Chapter 1
Located in the centre of the United States of America, was the massive city of Bethington. Twice the size of New York and home to over twenty million people; it was a city of massive scale, with grand skyscrapers and busy streets. Almost all the buildings were tall and grand, but even the smallest had a fire escape attached to its side like a leech. No matter the scale of the building, not one stood without a fire escape reaching up to its roof.
From above, the city could almost be mistaken for a forest. There were plant pots on every window sill, trees on every corner, a beautiful park every three miles and solar panels on every roof. It was clear by the blue shade of the sky and the clean, country-fresh air that this was a very eco loving city.
If a stranger happened to pass through, they would think it a perfectly normal place - if not a normal place that was a little obsessed with fire escapes and being eco friendly - and usually it was a perfectly normal place, until of course, those warning sirens that sat on the corner of every building began to blaze.
On this day, a chilling but clear skied day in May, the thousands of sirens that were dotted all across Bethington once again began to scream. Quick as a flash, people began to move, as if stunned by an electric shock. People who had been calming walking the street just a moment before suddenly began bolting like rats escaping a sinking ship. People in cars dived out their cars without bothering to stop them properly, allowing their cars to go smashing into lampposts or crashing into the curve of the pavement. Instant mayhem exploded across the city at the sound of those familiar sirens, which sounded like the cries if a stranger cat. Mothers grabbed their children and ran. Dogs and cats were scooped into arms and rushed away.
However, nobody screamed, for nobody was panicked. They knew exactly what to do. The streets were a hive of running people, who dove beneath the streets through the tunnels that led underground. To the naked eye, they would appear to be simple subway tunnels, little rain shelters covering stairs leading underground; but they were so much more. To the birds flying high above the city, it looked like millions of ants running deep into the ground. Nobody pushed or shoved. Everyone just flowed into those tunnels like a powerful river into the mouth of a cave.
Inside, those who lived on ground level threw open their hidden trap doors and plunged down below, not into cellars or basements, but down into long tunnels that lead deep underground. Over 80 feet underground, to be exact. Meanwhile, people who lived two or more floors off ground level either ran downstairs or caught the lift to ground level and then poured into their nearest trapdoor or tunnel. The people living too high for that - usually three floors or higher - smashed a massive red button on their walls and were instantly transported underground.
Just like that. One minute, they were in their living room, the next, safely underground. To anyone who would be watching, it was no doubt a act of pure magic - a logical person may argue it impossible, but it wasn’t. Magic it appeared to be - and magic it was!
Hospitals, care homes or schools for the disabled, filled with the wheelchair users, the bedridden or sickly people slammed that big red button and suddenly the entire population of that building was transported. Head Surgeon Thomas McLad of the main hospital in Bethington slammed that button this morning, and suddenly he, his entire staff, and all the patients were transported to the underground hospital. The patients were transported with their beds, still hooked up to their machines. So, one minute they were lay in hospital, the next, in the identical and fully function underground hospital, just like that. They didn’t even have to move from their beds.
Outside, people were still filing into the tunnels and trapdoors, which led into deep, wide corridors made of rock that all interconnected in giant underground maze. These tunnels stretched all across the entire city, from the last houses at the very edge of the city, right through to the other side. There was not a house, building, office or public building which didn’t have an escape tunnel right underneath its floorboards. These tunnels were wide enough to allow a flow of 30,000 people walking shoulder to shoulder and toe to toe to walk in at once. The tunnels had stairs leading down to them. Those unable to use the stairs would find their nearest big red button and press it in order to be instantly transported down to the tunnels. There was a big red button on the face of every tree, building and park bench. They were inescapable; and it was a good thing too!
The tunnels were brightly light, warm and well ventilated, with thick stone walls. They could be confused for corridors in an ancient stone castle, rather than tunnels that were five feet under the dirt. Once people were down in the tunnels, which were all a long rectangle, there was elevators and stairs lined across either side of the tunnel walls. So the people of Bethington could either dive into a lift or take the stairs right beside it. There was an equal amount of stairs and lifts, they went in a pattern across the wall, lift, stairs, lift, stairs, and this repeated for mile after mile.
At the very end of the tunnel, there was another pair of stairs. People were running down, down the stairs into the tunnel and then down the stairs again. People leapt into the massive elevators, each able to carry over 10,000 people at once. Every set of stairs were wide enough to allow 50,000 people down at once. Some poured down the stairs, others jumped into the lift. The sound of running feet was thunderous, sending tremble through the ground as people rocketed down in the lifts and sprinted down on the stairs in massive groups.
Down, down, down the people of Bethington went while those sirens went on wailing high above. They climbed or rode down in massive groups. Fathers and mothers pulling their children after them, pets being dragged on leashes. If the people of Bethington didn’t have their pets with them when the sirens began to wail, it was no worry, all pets from rats to parrots would be transported automatically through the same magical teleporting that the big red button caused. Although some citizens had trained their pets to press the button on command of the sirens, just in case!
Down down down the straight, tbe well lit staircase citizens of every shape, size and colour would travel. The sound of pounding feet and racing breath filling the air. Despite how far they were dropping, these staircases were kept warm and well ventilated. Nobody was gasping for air in these long downward shafts!
Finally, the lift doors would open and the staircase would end, and the people of Bethington would find themselves in the world’s largest bunker. 30 feet below street level, there was the Shelter. It stretched beneath the entire city, big enough for above for over 20 million people to stay comfortably inside. The millions of stair cases and lifts lead straight into it. It was an enormous metal structure, the ultimate bomb shelter, its roof and walls were instructable, at least according to its builder.
Inside the structure, it was like someone had built a mini version of Bethington, it wasn’t just a shelter, it had over 20 million houses, streets, shops, buildings. It was Bethington, skyscrapers and all, only they scrapped the metal ceiling rather than the sky. Down here, however, the buildings and homes weren’t made out of bricks or wood, but the same indestructible material that the shelter was made of. However, the inside of everyone’s home, office or buildings were exactly the same. A double. Like stepping into a mirror world. Down here, there was all a person would need, from the underground hospital to the local paper shop.
There was something different in the underground Bethington, however, it was a massive cage, with four wire walls and a wire ceiling, planted on soft green grass. This was the big cage into which all the pets of Bethington were instantly transported when the sirens were activated. Everything from the neighbourhood tom cat to the mouse from the science lab at school was here in this cage. It had different compartments, the animals all had their own ‘rooms’. This way there was no chance of the birds chasing the mice or the dogs chasing the cats. There was food, water, toys and cosy beds designed for each animals need inside each ‘room’.
The people of Bethington could choose to either go and collect their pets, or leave them in the cage until the emergency was over. Then it was a choice of either carrying your pet out or allowing it to be magically transported back home once again. Most chose to take their pets in their arms back up to the surface, they wanted to create less work for The Saviour.
Calmly, everyone filed into the underground Bethington. The air was cool, the lights were bright, there was even the local parks, schools, and so forth. It it weren’t for the metal walls, it could be confused for the normal, above ground Bethington. Nobody felt much like going inside, so the over 20 million citizens of Bethington would fill the underground streets, standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers and peering up at the metal ceiling high above them. Only when the last person would safely enter the Shelter, could the doors seal, cutting off access to the stairs and lifts. However, the air stayed fresh and the lights bright.
On this day in May, the last people to enter the Shelter was a family of six, two parents and four kids. They got out the lift and the Shelter closed in around them. All 20 million residents had made it safely down in less than ten minutes. These were well organised people. They knew better than to mess around. Those squealing sirens meant move now - not later.
This Shelter was designed in such a way that the people of Bethington could live down here permanently, if needs be. Some people, the more timid ones, did choose to live down here. However, most people just treated it as it was, a shelter, a safe place to be for when trouble came knocking. People waited with baited breath, staring up at that ceiling.
The ground would tremble all around them, they could feel the vibrations but the Shelter remained unmoved. It was like being in a buried shoebox, surrounded by dirt and yet safely tucked away. The citizens could also hear the sounds of disaster above them. The sound of swirling wind, and buildings crumpling. It sounded like the end of the world.
“Sounds like a hurricane again” a man’s voice came out of the crowd. There was a loud ripple of agreement. Bethington was subject to frequent hurricanes, bad ones too. Usually, they left thousands dead and millions more with nothing more to call home then a pile of rubble. That’s how it had been since the city was founded over a century ago. That was, of course - until she came.
“Do you think The Saviour is alright up there Mommy?” asked a small girl’s voice. A question most people were too afraid to ask. Nobody wanted to answer, their hearts were beating too fast with fear. Despite all she could do, the people of Bethington still fretted about their Saviour like anxious mother hens.
“I’m sure she’s fine baby” the mother of the girl soothed, in that kind, gentle way all good mother’s did. She’s the Saviour, after all, she can handle anything.”
Everyone, including the child, nodded softly, taking comfort in this reminder.
