• We were at one of the max stops, just Julian and I, when these big balls of fire hit the earth. It was a really hot day and we were heading back to his place. They didn't look like meteors, but they came from space. Then I noticed something. The sun was a lot bigger and it was dark red. The fireballs didn't come from space, they were solar flares from the sun.
    Everyone around us was in panic. I clung to Julian, hoping not to get hit by the balls of fire. City lights started going out all around and buildings were either on fire or collapsing. In the panic of all the people, we somehow found the entrance to the underground tunnels. We would be safe there for a while.
    Deep into the tunnels we found a few friends among the people that were smart enough to go under the surface. The tunnels had rooms and deep caverns, jail cells and there was enough room down here for a small city. But there were only a few hundred people down here.
    The surface was burning, the whole city, possibly even the whole world. We waited down in the tunnels for a few days, the solar flares seem to have subsided. Some left, but most people were too afraid. Julian and I left the tunnels and found the entire city burned down, save for the small buildings that always hung in the shadows of all of the other downtown buildings.
    We decided to scavenge for food and materials for survival. I already had my backpack with me, as I always do when I go out. But ten I looked back at the entrance of the tunnels. What about all of those people? They still needed to survive, didn't they?
    A fire ball struck the earth, it was hotter than ever. We went back to the tunnels. There were so many scared faces. A few were charred or burnt by the fire, the rest were dirty and tear streaked. We had to have everyone survive. Julian called everyone to attention, it surprised even me.
    He started describing the world of what we sad and what happened around us. He told them that they still needed to survive and that there was still a chance. Then once he had everyone agree he started organizing everyone. Different groups went to different areas of the city to gather food and anything they could. We were in one of the groups, the elderly and small children stayed. In all there were about two hundred and fifty of us, only about eighty five able to work.
    We headed out into the city, five per group. We all searched the buildings that weren't completely destroyed and grabbed all we could carry and decided to get more later. We all separated into caverns and rooms, family and friends staying together.
    We took our daily trip out on the surface to scavenge for food and materials, but when we got there the earth was cracked and there was lava seeping through some of them. We kept going and gathered as much as we could and then headed back. About half way, there was a fireball that nearly hit us. It was huge, bigger than any we’ve seen and there was absolutely no humidity in the dry scorching heat. The sun was almost the entire sky and you could visually see the solar flares that didn’t contact the earth. Almost there, the earth had shifted so much that there was a huge crack between us and the tunnels.
    We had to cross to stay alive, but there was lava about five feet down and the trench was about fifteen-twenty feet across. Luckily we found rope that day. There was just enough of it to get us across and there were only five of us. One of the guys who was about twenty-five took the rope and something like an axe and tied the end of the rope to it and threw the axe. It barely hit it’s mark. He was also the heaviest in the group, so he crossed first. Next was a girl, she was the smallest at thirteen. After her, I was told to go, but I’ve always been afraid of heights, so I hesitated.
    I slowly started to cross the rope, but about half way I looked down. The lava was bubbling and higher than before. I slipped. My leg barely grazed the lava and my hair was singed. I screamed and clung to the bottom of the rope for my life. The man that was about twenty five and Julian both went in to help me. The entire side of my leg was screaming at me in pain. They both got me across. I wanted to lay on the ground and writhe in pain, but we had to keep going. I’ve always been strong against pain, this was nothing new.
    Once we got there, I almost passed out right when I sat down. I looked at Julian wearily and the pain and worry in his face were almost as bad as my leg. We were in the main cavern. Gladly there was a student doctor here among other students that used to live in the area. He was tending to my leg, but there was nothing to ease the pain.
    The man from our group earlier spoke up. He described the scene and what had happened. The sun was getting closer. We didn’t have much time and most of the water had evaporated. We had to find a way to leave the earth. Among the crowd of people, about a dozen and a half volunteered an idea. They were going to build a spaceship. There were about five rocket scientists, five engineers a few astronomers and the rest just wanted to help.
    With as close as the sun was, we had a little over a week before the entire earth burst into flames. They set to work with no further explanation. Every able person, including myself was gathering, planning or building. It took four days to build a shabby, air tight spacecraft that barely held everyone comfortable and it was only a few chambers, mostly to keep the structure stable. We set off into space.
    The thought of that was scary, even more so than the fact that our home was being destroyed. From above it looked like an entirely dead fiery planet.
    After what seemed like weeks, we started running out of food and supplies, my leg was getting no better. The pilots and engineers were so nervous that they looked like they would break if they had even the smallest of surprise. The people were even worse. After a long time in the dark void of space, there was a bright light far away. It held a few planets around it. The shabby ship was built to go fast. Faster than probably any human had ever managed. Within those planets, we found a small green one. We finally decided to land.
    On the planet there was civilization. There were strange buildings that looked very well worn, almost uninhabitable. It was lush with green plants. Someone decided to open the hatch. Everyone panicked thinking the planet would have foreign air. But it seemed to have almost no effects on anyone. Except one thing. It left purple bumps on exposed skin, like a minute allergic reaction. Slowly, people started leaving. I wanted to follow, but Julian grabbed my arm, unsure. If we were going to find some kind of help, we had to do something. He sighed and grabbed my hand instead and followed.
    The ground was lush and soft on my bare feet, but a little prickly. My curiosity and excitement for being on this strange new planet overwhelmed the pain in my leg for a moment. But moments later, I crumpled to the ground. Julian picked me up and started taking me back to the ship, but I argued against it, seeing a city of strange buildings. They have to have some sort of doctor.
    We were almost to the city when this angry creature tried to attack us, but stopped short. Once it saw me, it looked like it felt a sort of compassion. We decided to try to communicate and eventually it took us to the inner parts of the city, where more of them were bustling around and. Food. The smell of food was everywhere. It didn’t smell like the food we were used to, but it smelled like the best thing I’ve known in over a month.
    The creatures were an almost sickly green color. They looked like a mix between a fly and a lizard, but no scales. They also had the purple dots.
    After it had another look at my leg. That one took care of me and bandaged my leg. The first one gave Julian some sort of coin. They gave me a crutch and let us go. But that first one still followed us. We decided to lead it back to our ship, everyone was still in the area, it looked like.
    The creature Looked them all over and left. A few minutes later it came back with a bag. It held more coins. I figured the coins were some kind of symbol of letting us stay here. It seemed like it was some sort of leader in the city. Soon enough it had others come bringing materials and food. Someone started to light a fire and the fire turned blue and one of the creatures got angry and put the fire out.
    The creatures didn't seem to mind us being there, nor did they mind the lack of communication. But soon we all learned physical communication and even some ended up getting jobs or friends.

    I don’t know much specific after that, it kind of floated away from my head.