Interviewed By Clint O'Hare

(A young man, 30 years old, stands from his sailboat in Buffalo, now rebuilt)

(He has a 23-foot sailboat, now named the Lord of Buffalo)

You escaped from Buffalo. How did you escape?

(He shrugs his arms. He is around 6 foot 6 and built like a twig. He has dark black hair, and blue eyes, making him look like an alternate version of a superhero. He also has high cheekbones and almond eyes.)

We were magicians. as you know. My dad told me to take the sailboat, that he was planning to use as a liveaboard. I used to use it for racing across the Great Lakes. He told me to sail north. He left on the car that he owned. We already had more supplies than the average refugee. I carried 230 tinned cans, a fishing kit, wood, an AR-15 with a year's worth of bullets, and it already had solar panels. We also added a heater on the stove.

(He shrugs his arms. He has a lean, scrawny appearance, showing the toll of living in a small "Blue Zone" against the Sho-Amoth)

I sailed through Lake Erie. I was kinda surprised at the lack of boats. You would expect a lot more boats in the area with the evacuation north. We had many people on the road. Nobody had the idea of going to the sea, even if it was said that it was where the Sho-Amoth died and drowned.

(His eyes are shadowed and hollow, making him look like a ghost)

By the time, I arrived at Wasaga, it was around August. I also met Paul Waldameer, the former German ambassador to Canada before the war. We also met Paul Neumann, and Barrett and his family at Honey Harbor, leading us to be a flotilla, looking for an anchor port with land, wood, and areas to put in greenhouses. I was a competitive sailor, and an aerospace engineer, Paul was an electrical one, and Barrett was a doctor and had knowledge of how to hunt and farm in the wilderness. I also was an avid hunter, who grew up on a farm in Orchard Park.

(The photo shows a painfully thin young man around 18-20 wearing a parka that looked 2 sizes big for him and combat boots, on a sailboat)

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

When we arrived at Point-Au-Baril and Parry Sound, we met Javier Hernandez and Natalia Guiterrez. They sailed from Cancun on a small fishing trawler that Javier owned. Most of Mexico was already attacked and destroyed. I had some experience in Spanish, and they spoke some English leading it to be easier than expected for the communication barrier.

(A wrinkled photo of a brown couple and Pavel is shown. They're seen going fishing on the trawler and the Lady Maria, the same sailboat with all the survival modifications.)

When we arrived at our anchor bay, in Lake Superior, near Duluth, since we knew we were somewhat close to the military bases, it was still August. I and Paul both built our greenhouses for the spring and set up all of our communications for Government and Local announcements. Javier and Barrett, I never knew his first name manned the narrowboats that they both used, right on the cliffs and the little island we had. That island was the most scenic I ever saw.

(A young man, shirtless and bony yet muscular is shown. )

How did you survive the winter? We hear about refugees up north just dying due to the cold and the bad conditions.

We did this by teaming up, we shared firewood, and raiding the shoreside town. Most left to go up north. The town was deserted, like for hell's sake, until the military arrived, most went norther than us. We were lucky that most of our boats were cruising sailboats with electric heaters and solar panels. You hear about refugees freezing or dying in the camps up north. We still rationed, as seen by the photos. We fished a lot since we were docked near a beach. The old trawler ran on steam and wood, leading to us not worrying about the fuel problem.

I swear we lost about 20 lbs during that winter.

(A wrinkled photo of a young man and a fish is being shown)

We got raided by a few stragglers in the spring. I shot them with my magic sword. By then, the military built a small base near us. The aliens were still attacking the coastal cities, swarming most of the East Coast. I listened to the radio every night. I started working on the farm/gardens. We were also able to get some rabbits for food and companionship. Javier went off to raid that day.

(A box of ashes is being shown)

He never came back that sunny day. We did a manhunt on the boat, looking for him. Paul sailed him to shore, I sailed mine to the bays. He took a small dinghy to the islands nearby for fishing, we assumed. We then saw a small sailboat, the same size as Paul's, a Catalina 27 (1), and asked them to help us search for Javier. We searched day and night for him, looking for him alive or dead. We never found his corpse until later, when they found his bare remains in an alien fortress on the East Coast. He was just a man from Cancun, who always loved the water, like all of us. I never saw him again.

Later that year, we were tasked to become part of the Merchant Marine. I took my 54 ft sailboat to Duluth to scout the areas.

(1) Catalina is a model of a sailboat brand, mainly used for cruising