“There’s one in Argentina, another one in Florida, I heard about a few in Canada but I’ve never been there” Arthur list a few locations on the top of his mind.

  They perched on top of another old lighthouse that stands higher than the rest.

  “You can’t be serious” Lisa shakes her head “You’ve been to safezone twice. You could be safe behind a wall drinking as much beer as you could get, why are you out here?” She asks.

  “They ran out of beer” said Arthur.

  Lisa stares in silence, shaking her head in disapproval “Is there any chance you could lead me to a safezone?” she asks.

  “Yeah, we can go to Florida”

  “You just want to see Miami beach, Argentina is easier we can just sail all the way there”

  “Well we can, but I can’t sail shit.” Said Arthur “Also I’ll probably get shot as a deserter”

  “I guess Florida is our only option” sighed Lisa “I always wanted to visit Argentina, it’s a shame” she adds.

  “Yeah, a little thing about Argentina– they went full dictator” said Arthur “So it’s best to avoid that place”

  The two converse on their method of getting to Florida, Arthur tries to talk about the few safe zones in Canada but Lisa brushes it off saying she doesn’t want to act upon information based on hearsay and she later adds that she hates the cold.

  “How did you get all the way here from Florida?” Asked Lisa.

  “I walked”

  Impressed she taps Arthur on the back while giving a thumbs up, she’s happy that there’s a clear goal in front rather than wandering aimlessly from town to town.

  Their conversation was stopped short when Lisa spots something heading their way, a “Pretty boy” according to her.

  “Lisa, my sister in Jesus. Pretty boys are not real, it’s a government conspiracy to turn redhead lesbians like yourself into proper tax paying women” Arthur says while scoping the direction Lisa is scoping at, “oh wow, that is a pretty boy.” Arthur turns to see said redhead lesbian looking back at him arms crossed and with a smug look of victory.

  “You were saying?” she says.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “I’m sorry I doubted you, I’ll try my best not to do it again” said Arthur with an unapologetic tone, “Okay can we mug him?” He returns to finding the pretty boy who’s currently looking up at the two.

  Another cracker, thought Arthur. Same as Lisa he wears professional attire, armed with a machete and armored with kevlar pads, the pretty boy is near and approaching. He stops at the stops near the lighthouse, waving for attention. Arthur notices a patch on the pretty boy’s shoulder, his eyes focused in an attempt to identify it.

  “White skull anchor on a black canvas, I feel like I’ve seen that before” Arthur describes, “Your pretty boy looks dangerous, I don’t think we can mug him” he jokes.

  “He looks like a normal white dude to me?” Joked Lisa.

  “I think he wants in. I’m gonna go down, see if he’s cool” said Arthur.

  Lisa is hesitant toward the idea of meeting an armed stranger but Arthur states that every survivor is an armed stranger, Arthur then proclaims his ability to judge character and that he could see a red flag from miles away to which Lisa doubts.

  Arthur heads down and Lisa follows, at the nearest door they exchange awkward stares and awkward ‘whats?’. Arthur inquires for Lisa’s intentions to which she states that she’s concerned for his safety. At the foot of the lighthouse they meet, Arthur introduces himself and Lisa and the pretty boy does the same. Oscar is his name, he says he’s only wandering the ghost towns and would appreciate a few companions.

  Both see the innocent nervousness in Oscar’s eyes, the kind one might feel when trying to talk to strangers. Arthur and Lisa felt nothing off as they conversed he’s similar to a new guy trying to fit in reserved, awkward, alert.

  “That patch, where’s it from?” Inquired Arthur.

  “White Whales, any chance you’ve heard of us?” Oscar responds.

  “It sounds familiar. Also that patch, I don’t see any whales on that patch” said Arthur.

  “Yeah, apparently it’s hard to design a patch around a whale and skull without it looking goofy, so one of them has to go” explained Oscar.

  “White whales, white whales, white whales” Arthur mumbles in deep thought “Ah! Moby Dick! The white whale that protects the other regular whales, now I remember” he says.

  “Yeah that’s us”

  “I heard these guys think they’re the second coming of christ, almost all the members have extreme cases of Messiah complex” Arthur whispers to Lisa.

  Lisa noticed that Oscar could hear every word so she silences Arthur with a firm elbow.

  Because of Arthur’s loud mouth the productive conversation became a mexican standoff of awkward stares, Lisa fakes a loud cough before sending Arthur a message by jabbing her elbow into his rib.

  After recieving the painful telegram Arthur tries to change the subject, “Maybe if you make the skull bigger and have the whale curve around it like a crescent moon or something, because I heard you guys mostly operate at night and I thought it might fit” said Arthur.

  “Yeah… that sounds like a good design, I’ll try to talk about it to –You know, The people upstairs?” Said Oscar. “Anyway would it be okay if I tagged alpng with you two? It’s really hard staying alive when you’re on your own” he says.

  “One question, I heard White whales operate in teams. What happened to yours?” Asked Arthur.

  At first Oscar hesitates to answer but he knows keeping everything to himself might lead to rejection so he takes a deep breath and explains “It’s a funny story and also a long story but to keep it short you can say that my team forgot I was with them… yeah they left me behind and didn’t even bother coming back to find me” he looks away seemingly embarrassed at his predicament.

  Arthur leans in to have a closer look at Oscar’s face, studies his effeminate feature and pretty hazel eyes “Enough to make a mormon gay” he thinks out loud.

  Lisa covers her face as she tries to shake off her secondhand embarrassment, Oscar stares in disbelief weirded out by Arthur’s description.

  “I don’t get it, how do people forget they have a pretty boy among them?” Questioned Arthur.

  Oscar was insecure about being called a pretty boy but that’s the least of his worries, at the moment he felt like if he answers incorrectly he’ll lose out on a chance to travel with a group.

  Lisa steps in saying “You don’t have to answer that, you can come with us” she pulls Arthur close in an effort to control him.

  “Are you sure?” Asked Oscar.

  “I’m not against the idea” said Lisa.

  Both looked over to Arthur waiting for his approval, his eyes looked switched between the two before answering.

  “Yeah I’m also cool with it but if people see that patch we might find ourselves in hot water” said Arthur.

  Oscar tears out the patch and throws it out to sea lacking any attatchment to its cause and whatever it meant, Arthur smiles and nods in approval.

  “We’re going all the way to Florida, are you sure you wanna come along?” Arthur asks.

  “Anyone interested in Miami Beach?” Oscar asks.

  “Yeah, this guy” Lisa points at Arthur who’s nodding his head.

  “Anyway, we met new friends. We should go find a bar and celebrate” Arthur proposes.