Well it's been an emotional roller coaster and I'm feeling all sorts of things.
I've been doing my research and well I explain it all here on my GoFundMe.
https://www.gofundme.com/publishing-project-reboot-terra-firma
So, just to wet the appetite for all those who have taken the time to share and donate, here is the prologue and first chapter of Project Reboot:Terra Firma.
Please enjoy and let me know what you think!!
Prologue:
Genesis
The
world, planet earth. A tiny speck, revolving in the everything and
the nothing. This once luscious green and blue orb harboured a clean
living plethora of creatures, over time sentient beings rose up and
created civilizations. Today it is a very different world, consumed
by mankind. The greed, the gluttony and the lust for power has put
the once sacred earth into a deep turmoil. War is rife for territory
and natural resources, governments are corrupt and ignorant to the
common mans plea but all is not tainted. Advances in science and
technology has improved life, cured disease, purified water and
helped mankind understand much more about themselves and the vast
universe they live in. Just as well, religion has turned to extremism
in certain parts of the world, where there is one step forward there
has been ten steps back. The advance in technology has given the
world the means to communicate in ways that in the past were
inconceivable. But with this power of technology, the world has
become a place dependent on it. Hunched over laptops and PCs, glaring
at mobile phones and tablet devices. With factory mass production,
everything has become simple to construct and obtain and so mankind
has lost its connection with true simplicity. The world has become
vain, the media has intruded into the homes and minds of everyone, of
all ages, and now shapes the way we think and perceive ourselves. We
no longer think independently, a world of sheep, and the shepherds
are the ones who have self-proclaimed their highest position in
society. So what if all that had been accomplished by man had been
eradicated? Wiped from existence, nothing, but a blank template, with
only what is organic left behind. Why don’t we find out…
Chapter 1: New Dawn
It’s
a day like every other. The sounds of bustling human beings,
polluting the atmosphere with their factories and auto mobiles,
people staring down into their cold devices, judging anonymously from
behind a screen. Families sat around dinner, eating their processed
foods, discussing trivial matters and gossiping. Those who care for
it are gawping at the latest fashions, falling over themselves for
the next pair of gorgeous or trendy shoes. Swarms are inning and
outing from High Street shops, sipping coffee, others mulling over
how their next bills are to be paid, yet squandering the money they
don’t have. Children listen intently or not so to their tutors,
scrawling doodles on ruled paper. Members of high society enjoy a
lifestyle others would kill for and some even have. Pen pushers sit
at their desks, writing meaningless rules and regulations to buffer
their egos and to establish their sense of self-importance, doing the
same thing day after day each one looking for something to break
the monotony of life. Members of parliament jeering like
children on a school playground at one another, blaming others
instead of solving problems and delaying any kind of important
matters with their narcissistic self-beliefs, attempting to implement
their new ideals most of which only hinder rather than help society.
Criminals locked and unlocked plotting and rotting or just existing
in the underground and in plain sight. It’s your average day.
It’s
summer, the heat welcomed on a dreary United Kingdom, all types
enjoying the seasonal weather. Some reside within the comfort of the
shade given by a bedroom curtain, blocking the sun’s rays as they
attempt to penetrate the material to fill a dark and gloomy room
occupied by a reclusive young lady. Hunched over her desk, light
reflected from her monitor in her glasses. Steadily scrolling through
pages of procrastinating material. Sighing and smiling, tutting and
grimacing as she reads the encrypted scrawling of billions of people
online. Her face is pasty pale, her eyes a fading blue, illuminated
by the artificial glow of her technology. A lonely individual,
distant from social interactivity. But she is one in 7 billion for
whom life is going to change in a way no man could ever conceive.
Peering
over to the window, the sunshine seemed strangely bright. Curious by
the sudden increase in divine light shining over the land, the girl
got up from her chair and walked over to the curtains to do something
rare to her indeed. Twitching the curtain aside, she gazed upon the
landscape.
Living
within the city, smog and noise pollution are to be seen and heard
all around, music, nattering, cars honking, children screaming,
crying and laughing, nothing out of the ordinary, except the sky. The
blinding light pained the girl’s eyes, making her squint till
focused.
Everyone
seemed too busy to notice, it was subtle, but bright enough for the
young lady to notice. Leaning out her window, she observed the
passing people below, the sky was appearing paler on the horizon and
now the brilliance of the light could no longer be ignored. The girl
shielded her eyes with her hand, as did people below as they gazed up
to the sky. Before anyone could panic or react the pure white light
had enveloped everything.
All
stood still. For a few seconds that felt like a lifetime, all
man-made material had de-materialized. The girl aware of everything
darted her eyes around the room. All that was happening was going so
fast, but to her it felt like the world was dissolving in slow
motion. Her personal belongings seeming to evaporate around her, the
window she was leaning out of falling away to dust as everything that
belonged to the earth was returned, leaving her suspended in the air.
Books, tables, toilet roll, to name a few had become the trees they
once were before they were cut down and pulped for their uses.
Frames, jewellery, cars, trains, planes, warehouses, anything built
from raw metal had been returned to the rocks and ground they were
mined from.
All
that was unnatural, built over generations, and had been cultivated
over millennia, places of worship, monuments, ancient wonders,
hospitals, emergency services, palaces, castles and other places of
significance had all been taken by a mysterious overwhelming glow
from the heavens. Even the very clothing that dignified humanity had
been taken from them all.
As
quickly as it had saturated the earth in its blinding light, it had
gone. All living creatures frozen in position all standing where
their homes, workplaces and hangouts had all once stood. Completely
stark naked as the day they were born. Then snap.
Chaos
swept over the entire world. Screams and cries, even howls from all
who had just witnessed their instantaneous downfall, as everything
anyone had ever built up, saved, treasured, loved, had all
disappeared and returned to the ground. Trees, mountains, meadows and
rivers were all that stood before all. Mass panic, anxiety and fear
infiltrated the minds of humans. Amputees reliant on blades and
artificial limbs had become reduced to wailing on the grass they were
now lead upon. The morbidly obese exposed in all ways they could ever
fear, prison inmates free in all terrible ways, the elderly left
completely vulnerable and the diseased and terminally ill left with
no hope.
The
girl. She stood still. Her arms wrapped around her body to conceal
her naked flesh. Her eyes wide open, could do nothing but stare,
though without her spectacles the distance appeared hazy. Her mind
drew a blank, and all the horrifying screeches and cries became white
noise.
Something
truly incomprehensible had just happened in the blink of an eye. As
the chaos unfolded in front of the girl she slowly stepped around to
look behind her. There were no remains of what she held dear, no
photos, diaries, paintings and no phone. Her apartment above an art
supply shop had vanished. In a complete trance she began to walk
forward, just a foot in front of the other until she felt her foot
become wet.
Stepping
back, she gazed down to the ground and saw her pet goldfish,
struggling in a pool of water seeping into the soil below. A single
tear rolled down her face as she went to pick up her little golden
friend, scooping up as much water as she could before it was absorbed
by the new, fresh ground. Collapsing to the floor, she held on to her
aquatic friend and sobbed as people rushed passed her running around
aimlessly it seemed as they were looking for answers, shelter,
somewhere to hide from their exposure.
Still
cupping the goldfish in her hands, lead in the foetal position, all
she could think of was her family she had abandoned and left behind
and the friends she had forgotten to live her life of solitude. Now
she was truly alone. Her family and friends may only live in a twenty
mile radius, but finding them and knowing they’ll still be there
had now become an almost impossible challenge.
A
breeze swept over the bewildered girl and awoken her from her
entranced state. Gently sitting herself up, she began digging a hole
between her knees. Tears now streaming down both cheeks, she picked
up her goldfish and gently whispered “Goodbye Shimmer.”
Lowering
her now deceased pet carefully into its little grave, she then
scooped the soil she had unearthed back on to his delicate corpse,
slowly covering its shimmering scales. The art shop manager and other
staff were still in the area. The girl looked to sky, the sun now
it’s usual shining self, breaking through a drifting cloud. Looking
back to earth, she drew a deep breath as she absorbed the magnitude
of the situation, as tall trees and hilly landscapes had replaced the
city skyline, and all around her was lush green fields, flowers and
bushes.
Pulling
herself up from the ground she stood on her feet, placing an arm in
front of her chest and one hand over her groin as she noticed the
shop manager and others around her. The manager was sat on the grass,
his knees up to his face and his head down as he rocked back and
forth, crying uncontrollably. Some of the staff were sat around the
general area of where the store room once stood, all dumbstruck. The
landlord from the pub across the street was huddled with his family,
their pet dog jumping around excitedly. Members of the public
shouting out for help, calling for loved ones. People trying to make
sense of the impossible.
“Ava.” A feeble
voice called out. The girl turned to see who had called her.
It
was the art shop manager. She had frequented there for art supplies,
the guy in charge and a couple other staff members were the only
people she saw regularly, though if she could find what she needed
online, Ava avoided traversing downstairs as much as she could. The
convenience of just stepping out for what she needed allowed to her
to use her creativity as it was fresh in her memory, so if she
couldn’t wait, she had to go.
Ava
gingerly stepped towards the middle aged man, she was completely out
of her comfort zone, but then so were many others. “Co..Co..Colin…”
she muttered as she approached him awkwardly.
Colin
was in complete awe of the situation, so much had happened to him in
the past, he surely didn’t think his life could get much worse.
Usually a man of calm demeanour, a master of hiding his past torment
was broken by the weight of the situation, but still he felt
compelled to reach out. “Ava, I don’t know what has happened, I’m
scared Ava,” he spluttered “I’m sure you are scared too, but I
hope you are OK.” Colin poured out to Ava even after the loss of
everything, he was still able to care about the lonely recluse.
Colin
was a quiet but caring character. He enjoyed trying to coax
conversation out of Ava, as she was always purchasing canvas’ and
acrylic paints, he was always interested in her latest little
projects.
“I..I
need to find my family.” Ava replied, her voice quivering as she
began to swell with tears again. “I think you should do the same.”
Colin
pulled himself up, one hand cupping his groin as he stood. “Well,
this isn’t awkward is it?” He joked still with a lump in his
throat.
The
pair looked around them, the people they knew from the shop were
moving on, wandering aimlessly and the crowds of people in front and
all around were starting to settle with few still hysterically
screaming out and sobbing whilst getting their heads around the
terrifying situation.
“Where
do we start?” Colin said with a perplexed expression. He wiped the
tears from his eyes and looked at Ava. “I never got to tell you
this,” his voice went somber “I don’t have any family, but I
guess the best thing to do is to help you.” A smile crept across
his face, as if attempting to put Ava at ease.
“Thank
you Colin.” She simply replied, as she stared at the ground.
Turning to Colin, she gave a confused expression of affirmation and
began walking forward across the new meadow laid before them, and
weaved through the crowds of anguished faces.
