LETTER "F" - A-Z CHALLENGE

A to Z Team [2014]

Arlee Bird: Tossing it Out
Alex J. Cavanaugh: Alex J. Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp: Author Stephen Tremp
Tina Downey: Life is Good
Damyanti Biswas: Amlokiblogs
Jeremy Hawkins: [Being Retro]
Nicole Ayers: The Madlab Post
M. J. Joachim: M. J. Joachim's Writing Tips
Heather M. Gardner: The Waiting is the Hardest Part
AJ Lauer: Naturally Sweet
Pam Margolis: An Unconventional Librarian



"Forces of Mist" is set in a futuristic Sydney, Australia. An alien force has almost annihilated the human inhabitants, but a determined group survives, battling a fierce enemy to regain what was once theirs.

For the letter "F" you will find below yet another teaser from my yet to be released dystopian sci-fi.

Finding facilities amongst the debris of the destroyed towns had been a challenge, but they had found an underground complex on the western outskirts of Sydney, which had been used as a tourist centre, many years ago. It had been partitioned in a natural cave and the walls of the structure had been lined with panels of wood, recycled from older buildings.

Any wood found was now a precious commodity and teams had been sent out to scout the ruins of nearby towns to collect and transport the timber to the new complex.

Nails, an old fashioned device to secure the wood in place, were also being collected from the ruins and hoarded like precious stones. The human population was unable to construct any new ones as there were no mining or industrial technologies available.

The challenges mounted up. Developing a means of communication, other than the com systems, was paramount if survival was to continue. Luckily when the aliens had first attacked, the army had hoarded lots of equipment into safe areas, so these were now being searched to try to establish some type of analogue system to enable easy communication. It was becoming the most challenging of goals.

Sarah helped to move equipment from one site to the other, being careful not to be detected by the enemy, while gathering as much intel as she could, travelling back and forward to the new site.

She spotted an alien make shift camp set up along the eastern ridges a fair way south of their new base and made sure she informed the commander of its whereabouts, when she returned.

It took twelve days to transport all the goods and equipment to the new site and luckily they were able to succeed, without being detected. The new complex turned out to be perfect. After further inspection they found fresh water running through one of the tunnels, bubbling up from an underground spring. Large natural caverns were spread throughout the cave system suitable to transform into rooms for their purposes.

Sarah had found a natural alcove carved into a tunnel wall and set up the few meager possessions she harboured, creating quarters for herself, away from the main living areas of the rest of the base. It had been a long time since she was able to enjoy some personal space and was grateful to have found the small cave.