At first, you compare what you saw with your memories...

Surprisingly, you managed to find another person (like yourself and ghoul Elijah) who is a "relic" of the ancient world of the pre-war USA.

Vern Mikes...

A man you knew in the distant pre-war years, when the world had not yet been destroyed by a horrific global war and a nuclear "apocalypse"...

This man was born into a fairly wealthy family and held highly paid positions in companies associated with the oil industry.

President of the Great Community of Petronius...

Now he calls himself that.

It sounds absurd, as if a funny caricature claims to become reality.

However, you have long had to get used to the fact that in this post-apocalyptic world on the ruins of human civilization there are the most incredible phenomena and forms of organization of communities of intelligent creatures.

As you walked along the winding "streets" of this settlement, existing on the rusty ruins of an offshore oil platform, you carefully examined the huts and living conditions of the locals.

Almost everyone here is a ghoul.

The "outskirts" of this settlement are the skeletons of rusty ships that have half-sunk and are stuck at the base of this offshore oil platform.

It seems that the poorer local inhabitants live on the "outskirts".

The richer locals live on the higher tiers of this offshore oil platform, which still rises above the sea (about 50 meters).

Something like a bazaar is located on the lower "floors" of this strange "tower".

And you and Elijah are now on the top floor - in the office of Mr. Mikes.

You are stunned by the horrifyingly ugly face of a ghoul, who is dressed in a black business suit with a black tie.

No nose and ears...

Almost completely rotten skin of the face...

The muscles of the lower part of the face are completely devoid of skin and look disgustingly unnatural (as if some mutation changed the properties of the human body).

The eyes were also subject to strange mutations and now have no pupils and emit a barely noticeable greenish glow.

"Ahem... Vern... I see that your work somehow helped you survive even after the nuclear Armageddon..." - you say embarrassedly.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! That's partly true, Anton! But I bet your attractive appearance was also related to your profession!" - the laugh of this ghoul is even more terrifying than Elijah's. Apparently, the vocal cords of Vern Mikes were partially damaged and now his voice resembles some kind of monstrous wheezing, as if some character from a horror movie is delivering a villainous monologue.

“All of this… Chevron… Marathon Oil Corporation… I worked too hard for them and simply didn’t have time to realize that the world was falling apart at lightning speed. I guess my mind was consumed with the desire to reach the heights of my career and the peaks of financial well-being… When the mega-bombs fell, I was here… A colossal “glow” on the horizon… Unprecedented luck – the structure withstood huge waves… But from this horror, I almost went crazy… The first years, I was close to absolute madness and thoughts of suicide… I looked at my body and screamed from hellish pain, watching my skin rot and peel off like a husk… And then… Then I found among the mass of corpses those who were like me. Ghouls. That’s what they call us now. Over the years, many such persons have come here… And I decided to benefit myself. If we are all in hell, let me be the “boss” in hell! Ha! Ha! So you have the honor of seeing the President of the Great Community of Petronius!" - in these words of the ghoul, a certain hysterical, painful trauma of the psyche can be felt.

"Petronius... Something ancient Roman?" - you ask quietly, anxiously watching Vern Mikes and thinking about the inevitable traumas of his psyche over these long centuries.

"This offshore oil platform had this name even before the war... Petronius... I decided to just use it, and not invent something new... Among the locals, there are few who lived in pre-war times. Most of the ghouls came later and they do not know the details of the history of the emergence of this settlement..." - the ghoul hoarsely answers.

"So you mean that not all ghouls were created by the nuclear bombings at the end of the World War!?" you ask, surprised.

"You may find this hard to believe. But over the years... Or rather, over the past hundreds of years, intelligent beings have been able to do a lot of shit..." your horribly ugly interlocutor says.

"Hence... There were detonations of nuclear warheads during these five hundred years... Underground silos for nuclear missiles? Or the impact of secondary facts of radiation, chemical and bacteriological contamination of the area..." you reason out loud.

Elijah N. Moore stands next to you, and then begins to walk near the wall of the office and examine the wall posters.

"These words about the past have little practical meaning. We all need to act pragmatically and try to ensure at least some semblance of civilized life here and now! And what have you done for this, Mr. Mikes? "You became the "boss" of a small pirate city-state, standing on the ruins of the former greatness of an ancient civilization? You lead pirate gangs and profit from their predatory cruel deeds? And now you want to make us an offer about our participation in all this? Probably, your words about some kind of agreement will have approximately the same meaning ... "- Lieutenant Moore says irritably.

It seems that Elijah feels antipathy towards the local "president". Probably, he sees a "caricature" of himself in the person of this crippled and not quite mentally balanced ghoul.

"Piracy? What my subordinates are doing can be called that ... But the laws and rights of the pre-war USA perished in the flames of Nuclear Armageddon! My subordinates extract resources in the most efficient way - the struggle for survival in this world is often cruel and uncompromising! And I am not at all inclined to listen to pathetic moralizing reproaches from your side!" - Vern Mikes' voice becomes somewhat threatening.

It seems you have a problem...

You did not expect Elijah to show his character in such a... "undiplomatic" way.

However, his soldier's past and difficult fate contribute to his "deficit" of politeness.