Underneath the Crust [Chapter One]

It started on the 14th of February, when the vines fell. Hell of a coincidence, huh? So from then on we all just called it V-day. 

I've spent a long time underground, with the others. We got a system working and everything. I'm a digger. I go out with a group of guys and we dig. Where are we going? Around.

We just want to find a stable place beneath the crust. The problem with that is any kind of tremor above ground is multiplied by like a fuck-ton down here. It feels like we're always running and shit.

It was cool for a little bit, I was happy going out with the boys to dig. I even had a canary with me just in case we hit some gas.

Oh, shit. This one time we did hit some gas. Well, it wasn't me, it was Kyle Daniels. What a dumb ass. We were all just working and he came down with a pick axe and then the bird stopped chirping and fell over. I was like, "SHIT!" then I bailed. The other guys followed but Craig Roberts wasn't fast enough, or maybe he wanted to die. Its not like he needed to wake up and deal with all this bullshit anymore.

Kyle was so worked up about that, that a few months later he offed himself. Thank Jesus I didn't find him, he hanged himself in his bunk. Crazy stuff, man. His skin was all pasty white and he was all sweaty.

From that day forward we started working on a new way of digging. We started going slower and taking more precautions. 

What's really cool is, that was around the time we connected with another colony's tunnel. It was like discovering we weren't alone in the world. There had been a bunch of us when V-day happened and during those weeks that followed but we all split up in hopes of making something like looked like an ant farm. So when it happened it was like a sigh of relief, we had done it. 

We sometimes trade with the guys from the others tunnels. I got a new companion from an old Indian dude from there. He gave me an African Wild Dog in exchange for some quartz I mined. SO I started training the pup.

That was three years ago, I think. Its kind of hard to tell time down here. The village chief dedicated someone to regulating a sleep schedule. That's the closest thing we have to a day system. It kind of blows, but it is what it is. 

Other than those occasional gas ruptures or run ins with giant-ass spiders, life down here is pretty boring. Its just a bunch of work. Plus, all the chicks down here are busted as fuck and none of them have bodies. So it was a real shocker when someone came knocking on our top tunnel doors saying they were from the surface. 

-Jestro