Futurama Porno Story: Ground Zero Chapter 1

3001-9-11, New New York City
8:57 AM
Fry was barely conscious of the figure shaking his shoulder. He curled deeper into his covers. “I don’t wanna go to school today,” he mumbled.
“Wake up, Fry,” he heard, and rolled over to see Amy at his bedside. Was he still groggy, or were her eyes red?
“What’s wrong?”
“The newsoh God, it’s horrible,” she sniffed and turned away. A confused Fry stumbled out of bed and followed Amy into the living room. Hermes, Zoidberg, Bender, and Farnsworth were staring at the TV. The sky seemed oddly dark outside.
“What happened?” Fry asked.
Zoidberg turned towards him, eyes glassier than usual. “It happened about ten minutes ago. A plane hit the first tower of the New World Trade Center.”
“What the-?” The young man took a look at the TV and sure enough, there was a huge plume of smoke coming from the tower. “Was it an accident? Is it a helicopter or something?”
“We don’t know. Can’t you see the smoke from downtown? It’s horrible.” Amy covered her face and sobbed, and Benderput an arm around her shoulder? That was the first act of empathy Fry had seen in him sincewell, since ever.
He thought briefly and then asked, “Hey, where’s Leela?”
“We don’t know, she was already gone when we woke up,” said Farnsworth.
“You don’t think- my God!” Fry turned quickly and fled from the headquarters before anyone could stop him.
“Come back here!” Farnsworth called too late. “That darn fool, still in his pajamas.”
“He’s got a point, Professor,” Hermes said and went to follow the young man.
Bender looked back at the TV. “Holy crap, the second tower just got hit!”
Amy continued sobbing.

9:04 AM
Fry was running as fast as his legs would allow. The sky was dark and smoky, and there was the odd hint of fire in the distance. No sense taking a taxi, they’d already be full of people getting away from whatever this was.
Sirens wailed from behind him, and he turned around to see a fire truck speed by- too fast to grab on and hitch a ride.
“Wherever you are, Leela, hold on,” he said to himself and kept running.

9:15 AM
Huddled in an alley barely four blocks from the New World Trade Center, Leela stared out at the streets. Humans, aliens, robots, whatever- they were all running away from the smoke; many of them were coated in dust. There were plenty of cries and screaming, someone kept calling, “Mama! Mama!”
‘Why aren’t I running with them?’ she thought. This was ridiculous. She’d left Planet Express headquarters around 8:30 just to take a walk around the city and this had to happen. ‘I’m never going out early again.’
A deep rumble sounded those blocks away and more distinct screams pierced the air. That was enough motivation to get up and start running.
Leela looked back over her shoulder and saw rubble crumbling amidst the smoke. Impossible as it seemed, the tower was collapsing. She covered her eye to shield away the debris and kept speeding.
She barely felt the chunk of rubble hit the back of her head and knock her out.

9:23 AM
The rest of the Planet Express crew had caught up with Fry and now they were in a cab heading downtown. Farnsworth held a picture of Leela he’d grabbed before they left, just in case. The cab pilot had the radio on, where someone was reporting live from the towers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know how to describe thisthis place is a complete warzone. Three trucks of rescue crew have just passed by, and none of the first batch of dispatched firefighters have reappeared yetdear God! Ladies and gentlemen, the second tower of the New World Trade Center is collapsing as I speak-”
“Can’t you go any faster, man?!” Fry screamed at the cab pilot.
“I’m already doing 120 in an 80 zone!”
“Hey guys,” Bender asked, “didn’t anyone bring their cell phones with them?”
“D’oh!” Fry whapped his forehead. “Leela’s cell! Of course!” He whipped his phone out and nervously punched out the young woman’s number.

9:25 AM
Everything was dark around Leela. The chunk of rubble that had knocked her out had also pinned her to the ground. She covered with dust and couldn’t breathe without taking any in. Sounds were exaggerated. Footsteps of escaping people echoed, sirens wailed mutely. Was there chanting, or was that only the panicked chatter of people around her? A tear escaped and cut a clean path down her dirty face. She didn’t have the strength to brush it away.
‘I’m going to die,’ Leela thought. ‘Alone in all thisI didn’t want to go this way. There’s still so much I want to do. OhMom, Dad, whoever you are and wherever you are, I hope I fulfilled everything you wanted for me. I forgive you. I love you.
‘Amyit was nice having someone around to girl-talk with. You understood me like no one else would. You always listened to me ramble on, and I always took your advice to heart. Thank you for being there. Promise you’ll look after Nibbler. I love you.
‘Dr. ZoidbergI never knew how you managed to put up with everybody’s teasing. I didn’t really mean it. You were always so practical, so interesting to talk to. I love you.
‘Hermes I guess you’ll have one less schedule to keep straight. You were one great person to hang around with. Please don’t be so upset over me; you were always the best coper of us. I love you.
‘Professor Farnsworthyou’re the most misunderstood genius I know. Even when your inventions didn’t work, I knew your heart was in the right place. I’m glad I got to work with you while I could. I love you.
‘Benderoh, I’m gonna miss your pranks and wisecracks and get-rich-quick schemes. It was so hard to stay mad at you because you brought such a smile to my face. You had a way of making me relax, to laugh and to enjoy life. Thank you, I love you.
‘FryI don’t even know where to start. I guess my biggest regret is I’ll never get the chance to tell you I love you. Everyone knew except you. I know I acted like I didn’t like you, but really, I’m just not the type of person who lets those feelings show. Because I really care for you so muchmore than you’ll ever know, I guess. We never had the nerve to tell each other what we felt, and now we never will. I’m so sorry. Goodbye, Fry. I love you.’
AWWWWwwwwr. A siren slowly wailed beside her and she barely heard someone step over. “We got a girl trapped here! Assistance!” The whirring of a machine was heard, but if it removed the rubble Leela didn’t know. She was in too much pain. “OK, on the stretcher!” A faint vibration echoed at her side.
“Somebody” Leela whispered. “Somebody get that” The man who found her grabbed the phone and answered it.
“Hello?I don’t know who you mean, but we have to get this girl to the hospitaluh-huhyeah, that’s herOK, but make it fast.” He held the phone to Leela’s ear. “Somebody blathering away. Talk some sense into him, hon.”
“Hello?” she whispered.
“Leela! Oh, thank God!” Fry was blubbering on the other end. “Were you in the building? What happened?”
“I don’t know what happened”
“We’re gonna meet you at the hospital, OK? Leeladarlingstay strong we can’t lose you” More sobbing.
“I’ll be fineI love you, Fry. See you later.” The man who found her snapped the phone shut.
“Time’s up, Miss Leela! Let’s go!” Her stretcher was loaded onto an ambulance and sped off.
‘I did it,’ she thought. ‘I told him I love him. Diddid he just call me darling?’

9:33 AM
Fry shut off his cell phone and turned to the others. “They have to take Leela to the hospital. I don’t know what happened to her.”
“She’s gotta be alive! She has to be!” Amy gripped tight onto Dr. Zoidberg’s shoulder.
As the taxi hovered off towards the emergency ward, Bender clenched his metal hands and glared out a window. “This was no accident. Who the hell coulda done this?!”
“Bender, this is no time to think about vengeance. We have to think about Leela,” said Farnsworth.
Hermes looked over at Fry, whose face had received a thoughtful, sad look. ‘You all right, boy?”
“Huh?” Fry snapped out of his reverie. “Ohyeah, I’ll be fine.” ‘Diddid Leela say she loves me?’

9:50 AM
The waiting room was packed to the biggest extent any of the Planet Express crew had seen. TVs attached to the walls were all on the same station, reporting from the now-rubble of the towers. Rescue crew had pulled out some survivors, but not enough to be overly optimistic. It was also reported that another plane had crashed into Washington, DC, at the Pentagon. One more plane that’d taken off that morning had lost contact with its proper control tower, and authorities feared the worst.
“Oh, God” Zoidberg was reacting to footage of the DC crash site; he paled, covered his mouth, and fled down a hallway. The others knew it was best to leave him be for a while.
Eventually a doctor entered the waiting room, hand on the shoulder of a crying woman who looked about five months pregnant. Fry didn’t have to guess over who she could be crying over; he wiped away a tear of his own as the doctor approached the group.
“I’m Dr. Paul O’Rourke. A friend of yours was brought in about twenty minutes agoCyclops woman?”
“Yes, that’s our friend,” Amy said in a shaky voice. “Is Leela still alive?”
“Yes-” A collective sigh of relief from the group. “-But you’ll need to come with me.” The sigh faded as they followed Dr. O’Rourke to an elevator; Zoidberg was back in time to follow them.
On the way to the proper floor, O’Rourke explained to the group, “Currently Leela is in a state of unconsciousness, no doubt brought about by her physical trauma. She was pinned under rubble from a tower, and it crushed areas around the ends of her spine. Eventually we’ll operate to correct what we can, but the effects won’t be overnight. It could be anywhere from two to five months before she’ll gain complete control of her legs again.”
“Her legs?” Fry asked.
“When the spine and certain nerve endings are damaged, certain areas of the body are unable to receive proper messages from the brain- in this case, her legs. We trust she’ll awaken within 24 hours so we can operate.” O’Rourke removed his glasses and sighed. “Your friend is one of the few lucky ones we’ve had today. We’re hoping for more, but” He didn’t finish, partly because it didn’t need finishing and partly because they were at the right floor. Leela was in room 31D.
The crew couldn’t help their gasp of reaction when they saw the young woman. The heart and brainwave monitors she was hooked up to beat steadily, but her countenance didn’t suggest someone in the land of the living.
“Leela!” Fry rushed to her bed and clenched a pale hand. “God, Leela, you can’t do this to us! You gotta wake up! Please!” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Please, Leela. We need you. I love you. Please.” The rest of the crew stepped over and watched with hopeful eyes.
Leela’s arm twitched and slowly brought itself to her bandaged forehead. “Uhhhwhere am I?”
“Dr. O’Rourke! She’s waking up!”

(to be continued…)