A New Life - In editing

Chapter 1 - A New Life

My Grandma used to tell me of a land, a land where there were birds and trees. A land where the sky was blue and the sun shone golden in the sky.

She told me of green rolling hills and beautiful colourful flowers. She told me of the cities too, with skyscrapers that seemed to touch the fluffy white clouds that floated gracefully above the world. She told me of the rain and how it would splash down on the land and make everything smell new and fresh. She talked of the sea and how it would swirl dark blue and crash upon the shore and of all the rivers and streams that babbled across the stones before rushing to join the ocean.

But she also told me of the war.

The cold war.

She told me how the blue sky turned blood red and burned like fire. She told me how the ash blocked out the sun, freezing what was left of the lakes and rivers.

She told me of the winds that took down the skyscrapers and how the lush rolling hills were flattened and scorched. She told me how the air began to poison us and how the birds, animals, trees and flowers were all gone now. All lost to the coldness of the war.

It was 1965 when it happened. It was before my parents. Before me. I never got to see the beauty of the world above me before it was burned and the world died. Few survived the nuclear attack and those who did were forced to live deep underground.

3.3 billion People. Down to just over 8 million in a week. Then it dropped to 7 then to 6 then to 5 and it didn't stop dropping. Radiation poisoning, starvation and disease.

So the world became what it is today. Underground. We were driven down here by hate. By the pettiness of the people we looked up to, the people we chose to lead us. Down here the poisoned air can't get us. Here we are safe from the horrors of the topside. But we still aren't safe from our own neither are we safe from the terrors that lurk in the shadows, around the corner, just out of sight, in the corner of our eyes.

When all this happened the human race split in two. You have the civil people like me. We try to go on with life as best we can. We farm food, if we can although it’s often tough and tasteless. We gather water from the underground rivers that flow down here. We have schools and houses, if you can call them houses. They're more like run down shacks. I've seen real houses. In books. They're made of brick and have little glass windows and wooden doors and there are flowers growing on the green grass outside and there's a mum and a dad and a little girl and boy and a dog and OH doesn't it sound lovely! What I would give, what any of us would give for a chance at a life like that! Our houses aren't like those. And dogs are rare. And flowers... well, let me put it this way... I've never even seen one.

But like I was saying you have the civil ones like me and then there was the Charge.

The Charge are a military group. They believe that the only way to survive is to conquer and destroy those weaker than them. They want to crush all humanity. Start the human race over and "get it right this time". They have weapons stolen from up top, civil groups and improvised weapons. But it’s not just the fact that they have armouries, oh no. They are so strong. They train day and night for war and they never loose. If they come after you, you can’t stop, you can’t think and you can’t go back. You just have to run as fast as you can and pray you will still be alive in the morning. They attacked my home once. I was only 6 years old.

My mother told me to run, she said she didn't care where but I just had to run and she would find me so I ran. I ran and I ran for so long and I waited but she didn't come. A day or so later I wandered back towards the town only to see the people I cared about walking solemnly towards me with bundles of things slung over their shoulders on sticks. My father ran towards me and lifted me up in a hug so tight I could barely breathe.