The Underground

THE UNDERGROUND

“CHILDREN OF THE LOWE CITY”

In these lands where the sun has forgotten to rise, life now consists of dust, death, acid, and radiation. It is so cold and so wild that life, the life that would be born from a baby, the ecosystem that would sprout from a drop of water, the nature that would grow from a seed, has become impossible. Life is not being born, it is not growing, and on the contrary, it is consuming itself and coming to an end. We humans fled this death on the surface centuries ago and rebuilt our lives underground, in the shelters of ancient people and authorities, in endless mines and subways that smell as much of death as the surface.

Where did it all begin, how did we get here? Only our dead ancestors know.

But I am certain that even our ancestors could not have imagined that we would come this far. If they had known that we would have the hope of rebuilding life on the surface, that we would come face to face with other underground dwellers, that we would experience so much carnage, so much rage, and so much loss, they would never have settled on this land.

And I, Aleksei Vukhrow, write these words so that they may be engraved on your bones in your graves. Let the bones of my two severed legs be a message and a lesson to you. Let those who come after us learn from us, let them learn one by one all the foolishness, stupidity, and depravity we committed, and let them not learn as late as we did.

Date: After the collapse, May 12, 230

Today is my first day as commander of the reconnaissance unit. I am both excited and a little scared. I have worked for so many years, served in the military, and finally I am commanding one of the most competent and important armies in the city. On top of that, I don’t need any additional experience. Commander Takerow must have seen such strength and potential in me to put me in charge of such an important unit.

That’s why I woke up this morning with great joy and excitement.

I quickly took a shower, got dressed, and ran full speed to the reconnaissance unit headquarters. Now I am sitting and waiting for the unit to arrive. I have no idea how I will greet them. All the commanders I know are tough and ruthless, but they have a soft heart. Behind their tough exterior lies a mind and a desire to do good. Even my commander, Takerow, told me that I must be tough, not show any weakness, and be very strict in order to keep the soldiers disciplined.

Even though I shouted “YES, SIR!” in the heat of the moment, it’s very difficult for me to adopt those actions and attitudes now. Seriously, being harsh with people, yelling at them, and beating them just because of a mistake is not something I’m used to.

At the same time, I believe that treating soldiers gently and seeing them as human beings rather than fighting pigs will greatly increase their performance, faith, and loyalty. If they fear me, they will make more mistakes and not respect me, which will cause many problems later on.

That’s why I’ve decided that instead of yelling, calling, or scolding my soldiers all the time, I will be more humane and less distant. I will establish a bond and brotherhood with each of them...

Yes, of course, I did what I said, and it worked. I spent two months like this. Finally, I realized something. Their performance, attitude, and loyalty improved significantly. There were no mistakes during the missions we went on together, and they all did their jobs to the best of their abilities. They respected me, which was one of the first things I wanted in my role as a commander.

At the same time, my life as a commander was not limited to military service. I began to get to know the city I lived in, Novogrod, better. I learned about the history of Novogrod and the struggles we had faced. I gathered a lot of information about what happened before the collapse and how it came about. Along with this, my social life expanded. I had the opportunity to meet many commanders, especially Victoria Irina, the ruler of Novogrod. I also became close with other commanders I met, especially Aleyhna Mikrinow, Vadim Nestralov, Igor Dementski, and Serafima Korinova.

What I learned here about the collapse and our history was different from what I had known. My father had told me about it in the way he had heard it, but Takerow brought us a diary written by Jal Wurkoff, one of the founders of this place, and read it to us. I learned that:

The country that existed before and is now within our borders, Russia, caused a great war. Its attacks provoked an extreme reaction, and in the end, it and its allies launched nuclear attacks against the world. Subsequently, they were subjected to nuclear attacks in return.

At that time, the year was 12/1/2030, and the attack began suddenly. First Moscow was hit, then St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. Immediately afterwards, our lands, Novgorod and Vladimir, were hit.

According to the story, the chaos was incredible. At first, a huge light and a shock wave shook the entire city. Millions of people died instantly. Those who survived rushed into the streets and flooded into the shelters that had been opened. Our grandparents entered the shelters, but the problem was that Russia had limited the number of shelters. The shelters eventually filled up, and anyone trying to get in was shot by soldiers.

They did not leave for years, but eventually, supplies ran out, and a civil war broke out inside the shelters. The soldiers tried to solve the problem by killing everyone with their bullets, but as soon as they ran out of ammunition, they were all killed by the people, and everyone escaped. Those who remained founded the city of Novogrod. They grew crops, multiplied, dug, and eventually became an official underground city...

I’ve been doing this job for six months now. During this time, I’ve made many discoveries and faced many challenges. I have partially explored life on the surface. However, this life is not human life; it consists of strange creatures. To be honest, everyone was already aware of the creatures’ existence; they frequently came to our door, but they died as soon as they arrived. But this time, it was a discovery where we directly found their nests. Many alphas in the area were killed and cleared...

Then came the biggest discovery of all: in place of our recently dried-up water source, we found a river flowing healthily on the surface, free of radiation, and a source of drinking water. It was located near the southern side of a huge structure in the northern part of Novogrod...

Immediately afterwards, we made our second biggest discovery, which revived a profession that had disappeared years ago.

Animals, I had only seen these in old photographs until today. I think their names are cow, bull, and goat. They give delicious milk and their meat is very filling. They are also quite easy to raise.

We placed them in a safe, grassy area on the surface of our base, where we continued to raise them and revive the profession of animal husbandry.

All this beauty continued for two years. But then my group discovered something strange that shook the city and changed everything completely.