Under Earth

Prologue

Everywhere he looked, there was fire.

Scarlet flames licked the skin of trees, burning them down to dust. Homes were fled, their once sturdy walls collapsing to the ground in seconds. Everything that took so long to build fell apart so quickly. The fire didn't show mercy, though. It touched and killed everything in its path.

There were people burning; skin melting away, memories gone. Their screams echoed in the black darkness that wrapped like a blanket around Officer Wade and his newborn son.

This was the end of the world, and there was no turning back.

Twelve Years Later

The boy glanced at his watch nervously, hands shaking as he cupped one over his eye to stifle the glare from the glittering lights above. There were exactly 10 seconds till midnight. Emerson Wade felt their footsteps pounding against the dirt floor like African drums before he saw them. They're coming.

Calyx, with his dark brown hair and brown eyes, stepped out from the shadows first, striding forward to stop in front of Emerson. "Wade, buddy," he said with a grin and a clap on Emerson's shoulder, who winced and threw a hazel-eyed stony gaze at his rival.

"What are you doing here?" Emerson growled, scooting back against the dirt wall behind him with such force that some rocks tumbled down from above.

"I wanted to pay you a visit," Calyx said, chuckling.

A girl with long, pinkish-red hair curled at the tips and dark, almond-shaped brown eyes bounced into the room with a smile. The way she walked made the air fizzle with vivacity.

"Just in time," Emerson said under his breath. "Now all we need is . . ."

An elephant appeared to have walked into the room. However, it was only Felix, a chubby boy with dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes. He was holding two Krispy Kreme doughnuts in one hand and had cookie crumbs all over his face.

"Good evenik, Emerzon," he said in a heavy French accent. He nodded at Calyx and the girl, whose name was Rose.

"Alright, let's go," Rose said in a velvety whisper. "The adults are asleep now. I checked."

"Good," Emerson said, turning to face the 100ft tall red ladder that separated them from the surface of the Earth. The only problem for Wade, being only twelve years old, was that he had never experienced life on Earth; everything he knew was in Crijance.

"But," said Felix in between mouthfuls of glazed doughnut, "Ve are not ellowed up zere . . . ze Opheucians will get uz before ve are even halvway."

"Look, are you coming or not?" Emerson asked, placing both hands on the ladder rungs. They had never been allowed outside of Crijance before, but this was an emergency. Crijance was the underground network of tunnels crisscrossing like a maze through the underground, forming small toy shops and bakeries and courtrooms, 300 feet below the Earth's surface. It was the place where everyone was forced to live after the apocalypse in December of 2012.

Wade hesitated before hoisting himself onto the first step towards freedom. His palms were sweating slightly at the thought of leaving this place forever.

He began to climb. Rose followed his lead, then Calyx and Felix.

It got colder as they ascended, and Emerson heard Rose's teeth chattering as they approached the top. Almost there, Emerson thought. I've waited twelve years for this.