xp_logs | Gene Nation: Ambush

Sarah's investigation of the bombing turns more dangerous than she imagined.

The police presence around the subway junction was light, easy enough to dodge if you happened to have grown up in the sewers. The actual bombing site was still thick with the reek of the chemicals used in the pipebomb on the tracks, and the rails were twisted and blackened. No one had been killed in the explosion, but the area was a switching centre, and the damage caused a great deal of delays in the New York subway. On the wall of the tunnel, against the cement buttresses, someone had splashed the words 'Gene Nation' in purple paint, messy and dripping.

Sarah looked up at the wall, shaking her head. Stupid bastards. Nothing says 'come and finish what you started' like a fucking pipebomb in the tunnels, and then signing your name. It was a wonder they'd even made it this long. However, despite her own
annoyance, she found herself walking down the familiar tunnels, nearly bouncing at the prospect of seeing family again. She wondered vaguely just who could have survived, and where they had been all this time.

The tunnels were not as oppressively dank as they normally were, a sure sign that people where opening access ways to use them. One of the old 'duties' of the Morlocks had been to open and close various manholes, access doors, storm covers and ventilation systems, in order to ensure that enough fresh air circulated through the tunnels, breaking up hollows where sewer gases could build up, and making sure that smoke from their fires didn't become dangerous. A tiny little sliver of Morlock life that couldn't mean anything to someone who hadn't lived it, but was proof positive that they were back.

Continuing down the tunnels, Sarah turned another corner, headed for one of the less-used sections of her old stomping grounds. They obviously weren't in the main tunnels, because she'd been there several months ago and seen no signs of any habitation short of the people who were using it for a slaughterhouse. The network of tunnels was expansive though, and there was plenty of room to branch out into different sections, should a group of Morlocks return to find their home unusable. Following the flow of fresh air, she took the path to a smaller tunnel, with the safety light out. She was getting closer.

Even after a lifetime down there, nothing had prepared her for the sledgehammer-like blow between her shoulder blades, and the sudden flash of illumination in the dark tunnels. The blast flung her like a rag doll, leaving her to smash against the cement floor hand, rolling end over end before sliding to a stop.

"That is why we must be diligent, brothers." A tall, lanky man said with a smile. The left side of his face was a ruined web of scars, and under a dirty eye patch, a yellow glow emitted. It took a moment, but she was able to remember him, although her memory didn't included the brutalized face; Erg. He'd been one of the group they called the Tunnelers. Morlocks who lived at the fringes, more willing to steal what they needed. The hulking mutant beside him was a mystery. "Upworlders and traitors are in every tunnel."

"What should we do?" The big mutant cracked his knuckles.

"Take this pretty, Brute. Berzerker will want to see her." Erg chuckled, and wiped his hands on his greasy shirt. "He's been looking for an example of contamination by the Upworlders. I think she'll be perfect."

Sarah struggled to her feet, nearly staring in disbelief. They thought she was...oh, fuck no. "I think you need your fucking eyes checked," she managed in between gasps to recover the air in her lungs. "I'm not some pretty upworlder you get to toss around."

The impact with the floor had kickstarted her mutation, and she grabbed a bone from her hip, yanking it out half-way and then breaking it off to create a jagged point on the end. The other jagged point remained sticking out from her jeans. She watched their eyes carefully for any recognition.

"Oh yes, you are, Sarah." Erg all but sneered her name back at her. "I slept under a magazine that had a picture of you and your pretty pretty boyfriend. Or that big mansion that we know you sleep at. Morlock, ha! The only thing Morlock about you now is weakness."

Erg lifted his eye patch, and a second blast caught her square in the chest, flinging her backwards to crash brutally into the brickwork of the side of the tunnel, knocking her cold. Brute, the monstrously large mutant stepped around his friend, and picked up her body in one massive hand. She lay as limp as a puppet with its strings cut in his grip.

"Home?"

"Home, yes. Finally home, Brute." Erg said with satisfaction of a job long worked at and now finished. The two turned and walked back into the darkness of the tunnels, bearing Sarah to her fate.

As their footsteps retreated, a slim figure stepped out from the shadows, narrow, hunched shoulders beneath a wild mop of dark hair. The figure took a few steps forward, head tipped to one side as though lost in thought, or perhaps listening intently.

Then the figure turned sharply on its heel, and strode silently back up the tunnel.