Prey World - Citizen 1-564398B-278843

Although they were in the middle of a strongly monitored city in „Central Europe“, and the enemy could lie in wait at each corner, Frank and Alf slept quite well. At first, Frank remembered this old French song, which was occasionally played on the radio. He changed the text of the German version in a way that it was suitable to the situation. Kohlhaas chuckled quietly, till the sleep had overpowered him.

  The beginning of the next day could not be avoided and there were only eight days till the “Festival of the new World”, which should come over the old “Avenue de Champs-Elysees”.

  There was still enough time to get an idea of the situation, and to explore the dark sewer tunnels, which they had selected as their way to the security zone. This procedure was also very necessary, because there was no room in their plan for unexpected incidents, collapsed tunnels or blocked ways.

  Frank and Alf spent the first day in Paris in their hotel room and avoided to leave the building. Only once, Alf bought something to eat in a nearby supermarket and told his friend about the dirty streets he had walked down. Apart from that, they spent their time with watching TV. The news, which were mostly agitation against Japan, brought them several outbreaks of rage. For the next day, more exactly for the next night, both men had planned something really bold. At two o'clock in the morning, the two rebels sneaked out of their hotel room and passed the abandoned reception.

  In the darkness of the next street corner, Frank hastily took his DC-Stick and opened the city map of Paris, which HOK had completed with additional informations. Like two shades, they crept around the houses and moved silently from one dark place to the next. It was raining and Alf suggested to postpone the operation to the following day, but Frank did not want to waste anymore time and remained stubborn. „The Rue Lagille, it is not far away from here!“, whispered Kohlhaas and showed his friend the map.

  „We are just crazy, man!“, answered Bäumer.

  „Of course!” Frank grinned. „And now, let`s hurry up!”

  They went to a dark corner again and studied some construction plans. Meanwhile, the heavy rain had stopped and just dabbled quietly one the roofs of the houses around them. The streets were empty, only a few probably Algerian teenagers, who occasionally roared through the night or kicked against garbage cans and bus stop signs, could be seen in the distance. However, the two rebels were not noticeable to them. It was after three o'clock, when they finally reached their goal.

  „Let`s look for an entrance here“, whispered Frank.

  „Shit, what am I doing here?“, sighed his friend and fetched a small crowbar, which he kept hidden under his jacket.

  „Come on now!“, hissed Kohlhaas.

  A car drove past them and an old woman, standing at a brightly illuminated window, gazed at the dark and wet street. Frank and Alf had noticed her and decided to creep inconspicuously away.

  „Look! She can see us! We have to go!“, growled Frank and Alf followed him.

  „Let`s go to the next street, there are only some houses on one side. And there is an abandoned factory building, according to the plan“, whispered the young man with the DC-Stick in his hand.

  Shortly afterwards, they reached a nearly perfect dark back alley. Now they felt unobserved. Anyhow, they could not see anybody, although they looked around several times and examined the environment with sharp eyes. A minute later they stood in front of a gully cover of iron. It was clearly visible shown on one of HOK`s maps of the city of Paris. They paused for a short moment.

  „This must be gully cover 344-GL-77003, if the map is correct“, said Frank with a little enthusiastic face. „Down there? Now? Damn! “

  „No turning back, Kohlhaas!“, answered Alf and already screwed up his nose.

  They lifted the manhole cover without problems and pushed it to the side. In front of them, an unfathomable black hole opened itself now. Only the outlines of some rusty rungs, leading into the darkness, could be recognized.

  „Fuck!”, said Frank.

  Bäumers nodded approvingly, then he held his flashlight downward. Dirt, rotten leaves and rust expected the two assassins down below. Moreover, a pungent stench.

  “Oh my God!”, said Kohlhaas and took his rubber gloves and the breathing mask. “Do you have the blowtorch, Alf?”

  “Yes, sure! What are you waiting for?”, muttered Bäumer.

  Frank carefully climbed down the rusty ladder, while Alf was shining for him. After a few minutes, he had reached the ground.

  „Baaah!”, it resounded out of the dark hole.

  His partner could imagine, what Frank meant. Then Kohlhaas shone for Alf, who crawled down into the unknown, little inviting environment of the underground of Paris. Bäumer pulled the gully cover over the manhole, so that only a small gap remained. Down here, it was as disgusting as expected, and the channel did not make the impression, as if someone had ever cleaned it in the last twenty years. Wet heaps of dirt were piled up beside the rivlet, down to the feet of the two men. Some rats scurried away. Alf shone at them with his flashlight and the animals quickly disappeared somewhere in a stinking hole.

  „Look at this, gentlemen of the World Government are also here!“, joked Frank and pointed at the rats.

  Alf chuckled. „Here will be a lot of them. If you see a completely fat and bloated rat, then you can address it with „Mr. World President“!“

  Frank grinned and returned: „To compare these poor animals with the Lodge Brothers, is an insult for every rat!”

  The gossip took a bit of the uncertainty of the two rebels, who stood now in the middle of an ugly sewer tunnel. Frank looked at his map again and then they walked about hundred meters straightforward.

  They had to watch out for their heads, because the tunnel was not as tall as a man and surely already very old. Soon after, both men came to a bigger canal and heard a car above themselves. They were under a street. The little river of wastewater was a bit broader here, just like the roundish tunnel. Now they had to come to a decision.

  „If the map is correct, we must go to the left“, said Frank after a short look at the DC-Stick.

  „It will hopefully be correct, otherwise we are fucked up“, grumbled Bäumer.

  „There is always a gully cover somewhere, that can bring us back to the surface“, said Frank and walked forward, waving with his flashlight. Meanwhile, Alfred sprayed a red cross on the wall, in order to use it later as an orientation.

  The broader sewer tunnel still extended for about two hundred meters, then they came to a grid, clogged with dirt and leaves, which was completely rusted. There was no getting through. At least, not without a blowtorch, which Alfred fortunately had. It just took a quarter of an hour, then he had destroyed the rusty lattice.

  „What a work!”, gasped Alf, when the dammed up water poured away between his legs with loud splashing.

  The tunnel with the old grid still extended for two hundred further meters, then it ended in a larger room, where the rills of wastewater flowed together. Gray-green walls gazed at the two intruders and Frank was sure, that these old buildings already existed since many decades, maybe since centuries.

  Rusty wastewater pipes came from the ceiling of the room and on the wall was a sign with something in French on it. It was completely rusted too.

  At least, they could stand tall here. The way forked again in several directions. Frank looked at some files and was sure that they had to go into the opposite tunnel, Alfred trusted him and sprayed another red cross on the wall.

  „One of these sewer corridors had not been on our map, but this must be the right one! Above it, is the “Rue de Rothschild”, as I think“, explained Kohlhaas.

  Shortly afterwards, they walked through a narrow passage with some big holes in the walls. Spiders and rats welcomed them in this dark tunnel and it was smelling rancidly, despite the breathing masks.

  Frank and Alf had to crouch again and watched their heads. Meanwhile, they had walked this tunnel for about fifty meters, when they discovered a small s
ource of light above themselves. Probably it was the light of one of the street lamps, which came through a little hole of a gully cover. They continued to creep through the stinking passage, then they stopped. A black water lode with a very narrow sidewalk on the side was in front of them, it was approximately one meter deep. In the distance of ten meters, rusty and damaged iron pipes led upward. Alfred marked the way and followed his friend along the stream. The water was not really deep, but it smelled foul and appeared somehow threatening. Frank thought that a terrible kraken would grab them with its tentacles to pull them down into a bottomless black sea. It was just spooky down here and the stench crept out of every corner right into their noses.

  „If I have counted my steps correctly, we have walked about 600 or 700 meters yet“, said Bäumer.

  His friend looked at the digital map and nodded. At the end of the tunnel, they reached a relatively big room, which looked like a reservoir. Stairs led upward and a large pool with brackish water was in front of them.

  Frank illuminated the basin, then he said to Alfred: „HOK`s informations have mostly been correct so far. This reservoir or whatever it is, has been marked with a red spot on the map. You should spray a sign on the wall here!”

  After they had crossed the next tunnel, they had penetrated the underground labyrinth for more than one kilometer. Then they reached an area, which reminded them of a small hall. It must have been a part of the world-famous canalization of Paris, which had been built in the year 1850 and during the following period. With a tang of admiration, the two men stopped for a moment and looked around. Then they continued their journey.

  „This must be pumps over there, right?“ Alfred pointed at several enormous pipes with big handwheels on the side, that led into a deep water reservoir. However, they also were totally rusted, although they seemed to be still in use.

  „I think so!“, answered Frank. „This hall is probably in the east of the “Avenue of Humanity“. I think the street is less than two kilometers far from here. This place is noticeable enough, we don`t need to mark it.”

  Alfred put the spray can with the red color back into his backpack and followed his friend. They went up some concrete stairs with a handrail on the side. Then they entered big room, that nearly looked like an underground hall and was carried by stone columns. Soon after, Frank and Alf went to the right and walked through a narrow, long passage.

  „HOK`s informations have been right yet”, said Kohlhaas. „The construction plans of the canalization of the inner city seem to be still exact.“

  „Well, the World Government has just taken over this ancient and singular sewerage. They would never build something for the people!”, remarked Alf.

  „This sewer network has been built by hardworking men and not by dirty parasites!“, hissed Frank and waved his friend nearer.

  „Look! There is a locked door. It obstructs the way, which we have to take“, said Frank and pointed at a dark corner of the hall. Alfred fetched his blowtorch, but didn`t destroy the door more than necessary, in order to arouse no suspicion.

  The tunnel beyond the locked door seemed to be endless, and after a while the two men discovered a hole in the wall. But there was no sewer corridor anywhere.

  „What is that? It looks, as if somebody had broken some stones out of the wall there, to dig a way“, said Frank and illuminated the strange hole with his flashlight. „Over there! Look, there is another tunnel! Can you see it?“

  Behind the hole seemed to be a large shaft. In the last years, many homeless people had revamped the underworld of Paris at their own discretion and had extended the endless tunnel system. They had found a sad home here, in a time, when there was no more room for them at the surface. Kohlhaas looked at his DC-stick and read some files. It lasted nearly half an hour. In the meantime, Alfred sauntered boredly and nervously through the darkness.

  „This could be an abandoned metro shaft!“, explained Frank.

  „In the inner city of Paris, the sewer corridors, tunnels and passages are sometimes hardly ten meters away from each other. I will take a closer look!“

  Alfred already saw the back of his friend, who jumped into the little cavity and soon shone with the flashlight in his direction. Kohlhaas called him out of the dark tunnel and seemed to be excited.

  „Come on!“, he whispered. „I can see tracks. You see, I was right!”

  Bäumer also crept through the hole and the two men followed the tracks. Perhaps they could find an abbreviation, if this metro shaft was really the marked path on HOK`s map.

  It lasted a while, because the abandoned tunnel extended over several hundred meters. Suddenly they heard a gasp somewhere in the darkness. They twinced and turned around, looking in all directions. The vein in Frank`s temple began to pound and also Alfred nervously brandished his flashlight.

  The gasp could be heard again and the two rebels searched for the source of noise. Finally they saw a man, who lay in a dark corner. Probably a derelict, old and ugly, with a reddish beard, a shabby trench coat and some brandy bottles in front of him. The underground inhabitant blinked dazedly, when Bäumer hit him with the blaze of his flashlight.

  „Ca va?“, slurred the old man.

  “What?”, stammered Frank nervously.

  “Ca va?”, repeated the drunk. “Ca va?”

  “All right, grandpa! We will go now!”, said Alf and turned around.

  “Ca va?”

  „Shut the fuck up, man!“, hissed Frank toward the tramp and pulled his gun.

  “Frank, what do you...?”, asked Bäumer. „Put that gun away!“

  „If he tells someone that we have been down here or remembers our faces...”, growled Frank excitedly and brandished his weapon.

  „This guy is just drunk. Leave him alone! Or do you want to kill him?”, grumbled Alf at his friend.

  “Ca va?”, burped the tramp again.

  “Shut up, you dirty old jerk! Don`t make such a noise! Otherwise I will give you some „Ca va”!”, screamed Frank and kicked the man in the side.

  The tramp whined quietly and whispered something in French. Kohlhaas pressed the pistol against his nose. “Just shut up, man! Or you won`t survive this!”

  At this moment, Alfred pulled the furious young man energetically back and shoved him away.

  „What is wrong with you, Frank? Are you mad? That old guy will say nothing. Hundreds of homeless people hang around here and nobody is interested in the babble of an old tramp! Let`s go back through the tunnels! It`s time to disappear!“

  Frank slowly calmed down and put his gun away. He had nearly shot or stabbed this old man. Alfred gave him another stroke in the side and looked at him with lack of comprehension.

  „It`s enough for now!”, he said. „Otherwise, I will become angry! We disappear from here! Come on!“

  Frank just followed his friend and was silent. At once, the whole thing was embarrassing to him and Alfred reprimanded him again, with sharp words, to control his rage next time. „He was nevertheless nothing but a drunk grandpa, man!”, he grumbled.

  „Okay, I may have overreacted…”, answered Frank and looked away.

  When they went back and crept again through the dark sewer system, Frank had to admit himself, that he had been close to kill this bum. That he was a safety risk, could perhaps be an argument, but only a superficial, because it was more than improbable that anybody would be interested in the twaddle of a drunk tramp from the underground of Paris.

  Nevertheless, he had almost killed this man, simply cut his throat, to let him rot in the darkness of the old metro shaft. Yes, it had almost happened, if Alfred had not stopped him. Frank thought about himself...

  Frank and Alf did not continue to explore the abandoned tunnel, in which the drunk man had lain. They crept again back through the hole and Kohlhaas took his DC-stick out of the backpack. Meanwhile, the two men were tired and Paris seemed to wake up above them. The honking of cars and the rumble slowly became louder.

  „I
t probably goes on here. After the next two passages there is another room with reservoirs - or whatever!“, explained Frank and went into the next tunnel.

  Alfred sprayed a red cross on the wall beside the hole, which led into the metro shaft and followed his easily excitable rebel friend.

  They still walked through stinking, but this time bigger sewer corridors, that had small and smelly rivers inside. Bäumer looked at Frank`s back and was still annoyed. Meanwhile, they had advanced still deeper into the underground. Finally they found a second underground hall, which was also hold by stone columns. The wastewater was collected here in large basins and was moreover rerouted in several directions. The basins were covered with large grids of iron and there was a footpath with some stairs, that was secured with a banister rail. Here one could probably come to a control room. Several water pumps and pipes were all around them. On the walls, they recognized lamps and thick cables. Also some crates had been piled up there. This large and long room seemed to be used very often, because it was directly below the inner city. But around this time it was empty. The two men crept further forward.

  The old brick walls and the stone archs had something formidable. Now they recognized some iron stairs, which led up the wall and ended in a dark hole. At the end of the hall, there was a rusted steel door with a lamp above it.

  „Look at this enormous room! It had already been built in the good old times. Really impressing!”, whispered Alfred.

  “Yes, a very big hall below the earth. Like the old „Moria“ in that film. Just smaller...“, said Frank.

  „Moria?“, asked Bäumer and was puzzled. „What do you mean with that?“

  „Well, there is an old fantasy film. My father had once brought me a video tape, when I was still a little boy. It was called „The Lord of the Rings“. In that movie, the heroes had to pass an underground labyrinth too - and it was called „Moria“. An giant underground city, built by the dwarves in the ancient times of Middle-earth...“, described Kohlhaas. „I really loved that film!“

  „You are a dwarf too, ha, ha!“, answered Alf and smiled. „Where are we here?“

  A look at the map seemed to be necessary now. Probably the steel door at the end of the vault led into a bigger area, from where the men could reach the “Avenue of Humanity“.

  „I hope that there will be no workers of the public utilities“, whispered Alfred. It was already after five o'clock in the morning. „We must hurry up!”

  “Maybe the workers are more often here, than in the areas behind us”, answered Frank quietly.

  The steel door was secured with a digital code lock. Apart from that, the door looked old and was strongly rusted. The dark green paint on its surface had already peeled. Alfred started working immediately. He used his blowtorch, but the door was very solid.

  Bäumer had to destroy a big part of the lock and needed nearly half an hour to open it. Meanwhile, Frank looked nervously around and hoped that nobody would disturb them.

  Finally, the steel door opened with a quiet crunch and the two assassins came into another room, which was equipped with some shelves and an electronic control desk. The old desk reminded them of the seventies of the last century, because of its design. It was a true relict of technology.

  Soon after, they left the area over some stone stairs and sneaked over a way with deep water reservoirs at the sides. Finally they disappeared again in one of the sewer tunnels, because Frank believed, that he had found this passage on HOK`s map. Alf marked the way and they continued with their search.

  „The “Avenue of Humanity“ is no longer far!”, called Kohlhaas and disappeared into another dark hole.

  They walked about hundred meters straightforward and turned then to the left into a further sewer corridor. Again, it was one of the bigger tunnels, because a small river rushed beside them here. Now they saw numerous cables, rusty lamps, old pipes and also a faded sign with some warnings. A little later, both men stood in front of the next grid, which blocked their way. Alfred`s blowtorch cut through the rusty metal and he threw a glowing piece of the grid into the water. After further hundred meters, a rat swarm, which had probably held a meeting here, fled from the blaze of their flashlights in all directions. Then the old brick ceilings became higher and they reached a hall with an enormous water pump and a large basin in its center.

  While the two rebels felt safe in the narrow and dark sewer corridors, which led through the underground of Paris, they had the impression of being observed in the larger rooms and halls.

  Here they could have encountered another derelict or a worker of the public utilities. But it was still very early in the morning and nobody, except for the two rebels, seemed to be here. From a distance, they suddenly heard the thundering of an arriving metro. That was a good sign.

  „Charles de Gaulle!“, whispered Frank and leaned against a large, gray column. „It must be the underground station Charles de Gaulle. It is close to the “Temple of Tolerance”. We have almost reached our goal!”

  The two men looked at the map again, then they climbed down an iron ladder and disappeared into a larger tunnel, which led them towards the source of noise. The way through this passage was long, monotonous and stinky. It seemed to lead many hundred meters into nothing. Frank reassured Alf that it was no longer far.

  Only one last sewer corridor had to be passed now. Then they would be directly below the square, that had once been decorated by the Arc de Triomphe. Again, they heard the noise of a metro, speeding through the earth. The two rebels had crept through the guts of Paris with success. Frank and Alf were proud.

  Beside them, a rusty ladder led upward to a dirty gully cover, where armies of black spiders were waiting for them, as a closer look proved. A little later it was done. The “Temple of Tolerance” was directly above their heads. Cars were humming and honking on the heavily travelled street, and they heard some people shout. Paris awoke.

  Now it was time to disappear. Frank jumped up the ladder like a cat, climbed upward and lifted the gully cover to look over the square. Frank smiled grimly. They had finally made their way through the canalization – it was possible!

  From the corner of his eye Kohlhaas could recognize an outside wall of the ugly concrete monument, that looked like a huge pyramid.

  “We have arrived! Great!”, said Frank joyfully and climbed down the ladder again.

  “Over there! Look! About thirty meters away from me!” Alfred pointed at the darkness of the sewer corridor next to him. “We will place the bomb there and send Wechsler to hell! The explosion will be strong enough to tear up a big part of the square in front of the monument!”

  “Yes! We will fucking do that!”, muttered Frank with a poisonous smile.

  “And now we have to move our asses out of this canalization!”, he added and both men headed back. With growing internal confidence and contentment, the two rebels slunk off.

  Occasionally, Frank had to study some construction plans again, but mostly his sense of direction was right. The red crosses, Alfred had sprayed on the walls, were a good additional help. Perfectly tired, stinky and filthy, they finally crept out of the sewer tunnel next to the abandoned factory hall in the early morning hours. Soon they would spend many hours in the canalization again.

  On their way back to the hotel, at dawn, no one noticed them. Indeed their clothes were dirty, but this was not unusual in Paris. There were a lot of filthy guys in the streets of this metropolis. A warm hotel room was waiting for them and it was silent on the unlit floor. They just closed the door behind them and looked forward to a hot shower. Frank and Alf had no longer had this luxury since years, and both enjoyed the water, washing all the dirt and the stench away from their bodies. Then they quickly fell asleep. Soon the great day would come. The day of bloody revenge. And Frank looked forward to his payback...

 

  The Lull before the Storm