[ WP ] A fleet of massive and empty naval vessels washes up on a desolate beach . You and a friend find them .

On the jet-black beach that borders the crumbling ruins of Portland, Oregon, an avalanche of metal arrives. Cruisers, Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers, and a menagerie of metal monstrosities crash into one another, flung into the beach by an oil-slicked rogue wave. 
 
 The boats explode like fragmentation grenades, the sheer forces involved blasting apart oxidized layers of steel and titanium. Pieces of metal, plastic, and glass fly out in parabolic arcs, impacting trees and sand-dunes with the force of cannonballs. 
 
 A computer monitor, torn from its console and flung hundreds of feet into the air, comes to rest in the fire-pit of a nearby village. 
 
 Seated around the fire are three filthy, soot-covered humans. One is an old man, his eyes sunken and flesh wrinkled. The other two are younger, a male and a female. They are all clothed in tattered scraps of fur and leaves, the hair of the younger humans has become matted together into thick, bug-infested locks. 
 
 As the computer monitor lands in the fire, the coals burst outward, prompting the humans to leap backwards in defense. The old man, unable to move as quickly as the younger two, is covered in the red-hot embers which then proceed to ignite his clothing. He writhes as the flames spread across his body. He lets out a wordless scream, a pained acceptance of his horrible fate. 
 
 The younger humans can only stand and watch. Attempting to douse him with water would only make things worse. Water is flammable these days. Black, oily, and flammable. 
 
 Eventually the man stops screaming. Since he had been drinking from the contaminated water, his digestive tract had burned at a much higher temperature than the rest of him. It is an ugly scene, so the younger humans decide to leave. 
 
 Shortly before the computer monitor had landed in the fire and killed the old man, they had heard thunder. It was more powerful than any thunder they had felt before, shaking the ground and lasting several minutes. It also seemed to come from the direction of the beach, rather than overhead. 
 
 So the young humans, their innate curiosity getting the better of them, make their way through the woods and onto the beach. As they push through the thickets of leaves and branches, they are greeted by an astonishing sight. A mountain had formed on the beach. A mountain of metal. 
 
 `` What is it?'' the female says. 
 
 `` I do not know.'' the male says. 
 
 The two stand and stare at the mountain, struggling to understand. 
 
 `` Old man would know.'' says the female, finally tearing her eyes from the tangle of hulls and decks looming before her. 
 
 `` Old man would know, yes. But he is dead.'' says the male, frowning. 
 
 At that moment, the sky opens up and lets loose a shower of oily, black rain. Shrugging, the female human starts walking towards the pile of naval vessels. She looks back at the male and waves him forward. 
 
 `` Maybe food inside! Maybe blue water! Maybe another old man!'' says the female. 
 
 The male human follows the female, and the two climb through a ragged gap in the hull. 
 
 They immediately find themselves in a dark metal room. The male trips over an obstacle and falls to the ground. Getting back up, the male human inspects the obstacle. It is a body. A human body. Dried-out, it's mouth agape in a scream. 
 
 It was n't an old man. It was n't blue water. It certainly was n't food. It was a dead sailor. A dead sailor aboard a ship full of ghosts, washed ashore by a dead sea. 
 
 
 
 
 

