“First day of the cruise. Ocean-side already? You wasted all that money, Nahlia.”

I was a little bummed out. I breath in the salty air and tug the railing of the ship a little unsure of myself. It was a smaller ship, but it was nice to leave Cepertine. No violence for me. I didn't want to push any more gunmetal away from Tayt's or Ned's face. It was just part of my life now. Things were peaceful. The bay side is where Tayt and I met. I just wanted to remember the excitement of life, before all the bills. I close my eyes and open them again.

The red sunlight was dabbing at the sky in pinks and yellows. Clouds were moving across the Cepertine shoreline, like they always did, before the invading mist of the new season. When the wet season was over it would get muggy and eventually drier. In the distance, I watch the Cepertine waves lap around an algae covered pier. I could even spot the sea-growth that found refuge beneath its wood planks, releasing small bubbles for all to see,

I peer deeper into the city. The caustic air was sticky around me. It pretty much loitered around all the houses and neighborhoods that lined the beach. Each house was like its own compartment, hiding away the precious air-conditioning contained within.

At one such house, curtains move like dresses touch near the ground and reaching upward to the hologram projectors near their tops. The faint noises of an umbrella table on the roof waver back and forth, and for a while, the light-blue paneling of the house remains in perfect contrast with the sky.

“Hey that's your house.” says Tayt with a point.

“Ya. It kind of is,” I say with an calm attitude.

I give take a look and walk away from the railing.

I take a seat at one of the benches with James and sulk my posture. Tayt joins us on the other side of James. I take a long look down the bench at my friends. I didn't want them get the wrong idea. I was still enjoying the ocean part of cruise. I just wanted a bay fish and got stuck with a sardine.

“Hey, Tayt,” My eyes light up. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“I don't want to remember,” says Tayt kicking his feet out.

That was the day Ned Fexhan pushed him over the railing on our field trip. Tayt decided it was a good idea to grab me and pull me over the railing with him. I had a flower in my hair like all female Neandelerians and had to buy a new one. Tayt really hated ground dwellers back then.

“Can you do that memory transfer thing with your possessor soul, thing?”

“No way. I'm not doing that,” replies Tayt.

I try to instigate Tayt with a smile and a poke. He looks at me before grabbing my finger and giving it a twist.

“Ow.” I was a little aggravated, but James juts in.

“Hey Hey. I'm trying to enjoy my free cruise. Stop reaching across my body, Nahlia.”

“So, it's two against one now,” I add calmly.

James looks at me with his two different colored contact lenses. No one really says anything.

“Orange and blue today. Nice.”

I push my legs out like Tayt and we both shake the bench a lot. It had a lose nail and it was irritating James. Tayt and I look at each other and smile. We keep doing it and I hum a tune to myself. My humming grows louder and louder. I could have been cross-eyed. I don't know. The noise kept getting louder. Suddenly, James stands up.

“Oh no. Oh no. This can't be happening.”

Tayt an I look at the horizon as an air siren groans into action. The Caparans were coming! We were the hunting grounds. I hear distant anti-air gunfire from the city. Lot of shots within the profit margins. A black cloud of killers was joining the sunset. It was a raiding party and they were headed straight at us!

The three of run to get to our room. A cloud of flying killers descends on our ship.

I run across the deck of the ship. I look behind me as knee-blade drives a line down the ship, cutting the backs of those behind me with sickening swipes. Others fall in line efficiently, swooping in and throwing others into the ocean. Scary splashes surround me, as people jump in desperation. I hear a sharp whistle as the ship guards run to the armory and start peppering the sky with their machine guns. Bodies fall form the sky. I slip on the deck as I make it to the crowded door. There was blood.

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“Tayt!” I shout with worry.

“I'm right here!,” says James. He was pulling Tayt along and running back for his machine gun. It was still in our room. I hear shouting as we turn the corner. The entrance to get downstairs was saturated. Another group of flying killers make their rounds. They hover before diving in. Some shooting us down, before their knee-blades come diving in. Our boat and everything that belonged on it was theirs. We were just the body shield and slaves to count when the raid was over. I shove at the bodies, before James grabs us by our shirts.

“The other entrance,” he shouts at us.

The three of us run across the deck. I almost slip, but Tayt yanks me into balance. Just as we reach the bow of the ship, one of the killers lands in front of us. He was their leader.

“This all belongs to, Luer. It all belongs to me,” he grins wildly.

Luer steps forward as more of his personal bodyguards land behind us. Others were trapped along with us within the circle of armored bodies.

Luer was starting his slave count. That's what we learned in history class or whatever. Luer rips the bargain sunglasses from the top of my head and keeps them for himself. He looks at me and points. I'm immediately grabbed and pulled aside. Luer goes down the list pointing.

“Brothel bitch.”

“Not good enough for anything”

“Target practice hoe.”

I look at the two girls behind me. They start crying. None of us understood what Luer was saying, but it couldn't be good. Luer continues pointing at Tayt, then James.

“Labor tents.”

“Target practice.”

I watch as Tayt and James are separated and held back. Rifles and guns are pointed at them as they stumble and try to resist. I hear a shout.

“Nahlia!” I look over quickly at Tayt. I look frantically at Luer and James. James was scared. He had even peed his pants. He had lived through this before. He knew how bad it was when the Caparan king died and unleashed his madness on the world. I felt bad for him. I didn't know what to do.

“Nahlia. Don't let them take you!,” screams Tayt.

“I'm not. I can't help it, Tayt!”

The sound of jet-packs, violence, and screaming was all around. I could still hear knee-blades ripping through those that didn't make it downstairs to safety. My pupils seemed to enlarge with the growing sounds of fear. Suddenly, one of the Caparans grabs the jungle flower in my hair, in the middle of the flowering part of my hair style. He hands it to Luer, who takes a long sniff and says something to the others. They laugh, as I watch them smack James a few times as if he was target practice.

“Why was no one helping us? Where are our people?”

The Neandelerian companies really didn't care. We were just the worthless slave-wagers of a giant profit-driven machine. Tayt hated the Neandelerian companies. Hopefully, the sea merchants would send someone. I thought about the time when the ancient nobles and their double-bladed battle axes stood up for us Neandelerians. I wished the same spirit was still alive today.

Suddenly, several flying crafts enter the sky. It was the Cepertine mercenary company!

“Oh my God. The try it before you buy it force, is here!”

Cepertine mercenaries always killed everything first and asked for effort-based donations after it was over. Yeah, we're stupid like that.

A rush of happiness exploits my senses as I look up into the colored sky.

Far above me, several Neandelerian mercenaries rappel down a multitude of ropes. Some jump and let their armor take the shock. They land directly onto the ship, blasting away at the Caparans around and below them. Screams follow and the hiss of rockets shred the walls into flames. I duck under the flying splinters and manage to find Tayt and James. We grab each others' hands before crawling away from the battle.

Gunshots fill the sky like flashing stars, under an army of heavy armor and FauX logos. Double-headed battle axes are pulled from backs and swung like a spiteful middle finger to the invading foreigners. With cold fear, the Caparans stumble around and start to make a hasty retreat off the ship. Others move to help their kin in the sky, as submersible craft surface, and more mercenaries join the fight.

Nearby, the ship building shatters into a plume of smoke and rockets tear at my ears. Glass spreads out like a million lost teeth. Every line of bullets causes me to duck lower as I crawl to safety.

When I reach the entrance to the decks below, I push myself against a wall. I wait for Tayt and James to reach me. I grab another girl and pull her toward me as we all try to survive. I was scared to death for everyone.

I listen to the static voices that scream an efficient form of military slang. I watch Neandelerians and Caparans make mincemeat out of each other. I see slicing knee-blades slash and get caught on body armor, while wounded soldiers fall down to their knees with mashing triggers. Just as I think it's safe, machine guns tear through a Caparan near me, who had swooped in for one last kill. I gasp, as everything becomes louder, then quieter. Seconds later, I tumble down the stairs with the others.

“Oh no, Tayt!”

James had some bruises, but Tayt had a cut up his back. I take another look. It wasn't that bad, but his shirt died. I was glad we were all alive.

“Stupid Caparans.” exhales Tayt. He grabs my hand looks at my hair. “Flower sniffing idiot.” Jungle flowers were expensive. Not all the booths that littered Cepertine had the good ones. I was big business. Tayt had bought mine for me to make the day special. I think he was just upset someone tried to take me away. I was his best friend.

I look over at James. He swallows. I think he was still in a daze.

Everyone suffered when the Caparans came. At least we could protect ourselves in Cepertine. I would hate to be on the other side of the world.