More Futurisitic Fun Than You Really Wanted, part I of V

[Eater of Clowns]

I love the idea of naive Sams getting mixed up with a hooker.  And it makes a bit of sick sense.  He's out.  Where the fuck does he even start?  This looks like as good a place as any.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

I love the idea of naive Sams getting mixed up with a hooker.  And it makes a bit of sick sense.  He's out.  Where the fuck does he even start?  This looks like as good a place as any.

If you have suggestions or objections or whatever, as this thing evolves, let me know.

[Luna]

CPD...  Hell, ANY of you, you delete anything from this thread, even if it get a resounding, "Nope, sucks, doesn't fit," I swear, I WILL fucking your shit. 

So far, nothing has sucked, and very little doesn't fit.  Yeah, some doesn't... but that's because we're working pretty blind, here.  We've got what's revealed here, and that isn't a lot, and we're making a lot of it up as we go... which is awesome.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

CPD...  Hell, ANY of you, you delete anything from this thread, even if it get a resounding, "Nope, sucks, doesn't fit," I swear, I WILL fucking your shit. 

So far, nothing has sucked, and very little doesn't fit.  Yeah, some doesn't... but that's because we're working pretty blind, here.  We've got what's revealed here, and that isn't a lot, and we're making a lot of it up as we go... which is awesome.

Duly noted, ma'am.

[Adios]

I think I have more, but right now I am nursing Terri after her spine surgery. Maybe in a day or two. Excellent job guys!

[Don Coyote]

I think I have more, but right now I am nursing Terri after her spine surgery. Maybe in a day or two. Excellent job guys!

Take care of Terri, and yourself.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

I think I have more, but right now I am nursing Terri after her spine surgery. Maybe in a day or two. Excellent job guys!

Take care of Terri, and yourself.

Ditto that. Hope she has a quick and clean recovery.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Shareese screamed as she was struck in the side, pushed towards the water. She screamed again when the head of a huge beast slammed into the pavement where she'd been standing. The creature howled, its long sinuous neck lashing back and forth over her and the person tangled in her purse strap.

"Bugger!" A man's voice. A very scared man yelling in her ear.

The creature reared and struck. Shareese found herself rolled across the ground as the man fumbled a gun free of the tangle and fired at the beast. Explosions of light and sound left Shareese stunned in silence until a rain of burning ichor hit her face and the man collapsed.

A ululating shriek vibrated the marrow from her bones as the beast withdrew with a thunderous splash. But at least the resulting wave was enough to wash the scorching sticky mess away and carry the man's body off of hers.

She lay there, breathing in great ragged gasps. There was no way to rationalize this. This . . . whatever this was was wrong. Wrong. Monsters didn't exist, except as people. Cruel and stupid people. But this. This . . .

"Miss?" The half-drowned man coughed up a lung's worth of water and pulled himself into a sitting position.

She couldn't even see more than half a silhouette. All the lights were gone. Even the stars were gone. What. Had. Happened?

"Miss, are you still with me?" He crawled closer and patted her cheek, hesitantly. Far too gently for a man who'd just knocked her down, rolled her across half an acre and blown up . . .

" . . . A FUCKING MONSTER!" She shot up, grabbing his shirt and shaking him until his head rattled on his neck. "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT!? WHO in GOD'S NAME are YOU? Why the FUCK AM I NOT DEAD?"

"Miss," the man placed his hands over hers and patted, just as he had her cheek. "Let me go, Miss, it's okay now. The Nessie is gone for now. But we should be on our way before any other interested parties show up."

"Not UNTIL I get some GOD FUCKING ANSWERS!" She was screaming and could not stop. Shareese realized she couldn't let go of his shirt. Her hands weren't answering her commands. She couldn't stop screaming. "FUCK. WHY ARE WE NOT DEAD? WHAT ARE YOU? Oh my god my god my god . . . "

Adrenaline gone, she collapsed in a sprawled across her rescuer's lap and sobbed like a child.

"Oh Miss, please don't cry. I never know what to do when a woman cries. It's all better now, see?" He stroked her hair and patted her shoulder. He sounded more scared, to her, than he had when that hellish nightmare had tried to eat them. "Miss? Get up now. We really do need to go."

"Why am I alive? People don't survive things like this," she said, refusing to budge.

"Some people survive at least twice, Miss. If they are very unlucky. You are alive because I used my last one-in-a-million shot pulling a stunt that will never ever work again so please, Miss. Move your bleeding ass before it comes back with friends."

"THERE ARE MORE?!"

Shareese was standing and pulling her rescuer to his feet before she finished the sentence. The stars were back but the streetlights were gone. Which explained the glass beneath her bare feet. Of all the fucking stupid things to do, she thought, jogging bare foot was at the top of the list right now. Right under playing dodge with impossible monsters.

"Where are we going?" She asked, following the tug of her rescuer's hand in hers away from the water.

"Away, Miss."

"Shareese. My name is Shareese."

"Sam. But my friends called me Sams."

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

The lights were out but Shareese didn't care. She hammered on the door as if her life depended on it. Which it probably did. Who the fuck knew? A window opened overhead and Shareese stepped back so Rita could see her.

"Cut out that racket, ya fuckin' crackhead, or I'll have the polis on you like fleas on a dog's ass!"

"I need the back room, Rita. Bit of a situation here."

"Shareese mother-fucking Winters. As I live and breathe. Careful there. Your man fetched up against the patio table is about to keel over. I'll be down in a wink." The window slammed shut.

Shareese released the breath she'd been holding and hobbled over to Sam, pulling his arm over her shoulder. He groaned and tried to stand on his own.

"Very manly. Quit that shit or I'll knock you unconscious to save myself the testosterone," she snapped, almost frothing with anger. The mood swings she was going through with this whole near-death discovery of nightmare monsters was beginning to piss her off.

"Sorry, Miss," Sam said weakly. He tried to smile but fell a little short. Though Shareese thought he'd have a lovely sheepish smile when he wasn't half drowned and one-third dead.

"Rita is a friend of mine. Real friend, not in-the-trade friend. This is her coffee shop. Primo shit if you like a beverage that doubles as paint stripper and weed killer," she said, attempting a kinder tone. He had saved her life, after all. "She sometimes lets us crash in the back half of the first floor. There's a tiny set of rooms, bed, bath and kitchenette that aren't part of the shop. She lives upstairs."

"Sounds like . . . a wonderful . . . woman." Sam replied, his breath hitching with pain.

"Very kind of you to say so, boyo," Rita said, opening the shop's door. She was a huge woman with a broad smiling face and her iron gray hair done up in fluffy pink curlers. Six feet tall and almost as wide, she had to turn sideways to get through the doorway. But she took Sam's other arm across her shoulders and almost carried him into the building, leaving Shareese to hobble along behind on her cut and bleeding feet.

Rita led them through the coffee shop, an immaculate kitchen, and several store rooms before squeezing her way into a tiny bed-and-living room. She got Sam onto the bed and gave Shareese an assessing glance. "You ought not to pick up boys in such bad shape, Shareese, dear. If you use them up in this condition they'll pass on before they can finish, let alone bring in repeat business."

"I feel like I should be blushing," Sam stated, holding a hand to his head. "What is she talking about?"

Rita let out a laugh like a foghorn flirting with seagulls. "He doesn't know?"

"Hadn't quite gotten around to that part. Started off with the whole saving my life bit and then the running away bit and we're just now getting to proper introductions beyond name exchange," Shareese said, sitting down in the room's only chair.

She gave Sam a smirk. "I'm a whore."

Sam blushed from the roots of his hair down to his ankles, at least, judging by the view through the tears in his pants.

Rita laughed again, bending over and slapping her knees until her whole body wobbled. "Ah, but he's a sweet piece of meat, Shareese. Keep this one if you can keep out of trouble. I'll fetch the first-aid kit and some food while the dear boy recovers himself," she said at last, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Thank you, Rita."

When she'd gone, Sam looked at Shareese. "Are you really a . . . er. You don't look like one." Then a look of horror crossed his face and he began babbling. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean. I don't . . . I've never. I'm still a . . . please don't be offended. Oh Lord . . ."

Shareese waited until he was done. "Yes I'm a whore. Relax."

"I've never talked to  . . . er . . . a woman like you before." He said, blushing again.

"I'd have never guessed, unless you hadn't started talking. You're in great shape, aside from the bruises and dents. And you're sweet as a puppy when you aren't firing a gun into a behemoth of whatever that was."

She fluttered her eyelashes at him. He looked like he was about to faint but Rita returned and saved him. Besides the promised medical supplies and food, Rita brought a sack of clothing, towels, and bedding.

"Ducky, I don't know what you've gotten into but there's a very blurry photo of you and your man here on the telly. Something about vandalizing the quay down by Mayflower Park."

"You're kidding. VANDALISM? It was a FUCKING - "

"Mistake. A very large and unfortunate mistake." Sam interrupted. Then he pulled out a charming smile. "Thank you so much for your help, Ma'am. I don't have any money on me at the moment, but if I can repay you at all, I will. You've been a genuine Saint."

Flustered and blushing, Rita said, "You're welcome boyo. Now I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I'll peek in on you in a few hours."

"Bless you, Ma'am. Bless you."

Rita giggled girlishly and left, fluffing her curlers.

"What the hell was that about?" Shareese demanded.

Sam hoisted himself up, retrieved their supplies and sat down at Shareese's feet. He spread a towel in his lap and dipped a pair of tweezers in some peroxide. Then he lifted her foot and began pulling bits of glass from the cuts.

Speechless, she watched him work. He finished one foot and lifted the other, adding a few larger pieces to the collection of tiny shards. It barely hurt at all, she noted.

"People are looking for us." He said at last. "Unless you are a very well connected . . . er . . . woman. It isn't because they miss your company. There's something going on here. I've gotten just a bit more paranoid as of late. And I'd rather not involve Rita in anything that may get her killed if I can avoid it."

"You're going to have to explain all this from the beginning, Sam, if you want me to understand any of this."

He looked at her. "The biggest part, you've seen for yourself. There are monsters. And at least two groups fighting them," he said grimly. "The Paynites, a secret religious sort of organization fighting from below, where the Nessies live. And . . . from what I understand, an above-ground group, government, I think. Very shady government. Very keen on not having witnesses or anyone to spread wild rumors that will ignite panic."

Shareese nodded, as if it made sense, and measured the distance between herself and the door. If he went batty, she could kick him in the face and run for it. This was insane. "Why were you at the quay?"

He finished up with her foot and dumped peroxide on both of them. She yiped and lept to her feet, falling onto the bed as the stinging ate her feet alive.

"Why were you? I thought you were . . . I don't know. One of us. I watched you. I thought you were there to fight the Nessies," he took the towel of glass to the sink and rinsed the bits down the drain. "But you weren't. You were just a woman who thought she knew better taking stupid risks." He ignored her scowl and her whimpers of pain.

He stared into the sink's drain, watching blood and glass swirl away. "And I . . . I was almost free of the whole mess. But we were attacked, below. It was over in a second. Sitting ducks. But instead of killing me outright, I was carried off, drug along the tunnels like a caveman's bride. Maybe they thought I was dead. I certainly felt that way. Then . . . we passed another body and there was a gun. I managed to grab it and I shot the beast. Only once. But I must have scared it because it dropped me. Right handy to an access to the surface so instead of going back, I went up. I went up."

Sam turned off the faucet and looked through the cupboards until he found two plates and two glasses. Then he made up the plates with fruit slices, cheese, day-old muffins, and cold cuts. He put one plate on the bed next to Shareese and one on the floor by the chair. He poured two cups of coffee from a thermos and gave her one before sitting in the chair. Picked up his plate, took a sip of coffee, ate a few bites . . . all like a man in a trance.

Shareese didn't move. Didn't breathe.

"I don't know why I went up. I'm supposed to be dead, too." Sam said, chewing his muffin. "But I went up. Didn't recognize the area. The light hurt my eyes. It isn't anywhere near so bright down below. You forget that there's a sun and a sky. You forget there are people who aren't Juiced and crazed. I sat on a bench and just watched the people. One old lady clucked her tongue at me and gave me twenty dollars."

He stopped and frowned. "You aren't eating."

Shareese snatched up some grapes and popped them into her mouth one at a time. Chewed. Smiled. Reached for a poppyseed muffin. Sam's eyes glazed over again.

"I went into a bar. Scrubbed myself with water from the sink, hand soap, and paper towels. Ordered food. Watched the telly. I saw the story about Mayflower Park and the other boy from the school . . . 'hysteria', they're calling it. But if I'm right, I have this horrible sick feeling in my gut, the other group in the shadows is going to 'sanitize' that entire school. If they don't want witnesses they'll do it while it's in session. The boy said he saw monsters at the school. And at the quay. I started at the quay, it's more open. Then there was you and now we are here." He looked at her, expectantly. A puppy waiting for a treat.

"You've had a very hard couple of days," Shareese said carefully. "It's very brave of you to save me. To want to save those kids. But how do you know you're right? What are you going to do?"

"I know. Everything is so much clearer up here. They've been doing it all along, don't you see? I thought it was the Paynites, but they wouldn't use the telly to chase us down. That's police right there. That's missing child, suspect wanted for questioning bullshit, that is. So. I'll think of something."

"We'll think of something."

"Excuse me?"

"We. Shut up and eat your food. We need to eat, bathe, and sleep. Then we'll come up with a plan to save the world."

Sam smiled. And ate.

[Luna]

Nice, I like it!

[Adios]

After what I saw I figure it's time to start a diary. And drinking.

Better tell you about myself first I guess. Name is Donald and I live in a garden apartment. That's an apartment about half underground. Since I lost both of my legs well above the knees I don't go out much, but I can still see outside.

Something strange happened about a month ago, I call it the beginning, since before that I had no idea. A group of people were gathered around a storm drain when a couple of vans showed up. Some guys jumped out of the van and threw all of the people in, except for one that walked away earlier, and then the van took off. 

I think I know what they were doing there, I think they were listening. I've heard it too, a singing almost, kind of like those whales they show on the Telly on those documentary channels. It comes up from the drains.

Sometimes there is a horrible stench that comes up as well. I don't open the windows to let it out though, rather grim faced men in uniforms drag people away whenever they find anyone. I may be the last person living on this block for all I know. Good thing my caregiver had me stock up on a years supply of food and water. She was one of the ones the van took away.

Once something distinctly not human was sniffing (I think) from outside a ventilation vent, when it left I put a mirror in front of it, that seemed to fix it. At least it hasn't been back. The men in uniforms are always looking in the windows with flashlights. I fixed up a little garage of sorts, mirrors on three sides, with the opening away from the windows. I can roll my chair right in, they are looking for legs, not wheels. I don't know why I am hiding from them, but they seem pretty dangerous.

After dark everything gets louder. Sometimes I can hear screams, some human, others not. I sleep in my mirror garage every night now. I saw something one night...not sure what it was, but it looked in my apartment. I was afraid to move, so I sat perfectly still for about an hour. I am too afraid to play a radio or the telly anymore, I make no noise at all. Well, except for eating or using the loo, even then I have to be sure it's a certain time of day. Usually around noon things quieten down for about an hour. Some days not, so I go hungry and just hold it.

I never move anything in the room that has windows, so now a light coat of dust has settled over everything, helps to make the place look abandoned. If I could get my chair up the stairs I might try to leave, but that's not likely. Not being able to have a cigarette is the hardest part, but last time was just before I heard that sniffing around the ventilator.

I have been here alone for over a year now. Food and water are almost used up, even with careful rationing. The men never come around anymore, or I would call to them.  I grow weaker every day, I think there isn't much time left, so I started smoking again. The cigs are stale, but they taste so sweet after so long without them. I have two bottles of scotch left, so tonight I plan to get good and drunk. I don't know what's going on out in the world, but I hope things are going well, it's all the hope I have left.


Recording from surface squad.

"Sir, we have somebody in that apartment"

"Okay, by the numbers, let's go in. Williams, on point."

"Damn, how long has he been dead?"

"My guess is one day. How the hell did he last down here all this time?"

"He's got a diary of some kind, I'll grab it for OPs. Jesus, looks like he was in here over a year."

"Look at those mirrors, that must be why nobody, including the nessies ever found him."

"Leave the body, but grab those smokes, those things are hard to come by. Get that bottle of scotch too, damn, we'll have a good night tonight."

end recording

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Wow, Charley. Fucking wow. 

[Adios]

Wow, Charley. Fucking wow. 

Right back at you. 

[Adios]

Internal Memorandum

From:  Operations

To: Logistics

Re;

Take 2 of the 6 wheeled tunnel carts and convert them so they are capable of carrying 3 each 7' X 9' 2 way mirrors. Train 2 stealth team veterans to operate. Assemble 6 more stealth team members, all veterans that have survived at least 3 missions each. Train them to work between the carts in total silence regardless of what is happening. Absolute silence is critical.

The lead vehicle will require one mirror forward and one port and starboard, the trailing vehicle will require one mirror aft and one port and starboard.

Weaponry on the carts is not important, as the team will have the usual weapons. Make sure the vehicles themselves are 100% silent during operation.

Report back to this office when vehicles and team are ready. The team is not to be sent out on field assignments during training.

CODE NAME;

OPERATION NEST

Commander;

Commander Royce