The Badlands: Kinship

“Someone got suited up.” Mia says to me.

“Yeah. I suppose this is going to be the deadliest stretch of our journey yet.” I admit.

“So, ready to go?” Timerus speaks quietly.

The camp is mostly packed up. I feel like maybe we should have been on the road as soon as we opened our eyes. I walk with Mia as she stuffs a small bag over her shoulders.

“Timerus help you out too?” I ask Mia.

“Yeah, mostly food and water.” She chuckles.

“Well, death by the elements seems to be common enough.” I admit.

“Yeah, like the badlands wasn’t dangerous enough.” She chuckles.

“Especially with things like the Asag around.” I respond.

“Right.” She nods.

“What’s an Asag?” One of Timerus’ men say, carrying a box.

“We named the giant sand worms the Asag.” Mia explains.

“I see.” He replies, going back to his duties.

It feels like moments. I’ve never been so close to these old relic landmarks. The St. Lawrence Canyon will indeed be an adventure. Most of the bombs made contact with highly populated areas and historical landmarks of various countries. I wonder if maybe the people who were alive then, ever imagined we would survive such chaos.

The idea we have gotten through not only hellhounds, but also Asag and even managed to avoid an Ostoros. I think we can safely assume we are very lucky to even be alive. I just know we need a little more of it to pull through this. We can bring water back to everyone. If Mia believes in it, so do I.

“You alright Etha?” Mia asks.

I really want to just retire right now, go to the nearest settlement and call it done. I don’t want to ever let her down though. I feel rather conflicted. This is what she’s been dedicated to for so long.

“Yeah, I just been thinking about all we been through. Wondering what is going to be ahead.” I say.

I am not lying, its the truth. I just am going to muster up the strength to see this all the way through. Who knows, maybe she wants to retire as badly as I do. This kind of life is hard, if someone were to ask about it.

“Fair, I can’t be sure either. We’ve seen some crazy stuff. Though, we’ve been lucky to only encounter what we have so far.” She says.

“Really?” I say.

“Yeah, actually.” Timerus interjects. “Anyways, we are heading out now. The sleds are on the move.” He says.

I guess that’s how they move so much gear all at once. I suppose they haven’t manages to make any old world vehicles work just like Basha. We found a tank once, but its oil was clogged up with sand. We never managed to clean it or find the replacement oil, let alone the replacement parts. We ended up making it into a house in the long run.

“Right, let’s go then.” I say.

For once I feel secure, knowing I can at least shoot at whatever may rush at us. The daytime seems to be the safest time to travel. I guess a lot of the creatures prefer the dark. I heard stories that were spread across settlements by travelers, of a great long darkness.

If the creatures like the dark, there are not a lot of places after sunrise to go. So, maybe this is how we find out more about these things. Maybe just how many different things are actually out there. So many things we just can’t know yet.

“So, Mia, what have you fought out here?” I now feel the urge to know.

“Well, you seen the bone spiders, the Asag and well, you know about hellhounds. I fought a lot of stuff.” She explains. “I fought a weird squid person before...” She adds.

This doesn’t really explain anything to me, but I suppose that makes sense, this world can have many things I wouldn’t normally think of. I can only imagine what the Stormriders of legend were really like, if this is lucky. Mia’s had a hard enough life in the badlands and she even looks up to them.

“So, that’s all?” I ask rather filled with reluctance.

“Well, there were these cyborgs back from military outpost Nevada Alpha.” She says with a chuckle.

“That’s freaky. What do you think we will encounter when we hit the target?” I ask.

“It was a research facility, so it’s hard to predict. Odds are, the canyon is full of things waiting to kill us.” She sighs.

It has been only a couple of hours of walking, but the conversation is endless. The tales of her fighting in locked down areas with turrets and other traps. Electric floors stick out the most to me. We use metal to make most of the armour. It’s scary to think we may just set that kind of thing off.

“So there’s literal endless possibilities?” I ask.

“Thank Ark Tech for that.” She says.

“Ark Tech, was it all over the world?” I can’t resist the urge to ask.

“According to our information, it’s close enough to across the globe to say that.” She replies sounding cold about it.

“I am guessing you found that out during one of your excursions?” I try to just assume the best.

“My mentor. We were in an old military outpost. Long story short, he had to sacrifice his life to salvage the intel.” Mia says.

I don’t want to press on the topic any further. I look around, endless sand as usual. I find it hard not to be discouraged by the surroundings usually being near identical. The occasional rock, an old tower here and there.

“Do you ever wonder why the world thought that they needed nuclear energy?” Mia asks.

“I mean, they needed power for something I am sure.” I say.

“Well, from what I read, it seems like a luxury thing.” She replies.

“I guess so.” I say. “Their entire lifestyle was a luxury, if you ask me.” I admit.

“You’ve got a point.” Mia laughs.

It’s not often I get to hear her laughing, but I treasure these times. When she laughs, I feel like it’s worth facing everything we do, instead of hiding from it. Am I only afraid because its something different?

We walk up to a large gap in the earth. I look across, but it's impossible to know what's on the other side. I think we made it. It’s been hours of walking, months with Mia and just now, we are finally getting to our goal.

“Is this it?” I ask.

“Yup.” Mia sighs. “The St. Lawrence Canyon.” She smiles to the additional statement.

“Get ready for hell.” Timerus says.

Some of his men start unloading the boxes they have been sledding here for hours. I suppose for them it must feel like ages. They gather the parts out of the boxes and it looks like they are putting up a base to repel down the cliffside. I hope they thought out how far down the canyon goes.

“We go down in squads of four.” Timerus says.

“Right.” I say.

“Me, Etha, Timerus...” Mia starts.

“Roger, you're with us four.” Timerus says.

I think Mia is relieved that there are so many of us around. I haven’t even met all of the people that are working under Timerus. I just see a lot of armed people.

“Roger, reporting.” A young man comes up to us.

“Alright, let’s get down there.” I say.

“Its too bad the bombs ruined the transmission of radio’s.” Mia sighs. “Would’ve been useful today.” She adds.

“We’ve got this.” I try to reassure her. “We’re going into the battle path.”