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“I watched my son grow for a few years. I was unsure of his potential. He was too human and didn’t show any of the qualities the scientists wanted to accomplish with his mutations— besides his electricity. He was scared of everything, weak, and had no control over his abilities. A failure, more than anything. He had killed a few scientists over the years, but more by accident than design. By then, they started to drop him into the jellyfish tank as punishment. But I began to notice something. His redeeming quality is resilience. No matter how many times they beat him up, tried to snuff him out, he adapted. He learned how to swim by himself to avoid the jellyfish and which parts of their bodies he could touch to avoid their sting. He could learn to become something more. So, on the day when the Revival Project was abandoned and they wanted to drop him in the desert, I shot the scientists and took him with me. He helped me kill threeof them, and I saw his potential.”

Extract of a handwritten journal by Sergeant Kang Jae-Sun, a military officer who was hired as security for the scientists working on the Revival Project, 2047.

We spent the night having sex near the fire, until Jude fell asleep in my arms, thoroughly ravaged and exhausted. He’s as insatiable as I am, and he knows what he wants. He ended up sleeping without washing himself in the river, and I spent the rest of the night marveling at the smell of us on his skin.

I will the sun not to rise. But, of course, the star doesn’t obey the whims of men. Even from a half-god like me.

Today, we plan our vendetta against Maeve.

I catch more fish in the river for breakfast while Jude slowly wakes up. As I got naked, I noticed more than one hickey on my chest and neck, courtesy of the ravenous human I spent my night with.

“I already miss the coffee from the Firefly,” Jude grumbles as he watches me cook the fish over the firepit.

“Used to the standards of a president on the run already?”

“Yeah… We really need to get the Firefly back.”

He said we, and not just I. Does that mean he’ll let me fly with him for a little longer? I don’t dare to ask. If we survive our next encounter with Maeve, I have nowhere else to go. No Plan B or backup dream. And judging by the life I led in the last ten years, I don’t know if I can be trusted to my own devices again.

“And we need weapons,” I say.

Jude smiles. “Lucky for us, these parts are crawling with Highwaymen. They usually carry a lot of weapons. We just have to harvest.”

And kill the ones who didn’t hesitate to turn their backs on his parents. With some luck, we might even cross paths with the rest of his siblings.

“Tonight, we hunt,” I say.

Someone wiser would say that we should stay here forever. Live by the river, hidden from men and gods alike. But neither he nor I are wise. We’re hateful bastards, and we want payback.

We wash up, fill the bottles with water, and take the trail out of the canyon. Before turning a bend, I offer one last glance at the ramshackle hut on the beach, committing it to memory.

Jude was right; the area around the Hoover Dam is crawling with Maeve’s minions. They travel back and forth from the neighboring states, bringing stolen goods and materials to their new master.

At nightfall, we attack a group of six. I kill four of them with my electricity, and Jude, the last two, with a gun he looted from the corpses. It was too easy.

“They don’t even watch their backs,” I say while I inspect one of their vehicles.

“We’re deep into Highwaymen territory,” Jude says. “They usually don’t have to watch their backs here. They’ve grown complacent. Lucky for us.” He pulls out two guns from the back of a desert buggy and grins.

Some part of me still expects him to shoot me on sight as soon as he gets his hands on a gun. But, miraculously, he doesn’t. I marvel at the fact that he doesn’t want me dead anymore.

We borrow the red flag of the Highwaymen. Jude puts on a leather jacket with the red rectangle sewn in the back and front. I carry a holster over my Hawaiian shirt with a smaller one on it. If more than half of Jude’s parents’ army joined Maeve, then they can be counted among the hundreds scattered over a few states. Nobody will find us conspicuous.

We keep the biggest car for ourselves, a nice four-wheel-drive monster of a car. We spend the rest of the night driving the other two down a canyon with the bodies, just as we did with Malcolm and his friends. They might be complacent, but they would still be on alert for killers among them if they found the corpses.

The sun rises over the wastelands, and we drive to a ruin on a hilltop. It used to be a hotel with a view of Las Vegas on the horizon. We raise the red flag over the ruins, like any good Highwaymen, and find shelter from the smoldering heat in the shade. There is enough food and water in the car to last us a week.

As soon as we’re settled inside, Jude pulls me into a wet kiss. With no care that we’re in enemy territory, he lets me fuck him against a wall. In a matter of minutes, we both turn into a sweaty mess. Jude moans loud enough to wake the hotel’s ghosts. He comes once on the wall, then in my mouth, before I orgasm on his back.

I can’t get enough of him, but the heat puts a stop to our lustful madness. We need to save our energy for later. We lie in the shade, naked, until our bodies have cooled down enough to rest. He falls asleep at my side, with his arm thrown carelessly over my chest. No matter how hot it gets, I don’t push him away.

Later in the day, we sit on the roof of our four-wheel drive to watch the sun set over the ruins of Las Vegas. Most of the buildings have been trampled by old gods, but the giant Ferris wheel is still standing. It must have been so strange to let a wheel take you to such heights.

“Can you imagine,” Jude says, “walking down the streets full of lights and music? Getting drunk in bars, wasting your money on hookers and casinos.”

“No,” I say.

I still can’t fathom how they used digital money for everything. Something that couldn’t even be touched ruled their world.

“I would have been one of the hookers,” he jokes. “Or a stripper.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Have you seen me? I’m too pretty to have worked common jobs.”

I chuckle. “A dominatrix, perhaps.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone wearing leather who is paid to torture their clients sexually and psychologically. More or less.”

Helios and I found a cache of porn when we were teenagers. We watched them on a TV in a villa that was still solar powered at the time. I remember thinking that one must be losing their mind to let themselves be treated that way and enjoy it. Now that I’ve spent time with Jude, I’m starting to understand. Earlier, right before I fucked him against the wall, he slapped me hard enough to make me see red and fuck him harder. Leather would suit him.

“That sounds like fun,” he says. “And you? What would you have been?”

I sigh, watching the sun disappear behind a tall tower broken at the top. “I wouldn’t exist. I was created in a lab for the sole purpose of being a soldier to fight the old gods. I’m a product of this new world. There is no place for me in the old one.”

Jude drops his head on my shoulder. The simple gesture is loaded with intimacy, and my heart skips a beat.

“You might be right,” he says. “But we’re both products of this world. I wouldn’t be me if I had grown up in theirs.”

I keep my mouth shut to avoid saying something that would leave me raw and exposed.

The radio comes to life below us in the car, making us both jump.

“The Bug has been located. I want everyone at the following coordinates tomorrow at noon.” Followed by a series of numbers. “The first ones who help me catch the Bug get a promotion! Come on, ladies and gentlemen! Let the chase begin!”

It’s undeniably Maeve’s voice. She’s using the Highwaymen’s main radio channel to give orders to her little army. Jude and I jump from the car’s roof hurriedly.

“Helios…” I breathe out.

“Oh, fuck no,” says Jude, opening the door. “Did you get the coordinates? I didn’t.”

I shake my head.

Luckily, they get repeated a few times over the next hour, and we locate them on one of the maps we find in the glove compartment. It’s a few hours north-east of Las Vegas, near the Grand Canyon.

“We need to get the Firefly back if we want to have a chance at helping them,” I say.

“And Maeve must have left the dam. It’s the perfect occasion. Let’s go!” He’s already behind the wheel.

We drive at neck-breaking speed through the dark wastelands, the red flag on our roof flapping in the wind. We cross paths with many groups of Highwaymen going in the same direction, their headlights blinding. As expected, they ignore us.

We know where we left the Firefly. And, with some luck, Marika didn’t have time to hack into it. Jude informs me that she isn’t as good as Perri, and it’ll certainly take her a few days to even break into Fyfe’s security.

We find no resistance as we reach the canyon of the Hoover Dam. We park the car and finish the rest of the hike leading to the Firefly on foot.

As expected, Marika is still there, hacking into the aircraft from a laptop balanced on a chair. Three solar lights have been installed around her. They forced one of the doors to get inside. A man is with her—an assigned bodyguard. But he doesn’t get much time to guard her, as he falls to a bullet in the head, courtesy of Jude. Marika screams and crawls under the Firefly.

“Don’t make us get you!” warns Jude.

There’s violence on his face. He almost hopes that she’ll make us drag her out of her hideout. He’s angry. And with good reason. If given the chance, I will kill her for betraying us. The only thing stopping me is that I don’t want to go against Jude’s desires. He might be harboring some shreds of feelings for his old friend.

Marika crawls back out, dust clinging to the tears running down her cheeks.

“Jude…I’m sorry…I—” she starts.

“You’re only sorry that we survived,” he says coldly.

“You don’t understand… I did it to survive… You understand—”

“I don’t. Now shut the fuck up, or I’ll ask my mutant here to cook your brain until it runs down your nose.” He gestures toward me. “And he’ll enjoy it.”

My mutant. I like that. Strangely.

For show, I let electricity rise to my fingertips and create an arc above both of my hands. Marika whimpers again but keeps her mouth shut.

We tie her up, then inspect the Firefly. They stole all the food and guns. But the rest seems to be in order.

“Welcome back, Mr. President,” Fyfe says in his toneless voice as I sit on the pilot’s chair. “I’ve been under siege, but they haven’t managed to break into my core yet.”

“Good job, Fyfe,” I say.

“Are you okay? Do you require assistance?”

“I’m fine. But yes. I need to change your command.”

At that, Jude turns to me.

“Of course, Mr. President,” says Fyfe.

I hold Jude’s gaze as I say, “I would like to appoint my new vice president and give him full control of the Firefly. Same status as me. Jude…”

“Jude MacCain,” says Jude, eyes sparkling.

“Yes. Jude MacCain has full access to the Firefly, even when I’m not around. And if I were to die, he would replace me as sole owner of this aircraft.”

“Understood,” says Fyfe. “Control command modified to include the Vice President, Jude MacCain.”

“Thank you, Dumdumb,” says Jude. But he’s looking at me.

“You’re welcome,” I say.

He laughs. “Now, let’s blow some things up.”

“You have a plan?” I ask him.

“More or less. Maeve won’t want her precious dam to fall into enemies’ hands. If we attack here, it might convince her to turn back and give a chance to the Devil of the Waste and Helios to escape. And we have access to their main channel, and her favorite whore is a hostage.”

By whore, he means Marika, who is now tied to one of the seats at the back of the Firefly.

“Whatever you have in mind, I’m in,” I say.

Jude smiles. “I didn’t tell you, but I found a rocket launcher on the back seat of one of the cars.”

My smile now mirrors his own.

The next morning, the Highwaymen left to guard the dam watch us with curiosity as we fly above the bridge. Some of them might be aware that Marika had been hacking into an aircraft. Fyfe, following our instructions, hovers above the four intake towers. I hold Jude with an arm around his waist as he leans over the edge, the rocket launcher over his shoulder. Without hesitation, he shoots a rocket over the north-west tower, the one where we met with Marika two days ago. It explodes with flourish. Two men who had been on the bridge leading to the other tower fall into the lake below.

“That should get Maeve’s attention,” Jude says as I pull him back inside.

He looks so proud of himself and wicked, I feel like kissing him.

The Highwaymen shoot at the Firefly and a few bullets ricochet over the hull and windows. Luckily, everything is bulletproof. They didn’t mess around with the President’s safety back in the day.

Fyfe takes us over the mountain top near the dam, at a safe distance from the shooters. We land and watch as Maeve’s pet god, Altamaha-ha, devours the men who fell into the lake minutes ago. They didn’t get time to reach the spillway.

“Now, we wait,” says Jude.

We didn’t have to wait long. The radio we brought on the Firefly immediately started relaying angry orders on all the Highwaymen’s channels.

Maeve is furious.

Our plan worked. They seem to have entirely forgotten about the Bug and the Devil of the Wastes. Helios is safe for now.

Maeve and her little army arrive an hour before sunrise. The cars and trucks, red flags in the wind, darken the horizon.

“Well, fuck,” says Jude. “It looks like she’s recruited more people since she took over.”

“We stick to the plan?” I ask.

He nods. We still have one rocket left.

We fly over the tall bridge behind the dam, the one they built back in the days to cross over the river. The cars stop on both sides of the canyon.

Jude gets a hold of Marika and opens the shackles around her hands and feet.

“Go back to your master,” he says, before pushing her out.

We’re thirty feet above the bridge. Marika screams and crashes down below. He might have decided not to kill her, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t hold a grudge. From the way she limps away, she certainly broke her ankle. Jude can be kind, but he’s far from soft.

A lone figure gets off a vehicle and walks to the middle of the bridge. Maeve. Marika hobbles to her. But if she expects a warm embrace, she’s sorely mistaken. Maeve kills her with one bullet in the heart. Favorite hacker or not, she’s too angry to care. So much for family.

Jude sighs as his old friend crumples to the floor. “She never adapted to the new world.”

Instead of turning back, Maeve steps over Marika’s corpse and keeps walking to the center of the bridge.

“Is she serious?” Jude asks.

My mutant sister has no fear as she points a finger at us in challenge. She’s dragging something behind her. I realize too late that it’s a long metal spear.

“She’s going to throw it,” I warn.

Jude is already leaning over the edge, the rocket launcher over his shoulder. I get a hold of his belt before he can fall over. He shoots the rocket just as Maeve whips her arm back and throws the spear with a mighty force. The projectile pierces one of our aero engines at the same moment that the rocket hits the bridge, right on Maeve.

Alarms blare in the Firefly as we go down. I have time to pull Jude into my arms as we’re getting thrown out of the aircraft.

The breath gets knocked out of me as we land hard on the road below. The bridge is still standing, against all odds, but is broken in the middle.

As soon as I can move, I survey Jude. He’s stunned but unharmed. I might have a few broken ribs, but nothing life-threatening. I’ll heal. I always do. At least if we survive the next hour. The Highwaymen won’t be happy that we killed their new master. We might be able to pull off the same thing we did two days ago. Jump into the river and let the current take us to safety. To the hut. From this height, the water will be like hitting concrete, but I can withstand it, I think.

The Firefly has crashed farther away in the canyon. I doubt that it’ll be able to fly. The aero engine is on fire.

As we get to our feet, Jude points to the other side of the bridge. Maeve is alive. She rises from the smoke. Her clothes are in tatters around her body, but she’s otherwise in one piece. Some strands of her long hair are on fire. She survived a rocket and is now ready to jump over the broken bridge to reach us.