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Isabel Wood – Time Travel. John Clayson – stem cells. Isabel Wood – Space. Ailsa Clarke - infertility. Brooke Harris-Lowing - Tornado. Space – Mark Pangalos. Amber Rothera – response to Ben Silverman’s story. Extract from the opening of Tunnels – Ben Silverman
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Extract from the opening of Tunnels – Ben Silverman For 20 years, the East and West had been at war. At first it was just threats. Nuclear missiles poised, ready to be launched, ready to lay waste to everything. No-one believed it would happen. Then one day, all hell broke loose. December 13th 2073. The beginning of The End. At exactly midnight the sky exploded like a match. Flames tore through buildings, incinerating anything that stood in their way. If anyone had been alive, even for a second, they would have seen a field of mushroom clouds, stretching up into the sky, seemingly endless. Strangely, there was no noise. Just silence. There was nothing left. Just rubble. Anything that survived was left mutated, deformed. Hiding in the skeletal remains of buildings, they fed on anything they could find: rats, mice, even themselves. The last of my kind. I had been working in the mines when the explosions had started. All I heard was the faint whining of bomb sirens. And people screaming. I was conflicted. One half of me wanted to help them, the victims, but my other half, the sensible half, told me to stay underground. Luckily, the mines still had power. The only light I had emanated from the flickering lamps bolted onto the shaft walls. I had to get back to the equipment shack. There, I could call for help and stock up on equipment. Besides, out here, deep down inside the belly of the earth, I was exposed. Who knew what creatures could be roaming in these tunnels? I had heard stories of the horrible side effects of radiation. Extra arms, multiple eyes, and no control over themselves. I started running, navigating through the labyrinth of holes and passageways. Suddenly, I was plunged into an inky black. The generator had finally given up. I heard a noise. Faint, but it seemed to be getting closer every second. Something brushed past me. Someone screamed. A terrifying, gurgle filled the space around me. I stumbled through the darkness, desperate to find the source of the noise. The lights flicked back on, this time accompanied by a quite hum. I turned around, and screamed…