Jeurridam Ch. 06: The Corridor

"Zanir," June began, "You and Julio never got acquainted..."

"Hi." Zanir smiled shaking Julio's hand.

"Julio you're looking at the mastermind behind everything I told you about... Anything, this guy can do!" June smiled.

"Good... this means you can get our booze back? Junio always talks about you!" Julio asked. Zanir looked at June who stood there blushing.

"I still hate you..." June said causing everyone to laugh.

"Alright, lets get rolling!" Galveston said.

"Let me help Heaven out right quick..." Zanir chuckled, walking over to me. He zipped up my rumper, strapping my guns on as well as placing some plates of ceramics in the suit, "I don't want you dying."

I loved how firm and not delicate his touches were. The way he looked simply didn't coincide with them. You'd think he was soft and fragile but no, he was the toughest thing on two legs. It was now time to mobilize. Zanir activated Orb and Big Daddy and we headed north like bats out of hell. Orb scouted ahead along The Corridor finding the road blockaded and guarded by armed men. It was how June and Julio got stoped the first time.

"Ok..." Zanir said, "These don't look like Revivalists... They are wearing desert robes, sand masks, have parked bandito buggies and have quite crude weapons..." He showed us all the pictures on his hollow watch as we drove through the canyon.

"Let's bust these goons!" June said over the radio.

"No!" Zanir said back swiftly.

"No?"

"We need to see where they operate, know what they have that could whoop our asses! We need to know where they're camped at and how well fortified it is. Then we'll know what we're working with." Zanir said.

"Ok, so we're going off roading?" June asked.

"Yeah." Zanir answered, programming commands to both Big Daddy and Orb, "I'm sending Big Daddy to scout the valley side for any place a base of operation could be and sending Orb to keep watch on that blockade."

"What if we run into somebody out here before we even get this mission off the ground?" Beth asked.

"I got that covered," Galveston began, still driving, "I'm screening for foreign radio connections out here incase of other buggies. They'll be shut down, not being able to communicate and we'll take them out!"

"OK..." Beth responded.

"Where's Swish?" I asked, wondering why he hasn't been around the gang lately.

"That little bastard's gotten mean. I fucks with him no longer..." June laughed.

"He's been smithing in Dredge Valley. The project there is back on I believe. The work there is quite exhausting. When he gets home, all he does is sleep." Galveston chuckled.

"Hope he's alright out there." I said.

"That little bastard is tough. I've tried to kill him so many times..." June teased.

"Yeah, that fool is made out of destruct-o-fabric or something." Julio added.

"Are you and June related?" I asked.

"We're twins but not related by blood. We got the same birthday and the same type of Cholo ass, hood ass parents." Julio laughed.

"That's cool as fuck! Ya'll were born on the same day?" I asked.

"Yeah, our parents were like 'les fuck togedar so our chilrun wabe born on da same day ar sum shit! We're gonna induce at da same time too becuz our babies mus be twins! GAHHHHHH!!'" Julio said, emulating his mother's voice in the most stereotypical Chihuahuan accent he could muster.

"Thats..."

"Creepy? I know..." Julio laughed.

"I was gonna say kind of cool, but that suits as well..." I laughed.

"It's not any type of cool, its gross." June added.

"I mean..." I said but not able to come to words.

"Ok, we're gonna head up to the upper canyon so we can stake out..." Zanir said, looking at the feed from his hollowatch.

"Alright." Everyone said back over the air.

We reached the top of the mesa, each getting out. Zanir was glued to his watch watching the feed from it. He gave a touch prompt looking northeast.

"Guys theres a vault in the Valley. I'm sending Big Daddy to scour for more vaults or other possible entrances." Zanir said.

"Can buggies fit in the vault?" Galveston asked.

"No." Zanir responded.

"That'd mean their camp is somewhere else or there's another entry to the vault because we got into a crazy ass wheel chase. They gotta have buggies." Julio added.

"Big Daddy is doing ground penetrating radar scans. We'll find them. It's only a matter of time..." Zanir said.

The powerful mech didn't take long to pick up something. Zanir looked on surprised.

"What?" Galveston asked.

"There's a long tunnel," Zanir began, "Running for about twenty miles west of here, connecting to... an old military base? Hell, Big Daddy is showing all these vaults are connected. This has potential to be just too out of hand..."

"Man, I need my fucking booze!" June sighed.

"An old military base?" Galveston said thinking hard, "I don't know an old military base..."

"Big Daddy is on his way there now to get scans. I bet it is where the people blocking the route are camped out at..." Zanir said.

"And my booze." June said, obviously quite attached to his alcohol.

"If these people are who you they claim they are, you're really gonna have to leave, Zanir?" Beth asked, this plaguing her mind. Zanir didn't respond only looking at his watch in surprise.

"I'm not leaving anytime soon..." He smiled, "Look!"

He showed everyone projections from the watch. What we saw was a massive base with a wide range of buggies parked on a dry lake bed. Several people patrolled the area while others did maintenance work on these buggies. It didn't make sense...

"Okay, what am I looking at?" I asked.

"Don't the Revivalists have standard buggies?" Zanir asked.

"Yeah, they do." Galveston responded, now seeing the issue.

"And June, did you get chased by a Revivalist buggy?" Zanir continued.

"I don't know what a Revivalist buggy looks like... I never had a run in with them before." June said back.

"But none of these buggies are Revivalist buggies..." Beth said looking closely at the projections. Zanir went over the scans for a third time.

"I think I can finally see what's going on here... They're just smarter than the usual bandits..." He said.

"...Who stole my booze!" June reminded us again. Zanir turned to him.

"How much was it worth?" He asked.

"About five hun-K pesos." Julio said.

"Shit, this was a shipment?" Galveston asked.

"I told you, we were on a cartel run!" June said, losing his patience.

"I'm trying to think of a plan..." Zanir said, sending the Big Daddy's sweeping ground penetrating radar over the base installments, "I'm getting some specific radio reflections associated with glass but it's well beneath the surface...in a bunker... So they're using a bunker for a cellar? Not quite sure... Um, also getting a lot of radio chatter associated with the metal, calcium... bones! Guessing this particular installment is where all the fun action is..."

"And where those thieves took my FUCKING booze!!" June said.

"How are we going to approach this?" Galveston asked.

Zanir pulled up a large three-dimensionally rendered map. The bass was huge, hangars everywhere. Most were now turned into camps while the actual research facilities acting as a makeshift mingling ground with all the bandits' stolen rations. The ground penetrating radar showed an elaborate network of tunnels, vaults and bunkers.

"This, to the north," Zanir began, "Is where the booze is. Surprisingly it is not heavily populated... this operation is intelligent, but rather small."

"So are we gonna go in get the booze, take out these motherfuckers and bounce?" June asked, ready to bloody his hands. Zanir thought on it for a bit.

"No... we might not need to. We probably can strike fear with minimal casualties and get out... Got a strange feeling about this place..." Zanir said, deep in thought.

"I want to end them all! Make sure they never do to someone else what they did to me! And if a single bottle of rhubarb is missing... Imported it all the way from the Southern Remnants..." June said, full of vengeance. Zanir smiled at the boy, only able to laugh.

"What we're gonna do is scale the opposition, use Big Daddy and Orb for intimidation, go in like badasses with our big guns and get what we need to get. We do not need to kill unless we're shot at first... which, based on these numbers, based on the type of weapons they had, I doubt we'll be. Plus, between us all, we stand a mighty good chance against them." Zanir said.

"Okay, so let's bounce!" June said, rushing around to the buggy.

"Don't be so quick to jump, boy... Still got to make sure this will be an easy walk..." Zanir sighed, entering the buggy, "But get us into position, in the valley to the north..."

"Alright..." Galveston said as we all hopped into the buggy.

The plan became underway. We all had a lot riding on what Zanir had found but it seemed to work out. We simply walked into the base, their being virtually no security present. The inhabitants paid us no mind... Something wasn't right... Zanir led us down the tunnels into a massive open bunker where a makeshift bar was made. It was full of... kids? Seriously! This massive base was run by kids! It made us all gasp.

"You've got to be fucking me sideways..." Zanir sighed, "Galveston, Beth, take control of this place..."

The two stepped forward into the vault, no one paying them any mind. Suddenly Galveston fired shots into the bunker ceiling, everyone ducking down, going silent.

"Who's in charge here?" Galveston asked. It was a while before someone raised their hand. Galveston waved him over.

The young man came, both terrified and highly upset. He didn't know what this was about or what big, fierce Galveston was about to do to him. Galveston pointed to me, directing the young man over to me. It left him terribly confused.

"June and Julio, go get your booze... I'm gonna talk to this kid." Zanir said, summoning him, "Beth, Heave, make sure no one gets a gun and tries anything stupid. Galveston, come with me..." He fiddled with his watch, punching in numbers and codes.

Suddenly all his blades rushed off his back and into the vault, causing everyone to scream out. Each one took aim at a target, somehow able to sense each person... despite not having any sensors. Zanir chuckled as he led the boy up through the vaults, to the main facility with Galveston close behind. The young leader looked back, all he could see was the wall of meat Galveston was. It was incredibly imposing...

"Mind, telling me what's going on here?" He asked.

"You just barge into my base and threaten my people?" The young man asked. Zanir stopped, looking at him in confusion.

"You stole something from my people... You didn't think that one day someone would retaliate?" Zanir responded.

"We are the Revivalists, a force of reckoning in this desert!! We do not steal! We take what doesn't belong!" The young man countered.

"Bullshit! I know Revivalists...you're plain posers! The Revivalists only care about old war tech, mechs and spreading propaganda...not blocking a well traveled road people use to get by... looting them, then stealing their buggies and leaving them out to die!" Zanir said, leaving the boy speechless. The young leader had no idea how Zanir knew.

"Who are you?" The bandit leader asked.

"I'm someone who wants to tell you that what you're doing will bring the wrong type of attention to yourselves..." Zanir warned.

"You just don't understand." The leader said, shaking his head.

"Well make me understand!" Zanir said.

"The people here are from every walk of life in the Mojave! They've run from a life they wanted to escape from for the longest! Each and everyone one of them brings a skillset this community needs to thrive!" The leader expounded.

"So this is a community?" Zanir asked. The young man's eyes bucked with apprehension.

"Yes." The leader responded, not wanting this fact to be known, "We're only doing what we must to to eek out a living in this desert! None of us want to return back to what we ran away from!"

"Well, what you have running here is beautiful," Zanir began, "But what you're doing is completely idiotic... The Corridor is a well traveled route and you just can't block it! That could start a war! A WAR!! And based on what I've seen of your base, you're not prepared for any type of war..."

"The Corridor is owned by no one! We can claim it as our own, seize it make a living off of it!" The boy countered.

"That isn't so wise kid..." Galveston said, warranting a terrified look from him.

"Do you think you can seize something without having the firepower to back it up? How much fire power have you collected from raiding the caravans on the Corridor? Do your people know how to work them? Can they function in a real firefight? Do they know what my people wanted to do to them and how they won't show restraint because most of them are children? Everyone I brought along here has lost a great deal and just like your people, must eek out a living! If you want to attack the world like adults, expect the world to retaliate back like you're adults..." Zanir said, bringing up factors the young leader never before took note of. It left him there thinking.

"Why have you come?" The leader asked.

"Your boys stole something of ours and we need it back or we'll be the ones in hot water..." Zanir responded.

"So you're just going to take it and leave?" The young leader asked, unsure what to make of this. We had come, found his resource rich home and were just going to leave? It couldn't possibly end so peacefully.

"Why would we want to be here any longer than what we got to?" Zanir asked back, seeing the boy was getting a bit on edge. The little leader shook his head, vexed.

"I don't get it..." He said, "Why come for alcohol then leave? Why should we believe you? Why should we let you walk out of here alive, knowing what we truly are, knowing what we truly have? You know what we've done..." Zanir smiled, walking imposingly up to the boy.

"Ooooou shit..." Galveston, laughed knowing this could take a terrible turn, "Kid you do not want that..." The young leader looked at Galveston, surprised by how kind he was being. It just didn't match his big, brooding looks. I was clear the boy didn't know what to make of him.

"Because, you can't beat us! I have two battle mechs circling the skies above this base! I have five highly adept combat specialists with weapons that would just decimate you all. I know where you can run, where you can hide... If you want to turn this into a battle because you're an idiot, go ahead... but I wouldn't advise it! I can guarantee you, we'll be the ones walking out of here unscathed... and the worst part about it, no one will ever know..." Zanir said, striking fear down into the boy's soul.

"Okay, just take what you want and get off my lands..." The boy said, trying to hide his fear.

"Just so we're clear... this base... is your land! This valley, no... NO ONE OWNS IT!! And if I catch you ever blocking The Corridor again... I'll bomb your blockade..." Zanir threatened, "But apart from that... cool place you have here! I love that it's a sanctuary for refugees. Keep it off the map and trust no one from the outside! I'm a robotics expert and this base has a lot of machinery that can make this place even more self sustainable... If you ever need outside help, I'll be in Jeurridam, The City of Rust..." Galveston looked at Zanir, surprised by his offer.

"Really?" He asked.

Zanir smiled, backing away from the young leader. Galveston began to suspect that Zanir was up to something. It left the young leader completely astounded.

"I got my booze!" June shouted from the vault.

"Good, let's get a move on!" Zanir shouted back, heading back down to the bunker.

"Is there any way I can contact you?" The young leader asked. It made Galveston look on in disbelief, this taking a very strange turn.

"Do you have a radio?" Zanir pondered.

"We do, a multi frequency pattern transponder... Some of my guys know how to work it." The leader said.

"I'll be," Zanir paused, fiddling on his watch, "On the nineteen hundred megahertz band at all times! It's a very discreet radio channel that, very, very few know about. If you ever need anything, I'll be there." The young leader nodded, heading back down to the bunker. As he did, June and Julio brushed past him, June giving him one menacing eye. The young leader shuttered, continuing forth through the bunker.

Zanir disarmed the blades, they all flying from the underground returning to the buggy.

"Guys! We got new allies in our come up! These people can provide help us figure out the machinery in this place!" The young leader cheered. A cautious wir spread through the crowd, as the kids began to cheer with their leader. The gang looked at Zanir, wondering what was said to the young leader. Zanir shrugged and we were on our way.

June and Julio rode north to finish their cartel run while Zanir, Galveston, Beth and I rode back to Jeurridam. By the time we arrived, it was night fall. We entered the garage. To my surprise, Swish was there, tuning his buggy's suspension. He looked at us smiling as Galveston parked the analog buggy.

"You all went ghost..." He smiled.

"Man, you will not believe what happened today!" Galveston.

"What?" Swish asked curiously.

"Okay, you know how cartels and traders have been going missing on The Corridor?" Galveston responded.

"No..."

"Well, Okay...they have... June and Julio ran into a blockade in a stretch of the Corridor where some fools claiming to be Revivalists but were actually a band of kids who would pirate cartels and caravans and stock the goods so they could sustain themselves! June and Julio escaped but their booze got stolen and we went to get it back which is when we discovered we were dealing with kids... So we handled it politely and," Galveston explained breathlessly, reaching for Zanir, "Your little twerp here, offered our help to them because he felt sorry for them or some shit!!"

"No I felt sorry for all the dormant machines there! The kids could really use them for help!" Zanir laughed.

"So you all had this much fun without me?" Swish asked.

"Well, how was your day?" Galveston asked back.

"Shitty... Been welding pipes from the crack of dawn til' the crack of my ass became tired and said fuck it..." Swish sighed, "I really need to get to sleep but... my buggy's suspension is a bit tight in the back and I need to relieve the coil stress or else I'm gonna be riding without a rear axle real' soon."

"Get some rest bud! I'll do it!" Galveston said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Really?" Swish asked surprised.

"Yeah!" Galveston said, eager to help him.

"I say soften the load to about four hundred PSI and check my rear axle because it might need replacing." Swish said, heading to the door.

"Alright..." Galveston said.

"And nice seeing you out for a change, Heaven!" Swish said, completely catching me off guard. Before I could respond, he was gone, heading home to get some rest.

"Um Galveston..." Zanir said looking at his watch.

"Yeah?" Galveston asked back as he crawled under the rear of Swish's buggy.

"It's happening now! Something is attacking one of your turrets." Zanir said, laughing nervously.

Galveston darted from under the buggy.

"Where?" He asked.

"The fourth turret covering the Acid Swamp..." Zanir said.

"Only one left and that's on the northern stretch, which is a pretty distance away... Shit, we got to go!!" Galveston said, rushing over to the buggy.

"I'm sending Orb there now..." Zanir said rushing over to the buggy. Beth and I hoped in the back with barely any time before the buggy pulled off.