Kevin "Mermaid" Geraldson – The Dive
My friends told me I was a fast swimmer. The fastest out of all of them, actually.
I liked water. I liked how it felt against my body. I took pleasure in submerging myself for as long as possible, even if I could only do so for a short while.
Occasionally, my family and I would go on a fishing trip down the river. It was a really deep river; the local news station reported that there was an entire boat located where it was deepest.
On this trip, however, my father managed to acquire diving suits for us both. It was only us two for this particular dive; he wanted the others to stay above water should anything go wrong. The suits he got were state-of-the-art: full-body, airtight, with a helmet integrated with an water-to-oxygen converter. They also were equipped with helmet lamps that could shine through even the muggiest of water and surprisingly light backup oxygen tanks should the converters fail.
As per usual, I swam faster than my father towards the sunken boat, my father lagging behind to map the hull from the outside. The device he held was small, almost like a laptop. It was waterproof and programmed to map the geography of its surroundings, including this boat my father and I were about to explore.
I waited for my father to catch up, my body floating inside the sunken boat's bridge. I kinda admit it was a little bit spooky being inside the bridge with all the fauna and flora taking over the entire room. My father and I ventured deeper into the boat.
Kevin "Mermaid" Geraldson – The Shore
I felt them behind me. My squad mates bought me some time. To me, it didn't feel like it was enough.
I swam dolphin-style as fast I could towards the shore. I was the fastest out of everyone I knew, dammit! Those fish-tailed things though were still faster. My squad and I were so focused on exploring that ship, we didn't know we stumbled deep into a goddamn mermaid colony. Real mermaids are chasing a guy nicknamed "mermaid."
How ironic.
It took me a while to realize I was already on the beach, above the water on safe land. I looked over towards the river, my underwater rifle soaked yet still ready to fire. The mermaids breached the surface, some of them still had blood around their lips.
They were so beautiful, so alluring. My commanding officer warned me about this. I wanted to go back; her eyes, her long, brown hair, her curvaceous body. She was pulling me in with her mermaid charm.
The other three next to her had eyes of murder and had bared their teeth of watery death. I wouldn't go back with her. When they saw I was able to resist their charm, they made an exaggerated sigh, feigning sadness.
As the mermaids began to dive, I readied my rifle.
Kevin "Mermaid" Geraldson – The Ocean
My bullets tore through the school of those fish-tails easily. If they screamed, none of us heard it.
The surrounding waters were littered with patrol boats; each of their crews firing both harpoons and lead. It didn't matter where the merfolk swam: if they tried swimming away, our mermaid chaser missiles would catch them. If they tried breaching the water's surface, harpoons would cause their heads explode in a satisfying blast of blood and seawater. If they tried diving deeper into the ocean, our depth charges would be waiting.
Somehow, to me, all this death did not satisfy my own thirst for revenge. As sadistic as it may sound, I still have to remind you that I was the fastest swimmer among everyone I knew.
I was not about to let a bunch of fish-tails ruin my reputation.
In my report I wrote that the operation was successful. The Caribbean was finally clear of any merfolk schools and all of their underwater cities demolished. As I prepared to submit my draft, I looked out into the ocean. Pieces of their former cities floated harmlessly along the surface. Coral, loose sediment... and dead merfolk.
I was eager for the Australian campaign.
