My NaNoWriMo Week 1 2015

'The moon was my one constant in life. It is the only thing that has been there for as long as I can remember. Everything and everyone else abandoned this place long ago, leaving me behind. I don't even think they knew I was here hiding in this cave from the apocalyptic storm. The storm that destroyed the planet, leaving only death in its wake and locked the moon in place above the cave of my salvation.'

'The day the storm hit is the furthest back I can remember. I was playing near the cave when I saw a large red cloud rolling across the sky. I watched as I rolled over my village dropping pink rain as it moved. I could see villagers running for cover some headed my way but never made it others managed to get the the shuttle port on the other side of the village but not all of them got off the ground. I watched in horror as my people where all but wiped out in just a few minutes. As the cloud headed my way I managed to get myself into the cave and must have stayed there for at least a day and when I looked out again all was quite but the village and the fields that had been full of crops were destroyed. I stayed in the cave for a few more days before becoming so hungry I needed to find food. I remembered the underground grain store that was just a short distance from the cave. It was full of emergency grain rations. I just hoped it was all still OK.'

'I looked out of the cave, it was daylight but the moon was there looking down on me. At first I was unsure of what this meant and it scared me a little, but I was hungry and knew I had to find food. Looking across the now desolate landscape I could see puddles of pink liquid bubbling on the ground. These I thought must be full of whatever it was that came out of the sky. I knew they were a danger to me and my journey and knew that all of the ground between here and the grain store would be saturated in the bubbling pink liquid. This again scared me but my hunger won out and I started on my journey being careful to avoid the pink puddles and any ground that looked like it was still saturated by the liquid.'

'The sun had set by the time I made it to the grain store but the moon was still looking over me from the same place in the sky as earlier. But being as hungry as I was I just dismissed this and carried on to the entrance which was a heavy metal door. Well it had been untill the pink storm. Now the door looked corroded but it was still intact and locked shut. In my hungry state I had failed to remember that the emergency store was heavily secured and only someone from the high council could open it. But they were all gone and I was on my own and getting hungrier with each passing minute.'

'After a short time of looking around I remembered something the council leaders son had told me on the morning of the day the storm came. He had said there was another way into the store that only he and his father knew about. He was going to meet me at the cave that very afternoon but the storm had come and he never made it.'

'Looking back towards the cave something inside me stured, or was it just my tummy growling? Not sure but at that moment I thought "What if the secret entrance was in the cave, my cave."

'I gathered all the energy I had left and headed back to the cave as quickly as I could. I'm not even sure how I made it across the puddle laden path without getting the liquid on me. But I made it back dry and started searching the cave. I knew of a few tunnels as I had done a little exploring while I was hiding out the storm but I hadn't ventured far. This time however I was determined to find this secret entrance and get some food in me to get my energy levels up.'

'I searched every tunnel I could find but after a while with my hunger growing even more intense and my energy faiding fast it seemed like it was impossible that the entrance could be in this cave. But then after what felt like days of searching but was probably only hours something caught my eye. There was a small opening and the familiar smell of grain seemed to be eminating from it. At first I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me but I was drawn in and the closer I got the stronger the smell came through.'

'I reached the opening. It was narrow and would have been a tight fit for an adult, but I was small, just eight years old and fit easily through. Reaching the other side I found the grain store. It was full of the golden grain and around the edges were barrels with taps on the bottom. The first thing I did without thinking was stick my head under the tap of the nearest barrel and open it. The liquid that came out was not water but something strange. It had a tast of the grain and seemed to go straight to my head and affect my already compromised senses. It also did little to quench my thirst.'

'After what felt like another eternity I managed to focus and found that each of the barrels were marked. I found one that said water and again placed my head under the tap and turned it on. The clear liquid ran out of the tap and into my mouth. It was warm but still refreshing and I allowed some to run over my face before turning the tap back off and getting up to take another look around. After a short time I spotted a shelf full of jars of stuff. I headed over to investigate. There were pickled items of all different descriptions. The only one I knew before was the onions but I knew that this was a process thst was used to preserve food for later consumption. I took a few jars and placed them in my pockets before moving on in search of other more recognisable items. Turning back towards where I entered I spotted an area in the rock that looked like a mini cave. I headed over to investigate. The little cave was full of round items wrapped in cloth. I opend one to reveal a block of cheese. I re wrapped it and picked that up to. Now I just needed to find a safe place to eat.'

'I squeezed back through the gap. This time with my full pockets it was a little harder but I managed and headed back to where I had been hiding out for the passed few days. When I got there I found pink liquid dripping from the rock ceiling. I was not expecting this to happen. I turned and headed back to the grain store where I ate the most I had ever eaten in my whole life, not that I can really remember much before the day of the storm.'

'After a rest I made my way over to the grain stores main entrance and tried to get it open. I could not get it to budge. It had just as strong security on the inside as the outside.

First 1295 words down still a long way to go but I'm confident of doing well this year.

'I must have spent days searching for a safe way out of the cave system before the dripping of the pink liquid stopped. Even at this point I could not get to the cave entrance with out touching puddles of the stuff. I was not willing to chance it at this point. I just wanted to stay alive so I carried on trying to get the store door open and eating and sleeping in there where I felt safest.'

'After what felt like an eternity the pink liquid started to disappear and I could get to the cave entrance and into the open. It was midday when I exited the cave. I know this because the sun was at its highest point in the sky and it felt really hot. This made me realize it had probably been a full month since the storm. I looked around to see that the ground was now nearly dried out and everything looked dead.' There were bones of dead animals and people, my people scattered all around. There was no signs of life anywhere, it was eerily quite.'

'I looked over at the Village and saw what was once the large, exquisite Village Hall. Today it was a ruin like the rest of the Village around it. I decided that I would go and explore the outskirts of the Village and headed off carefully down the hill towards what had once been the farmers housing. As I got closer I could just make out the now ruined walls of the once thriving farm yard where animals had roamed and people had worked to keep the Villagers fed. Entering the Farmyard the devistation became more apparent to me. The walls looked like they had been melted by the pink rain that had fallen and the bones of the animals and people completely striped of all flesh. It was not a nice sight, especially for an eight year old. I started to cry uncontrollably.'

'Looking up with tears stinging my eyes I saw the moon sat in the sky with the sun still beaming down on me. It felt strange, as though someone was looking down on me from the afterlife. That thought made me feel better and the tears stopped rolling down my cheeks. I dried my eyes and checked the suns possition in the sky. It was starting to get low in the sky meaning I wastime for me to head back to the cave. Not just for sleep but to get something to eat as well. I scanned my surrroundings for anything that could indicate signs of survivors, but there was nothing.'

'I headed back up the hill towards the cave scanning the area as I did. I was not expecting to find anything other than the devistation left by the pink rain but I had to look just incase.'

'When I got back to the cave I headed straight for the grain store and made sure I had a decent meal before bedding down for the night. I had decided that I would head back to the Village and see if I could find a way to open the grain stores main door. I was not confident because of the state of the Village hall but it would be worth a try.'

'The next day I had a good breakfast and headed for the Village as soon as I could. It was just getting light when I left the cave and headed down the hill. I had filled my pockets with food for later so I could spend as much time as possible searching the Village. When I reached the Farm I took another good look around to see if I could find anything of use to me. But everything I could see was destroyed. After a few minutes I decided to make my way further into the Village and towards the Village Hall checking the ruins of the Village as I moved through the once bustling streets.'

The further into the Village I travelled the more the devistating effects of the pink rain became apparent. There where bones of people laied in doorways. It seemed that no one in the Village had stood a chance, I just hoped that what I came looking for had survived but that hope was dwindling fast. My quest was starting to feel hopless but I had to carry on.'

'I reached the now ruined walls of the Village Hall and started searching for a safe way into the building. It was not an easy task and by this point I was starting to feel hungry again. I decided to stop for a moment and eat as I knew I would need all my strength to get through the day.'

'I could feel it getting hotter as the Sun rose in the sky. Looking round I expected to see my friends playing in the streets, but of course the streets were full of rubble not children and there was just the eerie silence that had hung over the Village and its surroundings since the storm had passed.'

'Looking back at the Village Hall my mind refocused on my task. Within a few minutes I had found a way into the building and was searching through the rubble being careful not to touch any left over pink liquid.'

'I spent the rest of the day searching the ruins of the Village Hall. It was hard as there was rubble spread across every hallway and room that had once been filled with ornate decorations.'

'I had reached the center of the building where the Ballroom once stood proud when I realized it must have been getting late. I looked up through the openings in the roof and saw the Sun was getting low in the sky.'

'I turned to start heading back to the cave when something on the floor caught my eye. There was a door set into the floor that looked like it was made from the same material as the grain store. I moved closer to investigate further but the Sun had dropped behind the ruined walls and it was getting hard to see. I decided that I would have to come back the next day to investigate further, so I carefully made my way back out of the ruins and to the cave.'

'I did not sleep well that night and spent most of it thinking about what could be under that door. I knew it was supposed to be there as when I looked at it and around it I could see it was set into more of the same material. It is probably a strong room where the Villages most valuable things were kept to keep them safe. But if I could not get it open I would never find out and it would not be wise for me to try and force it with my hands incase there were any traces of that pink liquid on or around it. So far I had been lucky enough to have managed to avoid touching it but I knew that I needed to be very careful still. There was still traces of it around and even in some areas where it was not visible the ground was still wet and to my knowledge it had not rained since that dreadful day.'

'The next day I left the cave with plenty of supplies just as the Sun rose. The moon of course was still watching over my as it had been since the day of the disaster. I made my way to the village as quick as I possibly could and proceeded to make my way through the ruins of the Village Hall to where the door was.'

'I spent a bit of time searching around to see if i could find something thst would help me open either of the doors that I wanted to get through. After a while I started feeling hungry so I paused for a little while and had something to eat. As I ate I scanned the room and something caught my eye. There was a box made of what looked like the same material laid on the floor and it looked like it was open. I stopped eating and moved over to the box. I was right it was open so I carefully bent down to take a closer look. Inside where what looked like key cards for different doors but they all looked damaged and so were probably of no use anymore, but there was no harm in trying. Without thinking I picked a key out of the box then instantly dropped it as it burnt into the skin of my palm. I quickly took the water from my pocket and pored it over my hand. The burning stopped but the key had left an imprint on my palm. I needed a way of holding the key cards without them touching me but that was going to be hard to sort out as I knew that the pink liquid burnt through most materials.'

'I spent the rest of the day searching the rest of the ruins for anything useful to me but I had no luck. I headed back as the Sun started to set no further forward than I had been that morning.'