Beneath the Ground

I’ve never seen the Sun or the clear sky. I’ve never heard the sound of the ocean or the song of birds. These are the things my mother used to tell me about while growing up. The sad thing is that I will never be able to see or hear them even if I dream about it every day. Some people say that I was lucky to be born when I was and where I was. Well, I’m not so sure myself. I was born in the midst of chaos that the Earth was into.

Everything started about 25 years ago when the human population began growing uncontrollably. In two years the number of people in continents increased almost twice. That’s when the famine began. The hunger, that lead to destruction of the Earth and half of humanity.

When the governments of different countries fathomed that the problem of food shortage is growing bigger and bigger each day the governors knew they had to do something about it. There were many alternatives for the solution. Ones were more humane than others. Authorities thought about introducing the one-child policy by law in all the countries around the world. And even though this proposition would have been a better choice unfortunately governments accepted a different quick fix for the problem as the one-child policy would have taken too much time that people didn’t have. Countries began fighting for their survival. It was simply the law of nature – just like all the species in the animal kingdom when humans began facing their extinction their survival instinct awoke. Hence, all the countries or their unions began searching for ways to destroy each other so they could survive themselves. This was the start of the Atomic war.

Countries began to arm. This time people knew there would be no peaceful way out of this. Thus, they started gathering all sorts of weapons. Countries began making different types of explosives and they formed alliances. The strongest one of them, with the oldest bonds was the European Alliance. It worked together in the past, only then it was called European Union, hence joining their forces now was quite effective as the countries knew each other’s strengths and so the Alliance came up with a plan fast.

Everyone in the world knew the power that atomic energy held. The effect of an atomic bomb or the explosion of an atomic energy plant was no secret to society. People knew it could destroy cities and cause long-term effects to huge areas in only seconds. However, they did not care about that. Well, at least not the European Alliance as its only purpose was to save itself. And thus they decided to use it for their benefits. European Alliance gathered a team of scientists, engineers and atom experts. The team’s main task was to produce atom rockets and other bombs, so that the Alliance could use them on their opponents. Fortunately the Europeans at least thought about possibility of imminent danger for themselves, hence they assembled a team of volunteers to start constructing an underground tunnel system with bunkers, where they could evacuate citizens before the launch of their explosives.

My uncle Arthur was one of the volunteers for the security unit, since he was an expert in atom science and could see an inevitable possibility that their bombs could cause harm to Europe as well. He was assigned as the tunnel system’s unit’s leader and with his sister – my mother - by his side as his right arm Arthur began designing his project.

It took a long time and thorough planning before the construction could be started. Arthur didn’t rule out the possibility of danger that atom bombs could do more harm than planned so he decided to construct not only underground tunnels and bunkers but the whole city under the surface of Earth. My uncle then made a choice to start setting up the underground city in mine shafts located in the Alps. This way the unit already had a base for their project. Therefore, they began work.

With at that time already quite modern technologies it took almost five years to complete the building of subterrestrial city. Well at least that’s what my mum told me, because I wasn’t born yet. Arthur made sure to install all the necessary sources for life to exist. He arranged a huge underground garden full of trees, bushes and flowers and installed artificial lighting in that space so that the plants could produce oxygen for humans to breathe. Uncle then brought out the ventilation system from that garden to every other place in the subterrestrial city. He also located pools with algae in different parts of the underground system to make sure people could breathe easier. Arthur and my mother then planted another garden, only this time it grew all types of vegetables and fruits to make sure the new residents would have food. Though, green foods weren’t enough so the underground unit prepared a farm beneath the surface. The city also had a fair amount of living space so it could accommodate few thousands of people. Of course it wasn’t much, but in only five years it was as good as it could get. Hence, the city had everything for people to be able to survive in it for a few years even though when the underground system was being constructed no one knew that it would become a permanent living place for many residents.

Meanwhile, when the subterranean city was in the process of constructing the war on the surface had already stared. Countries and continents were bombing each other. Many soldiers had sacrificed their lives in order to protect their families. My father was in the military as well. Sadly, I never got to know him as he died only few months before I was born. It was a successful air attack from the Americans. Thus, many lives were lost by the time atomic guns and the underground sanctuary for citizens was ready. And so the evacuation began.

I was born the exact day when the atom rockets were launched from Europe to their target countries. Hence, I was the first child born underground and with me the new generation of people began. As I was the first one my mum named me Nadine because she had French origins and this name meant hope. Hope that humanity would survive and start thriving again. Jokingly everyone started calling our generation the cavemen and even though we had all the technologies it was like we came back to the past. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only Atomic war’s resemblance to the past as history has a habit of repeating itself. Just like in the era of great geographic discoveries, when Europeans eradicated most native nations of newly found continents, this time the European Alliance also murdered billions of innocent people and annihilated America and Asia almost completely.

European Alliance had fifty atom bombs that they targeted to most populated cities and tens of simple long distance rockets that were purposed to hit atomic power plants. Hence, only minutes afterwards the explosives hit their destination the Earth’s destruction began. Cities were wiped away and radioactive particles filled the air. Radiation began spreading. Europeans didn’t calculate the power of their attack and the magnitude of the damage caused reached the Europe as well. Moreover, the explosions infringed the ozone layer and the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation reached the Earth’s surface at its full capacity. It was as if the end of the world had started. Therefore, Earth above the ground became uninhabitable and almost all the survivors were now located in the subterranean city.

I’m now seventeen so seventeen years had passed from that tragic day and almost nothing had changed on the surface. Every year one scientist volunteers to climb to the top and bring the news about Earths situation. Each of those seventeen times the changes were almost unnoticeable and probably will be like that for decades in the future. So the subterrestrial city is now a permanent living space that holds the mankind that’s left. Though, the underground system had expanded a lot and is still in the process of becoming bigger and more advanced from the day it was first built.

I grew up in the subterranean city from day one and experienced how it evolved. At first people were hostile to each other, everyone wanted their privacy and space, thus the underground system felt like a prison cell to its new inhabitants. However, from then everyone learned to live and work together turning this place into utopia for themselves. Each person here is a part of a great closed community, with Arthur in charge as he constructed this city, where everybody has their place and purpose. And just like everyone here I do too as it’s the only world I have and know.