Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 08:27:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Zane Green Subject: UnderGround Angel-10 This work is fictional. None of the characters are based on real people. Please do not read if you are not of legal age or Adult-Youth stories get your Box Turtle or any other animal you think of. Comments can be directed to ZaneG7@Excite.com and are greatly appreciated. Copyright Notice: the author copyrights this story and the author retains all rights. Expressly prohibited is placing this story at a for pay site. Now I've been good until this point and not complained about the feeling of claustrophobia that had been pressing at me since I crawled with Sascha through the gratings and down into this deserted track-line, the dampness in the tunnels was oppressive. There was stagnating water that could have been from pipelines, urine, or just the dampness from condensation. I remember years ago hearing about germ warfare weapons tested in the New York Subways. If you ask me they didn't have to test anything here. Rather they could harvest them. Mold is as bad as rats for the human species, and this was a mold paradise. As I clutched Sash against my shoulders I inhaled his calf. His natural perfume kept me going. A few times I kissed his leg and made him giggle as we trouped on. He seemed not to have any remorse as he was gently kicking me and urging me onward saying such sweet phrases like "Giddeup horsy, and Come on my favorite fuck-buddy" Out of the mouths of babes. He was half man and half infant, just a boy. He was my special boy. I used him because he said I should, that it would make another man jealous, a man who was out to kill me, and had the wherewith all on my body to do the deed. That fact presses in on me. A frightening depression of my own fragility which I never faced so bluntly before. It caused me to remember what I buried all this years. The fact ever buried in my charmed life. Now in this darkness Sash was my bright talisman. I had no rights to the boy on my shoulders and yet I already claimed him as mine. As I mused about how to get out of this God forsaken place in one piece with him, I could tell by the dampness that we had reached a lower level of the maze of old tunnel tracks. Suddenly Sash got excited. "Kurt, we're almost at the caves. I can see the signs." "What signs Sash, it looks the same to me, it only feels different." "See the markings, they look kind of like an upside down sun." He pointed to scribbles etched into the cement wall. I then remembered once reading about hobo signs that would foretell other travelers of a place for handouts, or warn them to be careful of selfish strangers. This was a hobo sign, made by one of the faceless homeless of New York. "Kurt when we get into the caves it will not be what you expect." "What am I going to see a pent- house with a hot-tub and swimming pool, well I guess I can't call it a pent-house maybe a cellar-house." "You're funny, but expect the unexpected." "With you Sash I do. Even in the short time I've known you. Are you feeling alright by the way?" "My ankle is throbbing more than my butt, if that's what you want to know. I am sure that what happened between us will bring Yarrow down here," "Now that's not good!" "We'll be ready for him." "Sash, I don't know if you think I'm some kind of soldier, but if you picked me for that I can only disappoint you. I am a coward first class. When I was your age I did a terrible thing" I couldn't believe I was going to tell him what I did. Maybe to pass the time or out of my own fears I told him, I don't know exactly why; it wouldn't help our situation. Maybe I wanted him to know that he couldn't count on me. He was too precious to rely on a trader. "I had a best friend once Sash. His name was Terrance. One day we went over to Coney Island. You don't know where that is, do you? It still exists; it's a big amusement park by the ocean. Any way Terry wanted to ride all the roller coasters but we were poor then. I actually had twenty dollars but I had been saving up for a surfboard, and I didn't want him to blow my money on rides. He said we could make money if we let men suck our dicks. I thought he was joking big time, but I really thought it would be cool if Terrence would suck my dick, I liked him, but not enough to share my money. Well he took me to a place under the boardwalk, and several men came over to talk to us. They said they would pay us for sex, more money than we were hoped for, but we had to do more than Terry said. More than just let them jack us off. He agreed and I guess I did too but as soon as I was told to pull down my pants I got scared and ran. I left Terry behind, and he never came home. I never saw him again! I had to pretend that I wasn't with him that day, I was so scared of what would happen to me if I told the truth Sash. I did a horrible thing." "I'm sorry for Terry, what do you think happened to him?" "I don't know, but I chastise myself that if only I told where I last saw him, even what we did, they might have found him. Or if I stayed there, and didn't run and abandon him" "What if they couldn't Kurt. Maybe he ran away with those men." "Maybe, but he had an okay family. I let him down. What is twenty dollars? If I had shared my money it would have made all the difference, or if I didn't leave him," "I'm sorry Kurt, that something bad may have happened to your friend, but you didn't know at the time. You were just a kid." "You're just a kid, and some how I don't think you would have been the asshole I was." "That's cause I know about bad things, you didn't" "Oh Sash, you are too young to know about these bad things." "Will you take me to Coney Island someday Kurt?" "You know what Sash, I promise you that I will. I will." We reached the caves. Like Sash had said, they were there They were narrow with weird crevices, tall enough though that I could still carry Sash. "Sash, would you take the flashlight?" I handed it up to him. "Do you want me to get down? I'm sure that I'll be all right. The cave entrance is narrow, but Kurt it's different inside. I'm sorry I had to bring you here." "I can think of no one that I would rater go spelunking with." "Can we try that too someday?" "I think we all ready are dear." I walked into the caverns, and down an uneven path. I put him down, as I was afraid that I might fall, and cause him to get injured. He hopped beside me. "We can talk now Kurt, they can't hear us, and now we can find Sam." "Who is Sam? Is he the one who made the markings we were following?" "Yes I think so." We were going deeper into the caves, into the rock bed of New York. I scooped Sash back up as we descended ever lower.