[Inspiration: Subnautica: Below Zero (the Thermoblade and underwater drilling), Fallout 3 (bunkers and ghouls), The Thing (1982), Mad Max, and Caves of Qud (water as currency)]
I could feel the soft blades of grass in between my toes as I trotted through the garden. The ground was warm from the gentle rays of sunlight beating down through the clear blue sky. As I walked through the garden I saw something interesting. I reached out to a leaf of a tomato plant and a small green caterpillar climbed on my hand. It began to inch around like I was just another piece of nature. Soon, I reached back and set him down on a blooming flower. The lush foliage was the perfect environment for life. Everything from creepy bugs to quick little squirrels climbing trees could all find a place to thrive. I’ve always been fascinated with the world, whether it be biology, geology, or just going on a hike, I would do anything to see nature. That’s why I loved my mom’s garden. She knew how to take care of any plant you could throw at her. She made sure to water the plants every day, check for weeds, and keep pests from eating everything. I remember picking weeds with her one day when I heard a noise from the TV inside the house.
On some day, in 1987, I don’t remember exactly, the US government sent out an EAS alert about solar radiation and frigid temperatures. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but we were all told to stay inside or underground. Workers were sent out to construct sealed habitats underground for people to live in. One got built quickly in our town. To build it, they used a rundown abandoned supermarket as the foundation and built a sprawling underground complex below it. My mother and I grabbed as many plants as we could and took them into the shelter. We put a light above them so they could grow, but it was tough to get enough water for them. A couple of months later in October, the cold came. The days had become so frigid that you needed a parka just to not freeze to death. Looking back at some data it was around -14°F (-26°C) during the day. But, that wasn’t the worst part. During the night it was close to −59°F (−51°C). Normally in our area (Washington), it is about 23.0°F (−5.0°C) in the coldest month, January, so this was way different than a normal polar vortex or colder winter, and the worst was yet to come.
Bleak rays of sunlight scatter throughout the hazy room as my eyes crack open. Slowly, I break free from the grasp of my bed. The metal frame and spring-filled mattress provided a minuscule amount of comfort. Not to mention, it was so cold last night, so I didn’t sleep very well, but, as my mom used to say, “We all need to get up sometime, don’t keep the devil waiting.” I never knew what she meant by that. I got up and yawned as I saw the icy blue light spill onto the calendar hanging on the wall. It was October 8, 2007. In two days it would be my birthday. I can’t believe I will be turning 26 years old. It seems like it was just yesterday when the Drought came. My throat feels especially parched this morning. Sadly, there is nothing I can do. I am running low on water; my waterskin only has enough for a couple more days and a thing or two from the trading depot.
I went into the bathroom to quickly freshen up. I brushed my teeth and washed my face with the cold water from the tap. The warm light from above the small mirror illuminated my face. I couldn’t see the hope in my eyes anymore. Not like when we first went underground. My dark blue eyes had turned a dim grey. Without any dye, my hair had gone from a light brown to a dilute purple. Everyone seems to change in this world somehow. Sometimes it’s for the better, and most of the time it’s for the worse.
After taking a small sip of water I headed out into the hallways. This winding complex would be a labyrinth to a newcomer but after living here for 20 years I have it memorized like the back of my hand. The brutalist concrete walls with metal structures laid on top provided an air of harshness to the compound; nonetheless, it made me feel secure from the desolate outside world. I turned through countless winding paths on my way to work. It was alright though. I always knew the perfect time to leave for work, yet today I went a bit earlier than usual. As I walked through the hub (the center of the structure with stores and homes throughout) I saw my boyfriend Harry sitting at a table.
“Hi Harry, how are you doing this beautiful morning? I haven’t seen you in a while,” I said sarcastically. We went out to a bar the other day.
“Oh hi Elise! I’m doing well,” he said, not caring about my joke. “Today I finished machining a part for one of my wealthy clients! I got paid a lot for it.” He had a silly grin on his face. I could tell he was just happy to see me again.
“Good to hear! Hey, I have a bit of time before the mine opens. Do you mind if I come over for a cup of tea?”
“No, I don’t mind at all. Oh, and could you check the mail for me? My dad said he’d send me a package last week. He came up with a new alloy that I’m going to run some tests on.”
“Sure! Make sure to tell me the results later, ok.” It was good to hear that Harry was doing alright now. I knew work had been slow for him recently so it’s good to see him doing well for himself. I grabbed the package from his mailbox and walked up the stairs into his workshop (it is connected to his apartment).
Harry is the local machinist. He does everything from welding and milling for local construction projects to studying metallurgy in his free time because “it’s easy, you should try it!” Hint, it isn’t easy, he’s just smart.
Harry and I have been friends ever since first grade. We used to go out into the forest and look for berries together, swim in the lakes, or find sticks and have a swordfight. When the Great Drought started our families moved into the same base. Eventually, when Harry was 10 years old he started as an apprentice to a skilled metalworker known as Derick “Rusty” Smith. Rusty was a government worker who helped build the underground base; afterward, he became disillusioned with their governance. He devoted his life to the art of metalworking while acquiring his water from a secret well he built during the construction of the base.
After 6 years of being his apprentice, Harry started to talk less to me and his other friends. He became a recluse. We later learned that he was suffering from severe depression due to the death of his mom (which none of us had learned about). In this depression, he felt that all he had left was to study metallurgy to make a strong alloy for better fortification of bases and bunkers. In his sixth year of being an apprentice, his mom died from a preventable ghoul attack. She should have been fine but the iron wall protecting her had rusted through and the ghoul was able to slash through it.
It was about 5 years later that I spoke to Harry again. He called me on my 21st birthday and offered to go out with me. We went out to a bar in the base and had a couple of drinks while talking about our lives. It was nice to reconnect with an old friend. He told me how he was making some good progress on his research. After that, we tried to stay in contact more, calling at least every week. This is when I started to learn more about him.
When I say blacksmith or metalworker you might think of a big burly man, but he was far from it. He was built like a twig. He always seemed calm and collected on the outside, but as I began to know him better, I learned he was an anxious mess. He struggled with depression and anxiety for most of his life, but he has always been too shy to tell people about it. That’s why I made sure to always be there for him.
I remember sitting by the lake with him one time. We were in one of the many biospheres built after the drought. They are like big greenhouses with a natural source of water from the ground. The groundwater has minerals in it that make it not drinkable, but the plants love it. The sphere we were in had a large groundwater lake.
We sat next to the lake looking out at the water. It was nice to be alone with him for once. After a while, I put my head on his shoulder. He noticed and slowly started to scoot his hand over to mine. I quickly moved my hand over and held his hand. I heard him let out a small giggle. We went back to sitting there. The way he sat there looking out into the water. The way it reflected off of his beautiful hazel eyes. I can still imagine his cute face. I wish I would have just leaned in and… uhh, never mind.
After a few minutes, I heard him start to say something.
“H-Hey Elise?” he stuttered.
“Yeah, what?”
“Do you ever feel like there’s nothing left in life?” Harry said softly while looking out at the water.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, do you ever get that feeling of despair like nothing you do is good enough?” After he said this I was a little worried.
“Oh, yeah. Sometimes I get that after a long week. You just feel drained, right?” I replied.
“Yup. That’s it. That is how I feel right now. When I wake up in the morning I wish I could just melt into my bed and never have to get up again.” I could see a tear welling up in his eye as he looked at me. I knew he was serious. “But, when I am with you. I… I don’t feel like that anymore. I feel like there is more to what I’m doing. Right?”
“Harry.”
“Y-Yeah, what?”
“I want you to know that I always care about you. I think about you all day” Now, tears were welling in my eyes too. He looked at me and hugged me. I could hear him sobbing as we held each other.
“I… I’m s-sorry. I just needed s-someone. Ever since my mom died, I’ve had nobody around to talk to,” he muttered.
“It’s ok Harry! I’ll always be here if you want to talk to me. I like being with you. Harry… I love you.” I said softly as I patted him on the head.
“Thank you. No one has told me that for a long time.” He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and we went back to sitting together. I held him close to me as we watched the sun set down past the horizon.
A week later Harry called me and told me about his poor financial situation. His business wasn’t doing so well due to a lack of clients in the area. He said that he had a contract in a city to the east that would pay a lot, but that the trek would be dangerous.
“Hi, Elise. How are you?”
“As good as I can be,” I giggled.
“Good to hear. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be gone for a while.”
“Oh, why?” I replied worriedly.
“Well… my business hasn’t been doing too good. One of my suppliers was raided by a group of bandits.”
“Wow! There are just more and more raids these days.”
“For sure. Anyway, I’ve run out of copper. I can still make steel fences and barriers and whatever, but no copper means no making electrical components, no alloys involving copper, no pipes, and no copper or bronze statues.”
“Yikes, that’s pretty bad. So what are you going to do?”
“Well, I got a contract in a city to the east. They will pay for me to come out there and do some work on their bunker. They are offering me 182 gallons.”
“Wow! That’s like 4 months worth of water!”
“I know right? And they are also covering the water I’ll need to get there and back. The only bad part is that I’ll be gone for about a month.”
“A whole month! How far away is the city?”
“1,100 or so miles. That’s the main reason I’m calling you,” he trembled. I could feel him tense up over the phone. “I don’t know if I’ll survive the journey. I’ve… I’ve done jobs like this before, but I’ve never left the country; I’ve never even left the state!” He paused for a moment. “I’m scared Elise,” Harry murmured so quietly the phone barely picked it up.
“It’ll be ok Harry. I believe in you. You are strong not only in physical strength but mental fortitude. If you put your mind to something you can do it. I know you can!” There was a long pause over the phone. I checked to make sure he hadn’t hung up. “Hello?”
“...Elise…I…I love you too. *dial tone*” He hung up. That a**hole hung up on me!
For a whole week after he left, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The boy I loved finally confessed to me, but he decided to abandon me on a stupid walk through a frozen wasteland just for some stupid water. It felt like he opened up my heart and stuck a knife through it like a hunk of ice. When he called me he said it’d be a month or so before he’d get back, so after a month I waited… and waited… and waited some more, but he never came.
Finally after, another month he was back. As soon as he walked in the door I rushed towards him. I wrapped my arms around him and before he could even say a word I pressed my lips against his. They were so soft. I remembered all those weeks imagining what it would be like and now it was actually happening. I let go of him and looked him in the eyes. I could see his cheeks turning a pale pink after I kissed him… I could feel his heart rate skyrocketing… so… I SLAPPED HIM! *SMACK* Who does he think he is?! “You can’t just hang up on me like that!! Don’t EVER do that again!” I yelled as I gave him a big hug. As I wrapped my arms around him, a river of tears fell from my eyes. “You… y-you don’t know h-how much I… I m-missed you!”
“I missed you too Elise!,” he cried as tears ran down his face. Some were from me slapping him and some were from him missing me. ”I’m so sorry for leaving you, but I couldn’t wait two months to tell you I love you.”
“I understand. Just don’t do something stupid like that again,” I said looking him in the eyes.
After having a cup of tea, I made my way out of Harry’s house. “Thanks for the tea, honey. See you later!” I said while waving to him.
“You’re welcome. I love you!”
“I love you too. I’ll see you after work.” I had 15 minutes until the mine opened, so I started making my way there. Once I made it to work I said hello to the Overman and grabbed my tools. The Overman uses a camera system to tell the drill team key info and analyze their progress. After the rest of the team made it to work, we made our way down the mineshaft. The drilling team is made up of my friends Candice, Jimbo, Little Diggy (he’s small but deadly), and Pablo. As always, Jimbo was late again. We descended on the freight elevator lower and lower until we heard the Overman.
Over the worn-out intercom, we heard a deep voice, “*static* AQ reached. Head to the eastern face, check the scans, and begin drilling. *static*” Aqueous level, or AQ for short, is a term used in hydro drilling to refer to the highest level of accessible freshwater.
“Who’s he to boss us around like that?” said Jimbo as he scrambled to get his tools ready. “I think we should throw him overboard.”
“Él es nuestro jefe. ¿Eres estúpido o qué?” replied Pablo who has had enough of Jimbo’s antics. “Además, ¡no estamos en un barco! ¿Cómo lo arrojarás por la borda?”
“Yeah! What he said!” yelled Little Diggy in a high-pitched voice.
“Oh please, you don’t even know what he said,” Candice said as she picked up Diggy.
“HEY! Put me down!!”
“Why should I?”
“Guys. We have to get to work,” I said. “Can you please set him down?”
“Fine. Only cause you asked soooo nicely, goodie two feet,” she said sarcastically.
Eventually, we got back to work. As you can see, our group had a lot of chemistry. We started drilling at the eastern face where we were drilling yesterday. On the scans, we could detect a large reservoir that we would drill into in about 4 hours. My job is to make sure that the drill is operating correctly. If it locks up or fails for some reason, I have to fix it.
Near the end of the shift, I heard a loud shriek from the entrance. We could hear the Overman on the intercom, “*static* The compound is being raided! Evacuate! Ahhh!! *static*” The rest of the crew and I ran to the elevator and went back up to the surface. In the daze of confusion, we forgot to bring Pablo with us.
“¡Oh, no! ¡Me estoy quedando atrás! ¡Ay qué miseria! Sufriré la derrota a manos de las minas. Moriré por la incompetencia de mis compañeros de trabajo,” gritaba desde el fondo de las minas.
Podía oír las rocas caer a mi alrededor mientras la cueva se derrumbaba. Mis nalgas empezaron a temblar. ¡Ay qué miseria! ¡De hecho! Mis estúpidos amigos me han destinado a una muerte temprana.
“Shucks! I liked him,” said Little Diggy.
We rode up the elevator and saw a group of ghouls making their way to the mines. The Overman had gone out with a pistol and managed to take out three of them before becoming a nice snack. I went over to my locker where I kept my spare Thermoblade.
In one of Harry’s experiments, he discovered an aluminum alloy that can store hydrogen gas. Using this alloy, he built a knife that generates hydrogen from a small electrolyzer and uses it to heat up the blade and create a flame as long as it is supplied with water. The extra oxygen is also released to make a stronger flame around the blade.
I ran out towards the ghouls. A ghoul lunged at me. Its writhing body was fueled by an immense bloodlust. I took my blade and slashed it across its chest. It screamed pain as it slashed its hands at my neck. I could feel its sharp nails tear across my skin. I readied my blade and stabbed it in the neck. Its lifeless body fell unmoving on the rough floor of the mines.
Before any more ghouls could attack me I ran down to my apartment. As I sprinted down the desolate hallways, I could hear the shrieks of the ghouls in the distance. I had read about raids before but I never thought I would be in one. I reached into my bag and pulled out my keys. “Damn, wrong key.” I opened the door to my apartment. It was just as I had left it this morning; sadly, I would have to leave this place for a while. I rushed into my bedroom and put my most important things in my bag. Laptop, a couple of books, my documents, my passport, and… a photo. It was a photo of my mom and I. I was holding her hand. It was the last photo I ever got with her. She passed away a couple of days later after going out into the cold.
I left my apartment and locked the door just in case. I ran down into the center of the complex. I could see the chaos. Ghouls ripping people to shreds, stores with broken windows, homes lit on fire. I could see one thief running down to the storage room where all of our food was. I ran down and followed the thief into the room. He didn’t see me. I hid in the shadows like a snake following its prey. The thief started rustling through a crate. Then, I attacked.
I jumped out from the darkness with my blade glowing with a pale blue flame. Before the thief could even react I landed a strike in his neck. He flinched and pulled out his dagger. A long dagger made of blackened steel was common for thieves due to its corrosion resistance. He slashed at me but only ripped my shirt. I went back and regained my footing, but before I could make a move he pulled out a Molotov. I went in for another strike towards his heart. My blade swung through the air leaving a trail of fire. The thief lit the Molotov on the flame as it plunged into his heart.
The room was engulfed in flames. I ducked down below the smoke and tried to make it towards the door. I could feel the heat on my face. I stumbled my way out of the room and through the doorway before I could feel my vision start to fade. Before it all went black I could feel someone dragging my body out of the flames.
My eyes creaked open once again. Instead of the cold blue of my apartment, I woke up to the warm light of Harry’s workshop.
“Oh. It looks like ol’ sleepy’s finally up,” Harry giggled.
“Wha… where… oh. Harry, what happened?” I said groggily.
“Well… I was working in my workshop when I heard the alarm. I got up and barricaded my workshop before any ghouls could get in. After that, I grabbed a new knife I was working on so I could test it on a ghoul, but when I left my apartment I saw you running towards the storeroom.”
“Oh yeah!”
“So anyway I ran down after you, but I ran into a group of ghouls. Luckily, my knife worked well and was able to stun the ghouls when I hit them.”
“Nice!”
“And that’s when I saw you crawling out of the storeroom with your legs on fire,” Harry said casually.
“Wait, WHAT! My legs were on fire!” I screamed.
“Yeah, and when I went in there there were three dead thieves! I don’t know how you killed them all. I also saw Candice as I was carrying you back to my place. She said you killed, like, four ghouls while getting out of the mines!”
“No way!! I thought I only killed one ghoul and one thief!”
“It seems like the adrenaline got to you,” Harry chuckled.
“What happened to my stuff?”
“Oh, I have your bag in my workshop. I put it with my stuff.”
“Ok, good.”
“Here, I made some tortellini for you while you were out cold.”
“Yay! Thanks, honey.” It was so fresh!
Harry and I had devised a new plan after the raid. We were going to pack up and trek to the city.
[Here there would have been a part about their journey through the wasteland toward the city]
[There would then be a part about life in the city and how Elise would have become a geologic researcher.]
I eventually got a job in the logistics department. I manage where the water goes and how to get it there. Normally the job pays well, but the company has cut my pay in half due to a lack of profit from the mines. We’ve had to dig so deep that our drills can’t cut through the tough stone. No mining means no water. No water means people start to die. Because of this, I’ve started researching the Great Drought. So far, I’ve gotten close to finding out the cause of the drought.
[Here there would be a part about how she was given a mission to go to Antarctica. She would arrive there, explore (look up “Subnautica: Below Zero” that game was a large inspiration for this story), and eventually find an abandoned base (see “The Thing (1984)” for reference).]
Here is an excerpt from an old manuscript I found in a science base on what was Antarctica, now a group of trenches and mountains on the South Pole. It was written by a scientist tasked with drilling out shafts of ice.
Research Log, Class 4 Drilling Specialist, Edward McMurdo
[1977-12-5] Our base’s power grid has decreased from 2.3 MW to 1540 kW. Our monitoring system shows that it is caused by a lack of geothermal power from the generators. We have installed diesel generators while we find out why the geothermal generators lack power.
[1978-2-28] We have received reports that sections of the neighboring research station have been dealing with structural issues in multiple sections of the base. This is due to the ice melting and messing up parts of their base. We should be fine though. Our station is built on a section of dry land known as the Dry Valley.
[1978-8-23] Our neighboring research station has evacuated and moved to an island in the bay due to the rapid melting of the ice. The air temperature has increased by ~5 degrees C. This has been causing ice to melt all around Antarctica. The average UV radiation has also increased tremendously. It is quite concerning.
[1979-1-16] In our recent drilling operation we drilled much much deeper than we ever have before. We are about ⅓ of the way through the Earth’s crust.
[1979-3-1] Throughout the winter we built a new underwater drilling station deep below the icy waters. With this new base, we can resume drilling a new borehole. All we need now is some new drilling equipment because our equipment isn’t designed for digging so deep.
[1979-4-9] This month we finally received our new advanced drilling implements from the Soviets. Now we can resume drilling operations in the underground base. We are hoping to dig deep enough to get through the Earth’s crust.
[1979-6-6] After a couple of months of drilling we are near the Earth’s mantle. Compared to other boreholes that our organization has drilled previously, this hole has been easy to drill due to the temperature being colder than usual.
[1980-1-5] Today we were finally able to make it through the crust of the earth. The cold temperatures extended down to the mantle which made it easier to drill through, but is worrying because we don’t know why it is so cold.
[1982-3-31] Recently, the US government has released an EAS alert. They have warned everyone about an unusual spike in solar radiation and a decrease in the Earth’s magnetic field. It sounds similar to what we were seeing a couple of years ago.
[1982-6-25] We received a radio message from the US. They are reporting an insanely high level of radiation: UV, X-ray, and even some Gamma Rays. The solar wind is so bad people have had to shelter underground to avoid radiation sickness and cancer.
[1987-3-6] The government has released another EAS alert. They are warning about a water shortage. Ever since the magnetic field has dissipated, the salinity of freshwater has increased. The water has also been evaporating from the increased surface temperature of the Earth. It is unclear whether the salinity is from cosmic effects or geologic circumstances.
[1999-12-2] With the new drilling parts we got through the mantle. It was a very long endeavor, it took 20 years to get through the mantle, and we managed to hit the outer core.
[1999-12-7] We have made a horrible discovery. The outer core of iron and nickel is solid. Normally the outer core is molten. This generates a magnetic field that protects the Earth from cosmic radiation. This explains why water has been evaporating and why the temperatures have been more extreme. The increased levels of radiation have gotten rid of the ozone layer which, in turn, has caused increased levels of radiation. This combined with the cold core not heating the Earth has caused temperatures to range greatly.
[2000-3-18] After 4 more months of drilling, our drill is beyond repair. Even though the core is solid. The pressure and residual heat were enough to overcome the drilling equipment, and without any new research, we don’t have enough funds to keep the base running.
[2000-5-18] The base is officially shut down indefinitely. I’m going to see my family. Signing off.[4]
[The next page includes the outline I wrote before writing the story.]
All I remember before the Great Drought is the lush landscape of my mother’s garden, the bright green foliage lit by the warm sunlight. All there is now is sand and stone. My name is Elise. I was born 25 years ago, 5 years before the Great Drought. On that fateful day, the earth lost its magnetic field and the water either became too briny to drink or soaked into the earth. This left only a barren husk of what used to be a fertile, blooming world. Now we live in desperation in a bleak search for water, the essence of life. We used to use gold and silver as currency, but now, water is all we have… it is all we need.
This story focuses on Elise, a mine worker in Washington, surviving in a world after the Great Drought. The Great Drought was a calamity that happened in 1987 that stripped the world of its magnetic field. This made the world insanely cold and bombarded by solar wind. She is determined to find out what caused this after the underground complex she was living in was raided by a bandit group. She leaves the ruined base with her friend Harry and sets off to a nearby city. On the way they encounter a small group of ghouls and ward them off with Elise’s Thermoblade. Once they reach the city, Elise gets hired at a water mine as a drill technician and mining specialist, but she is just working her way up to become a researcher. While she’s working for the mining company Harry gets a job as a full-time metallurgist where he researches new alloys and metal-based compounds. After a year Elise is finally able to meet with the mining company's owner and she gets a mission.
One day when Elise is at work in the mines she sees a ghoulish creature take the life of a little girl. She quickly arms herself, kills the ghoul, and heads out to defend the complex. While she is running out of the mine, a group of thieves break in and head to the base's storeroom. Elise quickly hears the alarm and runs to protect the storeroom. As she runs in, one of the thieves throws a Molotov in the storeroom. She has a hard-fought battle with the lowly thieves. She kills two of them and injures another who gets engulfed in the flames. Before she can get the last two her clothes start to catch on fire. She runs out into the hallway through the pitch-black smoke, but she passes out and hits the floor.
Elise wakes up in her friend Harry's apartment. He is delighted to see her. He tells her that she was in a coma for 2 weeks. She learns that the bandit group has raided and razed the complex. Elise was able to survive because Harry fortified his workshop and apartment using his metalworking skills. They eventually decide to start a trek to a nearby city.