1 A Sunken City

Felix smelled the salty sea air from the stern of the ship as a cool breeze washed over his face. He looked over the cool blue water at the neighboring city, wondering if he would ever go there. Sometimes he thought about jumping overboard and swimming there, but he knew he would never make it. The distance was deceptively far.

Felix looked down and saw fish swimming in and out of the ruins of half-sunken buildings, their perimeters now home to all manner of sea life. The tops of the buildings housed fishermen from all different cities, out to get the day's catches so they could feed the city. Down, far below the surface of the water, scavengers searched for remnants of transportation and any metal object they could find. The metal for melting down and using to build things and the transportation to power the ships.

Felix often wondered what it would be like to be a scavenger, having to dive deep down to find items that help the cities. Would it be frightening, or would he get some kind of thrill out of it? He imagined that it would be fascinating to see how people lived in the days before The Flood. Seeing how they went around, driving cars and bicycles, and riding trains and busses. Or seeing how they worked. That's what the buildings used to be for, Felix guessed.

Another breeze blew towards Felix, and he again looked out at the sea. The sun was setting, painting the sky and the water its light touched a pastel orange color. Long shadows cast by the rails of the stern covered the deck of the ship. Felix felt the temperature begin to drop as the sun sank lower and lower into the horizon. It would change fully to night soon.

There was hardly a cloud in the sky as the last rays of sun dipped behind the horizon and Felix felt as if he could just stand on the stern of the ship for hours, looking at the moon. But he couldn't. He had to go inside soon, his brother, Christian, would begin to worry soon.

With that, Felix stepped down from the deck of the ship and headed for the door to the residential zone, giving the moon one last look as he did so. He made his way to his and his brother's living quarters, where, as expected, his brother was waiting for him.

"Watching the sunset again?" Christian asked.

"I can't help it. It's just so… mesmerizing," Felix replied.

"Hmm… maybe I should go out with you sometime, and we could watch the sunset together. But only if you get your homework done first!" Christian said, laughing.

"Yes. I would like that. I don't think you get outside enough anymore, you're always busy with work," Felix replied, "Anyways, I should go to bed. Good night, Christian."

"Goodnight Felix."

Felix changed into his pyjamas and went into his room to go to bed, still mesmerized by the moon shining outside his window. He got into bed and layed there, letting the gentle rocking of the ship lull him to sleep.

The next morning, Felix found Christian, already out of bed and dressed, eating breakfast at the kitchen table. Felix often wondered how Christian had the strength to get up so early and still seem perfectly normal. It was as if he had a superpower that allowed him to give himself energy to be awake even early in the morning.

"Morning, Felix," Christian said, just noticing Felix. "There's eggs and bacon on the counter, if you want some."

Felix was glad that there wasn't just the same grilled salmon or trout that was usually on the table, as even though bacon and eggs were a usual breakfast for people before The Flood, as Felix's history teacher had taught him, after The Flood, the only livestock left were the few farm animals and vegetables that the farmers had put on the ships, making foods like red meat and eggs hard to come by. That's why most of the diet now was fish and kelp. So it was a surprise for Felix when he saw bacon and eggs on the kitchen counter.

"Surprised, huh?" Christian said, seeing Felix's surprised face. "I got my paycheck yesterday, so I decided to do something nice and get some bacon and a carton of eggs. Don't get used to it, though! Those were expensive."

"I'm not complaining," Felix replied as he sat down to eat. It was delicious. After eating regular fish and sea plants for the past month, the taste of anything different was amazing.

Felix looked at the clock on the wall. 7:25. He had to get finished with breakfast and get dressed soon so he could make it to school. The education zone wasn't too far away but when everyone is trying to get there from the residential zone at once, it's nearly impossible to get to school on time.

Felix finished his breakfast, got dressed, and headed out the door to go to the education zone. As he took his seat in the giant classroom with the few other people that were there, he was suddenly thrust out of his seat and knocked to the ground. He saw the lights go out for a split second, then come back on. A voice came over the loudspeaker on the wall that the ship was experiencing some rough currents and that it might be a bit rocky for a while.

Everyone got back to their seats, picked up their items, and waited for class to begin. The ship was still rocking more than usual so everyone had to hold onto the things they had on their desks. At 7:45, class began and all of the students were, as usual, split into their different grade levels. Felix went with his 8th grade group into the classroom where the teacher was already waiting for them. Everyone took their seats, with the teacher waiting for the few stragglers who got to class late, and class began.

School was the same as usual with the difference that every once in a while the ship would rock violently so everyone had to stop what they were doing so they could prevent all of their stuff from falling off the desks. Before Felix knew it, the day was over and he was headed to his residence. On the way there, his friend Matt caught up to him and started chatting.

"Hey, Felix," Matt said.

"Hey, Matt," Felix replied.

"Dude, today, the rocking of the boat was so fierce that I literally taped my pencil pouch to my desk so that it wouldn't fall off. It was crazy, man. Do you think that the ship will, like, flip over or something? That would be crazy."

Felix wasn't sure how him and Matt even became friends. One day, Matt just randomly came up to him and started talking. To Felix, Matt seemed like the result of a junkie and a surfer guy having a child. But Matt's weird personality was what made them friends. Without it, Matt just wouldn't be the same.

The two of them reached their homes and said goodbye.

Suddenly, Felix was thrown against the wall by some unknown force. He saw Matt on the ground down the hall and further on, more people attempting to get up. But before they could do so, the ship rocked again and everyone was knocked down. From inside his home, Felix could hear crashing and Christian cursing as he fell over. This turbulence was stronger than before, and worried Felix. Things like this had happened before, but none of the times had been so strong. Felix could see through the window in the door at the end of the hall and could see that it was hailing outside. He heard each ball of hail strike the top of the ship. The lights flickered then went out, submerging the ship in darkness. Another wave, stronger than the last two thrust Felix against the door of his home, his head banging against the wall.

Felix's vision went blurry and the noises around him became fainter, until he heard nothing but silence and his vision went black.