Allahtown (3) (1167 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Allahtown
Rating: 1.78 on 32 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2005-09-30 17:32:30 EDT
Allahtown (1) http://www.ubersite.com/m/75396
Allahtown (2) http://www.ubersite.com/m/75779
ALLAHTOWN
(3)
"You're looking a bit thin, kid."
Samir looked up, shading his eyes with one hand. He was digging a long trench and the heat was making him dizzy.
"Hey there, Joe. Yeah. They cut back my meal rations."
Yusif hunkered down and handed Samir a canteen. "What the hell did you do, Sam?"
Samir shrugged. Ever since Yusif's talk of escape and his interrogation he had steered clear of the man, only talking with him a few times.
"Nothing I know of. They had me in isolation a month ago after my last session with an assessor, and ever since then they've been working me like a dog and feeding me scraps."
There were a dozen detainees working 500 feet beyond the fences. Digging trenches for fences and latrines, laying concrete slabs, constructing the wooden frames of more barracks. This was their third day on the job and the heat was brutal.
Samir was kind of glad the camp was being expanded. Things were getting crowded inside the wire. There was less of everything to go around, from sleeping room to soap. Showers were limited top once a week and the work day had been extended to sixteen hours. Tempers were flaring, and the fundamentalists were reaching a fever pitch.
Governors surrounded the workers outside the fences, keeping tabs on them from atop shaded watchtowers and inside air-conditioned ISS cruisers.
Samir took a long drink. He had seen Yusif passing by carrying canteens to detainees from the water truck, but hadn't said a word. He didn't think a month of reduced rations could have hit him so hard, and he wanted to be seen as compliant, and a loner, so he could start getting a bit more chow.
"I guess I've lost a little weight," Samir said.
Word around camp was that two other guys had been getting the same treatment and had died. One had stroked out in the heat of the sun, and one had lost his marbles and hung himself with a shit-ton of dental floss made into a noose. It hadn't been very strong, but it only had to hold for a few minutes to do the job.
"Damn," Yusif said. "Well, listen. I got the scuttlebutt on what we're doing out here beyond the wire. We aren't expanding the camp."
Samir took another long pull of water, the warmth and metallic taste something he was now used to, and handed the canteen back to Yusif.
Yusif stood up. "We're building a new camp. A women's camp."
Samir blinked, and turned his good ear to Joe. "What?" He was feeling kind of loopy.
"Mothers and daughters, wives and sisters. They're rounding them up and sending them to the camps. I hope your ex kept her distance, buddy-boy."
"No," Samir said. "They wouldn't do that. They could never get away with that."
Yusif chuckled. "Just what we said when we first heard about fellas in our situation a few years back. And here you are acting all demure and hoping to just get along, hoping for the best, assuming things will work out."
"I don't see you causing any dust-ups."
"Yeah, but I've got a goal, bubba. Freedom. I'm not sitting here poking my finger into cowshit and hoping for diamonds."
Samir smiled. He knew a lot of men like Yusif, Arab-Americans born in the USA who worked overtime on street slang or tried a little too hard to sound like a down-home, good old boy shitkicker to compensate for their heritage and the color of their skin and the prejudices against them.
One of the governors gave them a shout. "Stop exchanging head-wrapping tips and get your asses in gear, now!"
"You really aren't looking too good, Sam, so use that to your advantage," Yusif said, walking away. "You want to know where the bear shits in the buckwheat, keep an eye on the east end of the infirmary hallway, before sunup."
Samir was wondering how the hell he could con his way into the infirmary's high-security area, if in fact Yusif's tip had even a grain of truth to it, when a massive upheaval of the earth caused the trench to rear up in the air and then drop down on top of him.
*
It was cool when Samir's eyes fluttered open. Late night cool.
He was in the infirmary, at one dark end of a long double row of beds. His bed had raised rails, and his wrists were bound to the stainless steel struts with padded restraints. The restraints had Velcro instead of buckles.
Samir shifted his body and felt a slight burn in his groin. There weren't any tubes snaking out from under his sheet and down into a bag of piss, but he was pretty sure a catheter had been rammed inside him while he was out like a light. There was a tube in his arm, however. He looked up, seeing a bag of clear fluid suspended beside the bed.
"That for re-hy-dra-tion," a voice said.
Samir turned his head. Dark skin, big nose. An older guy, maybe in his late forties. The guy looked like a simpleton, but his tone was kind.
"I am Nasawi. I am or-der-ly. You safe here."
Nasawi's accent was very thick. Rolled R's, H's sounding like a spitwad being hawked up.
Samir licked his lips. They were dry and rough. "Thirsty."
"Yes," Nasawi said with a nod. He went to a nearby cart and filled a plastic cup with some cold water, popping a lid onto. The lid had a built-in straw.
"Sippy-cup," Samir said.
Nasawi smiled, even though he clearly had no idea what Samir had just said. He held out the cup and Samir drank.
"Slow, my friend. "You take too much sun and fall down. Rest. Drink. Feel better for work."
Samir nodded when he had had enough. One of the last things he remembered was wondering how he could possibly sneak in here. Of course that kind of dumb luck never kicked in once all the years he played the state lottery.
"Prison bad," Nasawi said. "Doctor try to be good. Many sick men. Guards say fix men fast. Doctor always try to take time."
Samir noticed a pucker in the skin over Nasawi's left temple.
"You're not an American."
Nasawi shook his head and his face lit up with a big grin. "Iraqi. I help Amer-i-can soldier fight for my country before Mister Pres-i-dent stop war."
There appeared to be only two other patients in the infirmary, down near the swinging double doors. There was more light down there. One of the men groaned loudly.
Samir and Nasawi looked, waited.
The groaning man went quiet.
The older man spoke again.
"I worked in school, long time. Time gone now. I remem-ber Saddam. Bad man. Re-pub-li-can Guard come to my home. Long ago. Try to do bad thing to my child and her mother. I fight."
Nasawi put a finger against the puckered flesh, and closed his eyes, just a moment.
"Shoot," he said softly.
"Jesus," Samir said.
Nasawi smiled, his eyes dark.
"No prophet save me, my friend. Allah save Nasawi. Allah... busy, yes, busy?"
Samir nodded.
"Allah busy so much, work so hard to save Nawasi, to save many more, that He could not save my wife. My child."
"Sorry," Samir said. He realized that as bad as things were, they could be a lot worse.
"I decide to fight to be free. To fight bad men. To help keep safe other women and chil-dren. To help Allah, be-cause Allah so busy and need help."
"And you ended up here in America?"
Nasawi grinned again, his eyes lighting up. "Yes. Nasawi fight many men. Soldier tell Nasawi 'come to Amer-i-ca to get well.' I come."
The old man pulled down the zipper on his jumpsuit. His chest and right shoulder were puckered and steaked. Old wounds had made pale constellations on his dark skin.
"I get job. Clean kitchen. Pay for house, and food, and tax for Pres-i-dent. Then one day Pres-i-dent stop to be friend to Nasawi. I come here."
Samir didn't know what to say. He was shamed into silence.
"You rest now, my friend."
Nasawi reached out and put a cool, rough hand on Samir's forehead.
Samir thought of his dad, dead of a heart attack by the time Samir was in high school.
Nasawi stepped away, his gait a little uneven.
"What did you do in the school?" Samir asked. "Back in Iraq?"
Nasawi paused and looked over his shoulder. "I told..." He shook his head, looked up at the ceiling, searching for the right word. "Teach. I teach. Numbers."
Samir saw the older man reach up and grasp at empty air, a pantomime.
"Long ago," Nasawi said. "Now, numbers... go away from me, won't stay in my head."
Samir watched him turn away and check on the man who had groaned. He heard the clang of a bedpan, and fell asleep.
It was hours later when Samir opened his eyes. He had to take a crap, and he'd be damned if he would do it in a bedpan.
He worked his wrists back and forth. Little scritching sounds told him the Velcro was coming loose.
There was one narrow window nearby, and Samir could see the sky was beginning to brighten.
If he didn't shit himself first, maybe he could take a look around. Yusif had hinted something might be up in the infirmary hallway.
He got out of bed, astounded by how weak he was. He took small steps across the cool linoleum floor, moving slowly.
Nasawi was gone. There was another orderly dozing in a chair by the double doors. The two men in the beds close to the orderly were in bad shape. One had a gauze patch over his eye. The gauze was stained pink. The other had both bandaged arms in restraining braces. Only the tips of his fingers were visible, and they were very dark and swollen, the fingernails missing.
Samir pushed through the doors into a shadowed hallway. He looked up and down for a familiar symbol, moving slower than Nasawi had. If he didn't find a bathroom soon he'd explode. One end of the hall was a T corridor. In the other direction was a dead end.
Samir went to the dead end. It was darker. He didn't want to be seen. He passed a door bearing signplates. The doctor's office and surgery were in there. He did find a bathroom. He relieved himself, dribbled a little piss, and flushed and washed his hands. He took a moment to catch his breath before opening the door.
He stepped into shadows again, and made his way back to the infirmary, one hand brushing the wall to steady him. A door opened at the far end of the hall and Samir froze.
Two men came out of a room, chatted in muted tones and then went off in separate directions.
Samir was sure he had been seeing things. He shuffled down the hall, past the double doors, heading for the room the men had come out of.
He stopped in front of the door and read the plate fixed to it.
ADMINISTRATION
C-WING
ASSESSORS
BARLING
GALVER
JONAS
PENNINGTON
TRUE
WILKES
Samir backed away from the door as silently as he could, heading back to his infirmary bed.
He was so tired he couldn't think straight. What he had seen didn't make any sense.
He had seen True, the Assessor who had grilled him a month ago, sharing words with Hanif, the fundamentalist zealot.
He wondered if that meeting was what Yusif had been hinting at.
When he got back to his bed he drifted into sleep wondering what that meeting was about, wondering why True had reached out and given Hanif a pat on the arm like they were old friends.
User Reviews
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2005-11-19 14:20:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
To offset the French ass.
Submitted by Psycosis (user info) at 2005-11-17 03:28:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-11-16 20:02:32 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
ein volk, ein reich, ein furher!
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2005-11-08 14:41:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
wicked story. I am glad I started reading it.
Submitted by matnotharry (user info) at 2005-11-07 18:32:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-11-06 15:55:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-10-03 12:01:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You literally rock my face off sometimes. I'd ask you to stop, or at least not do it quite so often because Krazy gluing it back on is suprisingly difficult, but it hurts so good that you have my permission to continue with the rockage.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-10-03 11:57:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-10-03 08:57:39 (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting. It hadn't occured to me that you felt so strongly about injustice.
You're complex.
--
Or am I completely full of shit?
And if so, which side is the bullshit piled on?
Rooting for the underdog Writing Jack or seal the borders against the illegal masses and tell the fags and liberal pussies to shut the fuck up Conservative Jack?
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-10-03 11:40:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
this is shaping up to be a great series. per usual.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-10-03 10:18:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-10-03 08:57:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting. It hadn't occured to me that you felt so strongly about injustice.
You're complex.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-10-03 08:16:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by krootons (user info) at 2005-10-01 22:55:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Getting drawn out, but the characters are getting much more complex and realistic.
Like to see where this goes.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2005-10-01 13:49:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2005-10-01 08:42:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That there's some quality stuff.
Submitted by Barnymeinhoff (user info) at 2005-10-01 04:05:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Thanks for the last review, both apreciated with and agreed.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2005-09-30 23:39:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
as always...
but I didn't see the bit with Yusif and True coming.. good groundwork.. I'm looking for the next bit.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-30 23:13:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Considering the quality you normally produce, I thought the 'Word around camp...paragraph
was out of place.
I'm not qualified to be so picayune, yet, but I thought it was, different?, from the rest.
In any event, good story.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-09-30 22:44:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I love it when the plot thickens. Nice installment, Jack, very nice. I also liked the way you handled the orderly's stilted dialogue.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-09-30 20:15:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What can I say to Jack? You rock so much it causes pain....
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:42:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:23:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
great stuff!
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:07:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:05:45 (#)
Ranking: 1
I didn't see that...funny shit going on around here the last couple of days.
--
It's welcome. Uber was dead in the water for too long.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:05:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I didn't see that...funny shit going on around here the last couple of days.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:03:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This has probably been there for a fucking month, but I just noticed it in the MVA list...
/--------
\--------
15. Blow me, (v)ethod (358610 hits)
16. Capital V, fatass (328879 hits)
--
Hilarious.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-09-30 18:01:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:59:09 (#)
Ranking: 1
You type pretty well with your head up your ass...most people couldn't pull it off.
--
Did you read the story?
There WILL be a quiz, you know.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:59:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You type pretty well with your head up your ass...most people couldn't pull it off.
Submitted by Barnymeinhoff (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:57:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:53:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Neat stuff.
Submitted by ahumblefool (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:41:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is getting stronger, building...
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:40:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ahhhh, the plot, like a good sauce, thickens...
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-09-30 17:33:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Wrote this at work with my head up my ass, so hopefully it doesn't suck.
No action here, just set-up for things to come.