The Crash Box Set, page 130
part #1 of EMP Crash Series
Chapter 6
While Grace was with the mayor, those back in the cell still were trying to find a way to break free. They could do nothing but sit there and wait, and this was driving some of them mad. Occasionally, during moments of impotent anger, some of them would crash against the bars of the cell, hoping that with enough force they would break and everyone could run free. Of course, that meant they still would have to find their way through the sewers, but they were going to take one problem at a time. The cell bars would not budge, though, and there was nothing any of them could do.
“Where is she? She's been gone for ages,” Gary said.
“Maybe that's what they're going to do...take us one by one and turn us into one of them,” Daisy said.
“I hardly think they're going to brainwash us,” Anna said. Without Grace there she had become the voice of reason, and was working hard to keep everyone sane and sensible.
“She's been taken away, which is what we wanted. We're not getting anywhere in here. So, it's good that she's out there, and actually can get some information. She's going to do whatever she can to help us. We just need to hold on, and when we see the opportunity present itself we're going to seize it and make our escape.”
However, the more time went by, the more hollow her words seemed. The smell and the darkness were taking their toll upon the group, as was the knowledge that whatever time they spent in the sewers could have been spent going into the forest hunting for food. Their own stomachs ached, but that only reminded them of what New Haven was going to go through if they didn't return successfully, and that perhaps was the most frustrating thing of all. However, it was yet another example of the spirit Mack had fostered within everyone, for they were more worried about the survival of those back in New Haven than they were about their own safety.
“You seem to be able to handle this well. Didn't think you'd be the type to like being caged up,” Anna said to Saul.
Saul shrugged. “Not my first time behind bars. Not much we can do until we get out of here. I have every faith in Grace, though. Like you said, all we need to do is wait and then, first chance I get, I'm going to rip as many heads off as possible.”
Grace looked across at the mayor, unsure of what to say next.
“Your people are still free to stay there, but if this world is going to continue, then we need to put the system back in place. Like it or not, I am that system. I am the mayor. I have the experience leading the city. I am the one who led these people to safety, and I am the one who deserves to sit in that chair. We are going to rebuild the world and make sure it gets back to the way it was.” He spoke passionately, but just as he was getting more worked up, the woman placed a hand on his arm and inclined her head slightly. The mayor cleared his throat and ran his hand through his hair, breathing deeply to try calming himself down.
“I don't mean to be so aggressive. I simply am trying to make it clear to you that we are not going to stay down here if we don't need to do so. We have our place up there, and we have been away for too long. But let us not talk too much of the future. Please, let me show you around the camp we've built, and perhaps then you will understand us a little better.”
Grace accepted his offer, trying to keep calm. She didn't trust him, though, not when he had shown such a zealous glimmer in his eyes, but she didn't feel as though she had much choice. The two of them rose, leaving the other two people behind. A guard went with them.
“Are you afraid of me?” Grace asked.
“One always should be careful,” the mayor replied with a knowing smile.
Despite his unkempt appearance he had a shrewd mind, and Grace knew she had to be wary of him. One lapse in her judgment, and he could exploit a weakness. The safety of New Haven depended on her in more ways than one, and she didn't want another war, but she also didn't want to see this man sitting in Mack's chair. Mack was the leader, he was the one who had established New Haven when the mayor had been hiding out in the sewers. As far as Grace was concerned, there was only one man who deserved to be in City Hall, and it wasn't the one who was leading her around this camp.
She already had been through it once, but this time, with the mayor, she was able to take her time and look at things more carefully. The thing that was immediately apparent was that the people truly respected him, even loved him. They greeted him with fawning admiration, and he accepted it all in his stride. He spoke with each of them in turn, even the children, listening to the stories they told him. At first, she had pitied the people who lived in the sewers, but now she saw that, in some ways, they were very similar to those in New Haven. They had a community, and had tried making the best of the situation. Instead of looking at their surroundings with disgust, they had tried making the best of it, and making it into a home. She said as much to the mayor, figuring that if she showed some respect toward him, he may see her as less adversarial.
“Yes, we have worked hard to make this place somewhere we'd actually want to live. The sewer wasn't necessarily where any of us wanted to end up, but when the EMP hit we knew we had to get somewhere safe. We were sure something more devastating was going to follow,” he said as they walked through the camp.
“Did you know it was going to happen?” Grace asked.
“Oh no, of course not. But when it happened, we all acted as quickly as we could. My staff and I had a few ideas, the most likely of which involved an attack on American soil. We thought the EMP was designed to knock out the ability for us to fire our own nukes, so that when we were attacked there would be no retaliation. We got as many people as we could and made our way down here, thinking that at least we would be safe. We gathered as much food as possible. It seemed the right thing to do at the time, especially because the riots started almost immediately after the electricity went down.
“It seems so long ago now, but I still can remember the sounds and the smells of all those days, all the burning buildings, and the people yelling at each other. I remember looking around and thinking, 'Is this what it really comes down to?' I just couldn't believe people would be so quick to turn on each other. I wanted to try helping them, make them see that what they were doing wasn't going to help anyone, but we had to get to safety. I looked up at the sky and expected to see a mushroom cloud at any moment. I thought for sure it was going to be the end of the world for real, and I didn't even know if the sewers would protect us, but it seemed like the best chance we had.”
“So, you came down here and hid,” Grace said.
“It seemed like the right thing to do. The only thing.”
“But what about all those other people up there? Did they not deserve the same chance as you and all these other people? How many people died because you came down here and chose all these people? Why didn't you try saving everyone?”
“That would have been an impossible task. Sometimes being in command means you must make some tough choices. I could have stayed up there and tried rallying everyone, but you didn't see them up there. You didn't see how they looked, or how they acted. They were more like animals than people. I had to do what I thought was best for the greatest number of people. Maybe I could have done something differently that day, but when I look back now, I think I did all I could.”
They walked on in silence for a few moments more, but there were things about the mayor that simply nagged at Grace, and she couldn't stop herself from questioning him. “How could you all live with yourselves down here, thinking that everyone had died? For all you knew, you were the last of the human race.”
“It was a heavy burden to bear. We all deal with it in our own way. Many of us had survivor's guilt, and living in the sewers seemed to be a penance for that. But we all rather would have lived here than have been killed by a nuclear blast. I did all I could. We made a life here, and tried to do our best to continue. As you can see it's rather humble, but it has been our home. However, our time here is coming to an end. It's only recently that we've been sending people up to the surface. We just wanted to see, wanted to make sure. It was a big risk, but I'm glad we're not the last humans alive, and that we can get back to the surface.”
“It really doesn't bother you, does it?” Grace asked.
“Hmm?”
“That hundreds of thousands of people could have died because you didn't take the time to try looking out for them. Instead of leading them, you turned tail and ran down here, scared.”
“I did what I had to do to survive, and I had these people to take care of. Was I just supposed to abandon them? I did the right thing, and nothing you can say will make me think otherwise.”
“The right thing would have been to stay in the city and try holding the place together. That's what a good leader does, not run when things start falling apart.”
It was clear they never were going to agree on the issue. Instead of arguing it further, the mayor simply waved it away with his hand and continued through the camp. Grace was simmering, wondering how he could live without any remorse. In her mind, he had condemned people to die because he wanted to save his own skin first. He had left the city to suffer and break apart on its own, because there was nobody to rally around. He talked about a system, but the mayor was not devoted to that, he wanted to see himself as the hero. Grace knew he was nothing but a pretender, and never would hold a candle to Mack.
However, the difficulty was going to be in convincing everyone else of that, because as she walked through the camp she saw how much they liked him, and how they saw him as their savior. Perhaps, in their own minds, they had forgotten how they had left other people in the city to die, and only saw the mayor as leading them to safety and salvation, living in squalor with them through these long months with the thought that they were the last people alive. And now, with the arrival of Grace and the others, and the news that other people were indeed alive, the mayor was going to be the one to lead them back up from the sewers, triumphant and glorious, and they wouldn't be able to see him as anything other than a hero.
The people around Grace seemed happy with their place in life, and weren't hell-bent on revenge. In fact, she only really had seen a handful of hostile people, and wasn't sure what the mayor meant by an army, although she wasn't going to question him. She didn't want him to put on a display of his force to prove it to her. A few people, such as the guards, could prove useful in a fight. Although aside from the weapons they had taken from the patrol, the sewer-dwellers didn't seem to have too much.
Grace was quietly confident that New Haven could emerge victorious from a conflict, especially since she had more faith in Mack's strategic mind than fear of the mayor's. But she didn't want a conflict, because none of these people deserved to be in that predicament. They just were trying to live, and Grace knew she would have to try reasoning with the mayor to stop him from doing anything irrational. Still, it was not going to be easy. Then again, nothing ever was in this new world.
“Look,” she said, “I appreciate what you've done here, and it seems as though you've done right by these people. They're safe and they're happy, and I get that you're just trying to protect them and give them the best life possible.” The mayor beamed a prideful smile, evidently enjoying the praise he was receiving.
“I'm happy to take you to New Haven, but you can't just expect to go back into your office. You left the world, and the world has changed. New Haven isn't just a little camp, it's a community. We have our own rules, and our own way of doing things. You have to respect that, surely?”
“Oh, I do respect it, but that is exactly what I expect. You're going to take me to New Haven, and I'm going to walk into that office and sit down at my desk, and you're all going to welcome me with open arms, including whoever is sitting there at the moment.”
“And why's that?” Grace asked.
The mayor had a sly smile upon his face as he led her away from the main camp and down another winding tunnel. They weren't walking for too long when the mayor stopped and told Grace to go through another chamber.
“This is why,” he said, gesturing for her to walk through.
Grace walked in, not sure whether to trust him, but knowing she had no choice. Then her eyes widened. Sitting before her were enough crates of food to feed New Haven for winter and beyond!
Chapter 7
Grace looked up and down at the boxes and crates of food. Stacks of cans and boxes and packets and cartons and all manner of things were just sitting there.
“Go ahead, take a look,” the mayor said smugly.
Grace walked forward and rifled through the boxes. There were cans of soup and fruit and vegetables, along with candy and chocolate, pretzels, bottles of soda, beef jerky, pretty much everything anyone ever could have dreamed of in such a situation. No wonder they hadn't been able to find any food in the city, she thought to herself, it all had been down here! She spent a long time rifling through the crates and boxes, continually amazed at the things she was finding. There were stacks of packets of M&M’S, her favorite. She turned to the mayor with pleading eyes.
“Feel free to try some. Think of it as an act of good faith,” he said.
She tore open a packet and poured out a handful of the shell-covered candy into her palm, feeling the slightly rough texture against her skin. She pressed her thumb to them and felt them sink into her palm, savoring the moment before she tossed them into her mouth and felt the rush of sugar. She closed her eyes and ran her tongue along them, letting them bounce around her mouth before she crushed them with her teeth and felt the taste of chocolate flood out in an almost orgasmic pleasure. It was a taste that she hadn't been sure she ever would taste again. A few packets had been found in the city, but not for a long time, and now there were enough to keep her satisfied for a while. She finished the packet, swallowing them down, and almost was tempted to tear open another one right then and there before she remembered where she was and who she was with, and then started to see the mayor's plan.
“I'm going to get my office back because of all this. You mentioned you were looking for food, and I can imagine that is rather scarce. Winters always were difficult around here...which is why I made sure to get enough food for us all to survive as long as possible. I will exchange this food for me getting my rightful place back, and for all the people here to be welcomed into New Haven as well,” he said.
Grace was standing in between him and the food. She still could taste the remnants of chocolate on her tongue and wished it wasn't so alluring, so tempting, because she knew they needed food. But what price were they willing to pay for it?
The mayor thought he had her in checkmate, but Grace wasn't going to give up so easily. “Mack never will go for this,” she said.
“Oh, is that the name of the man sitting in my seat? He doesn't exactly sound like a mayor, does he?”
“It doesn't matter what he sounds like. What matter is the type of man he is, and he's not going to throw away everything we've worked for some food. We're not like that. We don't sacrifice our principles. They are important.”
“Then you're all fools, and you're signing your own death warrants. I'm just trying to help you out here. I have something you need, and you have something I want. It's a simple barter exchange. It's a fundamental part of human nature.”
“I'm sure we can find food elsewhere,” Grace said stubbornly.
“Are you?” the mayor questioned. The force of his reply took Grace by surprise, so she did what she usually did when threatened; replied in kind.
“Yes. We're not going to take this deal. You're going to set me and my friends free immediately!”
But the mayor seemed calm, and was not as affected by her as she was by him. He inclined his head and turned swiftly on his heels, walking away from the food. Grace followed him, glad that she finally was going to get the others out of the cell, but as she left the chamber she couldn't help but look over her shoulder toward the food, knowing it was exactly what they had been seeking. Had she reacted too rashly? Had she just blown their chance of getting the food? She didn't want to see the mayor take control of New Haven, but she also didn't want to see people starve. The mayor was right, she wasn't sure if they were going to find food anywhere else, especially since they had taken a detour into the sewers and the clock was ticking. If they didn't get back to New Haven soon, the whole endeavor would be pointless. She tried thinking of what Mack would do, but it was hard to know.
As they walked back toward the cell, the two silent, mysterious figures who had been with the mayor when Grace first had met him rejoined them. Again, they said nothing, and Grace wasn't sure why they were there. When the mayor was questioned about it, he merely said they had their reasons. There still was something unsettling about the whole camp. Although the mayor seemed to be granting her request she wouldn't have been surprised had there been some strings attached, and kept her wits about her in case there proved to be a trap. She didn't want to get snared in something else, and wasn't about to let the mayor pull the wool over her eyes.
All she wanted was to get her people and leave the sewers, get back into the fresh air and resume their mission. At least then things would be simpler. She also thought of Luis as well, and realized that with all that had been going on she hadn't thought about him for a while. She didn't think that was a good sign, and again her heart sang a painful song. Yet, the more she thought about him the more she missed him, and wished that he was by her side. She knew that she would feel better then.
It didn't take long for them to get back to the cells. Now that Grace had been up and down these tunnels a couple of times she was a little more confident at being able to navigate her way through the camp if needed. Although she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to go where she wanted on the first try. She only hoped that the mayor would indeed grant her request and free them all without her having to find her way through the sewers.
