Children of the Ark

After the Nuclear War, also known as World War 3, most of the world’s population went up into space on a ship called The Ark. The name originates from Noah’s Ark but instead of saving two of every animal from the flood, it is saving humanity from extinction. We have been orbiting Earth for over 200 years. After the first hundred years they started to send down people to see if Earth was habitable, but for 51 years, they would all eventually die from radiation caused by the nuclear war.

Every three years they send down 200 teenagers to Earth to try to survive. After 51 years of people dying from radiation, they started to last longer until eventually, they didn’t die from radiation. Unfortunately, because it took so long the animals that survived turned rabid and started to mutate because of the radiation. If the humans didn’t die from radiation, they died from the animals. But slowly, people started to survive the animals, and they build camps.

Nobody survived the 2 years to go back to the Ark for 51 years then all of a sudden, one group lasted 6 months before they were all dead. The next lasted three-quarters of a year, the next lasted for just over a year, the next lasted one and a half years and finally ten people came back to the Ark, but they weren’t right in the head. They never washed. They were paranoid. Wouldn’t let go of their weapons. They caused fights and were telling stories about what it’s like down on Earth. All the deaths, blood, and killing. It was causing a panic in the Ark. Then one day, all the survivors were gone.

Everyone knows that the Council had them killed. But anyone who came back was exactly like them. Eventually, they started to come back less paranoid, calmer and would wash. But that’s only because there were a lot more surviving. More coming back. Soon over half of the group would be coming back. Until some of the people who were chosen decided to stay on Earth. They didn’t want to come back onto the Ark. They liked the thrill of being on Earth.

Now 200 years after we started to orbit Earth in the Ark, there are Clans on Earth, the Wolf Clan, Snake Clan and Lion Clan. The three strongest Clans get so many people wanting to join. But they only take the fittest and fastest. A lot of them don’t make it in and travel to the next Clan to see if they have better luck. If you don’t make it into a Clan, you have to go solo or make your own smaller Clan with other people who are having no luck.

The Wolf Clan is the strongest. Everyone tries to get into the Wolf Clan first because their Clan attracts the newly Sent people since it is known as the strongest group, but Wolf Clan accepted everyone at first to try to grow their Clan, but they now they hold an initiation so that they can get the fittest and strongest. If you can’t pass the initiation you can’t join the Wolf Clan. The initiation is where one of the Clan members will lead you out into the wilderness for six hours and you have two hours to make it back to the camp. They give you a knife and a compass, but that’s all you have to make your way back. If you don’t make it in two hours, you aren’t accepted into the Clan. It may sound easy, but it is not.

The Snake Clan is the second strongest. They accepted everyone as well, but now that a lot of people are wanting to join their Clan, they have to pass their initiation. The Snake Clan is horrid. They are the crazy group. To pass their initiation they will lock you in a room with someone who you came with, but if you came alone then they would put you with someone else, and one knife. They force the two who are in the room to fight to be in the Clan. The one person who comes out alive gets to join the Clan. It’s known that it turns people crazy by being in that room and being forced to kill one of their friends just to make it into the Clan, yet people still are desperate to join a Clan, so they try out for an initiation. They are a sick group of people, not caring if they have to kill a few people if they needed to get something done.

The third strongest Clan is the Lion Clan. They don’t have an initiation but they accept anyone who can protect themselves. The Lion Clan is basically just people who can fight with a weapon. You have to rely on yourself if you want to live, not the Clan, but they will offer help if needed. If the Lion Clan is threatened, it will band together to attack its provoked, but if not threatened it will mind its own business. It may have the most people in their Clan, but since it isn’t as strong as the Wolf or Snake Clans, it’s considered the third strongest.

Everyone in the Wolf Clan has got to wear a piece of red clothing, everyone in the Snake Clan has got to wear a piece of clothing that is green and everyone apart of the Lion Clan has got to wear a piece of clothing that is yellow. If you are not wearing your Clan colours, you aren’t considered a member of any of the major Clans.

The only problem with having three big Clans is that they are all constantly at each other’s throats and have been fighting a constant war since land became a problem. They have been fighting over land to expand the Clans since the Clans first started to expand. If they see someone who isn’t in their Clan and they are inside their territory, they will attempt to or will kill them. That’s why they never venture out of their camps in groups of 5 or more, they could get jumped at any time if they went alone.

Up on the Ark, everything is normal. People are living out their daily lives with no problems at all. Only when it gets close to The Sending do people start getting wound up. Families with children between the ages of 15-19 slowly start trying to prepare their child in case they get chosen for The Sending. Start training them with small weapons like knives. Even though it is illegal to train someone to be able to kill something or someone on the Ark. They have this rule because when survivors first started to come back onto the Ark, they were afraid that someone would be able to kill someone else without any remorse so they put the law in place, even though the survivors that come back now are usually fine, they still keep it in place.

Everyone who is chosen will get a week of training before being sent to Earth. On the first and second day, it is training with knowledge of the ground. What to expect when down there and so on. On the third day, they have to take a test to see if they would be able to survive on the ground with the information they have been given. On the fourth, fifth and sixth days they are trained in weaponry. They get to chose two combat ways to train. They can pick from a range of guns to train with or melee weapons like katanas, knives, and maces. On the seventh and final day, they are being prepared for the Sending because they will be sent down that day at midday.

Being sent to Earth can sometimes be a good thing because it can get you away from everything in the Ark. You get to live for a bit. But being sent to Earth can also be a bad thing. A very bad thing. There are all of the animals out to kill you, the different Clans and sometimes nature will turn on you too. You could die in the first couple of hours or days, or you could live the whole time down there and be allowed to come back onto the Ark. But not very many seem to choose to come back onto the Ark anymore.

Once you are down on Earth. It’s up to you to survive.