Jeurridam Ch. 04: Sloan

Those things were so freaky. They had no optics, but could sense the world around them in stereoscopy. Zanir was telepathically connected to these advanced machines and they were extensions of his feelings. The fact that he even opted to used a blade showed that this situation was more severe than I previously thought.

"Orb," He said, squeezing his watch, "Provide high altitude air support for any mechs that come while we're on the ground." The machine in the sky buzzed in response.

Suddenly, a red streak flew past us. It was Big Daddy, flying towards the onslaught of vampire mechs coming in from every inch of the valley. He blasted cannon fodder at several of the mechs, sending many tumbling across the ground. It was not to destroy them, but to get their attention. As some neared the fallen mech, Big Daddy sent a barrage of explosives to pummel the mech. He flew at a slow pace, making himself a big aerial target.

The mechs now wanted him, and were pursuing him vigorously. He lead them north through the valley, up and away from us. By that time, we had just reached the fallen mech. We scrambled out of the buggy, Zanir running over with his sole blade. Heaven and I totted the urn out of the rear of the buggy, bringing it near Zanir.

Zanir used the blade to cut into the mech, grabbing a big chunk of silicate tubing. He had it squeezed on the end, delicately holding it until he reached the vase. He fed the tubing into the mouth of the urn, letting the circulatory fluid flow.

"This is gonna be heavy..." Zanir said.

"I know..." I said, daunted by the wide barrel-like vessel.

Mechs continued to drop as more and more poured into the valley. June was doing a hell of a job dropping them with one shot. This mission was turning out to be a success.

"June..." Beth said, inside the buggy.

"Oh my God..." Swish said, terrified.

Something wasn't right. Zanir was looking at the map on his watch, then back up to the western side of the Valley. His whole demeanor went from mission-devout to fear.

"Oh my god..." He said, squeezing the microphone on his watch.

"June," He said, "There's one right beside you!"

"JUNE!!" Beth screamed, yanking on his leg from inside the buggy. June looked over to his left, a massive fifteen foot tall vampire mech sitting a stone throw's distance away. It looked between them and the valley floor, having no concerns.

June swung the turret around, aiming at the mech. The mech snarled, taking off in a mad sprint down the canyon, far too swiftly for June to aim.

"Shit..." He said, climbing out of the turret, grabbing the radio badge, "It's coming for you all!"

"Orb..." Zanir said, looking at the vampire mech as it sped down the valley side. Orb whirred, accelerating to her top speed quickly. She met the mech with the fodder of a thirty millimeter cannon. The mech stopped mid track, throwing up its hands to shield its fragile face from the powerful guns.

The mech turned tail, running the other direction. Orb stayed right on it's tail despite the pace being well in the hundreds of miles an hour. Unlike Big Daddy which vanished out of sight with the pursuing mechs, this vampire mech stayed close, throwing sharp turns in an effort to throw the Orb off it's tail. This thing was sticking around for some reason.

Zanir looked at it as it waned in closer then further then closer again. There was a big chunk of armor missing from it's chest plate. He pointed at it.

"That's the one from last night!" Zanir said, turning back to look at the urn, "I hope it's enough. We can't stay here any longer! Come on!" He pulled the tubing out of the vase, Heaven, Zanir and I lifting it together. We toted the forty plus gallons of highly corrosive acid back to the rear of the buggy. Zanir tied it in place so it wouldn't spill.

"The acid," He began, looking around for the lid, "Is only corrosive to metals, semimetals and low complexity polymers. We got to be careful not to spill it or it'll burn a hole deep into this buggy."

"Ok, good to know." I said as I ran to the driver's seat, "Heaven, you think you can man the turret? Pull the black lever near the floor and the sniper rifle will spin out and the assault cannon will come."

"I only got one question." Heaven responded, crawling up into the turret.

"What?" I responded.

"How the fuck are we going to get out of here?" He asked.

"I know these canyons..." Zanir responded, not able to find the lid, "Shit, I'm gonna have to make sure this doesn't spill!!"

He held it in place as we rode up the sheer rock face where Beth, June and Swish were.

"Time to get out of here! Follow us!" Zanir said over the radio.

"Roger!" Beth said, driving the buggy.

"You know what you're doing down there?" June asked, worried.

"I got away from you in a pickup truck! HELL YEAH I know what I'm doing!!" Beth replied.

"Alright, good to hear!" June responded, confident in her driving.

"Head west to the perimeter gorge..." Zanir said, looking at his watch. He was locating both Orb and Big Daddy. Both were online, running low on ammo but nothing major, "Once we're out of the canyon, I'll call them back."

We reached the canyon, Zanir being glued to his watch. I didn't know where we were headed, but if it was one thing I knew well enough to do was trust Zanir. He stood up, looking ahead.

"About one klick north, there's the biggest vault in all of Sloan! Heaven, the door is jutting off the seams! Shoot it as soon as it is in your sights. That's our way out!" Zanir said.

"Ok!" Heaven responded. I said nothing, too amazed with him.

Just as we neared the vault, a vampire mech came speeding in. Orb was right on its tailed. The mech was riddled with bullet holes, it's chest piece missing. It was the same mech that attacked the night before. It caused us to slam on brakes, risking a collision with the massive machine. The mech rushed the buggy, pounding on the hood with its fists. It roared out...as though it was angry, as though we had taken something from it. It's focus was on Zanir as if it knew this was his doing...

Zanir wasted no time in connecting his hollowatch with this mech. He synched his firmware with the machine downloading the mech's archives as well. The mech instantly calmed down, it's wind bladder expanding and contracting as though it were breathing. It sat in front of us like a regal feline.

"They're called manticores..." Zanir said, astounded, "My dad designed them... These are new mechs like within the past thirty years, new!"

"What the fuck is going on?" June said in the radio, "Can I shoot this thing?"

"No..." Zanir responded, "It's not a threat. We can proceed to the vault. We're done ya'll."

Heaven aimed the heavy cannon at the door, blasting it off its seams with the heavy fire. The manticore watched, observing like it always did. Zanir looked back at the mesmerizing machine as it walked off into the valley. We rode through the narrow vault terminal, entering a vast network of underground tunnels. Orb followed us.

"This is the same vault a valley mech chased me into..." Zanir said, reading the schematics for the manticore.

"Which way to go?" I asked, reaching a four way split in the paths.

"Straight ahead... We'll end up in Henderson." He said, still reading the schematics, "I don't get it..."

"What?" I asked.

"...Why my dad would build such a thing?" He said, plainly confused.

We reached the end of the tunnel, Zanir once again fiddling with his watch. The access gate began to lift. We drove through it, exiting the subterranean vault system. Standing there, waiting for us was Big Daddy. Zanir looked at him in confusion.

"If your speech cog worked, we'd be arguing..." He sighed, relaxing in his seat. He closed his eyes, getting sleep for the first time in over a week... such a beautiful sight.

*****

This was hands down the most challenging story to write so far. Um, I finished chapter 5 and 6! They will be uploaded very soon.

If you read, comment! Tell me what you like, what you didn't like. Which characters you like, which ones you don't... where you think the story will be headed. I love feed back!!