I grasp the top of the grassy cliff after what feels like an eternity of agonising climbing. My body falls limp as I finally feel the adrenaline leave me and I glare at the early morning sky. While I stare, my thoughts battle going over how this could have happened to me, I wince at the flashes of memories that had me free falling over the edge of the cliff. Sitting up, I start to feel like I’m coming out of a daze and a new mission is clear in my mind.

I waded through the thick grassy landscape that I had become familiar with these last few years of my life, my fond memories threatening to be ruined by the actions of another. As I walk further through the gloomy landscape, a laugh escapes my lips as I see a truck right where it’s supposed to be. I approach it cautiously not knowing if you were lurking in the tree line. I get into the drivers side and feel my body slowly sink into the leather while my eyes roam the space around me.

I think back to earlier this morning at the cliff when you told me you didn’t love me anymore, the frenzied look in your eyes and the last thoughts that went through my mind before I hit the ground. You had just found a necklace in the glove box, a necklace that had been all over the news worn around the neck of a missing woman in the area.

Truth be told, I thought you’d be my next but I have never encountered someone that held that same look in their eyes; a mix of excitement and adrenaline. Images of those eyes fill my mind as I start the engine, ready to scour the entire earth to catch a glimpse of them again. Excitement fills my veins as I drive through the streets of the dying town that was once filled with life. I eventually end up in the bar where I first saw those eyes, although then I mistook the chaotic glare for something more innocent.

Right as I’m about to leave I catch a glimpse of something under the dim light in the corner of the room. A sparkle draws me in closer and I lose all connection with my limbs as I keep moving. The same feeling that ran through me earlier comes catapulting back as you lift up your head and stare madly into my eyes. Time slows as I sit in the empty seat facing you, I can’t comprehend the beautiful sight in front of me. The necklace around your neck sitting just like it was made for you makes me come to realise I just think you were made for me.

You move closer to me over the table and whisper, “you can’t get rid of me now…not now I know exactly what you are.” And in that moment I realised you are just like me.

Journal entry 462:

We live beneath the solid grounds of the earth we used to own, us survivors that is. I’m not really sure what came first, the robots or the war. Well, it doesn’t matter now. Humanity is long gone, apart from those they deemed worthy of redemption who were exiled to the depths of the earth. The robots decided we were doing more damage than good, and they rebuilt the beauty of the once united world one step at a time, spanning all ends of the earth. It was perfection…almost.

That’s when the sky turned dark, dark enough that you couldn’t see your feet beneath you. The survivors below ground have been enlisted by the warrior faction of the robots, it’s time to leave this place we’ve called home for the last 150 years, the place my ancestors built when they were running from what I know as the extinction.

I guess this is as good a time as any to introduce myself. My name is Annabeth, I was born in the year 2166, and I have lived my whole life within the depths. I have always wondered what my life would have been like had I been born before the wars and grew up on the surface, but I know I wouldn’t have been as lucky as those who made it to the underground that day in 2024. As I’m 18, I am one of those selected to make the journey up to the top of the world where my aimless daydreams of the surface will start to fade into my reality.

I never understood the word bittersweet until I experienced the soft rays of what I knew to be the sun landing on my exposed skin. Looking around at the desolate landscape that surrounded me, I felt a sense of freedom coursing through my body that I have never felt before, then a wave of anxiety slammed me in the chest when I remembered why I was here. That is the moment when I saw the pale blue rays radiating through the sky in the distance for the first time. That’s when everything began to feel real, the rest of my life was about to begin.

Journal entry 502:

One year has passed since my journey to the surface, one year since I began my new life. Pale blue flashes of light and the sound of crashing rubble is now ingrained within my being, my once pale skin now tan and littered with scars and scrapes from protecting the place I desperately hope will remain my home.

I still remember that first day I experienced the surface, the rush of adrenaline as us survivors were walked through previous war zones to get to the camp I now call home. I still remember the first time I saw, them. Through the dusty, cracked lens of the binoculars I had my first encounter of what we were really up against. I wasn’t prepared then, but God only knows I am now.

Today is the day we move in on the colony- the colony of the creatures from another world that have terrorised our planet for the last 22 months. Packing my bag I take one last look at the camp I’ve called home for the last year and my eyes well up knowing this may be the last glance I get, but my heart pumps faster when I look around at the army that have been tirelessly training and gaining intelligence over our common enemy. I have never been much of a betting woman, but this is one I’d go all or nothing for.

Journal entry 514:

We missed something. How could we have missed something?

Journal entry 527:

It has been 3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days since we made our first attempt on hijacking the colony. We thought we were ready, I thought we were ready. It’s my birthday today… 20 years old. A pang of guilt drowns me as I think back to those we lost.

A smile crept onto my face as a candle stuck into a poorly risen cake illuminates the space in front of me, I look up as I blow out the flame. Fear hits me as I come to the realisation that we are now all encased in darkness, this can only mean one thing. They’re here. The hair on my arms stand up as I hear the scuttling of the creatures from the colony surrounding our home. I’m afraid this may be the end but the glimmer of hope lights within me when I remember that the plan all along was to lead them here.