The street from which Chad and Tara had gone down into the sewers was a flurry of people.. There was a police cordon blocking both ends, both sourrunded by numerous onlookers. The KTTF was also present, along with a group of young recruits among whom adrenaline and fear were mixed. Two trucks parked on the sidewalk carried equipment brought from the training center. A small helicopter flew over the area, scanning it with a thick cone of light.
"I have to say, Sam, I didn't expect to see such a deployment," said Wilbur.
"You see, Finletter, we're now better prepared to face threats."
"And that fills me with pride. But right now, I'm only interested in finding my nephew and Tara. And, of course, crushing some rotten tomatoes."
There was movement at the police cordon as the sheriff appeared escorting Mayor Janet Topkins. The woman wore a red suit with shoulder pads that highlighted her blonde hair.
"Finletter, what's the situation?"
"Mayor Topkins? What are you doing here?"
"I'm the mayor of San Zucchini, and if there's a problem with tomatoes, I want to know what's going on."
"I'm sorry, but this is a war zone until we confirm otherwise. I have to ask you to leave."
The woman's face betrayed her professional serenity for a few seconds. Her lips trembled before pronouncing the words she feared.
"I have reasons to be here. My daughter could be among the missing people. She was supposed to be home an two hours ago. She was near here when she separated from her friends."
"Oh... In that case..."
Wilbur thought for a moment. His soldier's instinct told him that the mayor shouldn't be there, but he knew how it felt when a loved one was at the mercy of the tomatoes. His companions didn't comment, but he knew they would back him up on whatever he decided.
"Alright. But stay close to the police cordon, I'll keep you informed if anything happens."
She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but finally decided that she wouldn't gain anything by insisting.
"Thank you." She walked away with the sheriff.
"It's good to see so much cooperation," said Mary Jo.
"Yes, it's definitely different from the previous mayor," Wilbur agreed, satisfied. "She knows how to take things seriously."
"Alright, people, let's get started with this. Floyd."
The diver took a step forward when Sam mentioned his name. He pulled out a small trumpet and sounded it. Five recruits hurried to line up beside him, all dressed in the same diving gear.
"Alright, kids, let's get started with scouting."
"Yes, sergeant!"
One by one, the recruits took a running leap into the sewer. Floyd gave a military salute to his comrades and followed them.
"They'll be our eyes down there. When they give us the signal, we'll descend."
"I'd rather be down there right now," said Wilbur.
Next to him, F.T. started jumping impatiently. Sam looked at them with a calming gesture.
"Easy, Finletter. We have many lives under our command, we can't be reckless like in the old days."
"And you know Floyd, he'll do his job as quickly as possible. He'll be back here soon with news."
Just then, the diving team shot out of the sewer, yelling, and described an arc in the air before landing on the park grass. Floyd also appeared, clinging to the ladder and pale behind his mask.
"Guys, I think we're going to need heavy artillery."
The ground beneath him began to tremble as Sam and Wilbur helped him out. Everyone ran away from the hole as the street was lifted up by a force that pressed from below with sheer brutality. The concrete cracked and then exploded in a burst of fragments that scattered in all directions. And that pale red thing appeared before everyone's eyes, under the helicopter's cone of light.
"Good heavens! It's a tomatogator!"
The head of the gigantic vegetable reptile emerged from the underground world, its two front legs clinging to the shattered concrete. The jaw opened, displaying a row of sharp fangs, and a monstrous roar filled the night; it was like thunder that reverberated between the buildings, claiming the city as its domain.
The tendrils on the beast's back trembled and shot out towards one of the trucks parked in the park. They crashed against it, shattering the windshield. The driver barely had time to jump out of the cabin before the tendrils wrapped around it and began to pull the vehicle. Dragging it towards the open jaws.
"So this big guy is the one who's been taking people," Sam said as he helped a recruit to his feet.
"Even if it wasn't, it's a tomato. And that means... Charge!"
Without saying more, Wilbur charged against the tomatogator with his sword held high. The monster destroyed the front of the truck with one bite before becoming aware of the presence of its enemy. A tendril shot out from its back, but before it could reach its target, the veteran's sword cut off a good chunk of it. Without stopping, Finletter continued advancing with precise blows that ruthlessly pruned the tendril.
"Come on, people! Do you want to live forever?" Mary Jo taunted as she joined the charge.
Several recruits followed her, carrying modified lawn trimmers courtesy of the KTTF that looked more like assault weapons than gardening tools. More tendrils were fired, meeting the circular saws that shrieked desperately as they cut. The scene was chaotic, with green pieces flying everywhere, and the air filled with the smell of sewage and oil. Although the beast didn't seem to feel any pain from being pruned, it did become aware that something that required its full attention was coming .
It stopped eating and, opening its mouth towards its enemies, began to regurgitate the remains of the truck with a powerful belch. A rain of metal pieces swept over the advancing group, sparking as they crashed against the saws. Only Wilbur and Mary Jo were able to dodge the discharge, the former lying on the ground and the latter thanks to a series of jumps and spinning moves.
The paratrooper made it to one of the monster's paws and began to unleash frenzied blows with his sword. But he found that these tendrils were tougher than the others and barely made a dent. The monster would have turned against him if not for the fact that the helicopter had descended in its direction at that moment to distract it. It was like a large metal mosquito, something the tomato had never encountered before, and it awakened its desire to crush it.
Launching itself forward, the creature forced more of its body outward, exposing part of its belly… and closed its jaws around one of the helicopter's legs. Without losing time, with a precise movement of its powerful head, it slammed the machine into the ground, crushing it. The twisted metal mass slid heavily towards the police cordon. It was met with screams of horror as onlookers fled from the scene. A column of black smoke rose into the sky while the aircraft's light flickered before dying.
"This is madness," said Sam, preparing his own lawn trimmer to join the fight.
From the crowd, only the mayor and the sheriff remained, kneeling beside a patrol car. Whitley White crawled up to them on all fours, seemingly out of nowhere, clutching his microphone.
"Here's Whitley White reporting live from the streets of San Zucchini, where for the first time in five years, a tomato is terrorizing the city again. I'm here with Mayor Topkins and Sheriff Kamilton."
"Do you really have to do that now?" the mayor said irritably.
"Listen, ma'am, I didn't spend the last half hour lost between a Great Wall of China backdrop and a Tower of Pisa set just to leave empty-handed."
"Who's even filming?"
"My cameraman, he's right... "
But when the reporter turned around, he found that there was no one behind him. In fact, the cameraman had retreated as soon as he saw the monstrous creature fighting the KTTF. Of course, White didn't realize this until the mayor pointed it out.
"Coward! It's because of things like that the journalism is dying."
"Oh, all of you are despicable, tragedy leeches," the sheriff spat to one side. "You only do things for your own benefit, never for the good of others. Not like officer Corrugated. Llook at him over there keeping calm in the midst of all this."
White and Topkins looked for the officer the sheriff was talking about, only to discover that he was five meters in front of the patrol car. And was one of the cardboard extras holding a "Stop" sign. They looked at Kamilton with raised eyebrows and open mouths in perfect synchrony. The man was wiping away a tear that was running under his glasses with a hanky, lost in his own world.
"That young man fills me with pride."
White looked at the mayor incredulously. She shrugged.
"He's my sister's brother-in-law, and he needed the job."
Preoccupied with that discussion, they didn't notice F.T. running past them towards another sewer entrance. Using his tendrils and all his strength, he ran to the manhole cover and went inside the underground world.