Chapter One

BOOM! Another bomb dropped in Washington D.C.  The usual beautiful city had craters in the ground where the white house had once been.  The green grass had been transformed into rubble. The brisk air had been tinted with fear.
The ground shook as enemy forces took captives. The enemies scurried away from the bombs, and were lifted away in helicopters. All hope was lost for the citizens of America.
¨Allie! No!¨ Alexa yelled at the top of her lungs, as she lunged toward the enemy. She missed his foot by an inch, and he was lifted away with Alexa’s sister.
A silver tear dripped down from Alexa Matry’s eye as she remembered the destruction of her country and the taking of her beloved sister. It landed on the breaker, in which she was messing with. The breaker sparked when the tears dropped on top of it.
¨Private Matry! Do your job! They can destroy our country, but not our dignity. Stop crying, and that’s an order,” Sgt. Jal screamed from the control room of the submarine.
¨Yessir!¨she replied, wiping her eyes.
Although she was ordered to stop crying, Alexa could not stop the tears from escaping her eyes. She also could not shake the memories of the United States being bombed and destroyed. She had tried to be a better soldier, so that she could possibly save her sister, but alas, every time she thought about finding her sister, she imagined her sister’s corpse. 
Finally, Alexa moved her thoughts back to her duties. Her grey private’s uniform looked even blander than usual against the sub’s grey walls. The badge with the American flag on her shoulder was tattered and cut. Alexa shook her long blonde hair, which was tangled and clashed against her ugly uniform. Tearstained and dirty, her appearance was the epitome of sadness and the loss of dignity she felt. Nothing would ever be the same.
She looked outside the submarine peek hole, and inspected the waters for enemy ships. None. Usually, she would be relieved, but her stomach had began to be queasy. Something seemed suspicious.
¨Sir! No enemies in the water or on the shoreline! Sir!¨ Alexa announced loudly so that Sgt. Jal could hear her from the control center.
¨Thank you soldier,¨ Sgt. Jal saluted Alexa from the doorway to the control room, and Alexa saluted back.
A soldier snickered from the lookout post. Alexa turned her head to see Private Mason laughing at her. His chest shook as he laughed, and his muscles tightened as well.
¨What a baby. Can’t even do ‘er job ‘ight. Sgt. Jal, en’my ship on the shore’ine!¨  Private Mason called in his weird accent.
“I AM NOT A BABY YOU,” Alexa started.
“Ah-em. Private Matry! No language! What about this enemy ship? How fast are they approaching?” Sgt. Jal questioned.
“I was going to say mean man,” muttered Alexa as she looked out the peephole.
“‘Ey are ‘proaching at 75 miles ‘er ‘our. Give or take,” Private Mason continued, but Alexa did not hear the rest.
Alexa ignored the warning bells and sat down, for she has nothing to lose. She instead, shifted her mind to the memories of her sister and her country. As she peered through the glass window of the submarine, she thought of when she and her sister were teenagers.

“LEX! Did you take my sweater? AGAIN?!” Allie had screamed.
“It’s MY sweater for the last time. Besides, I won’t be wearing this ol’ rag anymore anyway. Ya’ know, cause I am joining the army?” replied Alexa.
“Yeah, and so am I. Plus, I will be the boss of you, like always. You can now call me Sergeant Major of the Army.” her sister said proudly.
“Yeah, right.” Alexa had whispered, afraid she might be wrong.

“PRIVATE! Get out of lala land!” as Sgt. Jal said this, all of the privates turned to look at him.
“Matry. Private Matry. The enemy ship is near get ready to aim the missile upward!” he clarified.
Alexa woke up from her distant memory, and grabbed the handles to the missile aim-board. She adjusted its position and signaled the sergeant.
Alexa had realized something. She no longer cared if this mission failed. She had already messed up. The promise she had once tried to keep had been broken. Her sister had now been held captive and could be dead by now. There was no longer anything to save. Failure had been inevitable. 
“FALSE ALARM! FALSE ALARM!FALSE ALARM!” The speaker blasted. Private Mason had gotten on the microphone and was now shouting these words.
“ABORT MISSION 0189!” Sgt. Jal yelled through the speaker along with Private Mason’s ‘false alarms’.
Alexa disassembled her last duty. As she looked through the window, she saw the crumbling US flag on the bottom of the ship. Even as mossed covered as the flag on the bottom of the ship was, you could still see the stars and stripe peeking out. She took a deep breath in relief. She knew that dying was not an option. Dying never was an option and never is.
She smiled remembering that in her mother’s words, “A life is worth living, even if it seems the opposite.”
Oh how much she missed her family. Always wondering if they had been able to evacuate to Hawaii or Alaska, the only states not bombed, as they had been unknown to the other countries. Oh, well. Life goes on. She could not waste her time missing them. Instead, she understood that she should start saving them and the other million who were not accounted for. It was time. Or maybe it wasn’t...

Chapter 2

Her legs pumped and pumped. She was running on pure adrenaline. She ran to Sgt. Jal’s resting place, AKA the control room.
“Sergeant! I have a question. Um. I don’t know how to put this, but I need to find our country,” she stammered.
“Find our country? Private, I think this water has made you become bonkers.” he replied.
“No, really. I request the lifeboat. Now.” Alexa nervously spoke.
“Now, Private, you know I cannot just give you the lifeboat without a supervisor.”
“Who? You? Ha! This sub is filled with PRIVATES. Who will you send?” chuckled Alexa.
“Private Mason.”
“Sir!” answered Private Mason.
“You will be finding America on  a lifeboat with Private Matry. Pack food and gear.” he told Private Mason.
“Wha’? But sir,” Sgt. Jal  stuttered.
“NO BUTS Private. It was an ORDER not a request. Now go.”
As Sgt. Jal moved over to the steering control area, Private Mason and Alexa retreated to the back room. They had a silent conversation with glares on Mason’s end and smirks on Alexa’s. It went like this, Mason would glare at Alexa, and then Alexa would smirk at Mason. Until she remembered, she didn’t like him either.
“UGH! I cannot believe he chose you of all the privates on this sub. Why?” Alexa ranted.
¨Because I am the smartest and most 'ighly respected private 'ere. Admit it, I am.¨ he replied with a gloating smile.¨
¨If you are, I feel sorry for mankind.¨ snarled Alexa with a fierce look of hate on her face.
¨Ya don't have ta be so mean Private. What crawled up your suit?¨
¨Nothing, you twit.¨
¨Twit? Ha. More like wit.¨
¨My turn to laugh, right? I assume so because you are the king of unwittiness.¨
¨Unwittiness is not a word. Who's the twit now?¨
¨WOULD YOU TWO STOP ALREADY?¨ One of the many other privates yelled furiously.
¨Sorry,¨ Alexa called out, embarrassed.
Private Mason rolled his eyes and announced, “This has to be a joke. We don’t have any ‘ifeboats.”
Sgt. Jal stepped out from behind Private Lin and declared, “Congrats Private Mason and Private Matry. You have figured out that you are both equally stupid enough to try to leave this sub. Get back to your stations.”
Alexa and Private Mason blinked. With a confused expression, Private Mason turned around. Alexa did the same. They both turned to see the rest of the submarine’s soldiers laughing at them. So many pointing of the fingers directed at them. 
“NOW!” Sgt. Jal ordered.
Alexa followed the command and walked to her station with a glum expression. Although, Private Mason stood in the middle of the fingers, frozen in place. No force on Earth could move him from that spot. Alexa looked down, unsure if she should help him or not. She started to press her buttons and ignored the giggles behind her.
Right at that moment, Private Mason  hurried from the circle of privates. He threw himself over to his post, and started typing. BING! A message appeared on Alexa’s screen.
mas92: Good idea you had. Too bad we were the stars of the comedy show today.
lexmat: Thanks? It doesn’t matter. We aren’t even equipped to save others.
mas92: Or are we?
Alexa snuck a look at Private Mason. He was still looking at the computer, which resembled the oldest artifact known to mankind, an Apple laptop. She looked back to her black, scratched up laptop.
mas92: Let’s get some supplies.
lexmat: WHAT? WHERE? WHEN?HOW?
Private Mason pointed to the ship. Alexa nodded and smiled, they could even find some survivors as well as her ticket to heroism.
lexmat: Let’s go.
¨Sergeant Jal!¨ Private Mason called out. ¨We are low on fuels and food. The only option is to raid the ship. What can we do?¨
¨Out of fuels? Already? That’s not possible. We were stocked up enough to launch a million ships.¨
¨Well, I may have unloaded it to make sure we did not reach the maximum weight limit. Oops.¨
¨OOPS?!¨
“We could have died if we reached the maximum weight. Seriously. With all due respect Sergeant Jal, I was thinking about our ‘safety. Please don’t be upset. I’m sure tha ship has some.”
lexmat: This won’t work private.
mas92: wait a sec.
lexmat: uh huh.
“Seeing as it is now our only choice, okay. We could use some more supplies anyway.” Sgt. Jal growled at Private Mason.
The sea of privates lined up in scuba gear. The gear was obviously dusty from barely any use. Alexa dusted off her own dirty gear and stared down on her dark blue flippers. A smile lined her pale lips. The plan was in line.
“Psst! Lex.” someone whispered at her.
She looked around suspiciously, wondering if it was Private Mason. She heard another whisper from the sea of soldiers. It was definitely Private Mason. She jostled through the sea of grey and dark blue. She caught sight of his flailing arms and moved towards him.
¨You sure this will work?¨ questioned Alexa.
¨Definitely,¨ replied Private Mason.
¨So, what’s the plan?¨
¨Glad you asked. We go in with everyone else, and wait to see if there are any people on the ship. After we know that it is all clear, you and I will go to the emergency supply room on the low deck. If we are separated, we will meet there 10 minutes after separation.¨
¨Not a bad plan, Private Mason.¨
¨Why do you call me that?¨
¨Call you what? Private Mason?¨
¨Yeah. I mean, I call you Lex or Alexa, not Private Matry. I thought we weren’t enemies.¨
¨I will answer that when you answer my question.¨
¨And what would that be?¨
¨Why do you not have an accent right now? You use it when you are making fun of me and when speaking to the sergeant. Why not now? Are you really from the south, or what?¨
¨Okay, well, I guess I should tell you. You know how on our first day on the ship, when we all met?¨
¨Of course.¨
¨When Sergeant Jal asked me where I was from, I stuttered ‘Mont-t-ana,’ and he laughed and thought I said something else. He said ‘the South, huh,’ and I was like ‘w-w-what?’ He must not have been able to understand what I was saying through the chattering of my teeth. I would have told him, but something about using a southern accent intrigued me. It was basically acting, which I am pretty good at now. Well, I guess not anymore. I guess the jig is up.¨
¨Ah. So you’re now Mr. Montana.¨
¨OK, now you’re turn to answer my question.¨
¨Fine. Okay, so I don’t know your first name. I know, I know. I sound like an idiot because you’ve probably told me a billion times. Bu-¨ Alexa was cut off.
¨ Form separate lines! Boys and girls separate. We are going in old school!¨ Sgt. Jal ordered.
Private Mason and Alexa exchanged worried looks. They had not planned for this.
¨It’s Jake,¨ whispered Private Mason.
Alexa smiled at Private Mason, no Jake. She watched his line move forward and leave the submarine. They dived and swam in sync with one another, ready to make this mission accomplished.

Chapter 3

Splash! The girl in front of Alexa kicked her legs, making a huge wave of water hit Alexa as she came up to inspect the waters. The crystal blue water glistened in the moonlight. It was possibly the most beautiful ocean she had ever seen. Even in the intense moment, the glittering blue water sparkled like aquamarine gemstones.
They had finally reached the ship. All around it, the waters had turned a mossy green with brown water enlaced inside. The crumbling name of the ship was barely legible, but Alexa could make out that it said AmeriCruise. The smell of stale air wafted on the deck, making it smell like a mix of a graveyard and a burrito. It was apparent that there were no passengers on board. Well, no alive passengers, at least.
Alexa gagged after smelling the disgusting odor. She already knew what was behind the table that had been surrounded by boxes. Still, Alexa checked behind the boxes and confirmed her inference. It was the captain of the ship, turned over, reeking of death. She gagged again, and she turned the captain face forward. Alexa examined the body, knowing that he had been stabbed in the chest. This was no heroic mission, it was an examination.
¨Alexa! Come here!¨ yelled Jake.
Alexa jogged over to the control room on the other side of the ship’s first floor. The smell of the deceased has become to grow stronger as she neared the room. Like a child, she plugged her nose and covered her mouth. Alexa had one word to describe this cruise ship. Disgusting and revolting. Okay, maybe there were two.
As she stepped into the room, Alexa looked around at the motionless bodies before her. They were faces of fathers, sons, daughters, and mothers. They were lost family members that had never returned from the so called paradise that this ship advertised. Noticing that they had not yet rotted and that their wounds looked pretty fresh, Alexa came to the conclusion that it had happened today. A massacre of her country had happened a few measly yards away from her, and she never snapped out of her doldrums to notice.
¨This had to have happened today,¨ Alexa murmured to Jake.
¨I thought so, too,¨ replied Jake, frowning.
¨So, what do we do? This means they probably looted the supplies, and that we won’t ever find anything. This mission has failed. We are the scum of the sea now. If they are still on board, then just prepare to die in a hail of gunfire.¨
¨Dramatic are we? Calm down! They’re probably not on board the ship.¨
¨Probably? Is this all we can guarantee ourselves these days?¨
¨Sadly, yes. But that has never stopped any one of our soldiers from continuing the duties we owe to our former country.¨
¨Nice speech, but I don’t buy it.¨
“Well, you should because it is the truth.”
“Uh huh. Whatever.”
“Sergeant! We have bodies in here!” Jake yelled.
“Bodies? In there? Are they fresh like the others?” Sgt. Jal called back.
“Fresher.”
“Fresher? Uh oh, this is bad. EVERYONE BACK TO THE SUB!”
“Bad?” questioned Alexa as she looked around at the ship’s deck.
A gunshot sound rang from the deck above them. All of the soldiers looked around in terror.  If they didn’t all get off the ship in less than one minute, they would all be gone. Bang! Another gunshot rang out, but it was twice as loud this time.

There was only two questions they could ask. Who were they and what were they shooting? There were no screams, so it was hard to tell what was going on.
All Alexa knew was that she needed to find a lifeboat before her life was wasted. Then she really would not be known as a hero. Instead, she would be known as a fool. A fool who got what she deserved, for if she died, it would be HER fault, no one else’s. She turned towards the stairs and took off her gear over her jumpsuit. It was time to get moving.
She stood in her grey jumpsuit with the American flag on the back, and started to run, barefoot, to the silver stairs. The time went so quickly that Alexa could barely hear Jake calling after her. Ignoring all words, she ran up the spiral staircase. She refused to acknowledge the shattered glass stabbing into her feet. All she wanted to do was find a lifeboat. Nothing mattered at this point. Not her feet, nor her heart screaming for her legs to stop moving. Panting, she stopped at the beginning of the middle deck.
Although she was still trying to calm heart and lungs down, she started to look around the deck. BANG! Another gunshot was heard by Alexa. She also heard Jake screaming her name.
Again, she ignored him, and knelt by the book case. She was looking to see if a mandatory ship annex had been installed in the book case. She felt around the books, and tipped each one to see if it would open. Alas, there was no luck. Suddenly, Alexa heard footsteps. She rapidly started to flip books, but nothing happened. Until, Alexa remembered Anne Frank. She moved the book case like a door, and adjusted it back once she was inside the room.
On the walls was something written in dull red. It appeared to say ‘run as fast as you can, for they invaded today.’ Below was the date of the day before, October 14th. A red line traced over to the doorway. She wandered around, looking for a dead body.
“Aye! I’ve found another one, Higgs!” an unknown figure shouted.
Alexa turned around to see a dark figure approach her and try to grab her. Alexa sidestepped the man, and crouched down. As she crouched, he tripped over her leg that she left out in front of him.
“Feisty, eh? You would be great on our force if we didn’t have to kill you. Bye for now,” the figure chuckled.
“Not yet you don’t,” Alexa replied, standing straight up and grabbing a nearby chair. She threw the chair at the man and opened the book case, only to see a group of foreigners reach out for her.
“Get that girl! She broke my nose!” the man had exclaimed.
Alexa shrugged her shoulders in defeat. 6 versus 1 was bad odds for her. She would NEVER be able to defeat them all. Still, she kicked one of the men in the shin and tried to jostle past them all. Although she gave all that she could, her try to get past was a complete fail, as she was punched by one of the evil men.
And all was black.
Alexa suddenly woke up, unable to open her swollen eyes. Alexa felt wide awake, but she could not force herself to open her eyes. The pain was almost unbearable, but at least she had not died.
BANG!BANG!BANG! 3 gunshots rang out close to Alexa. Her eyes opened when someone kicked her.
“Open ya eyes ya lazy brat,” the person yelled.
Alexa pried her eyes open. She saw only 3 of the men near her. They were obviously from Europe, but that was all she could identify with her blurry vision. Another kick hit her in the gut.
“EXCUSE ME! I am a lady, not a broken vending machine!” Alexa scolded.
“Ah, so she speaks as Mika claimed before he was murdered by your slimy kind.” the same person yelled.
“Yeah, I do, FYI.”
“F-Y-I? Is that some Canadian term?”
“I am from America for your information.”
“Not possible brat.”
“Actually it is.”
“Well, let’s go prisoner. We have a meeting to attend.”
“In the ocean? Ha.”
“No, in your submarine.”
“What? Are? You? Talking? About?”
“You’ll see.”

Chapter 4
“Lex!” Jake screamed through the duct tape on his mouth. Like the others, he was handcuffed as well.
Alexa was pushed into the submarine. A tear fell down Jake’s face when he saw Alexa. She looked severely beaten up from the week of being held hostage by the enemy soldiers.
She fell down onto the cold, hard floor. Unable to carry her own weight, she laid down on the sub’s floor. As uncomfortable as it was, she was so unspirited that she did not care. She didn’t care what happened at this point, for she had been beaten for days.
She observed the faces of her shipmates. A few of the naive privates were missing, and our sergeant seemed very unspirited as well. Oh well, she was sure that he would be his ferocious self soon. A private near her, seemed to give her a reassuring smile behind the duct tape.
In sign language, Sgt. Jal motioned, ¨Now,¨ to rest of the crew.
In a flash, the former depressed soldiers, turned into stealthy ninjas, ripping off their duct tape with their bobby pin unlocked handcuffs. Jake tossed Alexa a bobby pin with his free hands, and grabbed a wooden board. As Alexa unlocked her handcuffs as best as she could with the bobby pin. She assumed the position to escape.
As she positioned herself to look beaten down and weary, she saw a random piece floating through the air. It looked like the shape of the delightful pizza. As she thought about pizza, she could almost smell the wonderful aroma. Her mind entered into another flashback and she fell silent.
When she walked into the pizzeria with her mother, she could almost taste the three day old, stale pizza. But it didn’t matter how old it was, any pizza was a blessing. This was because her family were fitness fanatics and would normally never buy pizza, but today had been an exception.
Anyway, Alexa looked over at the live music playing. They usually played covers of Fall Out Boy songs. They weren’t as good as the originals though.
The music played an intense beat. It sounded like it was Hello by Adelle, but they did not sing the lyrics. They strummed the chords of the song out into a microphone, as if they needed to in the small shop.
As they stepped up to order their Pepperoni Hawaiian Deluxe Meatball Extra Large pizza, Alexa laughed when they pulled out their exact order. They might not have been everyday customers, but when they ordered, they knew what the Matry family wanted. Alexa’s mother handed them the $12.50, they smiled and handed Alexa the box.
“Thanks guys,” Alexa called as she neared the door.
She nodded at the band while she walked out the door. She loved to walk into this place and feel the warmth of community around her. This is what family is made of: pizza and music.