The Neon Corridors

Like a beacon of light amongst a dark and desolate landscape, the Neon Corridors shone out to weary travelers and downtrodden scavengers. The Corridors invited people of all ages and races together to have a little fun in a city that was remarkably similar to the famous Las Vegas Strip. It made sense, considering the Neon Corridors were constructed directly beneath the Strip itself.

The Neon Corridors began just like all the other colonies of the Underside. Thousands of fearful refugees took cover in the sewers and subway systems of Las Vegas, and eventually transformed the tunnels into their permanent home. However, when tanked oxygen was introduced and the initial fear of the surface wore off, people began to loot the casinos and hotels of the Strip. This in itself was not too out of the ordinary, and it was a scenario being repeated all across North America.

Where the story of the Neon Corridors differs from the norm, however, is on the day a group of young adults returned to the city, overburdened with a single slot machine. The machine was quickly hooked up to a portable generator that ran on gasoline and provided entertainment for half the city that very night. That single slot machine paved the way for the largest - albeit, the only - casino in the Underside.

Before long, news of this so-called entertainment capital of the Underside spread, and people began flooding into the city in massive numbers. In a time of desperation and depression, the idea of honest entertainment was too good to pass over. Within two years of Impact, the Neon Corridors had been proclaimed to be the wealthiest settlement in the Underside.

Food Sources

Although they had escaped the assault from above, the early refugees of Impact quickly discovered that they weren't out of the woods quite yet. Millions of people across the globe had taken to the Underside, and it soon became apparent that finding food for everyone was easier said than done.

In some cases, such as that of Harbor City, the Undersiders survived on a diet consisting mainly of fish. However, most colonies weren't nearly so lucky. Initially, places like Junction City and the Neon Corridors had to scrounge for food among the damp subway tunnels and sewers; a majority of the early refugees survived on tunnel rats and fungi. As disgusting as it sounds, for many the only alternative was death. The Dark Ages were a time in which mankind's will to live was tested to the limit.

Luckily, this state of half-starvation would not last forever. A great many of the surface animals caught wind of the poison in the air and followed humanity's retreat into the Underside. These animals roamed the metro tunnels in packs, and would often attack on sight. As ferocious as these packs were, mankind's desperation overruled its fear and hunting parties were soon established. Many people died during these hunting trips but no one was particularly concerned. The less mouths there were to feed, the more food there would be for everyone else. It was a brutal world, and only the strongest would survive.

For a time, these tunnel-dwelling beasts were the Undersiders' single food source. However, when oxygen tanks were introduced as a way to combat the surface air, humanity received a pleasant surprise. For whatever reason, be it genetic build up or simple luck, some species of animals were unaffected by the poison in the air. Among these species were dogs, deer, and practically every type of reptile. These animals had flooded into the deserted cities, and made for easy prey.

By the end of Year One, the food chain had once again been established.

The Rapture Squad

The Rapture Squad was, by all means, the most famous of all the scavenger groups. The squad consisted of four people, three men and one woman. Its leader, Emily Dyke, was a middle-aged ex-construction worker with a spirited heart and a strong body. It was she that was responsible for the success and continued survival of the entire squad.

In the beginning, the Rapture Squad started off just like any other scavenger group. They traded for oxygen masks, strapped their bags onto their backs, and set off for the surface. From there, they would analyze their surroundings and judge where they hoped the best loot would be found. Then, they would return home and trade in their findings for supplies and food. The Rapture Squad's methods were just like any other scavenger group, except for one critical difference.

The Rapture Squad worked like a team. Although the idea of digging through the surface appealed to a great many people, they weren't all trustworthy. Many groups suffered from thieves, deserters, and plain old murderers. On the surface, there was no law. There were no guards to enforce the law. There was, simply, nobody at all.

Because of such people, scavenger groups fell into a state of constant suspicion and distrust. Although they went in groups, the reality was that each scavenger worked solo. It simply didn't do to trust another individual to watch your back. Not when there was the possibility of him slitting your throat and taking the pretty gold watch you'd just found.

The Rapture Squad, however, trusted each other completely and would not hesitate to put their lives on the line to save a companion. As it turned out, this simple mentality would in time keep them all alive for the duration of the most perilous surface expedition in history.

For a time, the Rapture Squad was satisfied with minor expeditions that yielded little loot. They recognized the wisdom in starting off small and training their bodies against the deteriorating cities of the surface. Eventually, though, they grew tired of the slow progress they were making. The team wanted to do something big, something that would make their squad a household name. That was when the idea of scaling the Empire State Building surfaced.

The Rapture Squad, in the beginning, lived and worked out of New Philadelphia, a moderately-sized settlement that wasn't famous for anything in particular. However, it was situated relatively close to Harbor City, allowing the Rapture Squad to hot-wire a vehicle and make the journey in just over an hour.

For a team of such skill as the Rapture Squad, scaling the Empire State Building shouldn't have been that hard. However, the team overlooked one extremely important aspect of the scavenge that would almost cost them their lives.

Although it originally appeared so, the black smoke that forced humankind into a desperate struggle for survival did not only affect organic beings. As if to add insult to injury, the substance had a sort of corrosion-effect on steel. The result was a planet full of unstable cities. The Rapture Squad knew all about this phenomenon, of course, but after having looted small apartment buildings and supermarkets for so long, they had forgotten the danger. It was simply not a concern when you could easily escape to the streets at a moments notice.

The Empire State Building, however, was over 100 storeys tall and, without working elevators, it would be difficult to scale. When the Rapture Squad arrived at the site, they discovered that the lobby was easily accessible via a shattered window pane. Obviously, other groups had had similar plans to loot the building. However, within moments the Rapture Squad came across what had deterred all previous groups. The stairwell door was blocked. Whether it was locked, or simply held shut by a cave-in, it wouldn't be opening any time soon. It was there that the Rapture Squad decided to climb the outside.

The climb started off perfectly. The team was able to climb over a dozen storeys above the ground. From there, they smashed through one of the windows and entered the building. The building itself held few treasures to be looted, but the Rapture Squad had expected that. They had never intended to make this expedition for the reward. No, they wanted fame, pure and simple. All it took was a few snapshots of the squad against a backdrop of the building's interior and presto, they were ready to grab a few souvenirs and make the descent. Or rather, that's how it should have gone.

Before they could return to the building's exterior, the Empire State Building began to shudder. It took a few moments for Emily Dyke to figure out what was going on. For whatever reason - be it the squad's disturbance or simply the fact that over a year had passed since Impact - the Empire State Building was nearing the end of its life. The corrosion effect of the black smoke had finally done enough damage to the building's structure. It was coming down.

Acting quickly, Emily Dyke oversaw the construction of four crude rappelling harnesses. Working together, the team finished their endeavor in record time and was able to secure their ropes to the building. Then, without a moment's hesitation, they flung themselves out the window and began their rapid descent. About halfway down, one of the men kicked off too hard and went crashing through one of the windows. Instead of abandoning him, Emily Dyke stopped her descent and moved to extract her teammate from the shattered window. His leg was badly torn up, and it was unlikely that he would be able to put much pressure on it. However, this didn't dissuade Emily Dyke. Instead of giving up and leaving her teammate to die, she stuck by his side and aided him down the building.

The squad reached the bottom in the nick of time. Even as they were unfastening their makeshift harnesses, they heard a thunderous crash from above. Looking up, they watched as the Empire State Building began to collapse in on itself. By the time the building crashed to the ground, the Rapture Squad was long gone.

The Empire State Building would never stand tall again.

Scavengers

Shortly after the discovery of bottled oxygen's combativeness against the air's toxins, a new social archetype emerged. Now that the Earth's surface was accessible, it quickly dawned upon society that there was a treasure trove of items lying in wait. This saw the birth of scavengers, groups of people who would travel to the surface in order to dig through abandoned cities in search of usable supplies and various other objects.

Although it had its perks, scavenging was a terrible dangerous job and many perished while at work. As a general rule, the more daring you were, the more successful you would be as a scavenger. Unfortunately, on the surface there were no doctors - or people - to help you if you injured yourself. There was, of course, also the danger of simply running out of oxygen.

However, despite the risks scavenging quickly became a popular lifestyle for a great many people, some of whom became very well off because of it. Others... well, at least there were less mouths to feed.

Every scavenger who wanted to be successful worked out of Junction City. Within the city's marketplace, they could trade the items they had found for things like food, clothing, and weaponry. It wasn't just the trading that attracted scavengers, however. At heart, every scavenger's deepest desire was to make a name for themselves. Many failed, but one particular group, the Rapture Squad, would go down in history for the most daring expedition of all time. The Rapture Squad scaled and looted the Empire State Building, and lived to tell the tale.

Junction City

Beneath the deserted ruins of Chicago lies, quite possibly, the busiest city on Earth. Junction City was named after its unique position in the dead-centre of the western civilization. The city's location led to it becoming a central hub for trading and travel. Any merchant or scavenger eventually ended up in Junction City, whether they were just passing through or settling down for good.

Out of necessity, Junction City was expanded much further than its original subway system. Once a comfortable lifestyle had been achieved for the city's inhabitants, they set to work digging out new tunnels to combat the sudden influx of travelers and merchants. This worked for a time, until the city began to encroach on other towns' boundaries. Horizontal expansion slowed to a halt, and the city was at loss of what to do. More and more people were flooding in and out of the city, and already it was making a name for itself. If further tunneling wasn't made soon, there was a real possibility of overpopulation. Again.

Digging remained at a standstill for some time, and the focus was drawn towards setting up a marketplace for traders. Although currency was a thing of the past, the traders played a key role in keeping the city alive. That was all that truly mattered anymore, survival.

Then one day action was taken against the growing problems of the city. A plan that had burned out months previously was rekindled, and the tunneling began once more. If the city could no longer be expanded horizontally, it would have to go deeper. Of course the idea had been suggested previously, but it had been shot down almost instantly, considered ludicrous.

However, as the situation grew more and more desperate, the city's officials decided that risks needed to be taken in order to accomplish what they had in mind. The greatest architects of the generation were brought together under Chicago's ruins, and it was there that they devised the solution that would benefit mankind for decades to come. It was the birth of Layers.

Using a unique and genius scaffolding pattern, excavators were able to tunnel directly underneath the original metro system without destabilizing the ground. This allowed for a massive increase in population, which greatly benefited the city in terms of supplies and morale. Travelers passing through Junction City picked up on the architectural design of the Layers, and before long it had been replicated in every major city throughout the continent.

Early Days

The first few months following Impact saw the deaths of hundreds of thousands across the planet. Although they had escaped the looming threat of poisoned air on the surface, the Undersiders soon found that they had bigger problems to face. For one, the space provided by the metros and sewer systems was not nearly large enough to support the amount of people living within them. There were simply too many refugees.

A despairingly large lack of food and medicine quickly became apparent during those first few months. This period in time came to be known as the 'Dark Ages', named after the medieval period. Many starved to death or succumbed to various diseases that surfaced as a result of crowded and dirty living spaces.

Fortunately, as more and more people died off problems began to erase themselves. Life became a case of survival of the fittest. In time, the threat of overpopulation died down and progress could be made towards improving the Underside as a whole. All across the planet, small towns were constructed beneath the Earth's surface. In most cases, these towns were made up of scrap metal and rotted wood, but they were still better than nothing. The survivors worked together as a single mind and quickly established medical clinics. A more organized method of finding and hunting food was established in many locations, and as a whole the quality of life greatly improved.

However, despite these many improvements the various civilizations that made up the Underside remained highly isolated from each other. Everyone was aware of the massive treasure trove that loomed above their heads, but no one knew how to reach it. Then, on the day marking the beginning of the fourth month since Impact, the first surface expedition was made.

Armed with a heavy-duty gas mask strapped to his face, Jacob Carter emerged from the safety of the Underside. The view he was presented with was not a positive one. The bodies of countless animals littered the streets of what used to be his home, victim to the poison that, even now, darkened the sky and blocked out the sun. Shriveled trees dotted the landscape, dead from the lack of sunlight. Mustering up his courage, Jacob pressed on into the wasteland. He was never seen again.

The survivors among Jacob's colony quickly established that he had perished. The news disheartened them, although they had expected no less. However, Jacob's death was not in vain. In the weeks following his expedition, numerous people were inspired to continue experimenting. Eventually, the answer was found. It came in the form of bottled oxygen.

News of this important discovery spread fast as messengers were sent out to search for other survivors. By the time New Years came around, a new age had begun for the Undersiders.

Harbor City

When the massive asteroid struck planet Earth on the day of Impact, it send tsunamis across the Atlantic Ocean. These tsunamis eventually crashed into the east coast of both North and South America. Thousands of coastal cities were decimated on Impact, and yet, humanity was not completely wiped out from these areas.

Although the city of New York had been destroyed, its inhabitants lived on beneath the ground. New York City housed an expansive metro system that was ideal for housing the survivors of Impact. Millions had died during the tsunamis, and yet the population was still far too large to live comfortably within the metro system. As a result, many people took to the sewers and lived alone or in groups of two or three.

Ironically, the tsunamis that were responsible for New York's destruction also saw the survival of the city's citizens. When the survivors first locked themselves away within the Underside, they quickly discovered that large portions of the subway system were completely flooded. This dismay quickly turned to elation as live fish were discovered beneath the water's surface. These fish would soon become the survivors' main food source.

Because of their waterside location, the survivors aptly named their new city 'Harbor City'. Harbor City would, in time, grow and flourish under its abundant food source. It would be here that some of the finest minds of this new generation would be born and raised. However, because of its location on the decimated east coast, Harbor City was completely isolated from the rest of civilization.

New York City's golden age was over.

Overview - A history

In the year 2017, an asteroid the size of Manhattan collided with planet Earth. The impact destroyed most of Western Europe and caused major damage to the east coast of North America via Tsunamis. The world was shaken; how had scientists not foreseen this catastrophic event? Could nothing have been done to prevent the collision?

The days following the collision - Impact, as it was dubbed by news stations - were filled with death, destruction, and fear. The question that lingered on every person's mind was, of course, how planet Earth could ever come to grips with such a massive disaster. Europe, alongside a majority of humanity's history, had been decimated. It would be centuries before the possibility to rebuild would even become possible.

As horrible as Impact was, the inhabitants of planet Earth weren't out of the woods yet. They had merely survived what, in the long run, would seem like the calm before the storm. Humankind had survived Impact, but the worst was yet to come.

Precisely two weeks after Impact, a wide crack appeared in the side of the asteroid. Scientists, still fearful of possibly poisonous fumes emitting from the asteroid, could do nothing but watch as the crack grew larger and larger until finally, it broke in half. The ground shook fiercely as the two halves of the asteroid toppled over, but few took any notice. All anyone had eyes for was the large, black blue cloud of smoke rising out of the ruins.

Slowly, in an almost surreal fashion, the cloud of black smoke slowly dissipated into thin air, leaving even the greatest mind confused as of what, precisely, had happened. Then, the unthinkable happened. Reports flooded in from Eastern Europe speaking of entire cities that had simply died overnight. The cause of death was, at the time, unknown. All that could be reported was an unnatural darkness that had spread across the continent. Whatever it was, plague or poison, it was spreading fast.

As luck would have it, a young american scientist by the name of Stanford Marshall was able to decipher the mystery that left the rest of the planet confused and scared. It is quite possible that his quick thinking saved all of humankind. Marshall announced in a public press conference that he was positive the unexplained deaths in Eastern Europe were directly connected to the black smoke that had disappeared without a trace not two days earlier. Stanford Marshall explained that he believed the smoke to be a quick and deadly poison, of a sort. The only way to escape certain death was to take refuge in the last safe place on Earth; underground.

In a mass exodus that took place all across North America and Eastern Asia, countless people took to the subway systems that lay hidden beneath the ground. The subways were expansive, and yet millions were unable to seek refuge in time. The survivors, armed with the knowledge that the world above was completely uninhabitable, began the slow process of rebuilding their lives underground.

Welcome to the Underside.

Enter the Underside

Welcome to the Underside project! Basically, all this is is a series of blog posts that will, over time, construct a post-apocalyptic scenario. My goal is to write one blog post a day, focusing on various aspects of my scenario. If all goes well, this should be a fun and interesting project for me to write and everyone else to read.

In order for things to make sense, you'll probably want to read these blog posts in the order that I post them, since I may reference to places/people/objects I've written about earlier on in the project.

And now, without further adieu, I welcome you to the Underside. Enjoy your stay.