The World After

Chapter one- the world as we knew it

Braced against the metal railing on the ships bough, Mieli's steely gray eyes were locked on the horizon, on the ominous ship that had been floating there since early morning. It was dead in the water, it had broken free of the current it had been riding and it's slashed sails caught not even the slightest breeze. Heavy footsteps sounded on the wooden deck behind her. Mieli didn't bother turning around, she knew from the pattern and deliberateness of the footfalls exactly who it was.

"Captain." She murmured, nodding her head slightly in respect.

The captain smiled at her from behind thick prescription glasses, the glasses made some not take him seriously. after all, what ruthless pirate captain wore beat up square frames? But Mieli had been aboard long enough to know better. He was handsome, she supposed, with his permanently ruffled bed head hair and perpetual five O'clock stubble, but she wasn't sure. Mieli had better things to do than think about men, or women or anyone in that sense.

"We're going to go aboard and look for survivors." He said.

Mieli was quiet. They both knew there were no survivors aboard the ship, and that it was a pretext to loot and burn it. Even if there were survivors, they wouldn't rescue them. Not from THIS ship. The hanged rose on the slashed flag of the bobbing ship marked it as damned. This was a sinner ship.

When the world flooded, there were no more prisons, as they'd been swallowed up by the sea. So the sinner ships were created as a brutal solution to the crime problem. The worst criminals, murderers, rapists, terrorists were locked in coffins aboard a ship with no rations and weapons to spare, crawling with scorpions, and poisonous spiders then the ship was set adrift in an ocean that covered 99.96% of the planet. No one survived sinner ships. Except one.

A weapons run, then. Mieli turned on her heel and head back towards her room, she had recording to do.

The captain called after her,

"Max, Tortie, B.c, Pinkie and Kaitz are staying behind. Play nice!"

Mieli wrinkled her nose, Max was...enthusiastic. The wiry crow's bait had been picked up off another ship, an art-trading ship, and was overly friendly, always throwing his arms around everyone. But he was important, all people were, provided they had a story. A story distinguished the mundane from the extraordinary.

She continued on past the kitchens and turned down the steps to bunkers. She had her own, next to Max's, because the captains wife thought that kids should play nice together. She also was a rampant shipper, she called them 'm & m'. Luckily max wasn't in, his room mate, Kaitz however gave her his usual silver eyed stare. He had tan skin and it swarmed with tribal tattoos, he had curly black hair and silver eyes. A large scar bisected his left cheek, and his lips. He wore a bandana to cover most of it. He was quiet, mostly because he was tongue-cut, which made her like him better than max.

"Hello, Kaitz." She murmured, he dipped his head in a hello.

Mieli kept a careful record of his body language. As she kept record of everything. Pulled her lanyard from the pocket of her cut-offs, her keys jangled as she unlocked the myriad locks on her door. Just as the last lock clicked and the iron slab of a door swung open-- VEEETE-VEEETE-VEEETE!!! Three sharp, electronic cries rang out. They rang twice more, then three, and fell silent.

Mieli stopped for a moment, attempting to comprehend what just happened, the entire ship was silent, frozen as everyone's mind put together what the signal chimes meant. Suddenly, Mieli dashed forward, carefully weaving around the glass encased artifacts in her room. She ran to the small safe and rapidly spun the dial, 23-12-13-- crap! She accidentally stopped at 12, as she respun the dial she could hear Kaitz in the next room clanking about. Probably equipping his double swords, as well as his hidden weapons and poison pills.

Whenever they salvaged weapons from the bottom of the ocean, they were left in Kaitz capable hands, and like magic, he made them appear almost new. The best of the best he kept for himself. Mieli had him write their names and others details in her record book. Kaitz always raised his eyebrows quizzically, but Mieli was notoriously tight lipped about her records. Only the captain understood her reasons for keeping it, what would be lost without it.

The safe finally clicked and Mieli snatched her record Journal as footsteps thundered across the deck above, the ship having recovered from its initial shock from the alarm. Never one for half-assing things, she carefully closed and locked the safe behind her before sprinting from the room.

She was excited. A rare emotion for her. The blaring alarm earlier meant they found something-or rather- someone. Apparently, for the second time in history, someone had survived a Sinner Ship. What a story they'd have to tell.