is that your high school yearbook photo??
*********************
Uh, no. Subtract about 150 lbs of muscle and fourteen shades of skin tone.
And by the looks of the li'l guy, add 30% more penis mass.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-29 15:09:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-08-29 05:06:40 (#)
Ranking: 2
crisis, no! i actually made a note to myself to read the whole series when i had the time, and last night i did. i'm thoroughly enjoying this - even my Dad enjoyed this (and he's a very very finicky reader!!!)
********************
Your DAD read this? Weird.
But cool!
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-08-29 11:54:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What's with the muscles???
Is that your high school yearbook photo??
If it is don't worry..... I still love you!
Just don't hug me
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-08-29 05:06:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
crisis, no! i actually made a note to myself to read the whole series when i had the time, and last night i did. i'm thoroughly enjoying this - even my Dad enjoyed this (and he's a very very finicky reader!!!)
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-29 04:27:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Iradney! I love it when I discover a 'new' person has come by to check this thing out. For a second I was terrified that you just read THIS part, which of course would have ruined most of the story for you.
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-08-28 15:09:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
wow
wow
WOW
i just spent the past hour reading the entire series
WOW
when is this getting published then?
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-28 13:33:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
now, we wait.
Submitted by Viper_04 (user info) at 2005-08-24 05:22:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
All the usual, great work...your setting of the stage is magnificent and I can't wait for Kalid to break free and destroy the world etc etc...
Now that i've said that Kalid will probably die in the next installment when trying to escape..I believe being thrown out of the Empire state building as quite appropriate
Oh and on a side not, I'm sure the bodybuilder's penis is huge but it just looks small to his excessive bulk of a body =P
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-08-23 20:02:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-08-23 12:51:27 (#)
Ranking: 2
Great as always.
Keep em coming Caes
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 18:01:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks guys.
Submitted by Grownasskid (user info) at 2005-08-23 17:44:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
woot woot
Submitted by mbstateside (user info) at 2005-08-23 12:51:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great as always.
Keep em coming Caes
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-08-23 12:24:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
wootwoot
dingding
baby this story has everything.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-08-23 12:12:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That... picture...
eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-08-23 11:49:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like how this has progressed.
Excellent work, my friend.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-23 09:23:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I demand that this, this.... posting of substance, be removed immediatly. It took me almost three minutes to savor over my morning coffee. An outrage! In that time I could have read twenty-seven regular Uber posts!
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-08-23 09:00:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome, I still love this series
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 07:24:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-23 06:44:20 (#)
Ranking: 2
i say khalid gets one of butcher's syringes, and then goes hulk and kills everyone.
************************
Ha! KHALID SMASH!
I haven't written it yet but I basically know what happens. And that ain't it.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-08-23 06:44:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
since you haven't written them yet, me guessing at what will come next isn't really worth anything huh?
but hey
i say khalid gets one of butcher's syringes, and then goes hulk and kills everyone.
Submitted by supadupapupa (user info) at 2005-08-23 03:23:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I totally agree about setting the stage, you need some background before you get into the ass kicking. But I could have read something twice as long as this, it all ends too soon...
Oh, and thanks for writing something interesting amid the the gossip turds that abound now. Makes me remember why I keep coming back. Please hurry with the next ones, pleaaaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee!
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:54:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked the bit about the mongrel in the chicken coop.
By the way that picture creeps me out. He has no penis!?!? (not that I was looking).
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:28:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Awright it's past my bedtime. Later skaters.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:27:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well write it tomorrow
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:27:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Rasta! The hyperactive Jamaican. I remember you. You got irritated at this story the last time there was a lull in the action.
I've got to set the stage, man!!
Submitted by Rasta (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:24:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Love the series but I want Action!
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:23:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I wonder where that bodybuilder's penis has gone.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:21:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Post it tomorrow?? I haven't even written it yet!
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:19:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
BOOK DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:18:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
good, post it tomorrow.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:17:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Little cut-and-paste error there.
30 sounds about right...maybe 27, 28. Things are going to start to happen fast after the next installment.
Submitted by bob (user info) at 2005-08-23 01:12:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i was wondering why you had the last post on it
this is what i needed after this weekend caesar
how many parts you think in total? around 30?