Pipe Dreams (17 page)

“Let the motherfucker burn.”

“Yeah, I
’m with you there. Hey, Jeremy? Be careful, huh?

“Always, man. Always.”

Michael threw his arms around Jeremy and hugged him hard. When he pulled back, he smiled, meeting Jeremy’s eyes. He held the gaze for a moment and then hurried into the escape tunnel without saying goodbye.

CHAPTER 31

T
he deep dark and musty
air were confining. Heavy fear like a shroud around her, Vanessa contemplated the reality she now faced. Though she had been with the cell only a short time, the basement had become home. The people huddled against her were brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. For them, she slowed her breathing and unclenched the tight fists she had locked against her thighs.

The clumping of Michael
’s crutches was a sweet relief. She turned to him, but could not see him as he joined her in the tunnel. When a small lantern illuminated the cramped convergence, Vanessa was surprised. The tunnel was bigger than she had imagined. Steel girders reinforced a timber lined roof and cinderblock walls. Light bounced from Michael’s lantern, revealing spider webs and rodent offal. The tiny, black pellets peppered the hard-packed, dirt floor.

“Jeremy said to go ahead. He forgot somethin
’. He’ll meet up with us in a little while,” Michael said, keeping his liquid voice smooth and even.

“We should wait for him,” Ashley protested

“He’ll catch up. He wants us to get movin’. We need to get some distance on the flames.” At his words, frightened mothers – anxious to get their children out and away – exhaled a collective breath.

Mariah lent her authority by shooing the group forward, taking the lantern from Michael, and making her way to the front of the line. They shuffled down the narrow path, lumbering under the burdens they carried. The odd backpack, suitcase, or bag held the remnants of their lives and slowed their progress.

Weird shadows played on the walls as they followed Mariah’s light. They did not speak. Leaving the basement was more frightening than the displaced rats scurrying around them. The rats went unseen as the group stared into a future more bleak than they had known. This was a leaving that would linger.

The tunnel turned as they descended deeper into the bowels of an oblivious earth. Glancing behind her, Vanessa tried to glimpse Michael
’s expression in the uneven lantern rays, but his honeyed face was hidden in shadow. Still, the rhythmic one-two-thump of his three-legged hobble comforted her and she focused on the shuffle of her own small feet.

The air thickened, reeking of damp and decay. They had been told the tunnel connected to a sewer main and they were getting close. Vanessa
’s skin crawled as she envisioned the journey ahead, slogging through human waste and the slithering things that fed on it. When the tunnel ended at a steel door, and she looked down the ladder that led into the enormous pipe, she let out a breath.

No river of excrement waited for them. Though foul, the sludge at the bottom was not deep. The depleted city did not void much anymore. Getting Michael down the rungs proved difficult. He handed Vanessa his crutches and tried to hop from one skinny, metal bar to the next, but the clumsiness of his cast made him slip. Mark rushed to catch him and, together, they eased their way to the bottom. Mariah held the lantern in front of her and looked in both directions.

“Go right. I explored this with Jeremy when we first moved to the basement. It’s a hike, but it’ll get us where we need to go,” Michael called from the rear.

“What about Jeremy?  We have to wait for him,” Ashley said.

“He said for us to go on. He’s doing what he needs to do.”

“But he
’s sick. We can’t just leave him!” Ashley argued.

Vanessa loved her fierceness and determination. Few women would still be full of fight after the treatment she had received and Ashley was only a girl.

“Ashley, enough!  We’re going to do what he said. Now hush up.” Michael’s voice was firm, though he glanced ruefully at the door behind him. Jeremy should have joined them by now. Vanessa imagined fire penetrating the basement and turning it into an oven. Worry flared in her belly, but it was unsafe to divide the group. The fearless girl continued to protest.  

Mariah put an arm around Ashley
’s shoulders, murmuring something. Ashley shook her head vehemently, but Mariah’s voice, soft and insistent, eventually prevailed. With one last look up the ladder, Ashley took her place next to Mariah at the front of the line and they began the slow trudge through filth, heading to an unknown and distant destination.

Nauseated by the disgusting odor, Vanessa kept her hand over her mouth as they slipped and slid in the sludge. They had not gone more than a hundred feet before she stepped aside to vomit the bilious remains of her breakfast. Gasping, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and swallowed the sour spittle coating her throat. Michael handed her a bottle of water and she sipped some, fearful of another awful betrayal by her stomach.

She passed the bottle back to him and he clipped it to his belt. Then they moved again. Embarrassed by her weakness, she expected a deserved condemnation from the group, but they were silent. In the Zone, her action would have provoked inquiry and possibly a trip to the Farm. Awed by their humanity, Vanessa staggered forward.

Their pace had slowed. Finding footing in the ankle-high wet was difficult and young children were being carried. Not a mother in the world would willingly let her babe traverse the perils of raw sewage. Rather than contemplate the foul muck, Vanessa let her eyes wander the surreal scene. The bundles, bags, and people merged into forms hulking and monstrous. As the lantern bobbed, the group stumbled on, chasing a halo of light on the shiny, uneven surfaces of the pipe.

All of sudden, Vanessa spotted a tiny red dot darting along the wall to her right. She stopped, searching for its source. The sloshing behind her ceased and she turned.

“Did you see that?” she whispered to Michael. The pipe was not a place for loud noises.

“See what?” he whispered back. She scanned the walls, but the dot had disappeared.

“Never mind, I must have imagined it.”

Resuming her cautious progress, she took only a few steps before a harsh, white light illuminated the darkness, blinding her. She froze and covered her eyes, astounded by the loud voice that echoed through the pipe. “Don’t move!” it ordered.

A pistol clicked and the voice boomed again, “Put your backs to the wall!”  Their splashing was loud as they did what the voice commanded. They stood in a line, craning their heads toward the flashlight beam. 

A silhouetted figure appeared. As he approached, Mariah’s lantern revealed his features. Though not tall, his stature was powerful. Clad in black, he wore strange goggles pushed back on his forehead and dark paint on his face. High boots were laced over his pant legs and a heavily laden belt encircled his trim hips.

Vanessa
’s heart pounded as images of Lewis’ chauffeur surged to the forefront of her mind. Though this man was shorter, they were of the same breed. She could not grasp how one of Lewis’ men had found them in the sewer. Her urge to run was only deterred by his sleek pistol. She knew he would not hesitate to use it.

He paused in the center of their group, playing the flashlight over their faces. Uttering a silent prayer, Vanessa cast her eyes down in the gesture of submission men of his ilk had grown to expect. He assessed them silently, as other footsteps echoed behind him. His presence in the sewer was not random. She did not know how many men he had with him, only that they were powerless against them.

“Identify yourselves,” he bellowed and Vanessa cringed against the assault of his tone.

“We ain
’t nobody. The question is, who the fuck are you?” Michael replied. Startled by his boldness, Vanessa wanted to scream at him to stay quiet, but her throat was swollen with fear.

“I
’m Lt. Commander William S. Collins of the United States Navy. Who the fuck wants to know?”

“Wait,” Mariah called, stepping into view. “There
’s no need to get tough. We’re not going to give you any problems. What is it that you want?”

The c
ommander played the flashlight over them, noting the bags and children in their arms. The light paused on Michael’s crutches. Then it moved to his face. Michael scowled. Another voice called out from beyond the weak lantern rays.

“
No uniforms,” it observed. The commander nodded, studying them.

“What are you doing down here?” he finally asked.

“Thought you’d be able to tell us,” Michael retorted. “Who the fuck do you think we’re runnin’ from? You got somethin’ you want from us, you go ahead and tell us. Otherwise, we ain’t hurtin’ no one and you just need to step aside and let us be on our merry way.” 

Michael
’s voice was snide and full of derision. This was not the smooth, golden man who never lost his cool. He was someone else entirely, someone streetwise and cocky who knew the game of chicken well. Vanessa hugged herself, suddenly more vulnerable and unsure.

“Afraid I can
’t do that, so why don’t you cut the bullshit? I don’t have a fucking clue why a raggedy group of people would be hauling all kinds of shit down a sewer pipe in the middle of the day, but since you’re here and we’re here, we’re going to sit tight until somebody wants to explain it to me,” the commander said.

“Navy, huh? That
’s what you said, right?  Well then you are a fuckin’ liar. There ain’t been no Navy squids in the city since before the rebellion. All we got here is a bunch of lousy National Guardsmen who only show up to fuck with us. So what?  You decide to step up a bit and try on a uniform too big to fit you?”  Michael’s bravado was dangerous. Vanessa grabbed his arm to quiet him, but he shrugged her off and continued.

“Don
’t you think you motherfuckers have done enough damage?  What the fuck did we ever do to you, huh?  You come out of your lofty zone, or wherever the fuck you hide out, and razz us, rape our women, and murder whoever you want and for what?  So you can be part of the grand design?  So you can rid the world of scum like us for your New fuckin’ Social Order. Well fuck you!  I’m done. Don’t matter anyhow. I know what you’re doin’ and you might as well kill us. We ain’t going back up there so we can be infected with your fuckin’ mutating virus. I’d rather be dead than a fuckin’ zombie!” In the flashlight beam, Michael’s yellow-flecked eyes blazed. The commander did not flinch under Michael’s barrage. Instead he holstered his weapon and rubbed his jaw.

“Man, I am not who you think I am and I think we need to talk. I am Commander Collins and I am in the Navy. My team and I crawled down this stinking pipe
’cause someone got a tip about this virus you’re talking about. A source inside the city let us know some shit’s about to go down and we’re here to verify the information. Sound’s like you all have been through hell. So let’s start over. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Ashley stepped forward and the commander trained his beam on her.

“You’re from the outside?” she asked. A collective gasp escaped from the group as what she said registered.

“This is not real,” Vanessa murmured.

Observing Ashley, the commander deflated. In the harsh white light, the gash across her nose raged red and ragged against her pale skin. Though the bruises around her eye had faded to a dull yellow, her jaw was swollen and colored a garish black, purple, and blue.

“Jesus, what happened to you?” he whispered before answering her question. “Outside? I guess you could call it that. We call it the
United States of America. Damn, it’s been a long time since you had any contact with the rest of the world, hasn’t it?”

Vanessa
’s knees were weak as she listened to the dialogue that ensued. Michael, Ashley, and Mariah explained about the burning building. They went on to tell the commander what they knew about the DNA altering virus in the Zone.

Squatting on his haunches, the commander fired questions that had no answers. They did not have the information he sought. Ashley interrupted the conversation.

“But, I thought… How come you’re not sick?”

The commander raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” he asked.

Mariah explained what they had been told about the Blue Flu and his mouth dropped open in shock.

“Wow. We always wondered what they’d done to keep people on the island. Guess I wouldn’t have tried to swim either if I thought everyone was dying.” 

“You mean it
’s not true?” Ashley whispered.

“No. It
’s not true. Or rather, it’s mostly not true. When the violence broke out here, the military moved against the city to quell the rebellion. Before the troops could get within striking range, a bio-weapon was released on a small town in Illinois. Damn thing took out the entire population in two days. Since then, we’ve been held hostage by the threat of a wide scale release of the Blue Flu. Until now, we’ve complied with their demands,” the commander explained. The silence that fell was heavier than the darkness.

“Wait.” Mariah
’s voice was soft and low. “How is it possible a weapon like you describe didn’t go global?”

“The Blue Flu doesn
’t reproduce well. It can jump a few hosts at most before it dies. The people behind all of this were smart and they did their research. The site they chose to show us what they’re capable of wasn’t random. They hit a little town that was fairly isolated, way out in the country, and far from major highways and airports. The CDC has been working non-stop on this thing since it happened and they’re still baffled. They haven’t been able to produce an antidote or vaccine,” the commander said.