Felicity was hazy; they grew in and out of consciousness for a little over two hours, and then by the time they had completely woken up, the sky was dark and starry, and the moon was high, gently blurred by mist and clouds. They glanced around the small boat, where piles of people lay. People! Oh, they had not seen a living person in almost two full days. Rubbing their eyes and feeling grateful that they were mostly dry, they scanned the small wooden boat and counted. Five persons, not including themselves. Three were asleep, curled up as best as they could in such a cramped location, bags of supplies being used as pillows and blankets, and two were awake. One stood, scanning the darkness around them, and gently eyeing the waters as if sensing danger. The other sat on the edge of the boat on one of the benches with their legs up and over the edge, feet lingering in the water, and bent at the knees. They leaned back on an extended arm and glanced up at the stars.
"What are we going to do?" The woman standing asked softly. She had skin nearly as black as the night, with tightly screwed hair just above shoulder length. The other one was a boy of similar stature and skin tone and age, and Felicity concluded that they had to be siblings. Twins, perhaps. Both were heavier weights, although visibly with loose skin and stretch marks from weight loss since the initial flooding began, and both with slightly shaggy haircuts and wide faces.
"We gotta find someplace higher elevation. Maybe that new kid can help us, especially if they're from farther down where we haven't been yet." Felicity noticed with his words that they both had a slight accent that mimicked one another. It sounded like an unextreme british accent, their vowels pronounced with an airy, twisty edge.
"We'll get there with or without her."
"You don't like that we saved her, do you?"
The young woman, no older than 20, turned around to glare at her brother, and quietly hissed, "Of course not! She has absolutely nothing to offer us. No supplies, no skills."
"You don't know that."
"I do! Just look at her! She's skin and bone! She's pale! She's not intimidating, she's not strong, she's too young to know anything!"
"Maybe she has other talents. Maybe she can help us purify the salt water, or fish."
"Yeah, and if she can't? I suggest we throw her overboard."
"Absolutely not," he stood to meet her eyes, "Look, Tati, I know you're worried about having too many mouths to feed. But we'll get to higher grounds where the floods haven't reached, where there are resources and fresh water rain and plenty of places to fish. We will be fine."
"And until then? Will we starve and die before we manage to get there because you decided to save some stranger who has nothing to offer us? Someone who we don't even know, who could be dangerous, evil, or selfish?"
"And if we hadn't, what would that have made us? Criminals? Inhumans? Insane?"
"Survivors, Zephyr. It would have made us survivors." She huffed, arms crossed, and gently stepped over the first bench where her brother sat, and then sat down on the floor between his bench and Felicity's, leaning against the short wall of the boat. Felicity sat up then, eyeing her, and she turned to glare at him back with beady eyes reflecting timid stars. The boat rocked gently.
"So?" she said, "You have anything to offer?"
Felicity shook his head, "Sorry. I don't."
Her brother had sat back down on the bench, staring out at the water, and he spoke, "Where you come from? How you end up out here?"
Felicity was silent for a long moment, then finally murmured, "My family didn't make it. I swam as far as I could."
"You eaten or drank anything since?"
"No, sir. It's been a few days, I think."
"You've got a survivor spirit, then, managing to stay alive that long without anything to keep your engine running." He turned to glare at Tati, and said harshly, "We could use more people like that." And she tsked, looking away. The situation suddenly felt tense, and Felicity felt uncertain about what to do with it, feeling awkward at best and like an intruder at worst.
"What's your name, kid?" Tati asked, nodding at Felicity.
"Felicity."
"I'm Tatiana. That's my brother, Zephyr. We're in charge of this thing because this boat was our grandfather's. Well, our father's at first. You don't happen to know where we could get another one, like one with an engine?"
"Sorry. I don't, not off the top of my head. My neighbors who had one took them when they left."
"God, you're useless."
Zephyr shook his head at her disapprovingly, and then turned a kind gaze towards Felicity, saying, "Hey, you're fine. Glad we found you. Do you happen to know what lays ahead of us, if that's the direction you came from?"
"Yeah, yeah. Where did the sun set?"
Zephyr pointed behind Felicity, and Felicity continued, "Yeah, that's where I came from, opposite to where the sun set. There was a nice town there where I lived, all underwater now of course," he scoffed dryly, "Past that, there's supposed to be an old town, I think for mining? But it was running through a canyon. There might be some high ground there above the canyon. It's pretty far out, though." Zephyr seemed excited, turning to glance at Tati. Felicity continued, "But where I lived, I don't think there's anything but floating bodies. Our town went to chaos as it began to flood, and we all turned on each other."
"Sounds familiar," Tati huffed.
Felicity shrugged, "People do terrible things when they panic."
"But after the panic," Zephyr said, smiling gently, "We can get our shit together and start acting civilised again."
"Yeah, not so sure about that," Felicity said dryly, glancing away from the two, and then down at his hands, barely visible in the dark. Tati scoffed, nodding, although Felicity could tell it was in agreement rather than passive aggressiveness. She shared his pessimistic look on the new world, and the two both clearly wondered what was wrong with Zephyr, or right, that could make him so unrealistically hopeful.
"Do you want something to eat and drink?" Zephyr asked quietly.
Felicity nodded, "That would be great, but you really don't have to."
"Nonsense. Look at yourself. You're thin. You have to eat." Tati scoffed again, aggressively this time. It was more like a passive aggressive snort, really, as if to say, "don't waste our food on this bag of bones." The message came across clearly, but Zephyr ignored it, pulling some stale biscuits and dried meat from a bag and handing them to Felicity. Although Felicity felt guilty for taking food from them, especially to Tatiana's distaste, his stomach gurgled painfully and he apparently became too hungry to worry about drama like that, or good manners in general, for that matter. It was only after he'd inhaled the food that he wiped his face and thanked them both.
He glanced back at the three persons sleeping in the boat as it cruised on silently during the night, rocking gently. A slightly older woman with brown hair, maybe in her mid to late 40's, with a similar-appearing young girl beside her, definitely no older than 10 or 11, although she looked as young as 6 or 7. On her other side was a large man with long, dark hair braided along the back of his head, and black tattoos of dragons lining both of his biceps. Although it was hard to tell while he slept, his face was well-sculpted and gently scarred from wear and tear, and his eyes were thin slats across his face. Felicity assumed the women were mother and daughter, and the man unrelated, simply based on appearances and their obvious differing ethnicities. Felicity was intuitive, bad about making rash assumptions, and also, just as he often was, correct, which he learned the following morning when he officially met the three. Felicity was actually the last of the group to wake up that late morning, the hot sun in his face and his lips familiarly chapped. The group was playing some sort of questions game, or just weird small talk, when Felicity awoke. Half-asleep, he observed them for a while.
The larger man sat up on a bench now, looking out at the open water with an indiscernible look of heavy grief worn on his face. Despite this, his tone of voice was light, and it was clear he was doing his best to keep himself together, likely for the sake of the young girl, whom also seemed mildly troubled. The mother was sitting on her knees on the floor between benches, braiding her daughter's long and unruly brown hair as she sat in front of her.
"Alright, Huan. What's the one material thing you miss the most since the floods?"
He sighed, then thought with furrowed brows before responding, "Trees. Ground. Dirt."
The little girl laughed, "Dirt? Why would you miss dirt?"
He turned to her enthusiastically, "You can stand in it, and plant things in it. You ever gardened before?" She shook her head shyly.
Her mother responded, "We lived in the suburbs. Not much room for gardening."
"I see. Well, someday, when this is all over, I'll take you to my garden."
"It's all underwater now," the little girl said sadly.
"It won't be someday," he assured her, although the look in his dark eyes made Felicity believe that he truly thought otherwise.
"Your turn, Huan."
"Oh, right. Kiui, what's your least favourite subject in school?"
The girl stuck out a tongue and said with emotion, "Math! I hate it!"
"What grade are you going into?" He asked.
"Second grade!" She said, beaming. Then, she raised a scolding finger, "But you only get one question! My turn!"
Then, to poor introverted Felicity's horror, she turned to stare at him with wide hazel eyes, and said, "You!"
"Oh. Me? You sure?"
She nodded dramatically, "Yes! What's your name?"
"Felicity."
"Falethity?"
"Fel-ic-et-ee."
"Thalecity."
"Say Fel."
"Fel."
"Is."
"Is."
"It-ee."
"It-ee."
"Now, put it together."
"Felicity?"
He chuckled, "That's it!"
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
Her mom seemed rather horrified by the question, and lightly hit her shoulder disapprovingly, "Kiui!"
"It's fine," Felicity said, although he was also startled by the rude if not hilarious question. "I thought you only got one question, anyways?"
"Huan had two, so I get two, too!"
Huan looked sideways at Felicity as if to apologise, and Felicity only returned his glance with a wary smile.
He responded, "Well, I consider myself genderfluid. Sometimes I'm a boy and sometimes I'm a girl. You can call me as either one, though. Whatever is easiest for you to remember." It was always nerve-wracking to come out so casually, especially when it could put one's life in danger, and Felicity's heart was pounding heavily just from the short but exhausting interaction thus far. But, nobody in the group seemed to care, and that softened Felicity's heavy anxiety.
Kiui nodded, and then without a second thought about it, said, "Your turn to ask someone!"
"Oh, right," Felicity turned to the girl's mother, and rather shyly asked, "You? I don't know your name. What's your name?"
"Marina."
"Oh, pretty name."
"Thank you. I quite like yours, too."
"Thanks. Do I get two questions?"
"Sure. Everyone else did, after all."
"How long have all of you been together?"
"Not long. Just since the floods started. I'm a teacher, and we recently did a preserved food drive. Zephyr and Tatiana picked me and Kiui up because we could offer them food. They picked up Huan shortly after, because he was strong enough to push the boat if necessary, and he intimidated people and helped fight off scavengers while there were still a lot of people and chaos around. We haven't known each other long, but it's felt like forever whenever you're out here in this ocean with nothing but them."
"I see," Felicity said, taking a moment to soak in her words.
Kiui piped up excitedly, "Your turn, Mama!" Marina turned to look at Zephyr and Tati, who both sat at the front of the small boat, murmuring and navigating.
"Zephyr?" She asked loudly.
He turned back to glance at her and smiled, "Yes?"
"I get to ask you a question for our game."
"Okay, shoot."
Tati angrily muttered, "Do we look like we're playing?" And Zephyr ignored her.
"Where are we headed?"
"We're looking for higher grounds. And, I believe we've found some." He stood and moved over to Marina, sitting beside her on a bench. Then, he leaned closer to her and pointed off in the distance so that she could see. "See that horizon? What do you notice about it?"
"There are silhouettes."
"Exactly. Things above the water. I can't tell if they're buildings or mountains, but-"
"They're mountains," Felicity said without thinking.
Zephyr turned to look at him, "How do you know?"
"Remember, the canyon I told you about?"
"Yeah. Is that it?"
"Sure is. See, it's got two mountains either side- they're huge, too. It'll be different without trees and rocks to cover it. We'll only see the top, but it was pretty high up. I think there might even be houses above the water line. We can ride through the canyon on the flooded river, and maybe even find help there."
Zephyr stood, ecstatic, "Yes! That's great!" And he patted Felicity on the shoulder, then moved across the boat to where Tati sat at the head, and said, "I told you they'd come in handy!"
She only muttered, arms crossed, "Uh-huh. We'll see. Either way, it's going to be weeks before we get there. Maybe even months. How will we survive until then?"
"We'll collect rainwater. We'll have to fish."
Huan spoke up, concerned, "We don't have any fishing supplies."
"We can learn to fish without," Zephyr said. "Guys, we will be okay. We just have to make it through this. And we will!" A few of the small group nodded in mild agreement; meanwhile, Tati and Marina both seemed sceptical and concerned, although in different manners. Tati seemed more sceptical and critical; Marina seemed more worrisome and concerned. Then, Zephyr suggested, "Why don't we practice? Try and catch some fish?" He turned to his twin sister, "Tati? What materials do we have to help?"
"No fishing poles, but we've got a net."
"Perfect! That's perfect." He bent down and rummaged through a few burlap sacks before pulling out a large wooden net with fine black mesh. It was the kind for catching a fish after it had already been caught; after reeling in a fish with a rod, you'd put the fish in the net so it didn't get away while unhooking it. Zephyr held the large net up triumphantly, "Who wants to try first?"
Kiui shot up, "I will!"
"Careful, hon," her mother said sternly.
"I know!" She said, pulling the large net from Zephyr's hands and then leaning over the side of the boat to stare down in the murky water. The boat rocked tenderly to her fast movements, and leaned in her direction ever so subtly. She narrowed her eyes, scanning the water. Then, a bit less enthusiastically, "Are there sharks in these waters?"
The group all sort of sideways glanced at one another; it was a valid question, and one they hadn't put much thought into, if any at all. Actually, it was frightening, because the water could contain both freshwater and saltwater animals, from any region, as all of the oceans and rivers were now connected by one large body of water. It wasn't sharks that Felicity really worried about; he knew enough to know that sharks were decently rare, and unlikely to bother people. He did, however, worry about a million other possibilities. He worried about leeches, snakes, jellyfish, carnivorous or venemous creatures that were more willing to attack humans. He also began to consider the possibility of the water being unsafe to be in, given the large amount of decomposing bodies, both human and not, surely to be in it. He thought about whales, then, and other scavengers or carnivores lurking in the waters, eating all of the dead as if it were a buffet, attracting more predatory animals. And all of the oceans were now not only connected, but expanded, deepened; animals from deep below, animals humans potentially do not even know about, may now show their faces with the exponential new amount of room to swim or float.
Felicity did not like any of those thoughts, not one bit.
Kiui stood still for a long while, and then finally smacked the hefty net into the water with a mighty splash, rocking the boat, to which Zephyr said, "Woah!" as if he was telling a horse to slow down. Kiui quickly tried again. Splash, splash, splash, each time with the adults cautioning her to be careful and asking her if she'd caught anything. At one point, she came across a school of small minnows, and upon her swipe, triumphantly caught three about two inches long or less. Zephyr and her celebrated with a small jig, as tenderly as possible as to not sway the boat too far, and then he showed her how to safely eat one: do absolutely nothing to it. Just eat the entire thing whole and raw. Felicity cringed as he watched them both down one, and then watched Zephyr rip apart the third to try and get everyone to try it. Nobody did, so Kiui ended up using it as bait for her net.
She had virtually exhausted herself after a few hours with only one more minnow to show for it. Huan attempted, although caught nothing. For several hours of the day, Zephyr, Tati, Huan, and Marina rowed the oars in intervals. Marina, being older, switched places with Felicity to rest for most of the time, while the others switched among themselves frequently. It was hard work on Felicity; his muscles ached, and it felt as though his body would tear itself apart. They all paused for a bathroom break several times, which was never pleasant. Although the men had no issue urinating over the side of the boat, the women and Felicity had to use a shallow Tupperware box, which they then rinsed out in the water as the boat moved. Eventually, the sun began to set, and their natural instincts to sleep overcame. Felicity pondered aloud if they would ever row at night instead, when it was cooler, but Zephyr responded that it may be too difficult for them to sleep with the sun on them, and either way, the sky was heavily clouded most days; it took a long while to be able to see the hills and canyon's silhouette on the horizon due to the heavy, milky fog that overlaid the water. The sky brightened to deep orange, then red, then quickly faded into a pale grey, then pastel blue, and then black, sprinkled with white, glimmery dots and foggy clouds.
Felicity struggled to sleep. Their mind raced, paced, and would not stop. This night seemed darker than the previous one; the once vibrantly bright moon and stars were now softened and muted by heavy mist and thickening, dark clouds, rumbling with thunder in the far distance. The diluted light made the night seem exceptionally pitch black and weary. It would rain soon, surely, and the group would set out the few pots and pans that they had gathered to collect the freshwater for drinking. They had no way of purifying it, since a fire to boil water could not be started in a wooden boat, but without any trees and many bugs to pollute the water, it seemed safe enough to drink. And, it was their only option either way.
Felicity was nearly asleep when a small, uncharacteristic bump of the boat stirred him. He sat up, wiping his eyes, seeing absolutely nothing in the serene darkness. The boat had been rocking gently, if not more than usual due to the oncoming storm, and yet the slight bump that Felicity had felt had been harder, as if an object had bumped from underneath the boat, rather than gentle waves lapping at the sides and subtly rocking it. On the other end of the boat, the front end that curved up gently, sat up Tati. She stared at Felicity in the utter darkness, her eyes gleaming almost like a blade. They could not read her expression in the ebony environment; but they were certain it was negative. Still, she spoke to them first, which seemed to be a shock.
"You felt that?" She asked lowly. Her voice was kindly masculine for a woman, and with it, she could easily gain the respect and fear of those around her.
"I did," Felicity whispered back. Then, another small bump from beneath the boat, this time producing a very gentle thudding sound. Felicity began to grow worried, their anxiety overtaking them suddenly, gripping their heart and causing it to beat faster, their breaths becoming swift. "What is that?" They asked Tati, panic lingering in their voice, although hidden.
"Could be anything," she said rather nonchalantly.
Malice feigned security, "Anything? That's not super reassuring, Tati."
She hissed, "Then don't ask me if you don't want the answer. These waters are wide, now. Could be anything." Another shallow bump creaked the wood of the boat.
"Maybe we should check what it is?" Felicity asked, unthinking.
"Are you insane? Actually, no, sure, why don't you jump in that dirty, dark water, at night, and see what it is, hmm?"
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry for being stupid. You'll end up dead at some point."
They sighed, "Maybe that's for the best," and Tati stared at them with interest although said nothing. Eventually, despite the small, frequent bumps, the two managed to fall asleep on the cramped boat. However, Felicity once again awoke due to commotion; this time, with the sun in her eyes, blinding her. She had awakened to a high, shrill scream, and immediately sat up wide-eyed, scanning the small boat and its occupants. Huan, Kiui, and Marina huddled close, peering into the water. It had been Kiui who had screamed. Felicity pulled herself to her feet, warily treading the short distance to them across the rocking boat. Zephyr and Tatiana stood close by, peering into the other side of the water with wide, worried eyes.
Zephyr glanced at Felicity, and said quickly, "Something bumped the boat."
"Thanks, captain obvious," Tati growled, smacking him on the back of the head, to which he grumbled incoherently. "The boat didn't just bump," she said, "Something huge was in the water."
"Huge? Define huge!"
She thought for a moment, and then finally said, "Big... dangerously big." Kiui let out a choking sob, and Marina held her close. The sky, although bright, was covered with clouds, and had begun to dim even further as the clouds rolled and darkened and growled.
Felicity, rather panicked, spoke quickly, "Well, maybe it's just a large fish. A huge trout or salmon! Or maybe it's a sea turtle, or even a whale of some sort- a dolphin or something."
"No, no," Tati said lowly, "It was... thick, shallow."
"Scaly," Kiui said. The group turned to her expectantly.
"You saw it?" Tatiana asked.
The little girl nodded shakily, "It had long, scaly tail."
"A snake then?" Zephyr said, "A snake isn't so bad."
"No, no. It was bigger. It had limbs."
Tati's eyes narrowed in thought, the gears in her head turning visibly, and then her eyes widened as an obvious idea sprung to mind, and she breathed, "A croc?"
The girl, trembling, slowly registered her words and then nodded carefully.
"That doesn't make any sense," Felicity quickly said. "Crocodiles wouldn't swim this far out, into this deep of water."
"You don't know," Tati said, "They're saltwater, different from alligators that live in shallow waters and creeks. And I'll bet they'd swim this far out because there's absolutely no land left! Look around you! Shallow waters don't fucking exist anymore!"
Marina hissed, "Language! There is a child on board."
"Oh, shut it, old lady. I've earned the right to swear." Marina gasped quietly, as if disrespected, although she knew that Tati's words were correct. The entire group, in fact, had earned the right to be disrespectful, given the unforeseen and rather horrific circumstances.
Still, there seemed to be a menacing problem at hand. The boat bumped again, slightly, this time accompanied by a soft splash, a few droplets dancing on the surface of the water. Felicity peered down into the brackish water, seeing nothing more than a dark outline from the shadow of a beast. She eyed the shadow as it darkened, and then faded as the beast rose closer to the surface, exposing a deeply earthy tone of hard, armoured skin. There was no doubt then as to what it was.
She turned to the other persons in the boat, mildly panicked (very panicked), and quickly hissed, "My gun! The gun! What happened to the gun that was on me whenever you pulled me from the water?"
Kiui and Marina gasped in unison, and one spoke shrilly, "You had a gun?!"
And yet, Zephyr's eyes lightened as if he had just found gold, and he quickly crouched to dig through one of the bags to find the weapon. He held it up triumphantly upon finding it, as if the pistol could solve all of their problems. Truth was, Felicity was uncertain of how many bullets were left, or if the gun even still worked. But, in that moment, it was hope and safety and security and all of the good things that the group seemed to now desperately need.
So, Zephyr held up this small, dangerous beacon of hope, admiring it, as if to say, "We're saved!" Only, he lingered a single second too long. The boat suddenly was bumped again, heavily this time as a thick tail wapped into the side of it, rocking the entire thing deeply to the left. Water showered over the side of the boat and soaked the bottom, the group seemed to shout a million different things. The boat then rocked heavily but eventually straightened itself out. They had almost tipped over into the water completely.
And suddenly, Zephyr was no longer holding the gun. No, now that precious beacon of security and hope was plopped over the edge of the boat, smacked into the water, and now sinking into the crocodile-infested waters below. The boat rocked again, heavily once again, and the group shouted all at once once again.
"Zephyr! The gun!" Tati shouted, her voice strict with rage.
He gasped, "I don't know! I don't know!" Stuttering, struggling to let the words come out.
Huan stood, fists clenched and white at the knuckles, "What do you mean? What do you mean?" Now, Marina held a crying Kiui close to her, curled up on the wet floor of the boat.
"I lost it!" Zephyr shouted, crying now. "It dropped! You saw!"
"Maybe you should practice gun safety and not fuckin' throw them around!" Huan snapped, and Tati aggressively agreed.
"I didn't mean to! All I did was pick it up, you see."
"Jump in there and get it, then," Huan shouted back.
Tati stepped in between them, sneering, "Hey, no way! We're all safer if we all stay in the boat, don't let them get a taste of any of us! Or else they'll follow us forever! Zephyr is an idiot, but he doesn't deserve to die!"
"He just got us killed!"
Felicity was watching the heated argument happen, eyes darting between the three involved, and then back to the two that weren't.
"We don't even know if that gun would have saved us!"
"There's not enough room on this boat, anyways!"
"He's led us all this way!"
"He should go down and get that gun if he's sorry!"
The gears in Felicity's head were turning, but muted by the harshness of the three's yelling, and finally she snapped, "Shut up! All of you!" And they turned to look at her expectantly. A few nervous seconds passed, and she suggested softly, "A knife?"
"What?" Huan asked. Tati also appeared confused, an eyebrow raised and her hips cocked.
"A knife." She turned to Kiui, "Kiui, the net?"
The girl pointed, shaking, to one of the burlap sacks. Felicity thanked her, reassured her, and then jumped to it, pulling the heavy net out and into her hands.
"A knife," Felicity repeated. "A knife, please tell me you have a knife?"
"A knife won't do us any good against these, baby," Tati said in a mocking tone.
Felicity shook her head furiously, "No, no, they will. They got a soft spot round the ears, by the eyes."
Huan dug through his pockets, and presented Felicity three large pocket knives. Felicity thanked him graciously, and took the largest one. It was a unique, slightly curved shape, with a sharp upward pointed edge, and then serrated by the handle. It was perfect. The boat rocked again, furthering the urgency of the situation. Felicity thought for a moment about exactly how to conduct her plan. She would need some sort of bait to get the animal close enough for her to net its muzzle, and from there, theoretically, she could kill it with the knife. Felicity was weak when it came to upper body strength, however, so she would need someone to hold the animal as she killed it.
She turned to look at Huan expectantly, and spoke, "Will you help me?"
"What's your plan?" He asked, gruff and sceptical, but interested.
"We're going to catch one of these suckers."