Utopian Apocalypse

Chapter 4

The tugboat shifts with a large force, causing me to fall out of bed. I hear the man screaming outside, yelling at something in the water. I grab the rifle and put on my respirator, expecting to see one of the creatures that killed my family. I get out of the airlock and I'm met with large round eyes, looking directly into my soul from it's pink face. A gigantic whale creature surfaced and hit the boat, pushing it towards the center of a large lake.

"What are you doing, you idiot," yells the man, "shoot that thing!"

Before I can say anything, the whale opens its mouth and attempts to bite the boat, which causes me to practically kick the accelerator in and gun it out of there. The whale pursuits the boat, in which it nearly bites the back end of the boat. I carefully run, without falling, to the rear machine gun, and open fire on the whale creature. Bullets embed themselves into the thick skin of the large whale, chipping away at the thick hide until the softer grey skin is exposed.

Cutting vast chunks of meat and grey skin off of it with the machine gun, it lets out a large bellow and disappears into the water.

"If you would've waited any longer," the exhausted man heaves, "we'd both been dead."

"Well thank god I almost busted the accelerator." I reply.

I slow down the boat and turn into a nearby river, theorizing the large whale won't be able to follow. I walk back indoors and just watch from the indoor controls as the creatures drinking from the river run off into the green and orange forests. A few predator creatures stare at the boat, watching me go by at a semi fast pace.

After another day of him asking to be let go, I sit down and discuss with him that I am not docking the tugboat until something is need. He begs to at least be allowed to help me around the ship, giving him something to do. I adjust his leg restraints and put it around his ankles, allowing him to waddle better. He almost immediately eyes the river banks, seeing the blue rhinos drinking calmly from the bank. I take what's left of the rope and bolt it into one of the exhaust stacks, to keep him from running off, or jumping into the lethal water. I go back to menial tasks, fishing with the net, remembering to give the man another spare net to help. 

While fishing, he waves his hand to get my attention.

"How did you even get this boat," asks the man, "It seems odd that you barely know how some stuff works but happen to have been living here for a while."

"Well," I reply, "my family was sadly killed when a power fluctuation happened, three of those big black creatures broke in and killed my mother and two siblings. My father helped me get out, and succeeded but was shortly killed when outside before he can give me anything besides a respirator. I ran for a day before I came across a town named Wallace, where I found a handgun and this tugboat in the port."

"Wow," exclaims the man, "anyway, what is your name, mine is Alexander Rail."

"The name is Warden South, but you'll just refer to me as Warden," I reply, pulling another roll of duct tape from under the control console.

He waddles over to the side of the boat and waves a net in the water, occasionally hoisting fish onto the deck. As he works as my slave labor, I walk back inside, through the airlock, and rummage through the dusty atlas on the table near the airlock. I turn a page and see the entire map of Norway, with a circle around a location, Narvik. "Safe house from doom" it says. I turn the next page and a crumpled paper falls out, with details of said safe house. Largest stockpiles of food, medicine, and anything you could possibly want. For free only if you join them.

I walk outside again and show Alex, where he says that this place is where he was originally on his way to, but got recruited by the 585th for their raiding army when he was younger. He continues on how he and his brother ventured through France and attempted to cross the North Sea with a Jon boat, paddling for a couple days on end before being picked up by a 585th ship. The 585th tested their physical endurance, forcing them to stand in one place for hours on end, before being fed very little. He watched, from the boat he was forced on, as they attacked and sunk ships bound for whatever was across the water.

He never found out what happened to his brother, with his last meeting with him being before the entrance ceremony for Alex. He also never met, or saw, the superiors of his commanding officers. They would bark commands from the shadows, or over radios. But never in person.