After the Flood

The world didn’t end with war or viruses or alien invasion. There was no fires and brimstone, or the arrival of four horsemen announcing certain doom, as the world simply ended in water – major earthquakes under the oceans caused the tectonic plates to sink and the oceans to rise. Coastal cities sank in minutes, mainland suck in hours, while those lucky enough to live on the higher regions had days. Still, humanity stood no chance in surviving.

For Joan Brooks, she had been lucky. Her family had lived high, and her father had bought a fancy boat in a midlife crisis. They had made fun of him for it, but when their home sunk around them, the boat had been a godsend. Ironically, and tragically, her father hadn’t made it, though – he had died when the oceans came, saving both his own wife and daughter’s lives.

Joan had barely been a teenager at the time, so most of her life had been spent on the water. Recently she known that parts of the oceans had receded, land having risen or been formed from underwater volcanic eruptions, so there were some islands, but not enough land for everyone who had survived; what was left of the human race was still living on the water.

Joan was alone these days – or as alone as one could be with animals as her best friends as she heard the hissing of her cat and the playful barking of her elderly dog below deck.

“Hey guys!” Joan called to her cat and dog, knowing she needed to head down with the bucket of rainwater anyway – rain being one of the only sources of fresh water available. “What are you two doing?” Joan had paused at seeing the two animals she had had since the waters had come and went to grabbed what the animals had been playing with to see it was a heart shaped locket. The locket had belonged to her mother. Joan was shocked at its appearance.

“Where on earth did you find this…?” Joan breathed as the cat now pawed at her, the dog whining apologetically.

Her mom had died several years ago, having had become really sick, fast, and with medical care nonexistent these days, there was very little Joan could do. Her mother had died, leaving Joan to bury her at sea and with no one but the cat and dog as company. These days though, Joan had to admit she was happy to have just the animals. They were the only companions she had, and she’d never been that good at human contact before anyway.

Joan looked at the locket. She had thought she lost this a long time ago. Opening it, she saw the picture of her and her mother; it was faded and old now, but still eligible and she had to smile at it. She slowly took the necklace and placed it around her neck – it took her a couple of times to get it clipped, but when she was done, she put her hand on it now placed on her chest. It made her feel closer to her mom once again.

“Good girls. I’ll toss you some of the catch later,” Joan told the animals. She spent most of her time fishing – aquatic life being one of the only sources of food available, even if she needed an extra-long fishing line, which she had been lucky enough to acquire through a wrecked boat several years ago

About to head back on deck, Joan heard a noise from above and she figured she had company.

Most of humanity had become a peaceful nomadic race since the lands sunk; sailing the waters looking for ways to survive, but there was always those who chose a non-peaceful path. The pirates, as they were called, raided ships, stole, and did what they wanted – not even caring about the lives of anyone else. She had to watch out for these, and they were the reason why Joan now grabbed the gun she had. She didn’t have many bullets, but if these were pirates, she had to defend of what was hers. Thankfully, she had only run across pirates once, but barely escaped and had lost quite a few supplies that time.

Now, as she came on deck, she noticed the other boat near where hers was anchored and a boy, about her age, was on the deck. When he spotted her, a big grin came across his face and he waved. Joan tried not to smile back but instinctively part of her knew this was no pirate. She didn’t think a pirate would smile at their victim.

“Hey there, is this your boat?” the boy called out.

“Obviously,” Joan said cautiously, still holding the gun up. “What’s it to you?”

“No need for that. We come in peace,” the boy replied, holding up his hands and eyeing the barrel of the weapon.

“We?” Joan asked, noticing the word right away.

“Yes, we,” another person appeared on the deck. He was obviously not related to the first person from the way he looked – it was strange for non-families to be out together, but not unheard of. “As my friend here said, we mean you no harm. I’m Billy and this is John. Our boat took some damage and we’ve been repairing it. When we saw yours, we were hoping you might have some extra supplies you might be willing to part with…?”

“I might,” Joan said cautiously, lowering her gun so she wasn’t pointing it at them. She didn’t feel the two meant any harm, but she kept hold of it just in case. “What are you offering for it?” Joan did have some supplies below deck. It might seem mean to not help them, but in this new world she knew to never give anything away unless you had something in return. Trading was the only form of currency in human society now.

Billy didn’t answer in words but instead presented sack and took something out of it. He tossed it to Joan, who barely caught the rounded object. For a second, she thought it was a ball but then she noticed it was an apple. She hadn’t seen an apple in a long time. She herself once had a little garden with some vegetable she could grow, but no fruit.

“Where on earth did you get fruit?” Joan asked, shocked.

“There’s a little island south of here. A family has claimed it as their home. They had kept fruit seeds preserved since the flood and they now have several trees,” Billy explained. “We managed to trade with them. We are willing to give you some in exchange for supplies.”

The chance to have some fruit again was too good an opportunity to miss.

“John may come aboard,” Joan called, and John easily went from his boat to hers, both vessels now side-by-side. “What are you looking for?” Joan asked, still holding the apple.

“Just some boards, some nails. We need to patch a leak,” John explained as Joan lead him to where she kept the supplies, a separate part of the boat to where her animals were.

“Like these?” Joan asked, presenting some salvaged boards to the boy. They still had nails in them from the same shipwreck she had got her fishing line from years before.

“Just like these,” John smiled.

“Got a hammer?” Joan asked, looking at the boy now.

“Of course,” John smirked, now taking some of the boards before they headed back to the deck. He lifted what he had to show Billy, who gave a nod and then tossed a sack onto Joan’s deck. “Some apples and pears. We’ve had them for a few days so might want to eat them before they go bad,” Billy stated, and Joan knew what she was having for dinner that night with her animals.

“Nice doing business with you,” Joan said.

“Yeah, same to you. Where are you heading anyway?” John asked as he got himself and the supplies back on his boat. “Or are you just sailing the waters like so many?”

Joan wasn’t used to small talk – very few people cared to chat anymore, and her cat and dog weren’t exactly up for a healthy discussion on life, but she could understand why John might want to. It was lonely in the world these days.

“I’m probably going to head south before it gets colder up here. See if any new landmasses came up.” Joan stated, not having really thought about it too much until now. “You?”

“We’re heading west, where California used to be. There’s an arc down there. They have cows and other rare animals on them – only place in the world now you can get milk,” John explained. “I also hear there was a baby born there with gills.”

“Don’t tell me you believe that?” Joan asked, laughing.

“Mother nature and evolution is a crazy thing. We live on a water planet now. Is it so hard to believe we could evolve to live in the water?” John asked.

“It’s only been, what, ten years since the waters rose. I doubt evolution works that fast,” Joan pointed out. “Unless there’s scientific intervention, of course…”

John was about to reply but was saved a response when Billy called out for help with the repairs.

Joan watched as the two patched up their ship while she took stock of what she had received in the trade. She couldn’t help but munch on one of the apples as she watched. It was so juicy and sweet, she’d long since forgotten the taste and, as she ate; memories of her life before the waters seemed to float in front of her mind – happy times with her parents, sneaking bites of apple slices as her mom made apple pies. She smiled at the memories.

She wasn’t sure how long it took before John waved to her to get her attention.

“We’re all good, thanks. Maybe we’ll see each other again?” John called.

“Maybe,” Joan said, but she knew better – even with the human race being down to possibly a few thousand people now, it was rare to run into people commonly. The planet was so big and the waters, vast.

As their boat moved off and got small on the horizon, fading into the setting sun, Joan sat on the deck wondered of her life, of what had been and what could have been, of the life she had lost, and the family she missed. If the lands hadn’t sunk, would she have gone to college? Would she have found a partner, got married and had kids? What would her career have been?

It was getting late, and she would have to move her boat in the morning. While all her instincts said to go south like she planned, part of her now wanted to go west, to follow John and Billy, see about getting milk, maybe see if this baby with gills was real.

She put her hand on the heart shaped locket she was wearing. “What do you say mom? South or west?” Joan asked the locket, as if her mom were really here, and part of her knew what her mom would say: have a little adventure, Joanie. “West it is,” Joan chuckled, moving to raise the anchor, and set the navigation to west.

A barking below made her chuckle as she decided to grab some of the apple and pears left in the sack. She said she’d feed the animals soon and as she hadn’t caught any fish; the fruit would have to do. Maybe she’d use one of these apples to play ball with her dog? Or get her cat to chase it? Life was always interesting on the open seas.