Beauty in the Sewer

Treasure

Treasure

Void
It was quiet down here. Quiet and dark. He liked it that way. Above his head, nightlife was full swing, and everyone was making the most of every second, for better and, mostly, worse. The occasional car rushed overhead, casting odd shadows and leaving behind the scent of gas and oil which quickly faded away. It was so much better to be here in the dark than being Up There. Up There used to be his home, but now it carried only bitterness and fear. He paused now and looked up through the holes in the lid of a manhole cover, staring up at mists and the glimpses of light above. He was feeling incredibly melancholic tonight. Perhaps it was soon to be the full moon? New moons made him feel aggressive, and full moons felt thoughtful and lugubrious.

He heaved a sigh and started walking once more. His scales rasped softly against the sides of the tunnel as he walked and his tail hissed like the coils of a serpent as he made his way through the narrow passages. Lower down, the service tunnels were much larger and better suited to something his size, but he'd wanted to try to get a glimpse of the moonlight. Of course, it had to be a cloudy night. It seemed even nature was against him lately. Or perhaps always. If only he-

Noises above him stopped him. He angled his head to peer up through one of the tiny holes in the manhole cover. It was difficult to make out anything from this angle, but he could only just make out the blurred figures of four men fighting in the night street. He shrunk back and watched. A few others passed by and only glanced over at the fighters in a bored manner. No one was going to get involved in something they saw every night. Even as he watched, the group broke up. Two of them staggered off in one direction, wobbling drunkenly as they went, the other two parting off on their own.

He gave a sigh. So much for that. He ducked his head and kept walking
 
Counting to ten, steadying her breathing, making mental notes of her surroundings--- None of Ingrid's usual methods of calming down were working today. Could it be the lack of breakfast? The nagging feeling she'd left the oven, that she hadn't ever used, still on?
Or could it be the fact she was currently being chased down by a madman?
Ingrid had tried everything. Weaving through familiar alleyways, tipping over trash-cans and benches to throw off her pursuer, she'd even tried calling for help. Too bad for her that it was a bustling night of activity, and nobody around here cared about some random homeless woman...Homeless seemed to be everyone's assumption of her; Did she really dress that bad?

Another profanity-laced scream rang through the air behind her to bring her back to reality. The reality that if she didn't outrun him soon, she'd exhaust herself. Heaving and struggling to keep herself straight, Ingrid checked the area ahead of her for anything to help her. Dead ends and rough-looking groups were all she saw. Those, and a manhole cover.
'Brilliant,' Her thoughts spat at her, 'that'll have to be it.'

Turns out, it wasn't as easy as 'jump down and keep running'. The woman landed onto concrete with a painful thud, prompting a grunt and eventual yelp of fear when her frame was dragged up by the collar.

"Can't even let the rats have their sewer, eh?"
Her snarky remark earned herself a position slammed against the wall. Beady, bloodshot eyes glared like her as if she was the epitome of vile, and she could do nothing more than stare back.

"Where's my goddamn money, rodent?"
"What's the magic w-- HNK-"
Ouch, a kick to the stomach. She'd feel that in the morning.
...Providing she still had feeling in her body by then.
 
He reared back and froze. Two people landed right in front of him, barely six feet away from his very nose! What in the world? Where? Why?? Oh, yes, and who. Or would it be "whom?" He still got that mixed up. He stood in shock, staring as the man grabbed the raggedy woman and manhandled her up against the wall. There was something being yelled about "money," but he did not pay much attention. He took a careful step back to not trip over his own tail. Surely this was not the proper place to demand monetary compensation by means of menaces. Well, come to think of it, nowhere was the proper place to do such a thing. By that reasoning, the sewer would, perhaps, be the right place for it.

He was thinking too much and not acting. He started to take another step back. The woman was wheezing and grunting in pain, completely at the man's mercy. The man clearly had no mercy to offer. Could he really leave a female in the clutches of such a thug? Call him old-fashioned and chauvinistic, but that did not seem the chivalrous thing to do. Yet, interfering would reveal his existence to people from Up There. But would anyone believe either of these two? It seemed unlikely.

He lowered his head, flattened his body down like a serpent, took a deep breath, and let it out in a long, low, baritone hiss that filled the sewer pipe like steam.
 
Excuses fell flat this time. Ingrid could hardly get in another word before she was roughly shushed with a shake. While the man droned on about money, and respect, and all matters of things neither of them had, she made the mistake of focusing on what hurt. The clown kicked her there on purpose- she knew he did. Her stomach hurt, her back hurt; hell everything hurt from running so fast and so suddenly. Her wandering attention must have been visible judging by the cry out in frustration that once again sent her spinning back to now.

"You're not even listening, are you?? You can't even do that?? I'm wasting my time here. Your numbers are up, Ingrid"
The threat wasn't empty; Ingrid watched him raise a fist to her. And no doubt many more after. She expected it, and there was no avoiding it, but even still she jerked her head to the side to try and shield her face. If she knew everything that was going to happen now, why was she still shaking?
"I'm going to feed you to the rats y---"

..............
A menacing hiss echoed through the place like thunder. Both humans stiffened up at the sound, and the assaulting man turned to catch a glimpse of something. Something he couldn't see but could fear without issue. The two minds drew up the same conclusion: sewer crocodile.
Ingrid felt the grip around her collar let go. Her body slumped against the wall for support, but her legs were weak: they wouldn't support her long enough to run.

"Oh hell- Forget this. F--Forget it. I ain't about to deal with a damn gator--" "Crocodile.." "--Shut your mouth or I swear to god, I will wring those words straight outta your neck--"
 
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Such an odious little creature. Perhaps he was high on drugs or drunk, but whatever the case may have been, his voice and language were most obnoxious. Not to mention, he apparently did not know when to take a hint, as the lay-person might observe. He started to leave then became distracted by the female once more. Oh well. There was nothing for it.

Stealing himself for the unpleasant cacophony he knew was about to resound through his tunnels, he let out one more hiss, this one a little louder. Then he lunged. The faint light from the drains glistened off his black scales and, more iminantly, his pearly teeth, each of which was about the length of a hand. His jaws snapped only a couple of feet away from the pair in warning, then he raised his head until his horns brushed the ceiling.

He roared.

The sound reverberated off the stone walls, echoing and ampliphing with increasing might that rattled bones and caused hearts to stutter. It reached into the brains of mere mortal humans and touched the primal part that still existed. That primal part recognized this roar. "Danger! The king of the jungle stalks us! It is going to eat us! Run! Climb tree! Hide!" it screamed to the rest of the more "civilized" body.
 
Gigantic jaws clamped the space between them and whatever lurked down here, sending both of them reeling backward. It was enough to make them both stumble their way away, with Ingrid holding the wall to stay standing. She didn't scream; her mouth was occupied whispering a string of panicked curses and profanities. She tried to grab the sleeve of the other person for aid to little avail, and when she did get a successful grip...
An ear-shattering roar made him jolt and once again shove her against the wall. This time though, he didn't stick around to rip her a new one. Ingrid's dizzy vision followed her previous attacker into the darkness of the sewer, taking any hope of leaving with him. Wonderful. Instead of shanked by a junkie, she was now food to the city's underworld.

Ingrid cried out in frustration, finally feeling her legs collapse and falling onto her knees. She was tired, she was pretty sure the jerk had reopened her stitches, and she was face to face with the devil itself. Raspy gasps took over the noise once the leftover ringing of the roar fizzled out, but she couldn't tell. Her ears were ringing to the brink of being unbearable.

Ingrid stared. That's all she did. She glared this monster right in the eyes, registering it wasn't an alligator, nor crocodile. Usually, she'd love finding freaky stuff like this-- but, usually, she wasn't laying bloodied and borderline concussed in a sewer. Adrenaline fueled impending doom was a helluva drug.

"..G'won then.." She snarled, propping herself up with an arm so the other could hold her stomach, "-don't let me stop you."
 
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He withdrew slightly as the man ran away. Impudent fool. He hoped the man was smart enough to climb out of his sewers and stay out! He did not like men like that. He doubted anyone actually liked them. They were useful to certain people at certain times, but did anyone truly like them? Doubtful.

He turned his head to study the female, his nostrils flaring as he took in the coppery scent of blood. The strange lighting from the grates above gave his eye an eerie golden gleam. She looked dazed and was definatly injured, but she would live. Most likely. As long as she, too, and the sense to climb out of here. He had done what he could. The rest was up to her.

He could not turn around in this relatively small tunnel, so instead he walked forward confidently. Scales rasped as his tail and sides brushed the cold stone, a soft leathery sound that was lost on those walking above. He walked right past and slightly over the female, taking care not to step on her or brush her with his underbelly. Only his tail dragged lightly over her legs. Then he was gone in the gloom and darkness, rapidly disappearing in the twisted maze of tunnels.
 
Attempts at making herself look aggressive easily melted into dull hopelessness. Closing her eyes and resting her head back, she sighed and resigned herself to being mauled. There wasn't much to be done, and even though it would seem like a melodramatic move later on, it made sense now to figuratively curl up and die.

Ingrid held her breath when she heard it moving. Closer, closer....And....Right past her? Peaking through one of her eyes, she watched the reptilian beast shamble onwards past her like she wasn't there. It even purposefully stepped a certain way to not stand on her. Squinted eyes watch it lumber off into the dark without another sound, leaving her alone. And alive.

"...Well then.."
Her voice was merely a whisper to herself; disbelieving and confused. With all immediate threats leaving her in the dust in a matter of minutes, it took her a while to stop sitting in a haze. She was alive, and if she wanted to keep it that way, she had to high-tail it home as soon as she could.

Clumsy clatters and overhead footsteps confirmed her departure. She needed to get home. She needed a drink.
And she needed to do some research.
 
He was hungry. Maybe he could risk going back up to gain some sustenance. The rats were far bigger closer to Up There than they were Down Here. It had been a couple of hours or so, perhaps longer, and surely any immediate interest in the surrounding area should have diminished by now, yes? He would go by a different route and search the tunnel close to the fast-food district. It was so efficient to have so many places catering to fattening foods right there in one area! He thoroughly approved.

The long, circuitous route was a bit of a nuisance, but he took it just to be certain. Certain of what? Of that, he was not certain. All he knew was that Something or Someone could be tracking him. It was a certainty he'd lived with all his life. Or... he thought he had... Some things were so difficult to say for certain if it was real or imagined or true. He had been here for so long, surely by now even if anything had been hunting him, it or they should be long gone. Surely. Yet he still found himself varying his routes as much as one could while following the carefully laid out grid of pipes.

Hunting was good tonight. In the space of a few moments upon his arrival at the designated pipe, he had caught a good dozen rats. Sleek, fat rats that had grown plush on a steady diet of grease. He knew they were not the best meal to be eating - you are what you ate, therefore the rats were as good as grease, and he was as good as grease-rats - but everyone needed a little comfort food now and again. He started back home, satisfied he had avoided all detection.

Half an hour later, he pushed aside the heavy steel plate that had once sealed the new pipelines from the old subway tunnel, closing it firmly behind him. These tunnels had not been used in years, and most of them had collapsed in several places, but the original station still held. There was no way in or out except for the door he'd just used, and ordinary humans couldn't move that hunk of steel on their own. Here, in the arched emptiness of brick, mortar, and steel rail lines, he'd made his home. He made his way up to the old ticket stand where he'd shelled it out and created a nice, soft nest made up of old clothes, some wrappers, and a few mattresses. Everything was surprisingly clean in here. Then, tired, he curled up and slept.
 
"I KNOW what I saw!!"

Ingrid snapped at the phone she held in front of her, standing over a desk in a room only illuminated by the light of a laptop screen. With her right hand occupied with a phone, her left pressed on the table as her fingers rapidly drummed at the wood. She'd looked at damn near every list and study she could find in the few hours she'd been home; only stopping to tend to a reopened wound, and call a friend to explain what happened.

No, not about being chased into the sewer. No one was surprised at that. Ingrid had to explain what else she saw down there. It dawned on her walk home that whatever that thing was? Wasn't normal. It lived in the sewers, it was waaaaaaay too big to be a city pest, and if there was one down there; how many more?? Were there tons of these things prowling around the pipes?? Did they feed off lost junkies and corpses??? Why couldn't she find anything on them???

".......Ingrid. If it's such a 'crazy anomaly'," A tired, sarcasm-laced voice drawled from over the line to cut her ramblings short. "Why didn't you take, I dunno, a picture or something? You can afford a phone with a camera."
There was a silent pause.
"..I think."

"I was DYING, YOU MORON!"
Ingrid slammed a fist down onto the desk's surface for emphasis, almost sending her laptop toppling off and nearly giving her a heart attack to scramble and stop it.
"That was the last thing on my mind! I could have died!!"
"If only we'd all been so lucky.
Look, Ings. You're tired and you're not making any sense. Probably suffering from blood loss or whatever. Just go to bed, and don't call again."

The beginning of her protest didn't even leave her mouth before whoever she was talking to hung up. She had to bite into the sleeve of her jacket to not shout any louder. (She was already on thin ice with the noise complaints.) It wasn't fair. She'd be doing everyone a favor if she found out what that thing was, yet no one would give her the time of day! Now she needed to get proof. Which was tricky. How does one track a sewer monster without getting hurt? It didn't kill her the first time, but was she willing to push her luck for a second encounter?
.....

Yes. She was.
But she'd sort it out tomorrow. Ingrid peered at the small display of time on the laptop screen before shutting it off: 4 am. Okay. She'd sort it out later today, then. Groaning out of grogginess, she knocked out as soon as she fell back into bed. She wouldn't be sleeping for long; she had stuff she needed to prepare.
 
Daytime hours were unpleasant hours to spend near Up There due to the noise level, the smells, and the potential to be spotted, yet it was also highly useful. People dropped things down the sewer grates all the time. Handy things like money or items he could sell and sometimes food items. If he could catch the food before it hit the floor, he could eat it. That was nice, but primarily he hunted along the busy streets for lost things. He kept nearly everything he found unless it was utterly destroyed, valuable or not. He had boxes of dentures, bags toupees, and three barrels of marbles. He did not know why he felt the need to hoard these items as he was perfectly fine if they were destroyed. Perhaps it made him feel just a little bit connected to an old life.

He stood under one of the four major junctions in the town near the less admirable side of town where the sewers and the streets met. The sewer lines were massive here, giving him plenty of room to move. He used his claws to sift through the muck, picking out the gleaming coins and a few pairs of eyeglasses. The coins went into a small pouch hanging from his back, the cord looped around one of his spinal crests. The eyeglasses he carefully placed in their own individual baggies if they were not badly scratched or broken. Those he could give away. He always had a tender spot for those missing their eyewear. How traumatic it must be to loose your ability to see.
 
She had everything she needed. A bag, a penknife should she need it, her phone, and...Beef jerky. Two bags of it. Being short on money, her options for bait were limited. Well, 'Bait' was a loose term, since to have bait you'd need the rest of a solid plan. She was short on those, too.

Ingrid knew it was a bad idea. There so, so many reasons why it wasn't a good idea. Issue number one was: she wasn't giving her scar the time it needed to heal over. She got that thing months ago, but because of ignorance, it never had the time to fix. It wasn't an issue to her until it got infected, but something in her mind told her that was not the way to go about it.
Issue number two: it was broad daylight. The prick from last night would be out for her soon. Walking around like nothing was wrong would be seen as an insult.
And issue number three: how fast her target supernatural thingy was. The general idea was to keep it busy long enough to nab a picture and run away before it caught up. If she stayed around the exit it should go smoothly. Hopefully. All of this was assuming she could even find it. She was going to try the place downtown near one of the junctions-- Place was bigger. And more people. More commotion. No one would bother her.
Running a hand through her hair, Ingrid glanced down at the manhole cover in front of her, and then at the people around. Life continued for them as if she didn't exist. When she pried the cover off, all she got was a few weird looks and tsk's. Nobody cared enough to stop her. Good.

Her landing was far more graceful than last night, but it still had its stumble. Ingrid gagged when a foot stepped down into sewage, prompting her to hop back and shake it.
"Gross."
It was time for her to set her little search party (of one) in motion. Holding her phone's torch ahead of her, she began walking. She didn't know the etiquette for summoning sewer monsters, so classic scooby doo ventures was the way to go.
All she had to do was stay sharp and stay around the area of the exit. Simple! She'd have her proof in no time.
 
Squeltch. It was such a strange word, yet it was the perfect word to describe the sound of feet walking through sludge. What was the name for that? Oh, yes, "onomatopoeia." Such a strange word. It was a mouthful to say, and... wait, why was he thinking about this? He turned his head and listened. Oh, he was thinking about it because he could hear squeltching. What??

He froze and hunkered down against the wall. What was going on? He lowered his head, watching the tunnels. Something caught his nose. Blood? Why was there something bloody coming this way?
 
God, no wonder people stayed away from down here. Dark, dingy and stinky. Precisely what a sewer should be. The more she walked, the more she hoped this wouldn't take too long; she could see herself gagging if she spent more than an hour down here.

Wading through sludge and shining light around the area was all she did for a good 10 minutes. Her caution turned to agitated boredom, and with her shaky hand she started running a familiar piece of metal between her fingers to help keep herself calm. Every movement she caught with a light turned out to be either a rat or chunks of grim discharge.
Patience was a virtue she wasn't proficient in. She was a busy woman! Hell, if she didn't find it soon, what was even the point of--
The glint of scales distantly flashed when her torch passed over a certain wall, and she too froze.
Although the light wasn't on it now, she stared at the inky blackness with wide eyes. She could barely, barely see a low silhouette of something and she wasn't going to take any chances.

Stepping back, Ingrid pocketed her coin and blindly fumbled with the bag on her back, pulling out a packet with a noisy crinkle. She wasn't stupid enough to try and blind it, so she aimed her light to the side so she could make out a vague outline, and spot a tail.

....What now?? Her pestering reasoning had gone radio silent, leaving her mind blank. If it went for her, she could run. If it didn't...She didn't know. For a split second she forgot why she was there in the first place!
 
Why was this human staying down here so long?? No one stayed down here this long! Luckily, he was well versed in patience, and he held perfectly still as the minutes ticked by. Then, suddenly, she seemed to spot him. His breath caught, but he remained still. Then her light hit his tail. He reacted instinctively, flicking his tail out of the light with a slither. What should he do?

Something crinkled in her backpack, and he flinched. A low growl emanated from him, rumbling through the stillness underground while overhead, the cars hummed past. It was the same female human as the evening before. What could she possibly want down here? Few people came down here once, let alone twice. And why did she still smell like blood?
 
It didn't like the light- Damn. If she couldn't get a clear picture, then there was no point risking it at all! Ugh.
Ingrid stopped what she was doing when she heard growling. It was either the light, the noise, her, or all three. Her guess was the latter. And yet, even still, she didn't run away just yet. Call it stupidity, but she had the nagging feeling this monster wasn't as black and white as it seemed, (metaphorically of course; from what she could tell, those scales were all black.)

So, she did something not even she was prepared for: She spoke.
"..Hey, it's...It's cool. It's food."
Ingrid's voice wavered in its attempts at being soft. Gentle wasn't a tone she opted for often. Slowly moving the packet up to her mouth, she used her teeth to tear it open, and heaving a little immediately after once she got a noseful of jerky-stench.

"S-S---Ech.....See?"
She waved it in front of her a little, giving the floor of the area a once over. There wasn't a place she could set it down...So she'd make one. Using a foot, she pushed together pieces of trash to make a mini-mountain to place the now open packet atop. This was quickly becoming less of a photoshoot and more of a peace offering. She didn't know how to feel about it.
 
He hunkered in the dark, cowering like some sort of abandoned puppy beaten into submission. What was he supposed to do here? He started carefully inching toward the nearest tunnel. He needed to get out of here. It was that or kill her. Then there would be an investigation, and he really did not want to kill her, not really. He had to get away!

"..Hey, it's...It's cool. It's food."

He froze. She was speaking so softly. It had been so long since he had heard a soft, gentle voice. So long. Nostalgia froze him in place. He just wanted to hear the voice a little longer. He glanced at the open bag and flicked his tail, the tip thumping against the wall. Why should that intrigue him? Why should he want it? It was just dried meat! Wait, it was bait, wasn't it? He lowered his head and hissed warningly. He would attack to defend himself.
 
Ingrid stepped back further when she was warned with another hiss. Seeing that it was cowering made her feel...Bad. It had been too long since she'd felt anything close to empathy to anyone, let alone something not even human. Was it even fair to assume it was subhuman in mind, though? It spared her before. It was warning her now. Sure, animals did that, but so did people.

Her words made it pause. Yes, it also growled, but she'd made it this far already. Ingrid verbally stumbled at first when she tried to continue, unsure of how she should speak. She wasn't even sure it understood!

"..I'll go. I will! I just---" Ingrid nodded down at the offered bag with a shrug of her shoulders, "-wanted to thank you, I guess. For before. You probably didn't mean to, so it kinda...Renders what I'm saying now pointless. But hey, if you can't understand, no problem right?"
Her voice was a little more comfortable now. Not sure if she was talking to the reptile, or voicing her own guessed thoughts, Ingrid decided to vocalize them anyway.

Technically, the bit about the jerky being a thank-you was a lie. Half lie. She hadn't intended for it to be a gift before, but now she felt obligated to. Goddamn, she was humanizing it. Why would she do that?? It was stupid. The entire situation was stupid. She was talking to a monster--
 
He stilled when she spoke again. Her voice had a tinny quality to it as it bounced off the stone walls and echoed back faintly several times over. It was not the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, but the softness and the awkward care that reverberated in every syllable stirred an ache in his heart. He yearned to hear more, as melodramatic as that made him sound. He tensed as distant memories stirred, memories of a different voice speaking softly... Gently reminding him of... something, he could not remember what, but the voice was there...

And then it was gone.

He blinked then shook his head, the movement carrying all the way down his serpentine body in a raspy rattle of scales. He growled again, softer this time, and slowly moved toward the nearest tunnel. He tipped his head to keep one eye on the human as he walked into the tunnel slow and cautious. He was watching her. He did not feel he distrusted her entirely, but he certainly did not trust her, either. Time would tell. Time would tell much.

Once free of human, he picked up the pace and moved swiftly into the depths of the sewer, watching for any trackers or pursuers. It did not appear anyone was immediately following him, but one could never be too careful. His stomach growled. A small offering or not, maybe he should have taken the jerky.
 
The tense silence that fell when she finished made her nervous. Cars drove past overhead, and various atmospheric sewer noises rattled through the space they shared, but it was silence to her. It was a crazy thought that what she said meant anything. It was even crazier to assume they didn't. Ingrid had a lot of mixed feelings, and since she never usually felt more than 'annoyed' or 'scared', she couldn't process them all at once. Instead she resorted to her default: Standoffish curiosity. Perhaps maybe a little less standoffish than usual. To say she'd taken a liking would be absurd; to say she wanted to keep level so she didn't provoke? More accurate.

Watching the shadow move, she caught the cautious golden eye tracking her as it disappeared once more. Part of her wanted to follow, but doing so would lead her down into pipelines she wasn't familiar with and was a recipe for disaster. Nah, it wasn't worth it. At least...Not today.

Like last time, Ingrid lingered around the area before leaving. Seemingly rooted to the spot, she held her phone to her chest and furrowed her brows in a puzzled manner. Every encounter she'd had so far left her forgetting her mind in the moment, and dumping her with all her thoughts immediately after. Was it fear? Partly. No one could be fearless in this situation. But it was a concoction of so much more. Curiosity, confusion, uncertainty, and even small traces of mysteriously sourced guilt. Piecing it altogether would occupy her thoughts all the way home. She needed a map of the city's sewer system if she was going to do this properly. On the back of her hand, she scrawled down a few notes she could detail later:
  • DNL light
  • DNL jerky(?)
  • DL talking
God, she hoped she could still remember what those meant by the time she got inside..
 
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