Sprouting Through the Wreckage

Chapter One

Authors Note :)

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! Now this is no professional novel so let's remember that there are going to be A LOT of grammar mistakes because this is completely unedited! This is only the first  chapter but I'm so excited to keep writing because I love the story and the characters and I can't wait to show you how amazing they are. I also just wanted to say that I completely welcome constructive criticism but there is a very big line between helpful and just plain rude!! Again thank you so much for reading and don't forget to vote and/or comment!!

Dont forget to leave song suggesetions!

                  

Chapter One:

Almost 300 years ago human kind destroyed the world. All of the pollution from our factories, power plants, and cities finally took its toile on the earth. The ice caps melted causing sea levels to rise and sending half of the world underwater. Cities, states, even countries vanished below the cold and unforgiving waves. Not only did our pollution affect the ice but it also created holes in our atmosphere allowing harmful rays sent from the sun to break through. Carbon Dioxide started to leak in while oxygen rapidly escaped our once protective bubble. Less oxygen in the air and shifts in the weather quickly occurred. Almost ¾ of the population dies in the first month. But not us.

My ancestors found the chance to survive. The governments of the remaining countries set up bunkers all over the country ushering the remaining survivors in. Families upon families piled in with enough supplies to last them an upwards of 100 years. The original "moles" (creatively nicknamed by themselves) engineered ways to make that hundred years double. The next 10 generations lived inside these bunkers patiently waiting for the earth to repair itself enough for us to live on it again, learning from our mistakes to creating a new human race.

While people lived under the ground, the earth was healing changing and bettering itself. Plants evolved more, more and more trees sprouted up through buildings and homes until eventually the buildings were gone. The cities left behind by humans had eroded away to the bare bones of every building, finally all at once crashing and crumbling to the ground. Roads and highways cracked and shattered, vanishing all together eventually. But while the flora flourished the fauna mutated. Animals left alone with all the chemical waste started to change, the chemicals permentaly changing the species forever. The once docile elephant ditched the trunk for sharp carnivorous teeth and the birds gained razor-edged, menacing teeth in their beaks.

But finally after 200 years underground the earth had repaired the atmosphere and the remaining humans found it safe to venture up on the surface again. My parents from the same bunker were among the first generation to be freed. A lot of people wanted to go back to the old ways and start colonies again, but some wanted to go off on their own and learn how to live off the land again. Growing, foraging, and hunting everything they need to survive. These people moved away from the new colonies and disappeared into the wild stirring forests.

 

My parents decided to settle in a valley nestled between a mountain range and a stream. There is a field full of purple, yellow, and red flowers that bloomed every year to create a picturesque setting. Crystal blue skies being poked by tall evergreen trees.  A gem-blue stream flowed through the forest. It was seeping and dribbling as it swerved through the trees. It jumped for joy over the timeworn rocks and cascaded down a small waterfall and continuing on its bending and turning path for as far as the eye could see. They built a small home a little ways away from the river. It was small and cozy with furniture all made by my father and a little garden out in the back where my mother grew all of our food that wasn't hunted. Soon after I was born my parents named me Bryony. They told me that they named me this because it means- to sprout- and they wanted me to sprout like the flowers in front of the house in the world that was once wrecked.                

 

I grew up learning different skills from my parents. How to fish, forage, cook, garden, and shoot a bow and arrow. Some things came easier than others, I could sit for hours wait for a fish to swim up and grab my bait but when I tried to cook I burned every dish I tried to make. My parents were the only other human contact I had. Living so far out in the vast wilderness people were hard to come by. So when they were killed by another settler it was the last thing I could expect to happen.

 

I was returning home from a fishing trip when I entered our home and the foulest stench greeted my nostrils. The awful smell blinded me, making my eyes water and lungs beg for clean air. Climbing up the stairs I noticed trail of dark rose red drops leading the way. Nearing the top of the stairs was when I realized the specks of dark rose liquid led to my parent's bedroom. The image of what was in that room still haunts my nightmares almost nightly, my parents were lying on the floor both caked in what I could imagine was their own blood. Both had puncture wounds all over their chests and necks. Sinking to the ground my entire body was racked by loud painful sobs. The grief seeped into me like a tsunami does a village, first all at once then continuous and constant pain. The realization that I was now alone in the world sent the tears falling out of my eyesight like water escaping a dam. I cried for so long I didn't think I had anything left to cry until the familiar darkness of sleep drew me into submission finally shutting my eyes to darkness.