Personal work

Set in the distant future, The Carrier follows the journey of two young brothers fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The themes in The Carrier were inspired by anxieties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to my own younger brothers and diabetic fiancée. The series loosely adapts elements from Hover Car Racer, a novel by Matthew Reilly, with inspiration from sources like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the video game Death Stranding, and the film Mad Max: Fury Road.

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"The world was changed forever with the invention of the hover car. Overland travel became faster—New York to Los Angeles now took 90 minutes by hover car. Hover cargo freighters could cross the world's oceans in hours rather than days. The world became smaller."

-excerpt from Hover Car Racer

The newfound convenience of relocating led to wastefulness, and humanity consumed the world at a faster rate than ever. As habitable land became scarce, war broke out over the remaining territories. Nuclear attacks devastated what remained, leaving only the survivors that had managed to escape the blasts in their hover vehicles. Humanity was reduced to a nomadic way of life in order to survive the wasteland and its savage inhabitants.

To navigate the wasteland, some individuals possess the ability to connect themselves to carrier pigeons—colloquially called ‘homers’—to gain the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic fields. These individuals are referred to as ‘carriers.’

Among the wasteland’s inhabitants are Jason and Bug, two young brothers left orphaned after an attack by raiders. Bug suffers from juvenile diabetes and requires insulin, forcing Jason to act as a pirate, raiding convoys for resources to use for barter. There is no job he won’t accept if it means keeping his little brother alive.

Jason has made a name for himself as one of the most skilled pirates in the wasteland, though having a carrier for a brother makes the job much easier. Jason chooses to keep Bug’s abilities secret in order to avoid any unwanted attention.

© 2026 Braeden Raymer