Children of the Sea

-"Fuel, batteries, fishing supplies, water filters—it's all there."

-"Yes, Maeve, we have been over it like 17 times, but please, for the love of God, can we go to McDonald's?" Max whined on.

-"You want to go back to that fascist death trap just so we can get McDonald's?"

-"Yes, please."

-"You want us to climb back up the side of the metal hull of the militarized, floating iron island just so we can get McDonald's? "

-"You said we'd go back if we had time, and since we've stolen everything else we need and they're still on the night restrictions, we have like an hour and a half before the lights go up… So, yes".

-“Jesus, you’re annoying".

- "I’ll get the hooks, you grab the guns.”

As they climbed the side of a freighter known as the New New USS, an iron titan the size of a small city, it was a nation on water—a fortress fifty times the size of an old plane carrier, equipped with enough firepower to destroy a nation. That is, if there were any nation left to destroy.

It moved through the sea at a constant, never-stopping, always running from the sunlight, forced to stay on the dark side of the planet.
It was the apex of the North Pole, and no one dared come close to it, let alone be found in its way.

It was the closest thing one could call land in this day and age. But like all systems, it had its loopholes.

-"You know, these people still have normal holidays like they're celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving… What are they thankful for? They live like slaves on a dystopian metal island, under a militarized dictatorship." Max pondered as they scaled the side of the titan.

-"And yet, we're climbing up this goddamn metal thing, again might i add because you want their dystopian, capitalistic food?" She complied, flowing from behind.

-"Oh no, we're not stealing the fries, my dear Maeve. We're stealing something way better."

-"The hell are you on about?"

-"Oh, you'll see."

As they neared the top, their boat trudged along the iron giant, barely visible in the dark black sea.

                                                                                     …

"As the automated doors closed behind them, he approached the counter, pulling his bandana over his face, hiding a devilish smile. With a swift motion, he cocked the sawed-off shotgun, filled to the brim with makeshift shells and scrap metal, and yelled-

-"Your finest bucket of MSG, if you'd be so kind, sir."

-"We don't sell those here… may I interest you in a family combo meal?"The clerk answered, slight unease in his voice.

-"The hell you can. Do I look like a customer? If I haven’t made it clear, we’re robbing you—as in taking by excessive force."

-"Sir, I can see that… However, I can't oblige to your needs." he continued.

-"So, you're telling me you'd die for a dystopian McDonald's? You need to set your priorities straight. This job sucked way before the Great Flood."

-"Sir, the MSG comes inside the food. We don't have it here; you’ll need to head to the factory."He explained slowly, as if that would make it any better.

-"You're kidding."Max stared at him, completely baffled by what he had just heard.

-"Jesus, Max, what's taking so long?" Maeve yelled from the door during the lookout.

-"Miss, you need to go and rob the factory."The clerk persisted.

-"What the hell is he on about?"

-"He says he doesn't have it."

-"Have what?" she replied, approaching the counter.

-"A bucket of MSG, miss," the clerk replied.

Her face washed white as she turned towards Max.
-"Are you fucking kidding me? That's your brilliant idea?"

-"Yes, they have flavors and stuff, so not everything tastes like fish."

-"I'm going to end you ."As her eyes lit with rage.

The tension started to rise as the clerk interrupted once more.
-"So, what will it be?"

"As a vein popped on her forehead, she swiftly turned, slamming the counter between them and mumbled."

-"Ugh, two combo meals. He'll have the 'I can't believe it's not fish' cheeseburger, and I'll have the 'I can't believe it's not fish' nuggets with a side of 'I can't believe it's not fries.'"

He gulped, as her rage-filled dark brown eyes stared him down. He could barely speak.

-"And for the little one?"

-"WHAT LITTLE ONE ?" they yelled in unison at the man,who slowly pointed his finger between them.

As they turned, they spotted a small, slightly dark-skinned curly haired gypsy child covered in purple and blue robes.

As they swiftly shared a look and a nod

-"I say we kill both and leave."

-"Yeah, fuck the fries," Maeve muttered, cocking her gun.

As a frail voice came over the counter.

"Wait, wait, wait… what’s the point of that? We can work this out. The cameras are crap anyway, and your faces are covered, sooo it’s fineee. We won’t tell a soul. Isn’t that right, buddy?"he said, forcing a smile at the kid.

As the child looked confused, paused for a moment and made a sure face, clearly denying the man's request.

The smile quickly faded as his face went pale, and he started stuttering in a panicked voice,

-"Okay, do the kid in, but come on, I didn't even press the emergency button!"

A cold sweat covered him.

As he looked down the barrel of the gun, Max's finger on the trigger, this was it. He clenched his fists and squinted his eyes.

BOOM!

A loud, ear-shattering explosion filled the room, Shattering the windows in an instant, turning them into dust. The ground shook.

-"Am I dead?" The clerk spoke as his body trembled, slowly opening his eyes, he found himself in a cloud of dust and smoke.

-"You good, Maeve?"Max yelled out as the dust settled.

-"Yeah," she replied, slowly getting up.

-"What the hell was that?"

-"My guess is as good as yours,"

As they slowly approached the entrance.

A subsequent explosion was heard further away, slightly muffled, followed by loud gunfire and emergency sirens.

"We are under attack! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! All civilians, report to your designated shelters..."

-"Somebody attacked the USS? How mad do you have to be?" said Maeve.

"As they peeked behind a window, a huge shadow of a floating aircraft carrier, propelled by jets, towered over them. On the side, in luminescent red paint, shined a name."

-"Black Beard-level mad," said Max.

-"Who?" she asked.

As the emergency radio crackled, a voice boomed,

-"HO HO HO! Citizens of this decrepit land, I hear your plea to surrender. Do not intervene, for my Doom Bots will not attack unless provoked."

-"Did he say Doom Bots?" Maeve questioned.

-"He said 'HO HO HO' like he's Santa. What's with this guy?" Max responded.

The sound of gunfire flooded the streets as the marines marched, clashing with the robots that descended from the sky. As the soldiers rushed through the city, making quick work of the robots, dismantling them like a child would a toy, these men were bred and modified to be machines of death—much more than any robot could ever be.

-"We need to get out of here quickly!" Maeve said eagerly.

As a squad slowly approached the restaurant, in a flash, the scared clerk ran past the two, towards the soldiers.

Completely agitated, the man screamed, "They're here! Quickly, before they get away!"As he flailed his arms in distress.

This made little to no sense to any of them.And sudden movements were the last thing you should do around them

Their reflexes and instinct took over ,before letting even a second pass, a first shot was fired, plunging into the clerk’s gut,quickly a barrage of gunfire followed , mowing the poor man down as each shot left a golf-sized hole in his body.

Reducing the poor man's body into a barely recognizable puddle of blood.

The gory image shocked the two, freezing them in place.

-"I can't move, Maeve."Max whispered, his body stiff like a board.

-"Good, cause you better not." She spoke with a crack in her voice.

As the heavily armored men approached, covered in kevlar from head to toe, a green light illuminated from their visor.

Every breath they took filtered and mixed with the proper amount of oxygen. They were walking tanks—the reason no one ever messed with the USS.

As they towered above them, sending shivers down their spine.

Maeve slowly swallowed her spit, but before she could even take a breath…
BAM a blunt hit of the bottom of the gun struck the side of her head, knocking her out cold.

…

-"Why is everything dark? Am I dead? Holy shit, I'm dead."

-"You're not dead, you have a bag over your head."

-"And how would you know that?"

-"Cause I also have a bag over my head."

-"Are you my subconscious?"

-"No, nimrod, it's me, Maeve."

-"I always did see her as an extension of myself... Wait, was that old lady right? Maybe I am schizophrenic. Maybe Maeve never existed."

-"I swear to God if..."

The bickering stopped to a halt as they were lifted from their knees and dragged along the floor, their legs dangling as if they were numb.

-"They're totally going to execute us."

-"Oh, so now it's us again. I'm not just a specter of your imagination anymore, am I?"

-"Well, I don't know about that."

-"Shut up," a loud, deep voice commanded.

As they suddenly stopped, dropping to their knees as the ragged bags were swiftly removed, their eyes blinded by the sudden light.

They were kneeling in the center of a great hall, covered in marble, in front of a great throne suited for no mere man, covered in gold. It was like nothing they had ever seen before or even dreamed of—it put the idea of kings and castles to shame.

-"Maeve, you're alive!" squeaked Max, yelling out quickly.

-"Yeah, maybe not for long."She pondered as she looked around her, eyes still adjusting.

-"I told you to SHUT UP," said the giant of a man who towered behind them.

-"I think he dragged us both here himself," mumbled Max.

-"I think you should shut up," replied Maeve quietly.

-"You stand before the 14-times democratically elected President Racket.Who will now decide your fate."Yelled the giant, as if he were incapable of a softer tone.

-"How do you get elected 14 times?" Max asked, dumbfounded.

-"By doing the right thing so well that they just can't get enough of you... and rigging the election," spoke the president, covered in stars and stripes, with his buzz-cut white hair and short trimmed beard.

-"How is that democratic? Why even have the election?"question Maeve.

-"It's the principle. But don't mind that—I have a job for you," he said as he leaned into a harder, stiffer stance.

-"How much?" Said Maeve without hesitation.

-"Yeah, Santa, we're not a charity here, so pay up."

-"Pay up? You're prisoners of the state! You're lucky you're not dead."

-"So kill us then. We ain't doing nothing without the mula."

-"Cut it, Max! He will kill us."

The man chuckled as he caressed his beard, slowly starting to laugh maniacally. He pulled a Desert Eagle from the back of his waist.

-"Oh, don't worry, I won't kill you.," he said, pointing the barrel of his gun directly at the small Gypsy child from before. "I'll kill him,"

-"What twisted mindfuckery is this? Why the fuck do we care if you kill a kid? His blood is on your hands."

-"Yeah, shoot him," Max added. "As they say, it's not the one who orders the shooting, but the one that shoots that does the killing… or something like that."

-"Close enough, Max."

With pure disgust in his eyes, he spoke, "What the fuck is wrong with you people? And they call me a monster… Jesus.""Can you believe this?" he said to the huge guard, who shrugged with disinterest.

- "No, sir."

-"You know, those dumb liberals should get one of these two to rule, then see how good they got it… Actual savages."

As he held his head, he sighed, "I'm actually disappointed... Bring in one of those liberal communists."

As the great doors opened, a man was dragged in, kicking and screaming, fighting with all his strength.

-"Who's this bozo?" Max asked Maeve quickly..

As the president continued, gallivanting with great intent.

-"At a time before the Great Flood, during the Third Vietnam War, a new weapon was created—strangely, not by the Americans, but by the Vietnamese. Since they liked their traps, tricks, and whatnots, they realized that their old-school methods were becoming, well… old."

"So, they decided to spice things up, by lacing all of them with a specially designed bio-weapon, which, when injected into the human body, would… well, better I show you."

As the syringe gun was revealed in front of him on a silver plate, he grabbed it, approaching the bagged man.

He ripped the bag with one hand and stabbed the needle of the gun into the neck with the other.

-"Any last words, liberal scum?"

-"I'm an anarcho-communist, you fascist sc—"

As the contacts of the syringe were injected into his bloodstream, cutting him off.

The man paused, then sighed. "HA! No weapon can kill a man of..."

His thought was lost, replaced by an agonizing scream.

His body began boiling from the inside out, melting him in unimaginable pain. His body twitched and ripped itself apart, slowly turning to mulch, blood oozing out of every orifice. It was a death most undesirable.

As he waltzed back toward his seat, waving his hand over a pile of dissolving skin and bone saying:

-"It does that which I imagine isn't nice. I hear the brain goes last, so you get to feel every bit of… well, that."

"Somebody get a mop!"

-"Maeve," Max called in fear.

-"Yeah, I got it. So what's the job, so we can skip all the melting?"

-"Skip?" The president nodded his head in confusion as needles pierced their necks from behind, releasing the fluid into their systems.

-"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, WE COULD'VE GONE WITH THE KID!"

-"I'm melting, Maeve! I can feel it! God, it hurts!" he yelled as he writhed and crawled on the floor.

Tears flowing from his eyes, "You should know, I pounded your lucky amulet for gambling money I won—NOTHING!" Snot and tears were forming into one.

-"You piece of shit, Max. You might even deserve this just by the base of how stupid you fucking are. But me, God, I was charitable my whole life. I cared for this idiot for good karma—all for it to end like this."Her face, red and panicked.

-"MAEVE!" he screamed, while crying.

-"I could have done something with my life, but no, we had to go to fucking McDonald's!"

-"I'm sorry!"he yelled as he balled his eyes out.

-"You killed me, Max. You and your pea-sized brain—WHO STEALS MSG?"

-"JESUS, STOP!"The president stood from his seat again.

"Or I'll shut you both up. You people make me want to vomit. You're the worst ones today."

"You're not dying... I mean, you are, just very slowly... which kind of makes it worse when you think about it… Doesn't matter. You got the old version, poodle boy over there got the American Express Premium Edition."

As he walked, "Something of mine was stolen by the so-called pirate criminal, whatever he is, who calls himself Blackbeard, and I want it back."

Maeve tried to interrupt.

-"A-A-A, I talk, you listen."

"He's headed to the South Pole to get something else, which isn’t your concern. You need to get to him before that and deliver it to Mr. Dekard," he said, pointing with his gun to a tall, skinny man dressed all in black with a dark leather trench coat.

"And voilà, Mr. Dekard gives you the antidote, and you get to be horrible people for another day."

-"So we're not dead?" asked Max, through the tears and snot.

-"God, you're disgusting, but yes. Any questions other than that?"

-"Why us?" muttered Maeve.

-"Because it's easier to let go of your whole prison to catch a maniac than it is to mobilize an army in an already-shocked city."

-"Wait, whole prison?"

-"Yes, you're like the fiftieth or something pair of losers, and by far the worst ones at that."

-"It's suicide. There's no way to make it from here to the South while escaping the sun."

-"It's suicide either way, little girl. And the clock is ticking. You have 24 hours until you turn into that," he said, pointing at the muddle of blood and guts, "with like 50 other losers sharing the same desperate fate as you. So I'd put a move on."

As the giant man cut the bonds with one swing of his knife…

Max wiped the snot and tears away, and Maeve dusted herself off.

As they got up the president spoke once more.

-"Take the Gypsy kid with you. I hear they bring good luck.. or was it bad?"

-"Why?"Maeve questioned.

-"AS PENANCE."his jugular veins bulging out.

-"You gonna squirt him with the stuff too?"Max asked.

-"NO! Jesus, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

…

End of prologue.