The Hunted

Introduction

On the edge of California, in the Pacific, under the waves, there was a cavern. In the cavern lay a green stone. Not vibrant green or green like grass, but a nice seafoamy green. On a certain night of the month, at a certain time, if you picked up the rock and shook it up and down three times, a rock wall closed over the entrance, the water drained, and a door opened in the side of the dark cavern under the Pacific. If you, by chance, go into the open door way you may be stunned by what you see. Hundreds of buildings and roads, flowers and trees, parks and restaurants.  And people. Around a population of about 20,000 people in the secret city.

People migrated there after a scientific discovery that changed everything. World class scientists in Brazil accidently discovered a way to put animal souls into a human body and human souls into an animal body. The animal souls in the human bodies were obsessed with killing off the human race. These creatures were called the Cor. The human souls in the animal bodies were scared at first, but eventually the soul merged into the body and became an animal, creating a creature called the Dai. The Cor and Dai race doubled while the human race dropped slowly. The Cor and Dai lived separately, yet had the same goal: eliminate the human race. No one really understood why, or how, this ‘transition’ as it’s called, happened. Some say the scientists were crazy, that this wasn’t an accident. Some say that it was just an experiment to see it if would work. Either way, no matter why or how they did it, the earth was wrong.

Anyway, this city was called Atlantis. Like the lost city of Atlantis. It was named this by the ruler of the city, Halbert Gobald. He was once the governor of a place called California. He was the first to discover this cavern. Halbert loved to scuba dive. He had a little boat take him off the coast of California and he dived right in. He found a little cavern and the seafoam rock. He picked it up and noticed a faint glow. He shook his hand, opening the doorway. Halbert took off his mask and walked into the cavern. Everywhere he looked there were rocks. Just rocks and the occasional rodent. Rodent?  thought Halbert. There wasn’t even any sunlight! Just some rocks and dirt.

Eventually Halbert left, but he returned the next day and brought along a friend of his, a scientist named Francis Trowel. The door didn’t open, so everyday Halbert brought Francis, determined that the door would open again. A month later, it did. By then animal humanoid demons were in the picture. Francis determined that there was a sun, or a sun-like substance, that radiated heat and light. Although it radiated light, he couldn’t determine the exact location. Francis was fascinated. Obviously someone had to have lived here before to have created the ‘source of light’, and to bring the animals here.

Upon further investigation, there were miles upon miles of room in this cavern. The ceiling stretched up so high, you couldn’t see it. Near the back, about seventeen miles from the entrance, there was a waterfall and a huge pond, where Francis found more animals. There was also greenery this far back. Francis stayed while Halbert left and a month later came back with people and supplies. Some food, tools, bedding, clothes, stuff like that. In the back, where it was all dirt and rocks like the front, a third of the group plowed, removed the rocks, and farmed. The soil proved to grow very nutritious plants. In the middle, with the waterfall and pond, people cut down trees, replanted in the back, and built houses. In the front, factories, restaurants, work places, stores, everything in a big city, was built.

A new set of rules were built and Halbert Gobald was put in charge, along with a couple other governors from nearby states. Overall, you couldn’t kill anyone, steal, or anything that was once illegal in the U.S., but instead of being an adult at eighteen, it was seventeen. Mainly because they needed legal adults for work and didn’t want to wait a year for them to turn eighteen. Every person had to work, adult or not. Kids worked at the house, making dinner, doing laundry, cleaning. Adults worked in the city or farmed. With everyone living in the middle, you could do either and have the same commute time.

More and more people came until no more would fit. Even with a cavern this big, only about 20,000 people fit. Schools were built for kids and classes of Combat, Protection, and In the Real World (or IRW) were taught. At the age of seventeen, when a kid became an adult, they were sent out into the ‘real world’ to rescue those who needed rescued, discover new hiding places, bring back technology or things we didn’t have, or die. About 2 out of every 5 that went out returned alive. Now this is where I come in.