Edge of the Ocean

Orion pushes past the ripped and torn American flag into his hut.

His hut looks like a surfer's paradise mixed with the military discipline of a barracks.

Surfboards and bedding are neatly surrounded by weapons and flags.

Not a thing is out of place, but nothing really fits. The odd ringing noise is still going off.

Orion looks at the fish and nods in appreciation, and puts it in his small icebox.

Everything around him feels old and dated, but not ancient. The same goes for Orion himself.

The ringing continues.

"I'm coming. I'm coming."

Orion goes over to a makeshift phone, answering and fax machine all in one, with a broken screen flickering on it. Wires and small antennas and a metal frying pan are all connected to it.

He flicks the answer button on the side of the machine.

The broken screen flutters and we see the face of a heavily bearded and dread locked male.

This is Howl. "Orion, my brother. You awake?"

Howl has a hint of a British and Caribbean accent from his voice and manners.

Orion shakes his head. "You are the second person who has said that to me today. And I liked the other person."

Howl puts his arms up. "Eh, mate. It is just a joke."

"Jokes should be funny."

Howl sticks his tongue out. "Alright. Moving on from the grumpy guy who has all the guns. We got a new ship that just surfaced. Well, new is a relative term. You in?"

Orion nods. "Definitely. Any fallen near it?"

"Not yet."

Just the mention of the word made Howl defensive. And the way it leaves Orion's mouth is like a holy or profane curse has been summoned.

"How many and when do we leave?" The military life never leaves Orion.

"Just you, mate."

"Scared?"

"Yup," Howl snaps back. "You bet your ass I'm scared. Anyone with their right mind would be scared. But there might be some goods on there. Leave now. I'll get you the

coordinates. It is right off the second island, it is."

Orion hangs up. A bunch of numbers flash across the screen, and he quickly writes them down before the screen shuts off.

The display covering his eyes analyze it, and it seemingly copies it somewhere in his head.

He then does the sign of the cross over his chest and says a prayer, looking up to the sky.

Orion then looks over to his wall to a torn and battered photo of Christ the Redeemer, the famous statue that was above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Orion nods at it, then goes over towards his weapons.

I wonder if it is still there? I'd love to see it.

Orion pulls some large automatic rifles that have a slightly futuristic look to them. Also a few old school pistols that look like they still work.

Orion opens an ammo box and looks in. He frowns seeing how little he has left.

Reaching in, he grabs what he can.

Orion's mini motorized boat floats away from his hut. He speeds past the large trees and rock formations and old houses that Trix had passed just a while earlier.

Soon, he makes his way towards the open ocean. His mini boat gliding goes over a large, submerged, highway that was once on this island.

As Orion goes farther into the open ocean, a huge spaceship like craft is sticking out of the water.

Not alien, but more like a huge ark or futuristic military vehicle that was being used around this catastrophe.

Like a sky scrapper that fell from the sky. Its shadow paints a dark blade over the ocean.

"You're not that impressive anymore," Orion says to the ark as he drives by, then looks at the atomic and distressed sky.

Orion then thought of the endless times he raided and looked inside that monstrosity. There was not a thing left in it.

I'll never get used to the sun. Looking like that, I mean.

It wasn't the sun's fault that the world and all of its population decided to kill itself.

The small boat makes his way towards some other small islands, which from high above, with the shallow earth under the ocean, reveals that it was all one big island at some point.

Partly sunk and broken into pieces from the rising waters.

Orion's display over his eyes reveals the digits he received, as he scans around, looking for his target.

Soon, a large aircraft carrier like ship is revealed to be popping out of the water, near some newly receded hillsides and earth.

"Jackpot."

The ship is intact, but part of it is still submerged. Orion could see it was on its side, but how it got there was a mystery to him.

Orion leans over and starts to pull his strongest rope out.

"You've been hiding for a minute, haven't you?" Orion says to the ghost like ship.

The war machine that was hidden under the water that finally decided to come up for the broken world to see.

A perfect place for the fallen to hide.