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‘Mummy, how long is it until we get there?’ ‘Not too long now,’ Soleil said softly, turning around to look at her young daughter sat harnessed in the rear seat of the car. She could see that Lana was tired, and reached back to gently brush away hair covering her daughter’s small, plump face.
By A.R. Lerwill5 years ago in Earth
Kin
Her strength was gone, her abdomen ached. It took everything she had to escape, but she knew if she could just pull herself over to the shattered street she could breathe, if only for a moment. With one last effort, she hoisted herself over the ridge, the weight of her exhaustion throwing her on her back. She laid there slumped on the cold wet ridge, the sun beginning to retreat behind the jagged horizon. The rain pitter-pattered across her body, rinsing the once stark white sneakers her mom gifted for her birthday, now soiled and unrecognizable. Her breath was heavy, now beginning to slow, not from relief but from necessity. It was finally quiet on the road except for the rain hitting the bent street lamp above her in rapid succession. Thunder continued to roar above, but the frustrated bellows of her pursuers had stopped. She could no longer hear them. As she realized this, she took one moment for herself, closed her eyes and breathed deeply. As she caught her breath, old memories began firing in her mind, like the fireworks from the 4th of July. She laughed softly embracing this simple moment. With her eyes still closed, she analyzed her situation. "I got it, I got it…" She continued breathing heavily as she patted her bag feeling for the large rectangular outline. "Okay. Okay." Celebrating with a big exhale. She lied there for another minute. She opened her eyes, sat up, and almost mechanically moved her arms and legs checking to make sure everything was still working properly. "I don't think anything is broken. It's cold-- why am I sitting in this muddy water?" She asked herself. Suddenly alert, her eyes widened "They're still looking for me. I can't stay here; I have to move." She rolled over sitting on her hands and knees, and as her survival instinct kicked in she pushed out several heavy puffs of air through her nose like a determined bull going for the red cloth.
By Michael Radatus5 years ago in Earth
Without You
Without You Darkness fell over the great forest, laid in ruins and covered in soot. A giant moon hung above the trees, the stars all but blanketed in a permanent black fog. On a Thursday, nearly a year earlier, Earth was pulled out of orbit into a judder. Violent solar flares ignited the surface and fossil fuel reserves burst into the clouds. Whole cities toppled over as land heaved up and organisms below the water perished as rivers ran dry and oceans evaporated. Out of the few who made it underground, a scanter lot lived beyond a few months, having neglected to relocate near an aquifer.
By nolan schultz5 years ago in Earth
She Smelled Like Lilacs
Mankind had ignored the wakeup call of the Covid virus and worldwide drought. Then came 2033 when half the world’s population perished to extreme drought, weather and disease. Many who had survived, violently lost their lives in the nuclear war that followed as world leaders vied for supremacy and control of shrinking resources. Those with the ability to influence change, chose instead to prefer profit over hope for a future for their children and grandchildren.
By Jacob D Martinez, Jr.5 years ago in Earth
Mars? No Thank you
The lake had long ago dried up. A lonely dock stood perched on its pilings looking as out of place under the burning sun as an iceberg in tropical waters. Even with the evidence of past water indicated by the bathtub-like rings meandering around the periphery of the lake bed, it was hard to believe this was the remains of a once-thriving vacation destination.
By Michael Trigg5 years ago in Earth
I Smell the Lilacs
Mankind had ignored the wakeup call of the 'Covid' virus and worldwide drought. Then came 2033 when half the world’s population perished to extreme drought, weather and disease. Many who had survived, violently lost their lives in the nuclear war that followed as world leaders vied for supremacy and control of shrinking resources. Those with the ability to influence change, chose instead to prefer profit over hope for a future for their children and grandchildren.
By Jacob D Martinez, Jr.5 years ago in Earth
Remembering
The Council took charge after the Erasure, when every plant was erased from the surface of the Earth. With no plants to hold the topsoil, the ground turned to dust. The rains were infrequent. The sun was relentless and the wind was fierce. When it did rain, the precipitation was full of the poisons that had accumulated in the atmosphere, made more toxic by the radiation from the sun. The rains came in torrents that made the flat places into a muddy churning and the places below the surface that had sheltered ancestors in the beginning were filled with poisoned water. What people remained took to higher ground.
By Faye Hanson5 years ago in Earth
Anila and the Clan Heart
The sound of the dogs was reaching a level which would have scared off any wildlife for miles. It was past time to leave, but she couldn’t seem to tear herself away just yet. He looked so beautiful now, so peaceful. The power of true presence… it had given him a light that she didn’t always see in those last days. He had been rather deeply internal in those final moments, as if he knew the shift was about to occur. That wordless way in which we Know, the knowing which comes from the trance-like delta brain that happens when you are walking for so long. The mind no longer chatters, the heart rhythm and breath rhythm are all that is known and felt, and then flashes of insight or memory, and occasional flashes of Knowing come to you in those quiet moments, one foot in front of the other, almost numb now to the effort and pain it takes to keep moving. She wondered if he had one of those flashes of gnosis in those final weeks, because something in his demeanor had changed. He was not less resolved to move forward, but it was almost with a new found ease, perhaps a knowing this too would soon be over. And he was more quiet in his silence, almost too quiet. Maybe she, too, had known, and that’s why the silence hurt her so much.
By Annaliese Amundson5 years ago in Earth
The Beach
“Best get going, then!” Tom eased his rucsac more comfortably on his shoulder and straightened up. The tail lights on the train flickered as it disappeared round a curve and headed towards Southport. His three companions nodded and followed suit Words were unnecessary, as well as being a waste of effort on that sweltering summer afternoon. Helen could feel the heat of the flagstones seep through the soles of her trainers: standing still in any spot for longer than absolutely necessary was not a good idea. The four friends jogged off on the final stretch of roadway separating them from the natural, unmapped tracks and trails under the cool leafshade of Formby Woods.
By Paul McDermott5 years ago in Earth
National weather service
event. Adam Taylor, Cleveland TN, April 12 (Easter), 2020 I grew up both a little frightened and excited by storms and tornadoes. My mamaw and great grandmother were both horrified of storms, probably an undiagnosed case of lilapsophobia or astraphobia. For me, the sound of the nuclear plant sirens being used as tornado sirens was the scariest. Anyway, I began to study and learn as much about severe weather as I could. In the 8th grade, a tornado hit our small town and killed one man. I sat by a wall in my classroom that was mostly glass windows and there was some communication between classrooms that our county was under warning, but we never went into the hallway. I actually stopped the lesson and told the teacher that the sky was turning an ugly, almost evil, green color. My teacher said, "class, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore." It touched down less than a mile from us.
By Jordan Robert5 years ago in Earth
