It all started before I was born, the war I mean. I am now 13. My father is dead and my mother is very ill. My mother said before the war that father worked for the government and was very important. That’s the reason why our family was saved. There is not space down in the tunnels for everyone. Nobody can leave the tunnels or they will die from the radiation. When the war started the big metal doors where shut for the last time.
The war started in 2013; it was between Russia and the USA. Britain had to side with America, well so my father said. My father told me everything, mother protested saying that I was too young. But that was when he was falling ill and I think he wanted to tell me himself. I sat beside his bed while he told me the stories. He struggled because of the fits of coughing and sometimes he would pass out and sleep for ages. At the beginning it was mayhem. When the first missile was fired everyone panicked, every country that had nuclear war heads fired them. There were a lot of survivors. Not everyone was killed strait away. We were rushed into the tunnels which father told me used to be used for trains under the city. Father told me how helpless he felt hearing the cries of the people outside, they started off shouting for help, but they turned into terrified screams.
I have spent my whole life down in these tunnels. I know every inch of them, I used to love explore them when I was little. There is no privacy in the tunnel, it is split into rooms, but you are never really alone. Apart from my place, nobody on the world knows about it apart from me. When I am sad I go here so I can be alone. The little whole in the corner leads to a small room. The room feel different, colder and there is a funny smell. There is a small grate leading into a small shaft, it is small and cramped but if I go on my knees I can fit through. There is no light down here but I have my head torch, everyone has to have one so if the generators cut out people can see. The grate comes of easily. The screws have rusted and I can use my fingers to get them out.
Then shaft floor is cold and it hurts my knees but I keep on going. It takes me up and down and sometimes I have gone on my chest to squeeze through. The silence is defining. But when think I hear something I freeze staring ahead, nothing but my breathing breaks the silence, but there it is again a scratching noise. Rats? No it can’t be no rat makes that much noise. It faded away; I stayed still for what seemed like ages. I did not know if I should go on. Well that question was answered form me. I could not turn around or go back, so I had to go on. I crawled up, the tunnel got colder and colder. Suddenly I forced myself round corner and there was light coming in from an opening, there was a piece of corrugated iron covering the opening. I crawled up to it and put my hand up against the metal, it was cold and ruff on my skin. I breathed in and pushed the iron sheet away from me, it dell on the floor with a loud crash that echoed around, I panicked and forced myself back in the tunnel. The noise seemed to last for ages. It finally stopped; I sat in silence for a while. There was a strange noise coming from the opening, it was like someone had left a tap on and water was overflowing onto the floor. But it was loud. I crawled out from the opening, brushed myself down and walked back in. I looked around the room, there was nothing in it apart from a pile of rubble in the corner the door was gone, and there was no glass in the one window. A gray light was coming from the door and window. Water was falling from above. I walked to the doorway and looked outside; there was an empty street with rubbish everywhere cars were burnt out and rusting in the road.
I held out my hand to catch the water, I remember father telling me about rain but I never thought I would ever see it. I stepped out and let the rain soak me. I was scared, I have never been in such an open place before, and I felt too exposed. Suddenly I had the feeling that of not being alone. I looked to my left and round the street and saw a man walking down the road, he was wearing nothing on his top half, his white skin was blackened and looked burnt and he was only wearing rags on his legs. I gasped as he had sacred me, but I put my hand over mouth to stop me from making ant noise. He slowly turned around and looked straight at me. Staring at me his eye boring into me, without warning he ripped his head back and let out a terrible scream. I ran back towards the tunnel and crawled in, and pulled the iron sheet over the opening. Other screams had joined in now the sound was terrible and ripped through me. As I was crawling back down the tunnel the iron sheet was ripped off, I looked back and saw a figure crouching looking at me, his light green eyes staring straight into mine. Suddenly the high pitched scream filed the tunnel, there tears were streaming down my face as I scrabbled as fast as I could over rocks and deeper the shaft towards the tunnel’s. As I got deeper the screaming faded, the only sound was me, and my frightened gasps broke the silence.
So here I am now back in the small room, probably nobody has even notice I have been gone. My knees are against my chest as I huddle in the opposite corner of the shaft entrance, I am shaking uncontrollably the tears are rolling down my face and onto my filthy shirt. I am sobbing loudly. But I know nobody will hear me