Jeurridam Ch. 12: The Hoover Dam

I didn't know the cafeteria opened this early! The would save me a trip to one of those numerous burrito shops around Jeurridam. It was so aggravating having to do so every morning! However, I probably would do it anyway. The platter I was preparing was not for me but for Zanir. Today was a very, very special day! It was Zanir's birthday!

He was going to be so pissed I if he wasn't already woke. Chances are he wasn't. However I didn't care... I loved pissing him off! It was something about how that cute face would scrunch up when he was aggravated that I loved! I wanted to be with him so bad! However, anyone who knew Zanir even remotely well could tell he wasn't over the death of Galveston. It rattled him to the core, definitely the first time he experienced a loss of that level.

I wasn't quite so easily rattled these days. I've seen people I've known lost the same way or even worse, considering Da Lagon's wicked ways... That's not saying I'm completely indifferent! No, I'd still be affected by loss but the healing would be fast. I think the right word would be desensitized? I don't know. Hell, a close enough loss could utterly ruin me! Losing Luke made me realize that. Bless his resting soul but I got over him in a matter of... hours... It made me question those developing feelings I had for him. Were they simply a way of me coping with being on my own, a way of feeling needed, like someone depended on me for something... or were they not that deep, something akin to just a mutual attraction that would eventually develop into something more? Hell, maybe it was a mix of both. It didn't change the fact that he was gone and quite frankly, I wasn't too bothered by it.

I carried the platter from the dining hall, down the stairs into the vault. The halls were utterly empty, everyone sleeping. I reached, Zanir's vault, opening it with the key-code access. The boy was sleeping in the dimly lit room, looking just so peaceful. Suddenly his eyes flipped opened, beading onto me.

"Good morning!" I said. He was not pleased at all, infact straight up aggravated! He looked at me with searing indifference.

"Why?" He asked, completely not up for this. It made me laugh!

"It's a lovely September morning, don't you think? Make sure you eat all that god damned food!" I said, only just to piss him off further. It truly made him upset.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked. I just stood there smiling, shaking my head.

"Nothing," I responded, giving a quick twirl, "Just wanted to make sure you ate really, really good today." He looked at me intently, trying to figure out why I was doing this.

"You're acting strange." He said, stroking his chin.

"God, you're such a kill joy. Just be sure to eat," I said heading towards the door, "I'm off to work! See you around three-ish."

"I can't believe you seriously woke me up..." He said, wiping the crust from his still heavy eyes.

"Eh, You'll get over it." I said back, the door closing behind me.

That was totally how I expected Zanir to act. He was a dinosaur in the mornings! It was time to do my morning workout and then get on the road. The ride there was eerie as usual in the dark narrow canyons. It was relieving to make it to Jeurridamn. The Corridor was just a creepy place at night. The super sized city had nothing but bustle, especially as the six o'clock mark rolled closer and closer.

I parked the truck in the rear of the Henderson Justice. It was about five thirty five. This gave me about twenty five minutes to run to one of the refueling depots and pick up some grub. Indeed I did run, heading towards the nearest refueling depot. I only bought a jar of nopal tea and a bag of sun dried fruit. Sun dried fruit were some of my favorite snacks. The bag contained dates, dragon fruit and figs. It was nothing but energizing sugar.

Upon arriving at work, I was greeted with a big pile of files to alphabetize. It'd take the entire day to sort through this many files but I didn't mind. It gave me the chance to think of the perfect gift for Zanir. Let's face it! I owed him so much! Not only did he cure my addiction, he took down the wicked people that had me miserable for so long! I mean he destroyed them at the source! For that, I had to think of something to do for him...

The idea came to me! I was gonna bring him a mer! It probably would be the perfect way

to piss him off! However, he tended to be a good sport about pranks so he probably wouldn't be too bothered. The shift came to an end and I had already decided how I was going to catch a mer. It wasn't going to be some cake walk. These things were fast, dangerous and never came alone. Yeah, what I was about to do was stupid as fuck but who cares! If I wasn't putting myself in danger I wasn't being Ezekiel Logatti!

After the work shift, I ran to the nearest refueling depot. These markets were vast, but I came looking for two things: a cooler and a shit ton of ice... I found what I was looking for, heading to the counter.

"Zeek!" Martha, the cashier said. She was an old time friend of the Logatti.

"Hey!" I smiled, throwing the cooler and ice up to the counter.

"I'm glad to see you're doing alright!" She smiled, looking at me from head to toe, "You know word travels fast around this place... Saturday Da Lagon snatched you and your boy up... Then Sunday... they're utterly destroyed? Then you show up like nothing ever happened!" I looked at her intently, the woman hinting at something.

"A lot has happened." I said shaking my head, "But things are still good despite the little mishaps..."

"Zeek," Martha said, her tone quite advisory, "There have been some people in this town since Da Lagon went down and I think they're Revivalists. They're looking for the woman who butchered everyone in Da Lagon Casino! For some strange reason, they've been asking about you! They know who you are!"

"What...?" I asked, taken completely aback.

"Yeah and the locals have been pointing directly to where you work. Zeek, I think its time for you to go home! I'm glad you got your shit together kid, but baby, I can already tell it's about to get real." She advised.

"Why are they asking about me?" I asked.

"From what I've heard, the Revivalists have been asking about Da Lagon and what happened to them. They're trying to find that woman who cut up everyone in the casino. The information everyone has been giving is that you were abducted by them Saturday. Fast forward to today and and know they know your name, telling everyone you're Logatti and pretty much, have been scouring the wastelands for you and this woman? What have you gotten yourself into?" She continued.

"Nothing that I can help...." I sighed, scratching my head.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I've been having some up and down luck lately. First I finally learn how to read, then my sister and little brother run away! That pisses off my dad so he kicks me out and forces me to survive on my own. I get a job, a close friend and think things are going smooth, only to have Da Lagon stalk me over some old as shit and try to pull me back into that lifestyle... Fortunately, I managed to get out of it and had this job waiting for me..." I responded.

"Look," Martha began, "Don't give me any information that I might not be able to keep safe! Stop right there! That's for your own good! I know you're going to be mad but you know I've been in contact with your father?"
"Really?" I asked trying everything I could to hide my displeasure. Martha knew me long enough to know that I was very upset.

"Yeah, he doesn't believe a word I'm saying when I tell him you've been doing good for yourself. I haven't contacted him since when I saw you Saturday. I haven't told him you got abducted because I figured you'd turn up someway or another. Indeed I was right but I feel the need to contact him about these people asking around for you..." She said.

"Please don't..." I responded, hoping she wouldn't.

"You haven't seen the wickedness which is the Revivalists! And your father is the first person that needs to know that a very powerful fascist military group is searching for his son!" Martha said, "Just don't come back here! Tomorrow is not promised a free day! Go home!"

"And do what, have these people come to my doorstep? If they're really looking for me, I'd much rather let them find me then let harm come to my family. You know those guys would fight to the end of themselves just to protect one of their own. I may be disowned but let the Revivalists come to A99 and see won't my pa not only blow his top but instantaneously absorb me back into the family!" I argued back.

"Your father holds a lot of secrets, Zeek! If the Revivalists so easily figured out who you were, then then they probably know everything your father ever hid! Some of these secrets hold so much weight, they can shift the balance of this war! You don't think these people will try to milk these secrets out of you? This doesn't feel like when they'd come every now and a couple years. They never did this, ask about the locals. They'd often check up on the quarantine zones and be gone. This feels like this could turn into an Occupancy like what happened back in Tijuana... I'm telling you, it's better for you to be home then on your own! Your father has powerful friends! The Revivalists would think twice before meddling with someone as powerful as your father... You on the other hand, they could snatch you up and... need I continue?" Martha explained. There was no denying it! She was very, very correct!

"You're right... but I'm not going back home with that crazy ass man! I got resources of my own. I'll be careful." I said, hoping to reassure her. Martha wasn't sold and I didn't blame her.

"Alright... And I'm still contacting your father!" Martha said.

"Okay..." I chuckled making off with the ice and cooler.

In typical Ezekiel fashion, I went back on my word heading straight to Dredge Valley. I made sure I stayed on the north end of the valley, keeping a far enough distance away. Looking through the scope, I began to hone in on any mer's roaming about. There were many, most accumulating around the hidden vault. I was looking for a straggler.

This became a waiting game, waiting for one to roam far enough away from the others for me to pounce. Eventually one did! It was what I had been waiting for about maybe a good forty minutes! Of course I had stolen a high powered game rifle from the Area 51 vaults. I took aim at the straggler, firing a lung shot! The creature fell, choking on it's own blood.

It was now or never! I quickly drove the truck the three quarters of a mile distance down into the valley. The fallen creature was on the other side of the embankment, a staggering forty foot climb. Second thoughts began to pour in as I stood their daunted. However it was too late to turn back. I reached under my shirt, grabbing another stolen gun, a highly balanced, high powered silenced handgun with the stopping power of a deer rifle. Hopefully it'd be enough to save my ass if shit decided to hit the fan.

I grabbed the longest rope I could find, tying it to the rear of the truck. I then traversed the tiny stream, climbing up the valley side to the fallen mer. How eerily human it was tied knots in my stomach. Nonetheless, I tied a rope around the creature's feet, looking back over to the truck. It was still running because I was about to come running, and get the fuck out of here. The area was clear for the most part! No mers too close by. The ones that saw me were too late!

They couldn't close the distance fast enough. I had arrived at the truck, driving back out of the shallow ravine, dragging the fallen mer as a result. After feeling it was a safe distance away, I stopped, having to gather myself. Sure the escape was nowhere near narrow but it was something about those mers that just wasn't right! How they looked at you, the way they walked, the sounds they made. It was too close to human yet distant.

I got out of the truck, walking over to the mer. From the tip of it's head to the points of its toes, the slender creature was nearly nine feet long. That meant it probably weighed in excess of four hundred pounds. It was too heavy to lift and carry on my own, as expected which is why I brought the cooler and ice. I was going to dissect this creature and bring back all the parts I thought Zanir could use.

But its face though! Despite being a navy blueish color, was fucking human! It had lips, eyes, cheeks a nose, very, very, very thick and oily hair and ears all similar to that of a human. Of course there were differences. The nose was incredibly large as well as the cheekbones which probably how this creature served such a debilitating sonic blast. The ears also seemed to be able to move freely, open and close and expand and contract. All of this seemed to be an adaptation for life under water.

It made me wonder how the hell these creatures came about! Readings on ancient humans and related species showed there were no aquatic species of aquatic primates like this. These monsters were genetically engineered! After inspecting the creature, I went back to the truck for Beth's knife and the cooler. I grabbed the creature by its bristly oily hair! It felt slimy and smelt so bad! The odor was almost indescribable, like a mix of fish oil, mold and something else I couldn't put a finger on.

I looked into those ghastly yellow irises as I cut the creature's head off. Very thick and rich blood poured out of the severed veins, a richer tone of red then human blood.

"Wow..." I said as I put the head in the cooler. It had a lot more heft than a human head. Don't ask me how I knew how heavy a human head was... The things I've had to do were just shameful, unforgivable even.

Then came the process of taking out some of the organs. Beth's knife carefully glided through the skin of the mer. Instead of fat being right beneath the skin, there was some serious layers of connective tissue! Beneath it were dense, dense, dense muscles, woven unlike any creature or person I've gutted before. It was nothing but sheer power despite being so slender. Underneath the muscle were several inches of subcutaneous fat. I never would have guessed this was there but it probably was an adaptation for living underwater and helped with buoyancy.

I continued cutting through the flesh, prying the dermis apart. The stomach and intestines were attached to the spine so I didn't want to bring that. Not to mention, intestines tended to be very, very messy. The lungs were ruined, having explode after being flooded with blood. However, the liver was intact! It was huge, coated in thick oils obviously another buoyancy adaptation.

Were these really adaptations though? From what I've read, changes in physiology like this take hundreds of thousands of years if not millions of years! There were no records of this creature in history! Not to mention, humanity nearly destroyed itself only six hundred years ago! These changes seemed induced in a lab. If these were indeed humans, this was cruelty on another level. There was only one way to find out! I took the liver, the kidneys, the feet and the hands.

Dismembering the mer brought back some of my most traumatic memories. I was sixteen, deeply in love with Rion. Damn, if I knew how he had me wrapped around his finger at the time, everything would have been different. If I would have known then what I've known now.... I wouldn't have let him take me to Los Sina Carn... All he told me was that it was something important, something that needed to happen. At the time, I was like... okay! Anything for you, babe. All he was doing was sinking his psychological claws deeper into my mind.

Los Sina Carn was a budding gang, much like Da Lagon was those many years ago. They both competed in the human trafficking market of Jeurridam, often stepping on each other's toes. The difference was that Da Lagon was a prostitution ring... Sina Carn was a cannibalism ring. Truly, both games were a shock to the region one one of the rudest wake-up calls the region had gotten in hundreds of years! How Sina Carn stepped on Da Lagon's toes was by stealing slaves, killing them and selling their meat around the region. Human meat was surprisingly popular. Sick, I know!

Rion took me into their warehouse, everything going fine. He told me to wait with the guys in the cellar. I was fine with it, just watching the men cut up the meat with their cleavers. It looked like sheep meat from here until I saw them do the unthinkable! They brought in the skinned body of a human. The physique of a human was unmistakable, even when skinned, gutted and cleaned. The sight shook me to the core! It was not the first time I had seen a dead body but it was the first time I saw one being hacked up the way it was.

Rion came back out, looking at me as devilishly as he often did.

"He's all yours boys..." He said.

"What?" I asked, thinking I heard him wrong. Suddenly, the two men cleaving human flesh, grabbed me from behind. It was the most terrified I had ever been, "RION!!!!!!!" No screams were of use! The boy left me to be carved up by these people.

"Put him with the rest.." The ganglord said, counting his cash.

The cleaving men took me to the rear of the warehouse where I was thrown in into a cell! There were countless other kids and young people in the neighboring cells, all shaking and terrified. One by one, hour after hour, one would be taken out. Then it'd be followed by the most blood curdling screams then this unbearable silence. It'd be broken when someone couldn't take it anymore and started crying.

"Shut up!" A patroller would say, hitting the crying child with a studded tassel. Time whittled down as well as the people in the cells. The whole time, I couldn't help but wonder why would Rion do this to me! My heart was so broken and I was so terrified.

There was one more person left before they got to me. The young girl sat with her head cradled between her knees, shaking like a leaf. The terrifying cleaving men came in those blood covered white aprons. They opened her cell, getting her too her feet. Suddenly, the girl pushed one man hard to the floor and drop kicked another. She scrambled to her feet trying to run! However her escape was cut short when a cleaving blade was hurled across the warehouse, embedding its jagged teeth into her skull.

The girl fell hard, her face planting into the warehouse floor. Her body was motionless, dead! The cleaving men came and got her, taking her to be skinned and treated. This made it all the more terrifying! To know that if I fight back, my death would be that more gruesome, the only thing I could do was embrace my fate... It made me cry unlike any tears I shed before. Then came my turn. The two cleavers came and got me, hoisting me up to my feet.

I couldn't help but resist them. The two big, burly men pulled me forth without an issue.

"NO PLEASE...PLEASE!!!!" I screamed, not wanting to be slaughtered in such an inhumane way. It was to no avail. They brought me to a blood soaked room, stripping me out of my clothes. They tethered me to the gutting table coming forth, with those mighty blades. I quivered as I expected the worst pain of my life! The blades came within inches of disemboweling me! However the two men stopped, staring at the warehouse door.

"Get in there!" Someone shouted.

Los Sina Carn's ganglord came stumbling into the slaughter room with multiple gunshot wounds. Rion followed him in, aiming a shiny desert eagle at the man. He fired two shots at the two giant cleaving men, forcing them to their knees. Rion circled around us all, the most diabolical smile on his face.

"You little backstabbing, lying little treacherous thief..." Los Sina Carn's ganglord said, coughing up blood.