Jeurridam Ch. 14: Red Canyon FPT1..

"Well since you're being honest, do you know how big a crush I had on you, like, growing up? I just always thought you were this amazing free spirit and deep down, I wanted to say fuck my long term goals and wanted to be just like you! It was like you just came and left as freely as you wanted and to see how it seemed your father could do nothing about it was just awesome!" I giggled, looking over the tail mechanism for the manticore.

"Oh, God! Don't tell me that. I feel like I treated you like crap during those years! Why make me feel worse than I do, huh?" He asked laughing. I looked at him, remembering that I, after all, was the cause of him running away!

"Sorry!" I said.

"But are you saying if things were different we could have tried it?" Zeek asked.

"Yeah, most definitely! You're a survivor and it's something about that in itself that just draws me! In fact, it draws everyone to you! You have this calling on your life to motivate people, to push people, to lead! That is a gorgeous trait to have! But since things took the turn they did, I don't think I can ever love again..." I sighed.

"What? Why?" Zeek asked, truly surprised.

"You see this mech right here?" I said, stroking the flanks of the manticore.

"Yeah..." I said back.

"Eh, you probably don't want to hear this considering you and him didn't like each other but I spent a whole week trying to convince Galveston that this mech was special. He finally believed me and we decided we were going to work together on it... It was hard too! This particular mech caused him a lot of issues in The City of Rust but I just kept on him about it, telling him that it was only trying to survive... Like what made this mech so different from him? I made a comparison between the hive mentality of the mech and the structure of the Merchant Clan hierarchy and it opened his eyes. He finally understood the mech. Then Galveston passed away, and everything we had to tackled together, I had to tackle alone... This mech will be my way of always remembering him... If being heartbroken hurts this damn much then I don't want to ever fall in love again... That's only fair right?" I asked.

"It is fair!" Zeek smiled, surprising me by his support, "I know that feeling so well! As a person who tends to fall in love with everything that moves, I get that feeling all the damn time!" He made me laugh, "As for Galveston though... It's not like I truly didn't like him. It was my guilt that made me not want to be around him, kind of like with June... I fucked June over royally and I just couldn't stand to be around him after what I've done..."

"Yeah, um..." I began, "That's a bit of an issue we're going to have to work on, Zeek! You tend to feel guilty over your past, straight up haunted by that shit and tend to think people won't forgive you because you can't forgive yourself!" It seemed to strike a chord with Zeek, the boy having to sit after such heavy words. His eyes welled up with tears.

"I know. I um, I came to terms with that when I was strapped into that machine! All the things I was guilty about in the past came to fruition... hell, even killing the mer came to the surface in the damn weirdest way! But what got to me the most was when I relived the desert slaughter and instead of Rion holding me hostage... It was you with those blades and you just couldn't forgive me! The blades themselves weren't my immediate concern, it was trying to beg for your forgiveness because that was all I wanted! But you just didn't care... After the machine overheated, when I got free, I sat down and thought about it. Yeah... my guilt haunts me..." He said, his voice quivering.

"Zeek," I said grabbing his hand, "I forgave you a long time ago! Everyone here is not holding your past against you! You're holding your past against you! Look, we may not know everything you've been through in the past six years but we do know it has been full of tragedy and that no child should have had to go through that... We all got to heal from somethings... I'm slowly getting there, don't know when I'll be one hundred percent, but you gotta heal!"

"I can't! I'm just no good, Zanir," Zeek said shaking his head, "I have no redeemable qualities! I can't even come to tell you some of the things I've done... I've stooped to some monstrous levels, SERIOUSLY monstrous levels, more often than not!"
"Do you not see the trend here?" I asked, "The only one holding your past against you is you! And Zeek, you do have redeemable qualities! You have to realize the things you're holding against yourself were because you had to survive and the fact that you were a bit naive... What person in this house hasn't done something stupid because they didn't know any better? Believe it or not, I actually have!" Zeek looked at me for a long time with those gorgeous honey colored eyes. Then his gaze drifted as he returned to thought.

"I just wouldn't no where to start to get over myself..." He said.

"Well there is a thing called trauma and grief therapy... To me, it sounds like you suffer from classic PTSD which is perfectly treatable." I suggested.

"Really?" Zeek said intrigued.

"Yeah." I responded.

An hour had eventually passed, the sun rising just above the sky. Beth came outside with her laptop, looking very perplexed.

"Okay..." She began, "It's like the Revivalists simply vanished!"

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, no lie! I scanned all of Primm Road! I scanned the vaults in the west the tunnels in the east! They're gone..." She shrugged.

"No... there must be an area we're not looking." I said back.

"I don't think those tanks could move very fast to have disappeared like that." Zeek noted.

"You're right... they couldn't have." I said, "DAAAAAAADDDDD!!!!"

The sentry came out of the door, scanning.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Beth said the Revivalists just up'd and vanished... um, any thoughts?" I asked.

"I don't know. The last I've seen was that their force was heading north toward Dredge Valley after the dam collapsed..." He said.

"North?" I asked alarmed.

"Oh God," Beth said, "You don't think...?"

"I wouldn't put it past them! Where's the spectrum recorder?" I asked.

"It's in the garage! I set it up as soon as we got back..." Beth said rushing off the stoop to the garage. We all did. It was about a twenty minute walk! As we arrived, June was just getting back with Alistair and Dale. Both looked extremely perplexed.

"Guys, I have a bit of news..." June said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah?" Beth asked.

"Early this morning, my spectrum recorder picked up a mayday on the nineteen hundred megahertz band..." June said.

"That's the frequency I told Basil to emergency broadcast on!" I said, rushing over to the spectrum recorder configured in the garage.

"Yeah, I got the message but was out of range since my radio doesn't have a signal amplifier." June said.

The spectrum recorder was a machine that recorded all wavelength signals it detected a possible broadcast on. The recorder's memory was actually filled!

"Did you erase the data before setting it up?" I asked Beth.

"Yeah." She said.

"Well the memory's full!" I said.
"Really?" She said, finding this odd. She hooked her laptop up to the sepctrum recorder, playing the audio back.

"Area 51 is being marched upon by cicada tanks and racers!" The first message said, "I repeat, Area 51 is being marched upon by tanks and racers! They are several miles out but will be here within the hour!" Everyone's heart dropped to their stomach.

"They're invading... I repeat, they're invading! Mayday... We need support!" The second message said.

"Zanir!" This time it was Basil speaking, "The Revivalists are here! If you are getting this message please come! They're rallying us up and and concentrating us in the hangars! We don't have much time... They're destroying our greenhouses and blowing up all our buggies! Zanir... Anybody... please... They're here...."

"Hands where I can see them!" A Revivalist said. The sounds of scuffling were picked up over the microphones before the last few messages began to play. They were on a completely different frequency, a frequency highly encrypted... it sounded like static!

This made me angry, incredibly so. Beth then suddenly grabbed my face.

"ZANIR!" She screamed. Everything in the garage rumbled. It came to halt as I calmed down.

"Those scrambled wavelengths are obviously Revivalists broadcasts... Its a safe bet to make that they're calling for reinforcements" June inferred.

"I agree!" I said. June turned to Alistair who was not very pleased about this either.

"Boss, what do you want to do?" He asked him.

"We need to try to get those kids out of there! The Revivalists will either slaughter them or take them to the west when the cavalry arrives." Alistair advised.

"Yeah I don't like it one bit either... But how are we supposed to go up against the Revivalists? They still have more than what we can manage." Zeek said.

"You all are not going against anybody!" Dale said, "You all are staying right here! No more danger! No more life threatening situations. The UCAC are on their way! They can handle this!" Zeek looked menacingly at his father.

"So," Zeek began, "When I actually want to go and do something productive, save lives, you want to keep me here?" Dale didn't take kindly to his son's standoffish attitude at all.

"It's not about keeping you here, it's about keeping you safe! You just cause trouble, son..." Dale said. It made Zeek incredibly angry.

"SON?????" Zeek asked, "Oh, now I'm your son?!? After seven DAMN YEARS OF STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT OUT THERE, I'm finally your damn son?"

"You better watch it..." Dale warned.

"Or what?" Zeek said, stepping forth, not willing to back down any longer. He had dealt with his father's dictation for far too long.

Beth stepped between them, pulling Zeek out of the garage.

"Come on..." She sighed, completely understanding Zeek's rage.

"And where are you going?" Dale asked, her.

"Um... I gotta figure out how to save these kids... um, kids that saved your own kids! We kind of owe them." Beth said, not bothering to look back at him.

"You think you're about to go out there?" He asked, ready to stop them both.

"Dad, I'm twenty two... Zeek's twenty three! What in your right mind makes you think you can stop us from leaving? What makes you think we wanna stay here... Do you know how toxic an environment this is you have created? Why would we want to stay here?" Beth asked. It was a blow to Dale.

"I took care of you both! I raised you, made sure you had food on the table, clothes on your back, electricity, running water... and this is how you thank me for trying to keep you safe?" Dale growled.

"Raised me?" Zeek said, ready to retaliate before Beth planted a firm hand over his mouth.

"Dad, how about you not try to hold that over our heads like that validates the toxicity of this place! You think you're right...?" Beth said, trying to keep her cool.

"We are a family! A family must stick together no matter how tough it gets! I didn't stop raising you when it got tough on me so why flake on your family when we need you! You're not leaving!" Dale said sternly, rushing over to her.

"Yes... I... am..." Beth responded with equal sternness. He grabbed the girl's arm, dragging her back into the house, "STOP!!!!!!!!!!" Her laptop fell, breaking.

It did nothing but infuriate Zeek.

"Dad..." Zeek said, his tone quite advisory, "Let, her go... NOW!!!!!" He did so, turning back to meet Zeek's challenge. June swooped in, to get Beth out of there as Alistair came in to be the barrier that kept Zeek and Dale from fighting.

"You ungrateful, pathetic little bastard! You think you can talk to me any kind of way, like I didn't bring you into this world? You think I won't take you out? After all you've ruined you think I'm above it?" Dale said, trying to get to Zeek. Alistair kept him at bay, but barely.

"Dale, calm down..." Alistair begged. Zeek stood there utterly unphased.

"You didn't raise me... Jeurridam did!" Zeek said storming off.

"COME HERE!!!!" Dale demanded, breaking away from Alistair.

"Big Daddy!" I shouted. Dale came within inches of grabbing Zeek with those powerful hands before, he was lifted and placed on the roof. He stared at Big Daddy, shocked that he had done this.

"Sorry," Big Daddy began, "But you're being ridiculous right now. Your whole view on family is unrealistic and trying to force people who don't want to stay to stay is inhumane... No matter what your contribution to them was, these people have proven that they don't need you or your family to sustain themselves and you, as a sensible human being, should understand and accept that. You may have paved your way into your position by brute force and power alone, but forcing your will upon others is unacceptable and never will be acceptable..."

"These people?" Dale responded, "These people... Are my children!!!"

"They are of age now that even your youngest offspring doesn't have to comply with what you say. The way you force and manipulate people to get what you want has to end, Dale! Do you even understand why Zeek is upset with you? He's upset with you because you've been a terrible father to him since the time he was conceived! You never paid him any fatherly attention, never taught him anything resourceful and often neglected him particularly in his crucial stages of maturity! I've been around since then to have seen it with my own optics to know for myself! Zeek left because of you, because you pushed him away! You made him feel that he had no significance here so he went to find a place where he could feel this significance! Own up to your wrongs... and let... him... go!" Big Daddy said sternly.

"I'm wrong?" Dale said, not buying any of it.

"Zanir," Big Daddy said as he hovered just beyond the roof, "The density is real with this one..." I looked at Dale, so upset fucking upset!

"You broke my damn laptop... That was the fucking last one I had. Just stay up there on that roof!" I said shaking my head. I picked the shattered laptop up off the ground, walking over to the buggies. Beth was inside the buggy with Zeek, trying to cool the boy down.

"Um..." I said, "Your laptop's fucked..."
"Really?" She asked, very disappointed.

"I'll make you a new one." I said.

"Where the hell is Julio... I want him to get back here before things get bad... I'm sorry I didn't get involved Beth but your dad is crazy..." June sighed.

"You did the right thing..." Alistair said.

"Yeah." Beth added.

"I just hope he gets the picture that it's not always about him and what he wants..." Zeek sighed.

"That's the thing with your father. It's always about him and what he wants. I know this all too well." Alistair said back, thinking back on his long twisted past with Dale.

"Julio!" June said, over the air.

"Yeah?" Someone said back, sounding like Heaven.

"Heaven? Man where the fuck is Julio?" June asked.

"He's in the turret... We're like thirty minutes out." Heaven said.

"Well blow past A99 and meet me at the Colorado. Shit hit the fan here! I'll fill you in when you get here." June sighed.

"Okay..." Heaven said back. June noticed that something sounded a bit off about Heaven just then but said nothing of it.

"So you're just gonna leave him on the roof?" Beth asked.

"Didn't he just break my laptop?" I responded.

"Good point." She chuckled, "But, yeah let's get a move on..." I summoned Big Daddy, Orb, The Leer and the manticore to follow as we made our way out of here.

"You just CAN'T LEAVE ME UP HERE!!!!!!" Dale screamed as he saw us leave in the buggy. Alistair looked back, shaking his head at the sad man as we made our way north toward the Colorado river basin.

We arrived shortly after, waiting for June and Heaven to show. I got out, looking at the wreckage I had caused. I had made a mess!!!!! I tore the gorge the Colorado river ran through clean open!

"Wow... I did that?" I asked.

"Yes and nearly killed us in the process. I don't know what to say about that power of yours..." Beth chuckled but was all so serious.

"How the hell are we gonna cross this thing?" June asked.

"I'll tote you across." Big Daddy said.

I looked over at the manticore which sniffed the ground that had been ripped open by my gravity fluxes... I had a feeling about his tail, that I needed to make some kind of modification to it. The EMP bolas were old and outdated at this point. The mech needed something with more stopping power. We'd definitely need it!

"Okay, my gut is telling me to change the bola launcher on the manticore's tail. I don't know, I just feel like something else might be more useful." I said.

"If that is what your gut is telling you then do it! Your gut tends to be right." Zeek chuckled, climbing out of the car looking down into the ruins, "Damn, you fucked that up..."

"What do you have in mind?" Big Daddy asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I can make a railgun out of the nano conduits of the blades but that means I'd need projectiles. Or, I can to turn the tail into like a one hundred thirty millimeter photon canon since... All I'd need would be a light source, a lens, gravitanium core and a cooling system... I wouldn't have to change much with the tail..." I said back.

"That would be a more powerful pulse cannon that what I have! That probably could down a ship with a single shot!" Big Daddy noted.

"What materials would you need and how much time do you say we have?" Alistair asked, really wanting to get to Area 51.

"It'd be a stretch. I'd need a fifty watt LED array, a very, very reflective surface, a thick piece of convex glass, like maybe three or four inches thick, a gravitanium semiconductor which I can salvage from a few blades, and something to weld with... If I get the materials, a simple pulse cannon would take no less than fifteen minutes for me to build..." I said.

"I'll see what I can do," Alistair said, tuning into the radio to see if he could broadcast the Merchant Clan wavelength, "Fuck, we're out of range..."

"Here comes Julio..." June said.

The buggy pulled up right beside us all. Julio's eyes fell right upon the manticore.

"That thing is huge..." He said. The manticore just lazily shook itself.

"Big Daddy, you know what to do..." I said, heading over to Julio's buggy. Zeek was close behind. We entered the buggy noticing a faint bleachy smell. The look on Zeek's face was hysterical. He wasn't upset, but shocked, very familiar with this scent.

"Wow..." He said. I looked at him, trying not to laugh.

"What?" Heaven asked.

"Nooooothiiiiiiiing." Zeek cheesed, warranting an alarmed look from Julio, "Did you all spill bleach or something... It's quite strong back here."

"Zeek..." I sighed.

"Maybe I should get a black light." Zeek teased. Heaven slowly turned to him, not pleased at all.

"Shut. The. FUCK. up!!!!!" Heaven snarled, warranting nothing but giggles from Zeek.

Julio sighed, realizing Zeek managed to figure out that there were things going on between him and Heaven. We watched as Big Daddy toted June's buggy across the river.

"I'm back in range," Alistair said over the air, "Sandles.... Sandles are you there?"

"Yes boss?" Sandles said back.

"We're on our way to rendezvous with you in Red Canyon. We're like an hour drive away. This is what I want. I want you to find the highest wattage LED array you can find, a very reflective heat resistant material and a very dense convex glass lens. All of this needs to be present as soon as we get to the camp!" Alistair asked.

"Sure, no problem boss but we do have some issues..." Sandles responded.

"We'll talk when we get there." Alistair said back.

"Alright..." Sandles said.

Big Daddy planted the analog buggy on the other side of the Colorado. He came back to tote Julio's across. Julio seemed quite distressed sitting in that seat. I looked to Zeek who picked up on it too, looking a the boy scaldingly. He seemed to know he pushed things a little too far. Julio was a very, very sweet kid! Rugged, driven and no-nonsense but nonetheless, the most bubbly person of us all! To see him going through such an internal struggle like this was no fun for either me or Zeek.