There was nothing very special about our group, except that we were survivors. There are always a few, no matter how big the bomb.

Fleeing the skirts of Miami crater two days after the blast, we got as far north as Orlando. We lost quite a few of us along the way as society unravelled around us and hordes of starving people focussed on our well-supplied caravan. Were we fighting through literal zombie hordes? No, but it surely felt like it. 

About a dozen of us were now holed up at Seaworld, living off the aquarium inhabitants that hadn’t eaten each other yet. We’d eaten most of the predators first to keep some fresh meat for ourselves. One, we hadn’t touched yet–Shamu 102, who was one of the few orcas left from when Seaworld had not only resumed orca shows, but orca gladiator-style fighting as well. This one was female, and she would probably last as long as the automated systems kept her alive in her tank, unless we got very hungry before then. We were still figuring out how to put her down with minimal waste of our limited ammo. 

Today, we were sitting alongside her tank and shooting the shit when Chessie strode up, arms covered in gun grease, saying, “Okay, who brought this in here?” She waved a coverless copy of the [i]Manthuic Records [/i]before us. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Most of us found something else to look at for a bit, but Jenvlek finally sighed and reached out for it.

“Jenvlek?” Chessie raised her eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you buy this crap.”

“A man’s gotta have hopes,” he said. He tore a strip from a blank page at the back and started rolling some nameless ash up in it. It took him a minute to light it so it would stay lit.

“What book is that?” asked Itsuki in the meantime. “Is it one of those Left Behind knockoffs?”

“Started off as fiction, then the author started to believe it herself and rebranded it as a prophecy,” I said. “Summary: space aliens are real, and they’re going to help us if we fuck up, but they can’t or won’t help [i]all[/i] humanity. Only ‘the most downtrodden race’–direct quote–will be lifted up into the heavens by the Angeliens. The rest of us get to eat our own shit and die.”

“That’s a real cynical way to sum it all up,” said Jenvlek amid wisps of smoke, but not refuting anything I’d said. “But if the mashiach is coming at any point, might as well be now and might as well be a little green alien. And if we’re going for downtrodden, it can take up the Jews, no question.”

“Oh? Despite Israel being its own wealthy country? And what about the people Israel steps on all the time?” said Itsuki. “If you want downtrodden, for a hundred years there was only one country that ever had nuclear weapons dropped on its civilians.”

“Guys, let’s not go here [i]again[/i],” said Chessie, massaging her forehead. “Seriously, every group of humans in history has had times when they weren’t the top monkeys. We’ve basically beaten each other into civilization. It fucking hurt most of the time, but it’s how we got here. Anyway, if you want [i]downtrodden[/i], try women. Ever since primates evolved, we’ve gotten the short end of the stick–”

“Shit,” said Janvlek. He was staring into the sky and shaking. “It’s happening now. [i]Right now![/i]”

“Dude, stop fucking around,” said Chessie, but we could already see the gleaming rays descending around us in the distance. Fuck, it [i]was[/i] really happening!

One beam lanced down towards us, and swung back and forth in our midst as it sought its subject, just enough time for each of us to fan our hopes alive.

And then it found Shamu 102’s tank, and she ascended into the air in a sphere of water, swirling and dancing like a betta freed from her measly little glass.

She wasn’t alone. Away in the distance, millions of others rose from the ocean in distant sparkles, all the world’s cetaceans sailing up in beams of light.

As Shamu 102 drifted up into the sky, her tail protruded from the bubble and stood upright, facing our way, orange in the sun’s rays, as we all sank to our knees in despair. 

Was it a “So long and thanks” gesture? 

Was it a wave of farewell?

Or was she just flipping us the fluke?