Author's note: Well, readers, here is the sequel to my previous Redwall fanfic, The Relic of a Forgotten Past. At first I had no intention of writing a sequel because I was originally happy leaving it with its rather grim ending (and also because I didn't want a human running around Mossflower), but I started getting ideas for another Redwall fanfic not long after I uploaded it. At first it had nothing to do with that until some readers suggested I write a sequel, and when I looked back at the fanfic I thought the readers were right that it did end a little too vaguely, so this spurred me on to incorporate the ideas I had into a sequel. If you haven't read The Relic of a Forgotten Past yet, I'd recommend you read it before reading this story because it helps set the scene to a degree.

This is also the first fanfic I will be uploading in serial format. Before, I would only upload a multi-chapter story when I had completed all the chapters, but I knew this particular fanfic was going to take a long time to write (and to be honest, I don't know how long it will take) and I didn't want to leave a huge gap of time between my previous fanfic and this one completed in one go. Regardless of how long it takes for me to complete this fanfic (hopefully it won't take years for me to finish), I vow to finish it no matter how long it takes for me to add new chapters.

This first chapter won't feature any Redwall characters – Mossflower won't be seen for a few chapters, so unfortunately you'll have to wait before we get out of the 'human' setting. I just need to set the scene first, and that means no Mossflower for a few chapters. I hope you're fine with that.

"Yes, General? …Oh no…Okay, thanks for letting me know…"

Captain Helen Grant took the communicator from her ear and stared blankly ahead towards the grey, desolate landscape of barren fields and hills. It was hard to think that it was summer, with the thick grey sky and the empty field in the lifeless countryside that she and her crew of nine people, all of them wearing maroon-coloured boiler suits, were making their way through. The only sign of life they could see was each other – no plants, no wildlife; the landscape was just a hollow shell of what it had once been.

"What is it, Captain?" asked one of her worried crew.

"That was the General. He's told me that the order's been made on both sides."

"You mean…?"

"Yes," Captain Grant turned to the rest of the crew and raised her voice so she could be heard over the harsh, bitter wind. "The nearest point of impact is going to be less than five miles northwest of here. We have to get to safety – now! We haven't got as much time as I thought we had. Everyone, run as fast as you can!"

Upon hearing their captain's urgent command, the group started to run. There was an instant sense of panic amongst the crew, but none of them wanted to show it. As they darted across the field, dust was kicked up behind them, creating a fog that made the crew members towards the back choke and splutter. The ground wasn't flat either; there were many bumps and the carpet of dust that lay across the ground was so dry it made it hard for the crew to run across without constantly stumbling. Despite this, they carried on running; it was a matter of life or death – theirs.

"Quick! Everyone hurry! We only have a few minutes until impact!" yelled Captain Grant. "Into the tunnel, quickly!"

The people were hurrying towards an opening in the ground at the far edge of the field. The opening was indicated by a small wooden sign that was close to falling over in the ground. Captain Grant was one of the first of the group to get to the opening, but she didn't climb down into it straight away. When she got there, she stood by the opening and waited for the rest of the crew to get in before her, and as they ran past her she shouted words of encouragement at them. Once she was the last of the group above ground, she dashed into the opening after the others.

The opening was the entrance to a long tunnel that stretched on and on down into the depths of the earth. The ceiling wasn't that high, forcing the tallest people in the group to duck their heads down a little, and it was so narrow they could only make their way down in single file. The tunnel was lit up by a series of small lights that were built into the tunnel walls. Despite there being a light every few feet along the tunnel walls, they weren't that bright so it was a little bit of a struggle to see their way and what they were stepping on. The people were hurrying faster than they had ever before, and the only sounds they could hear were of their footsteps and their heavy breathing. They were trying to run as fast as they could, but the tunnel was narrow and it was easy for them to lose their footing, so they were trying to be careful not to trip over; if somebody fell now, it could end in all of them losing time and their lives. Time was running out fast, and with each step they took they got closer to safety. There was no giving up now.

As they descended deeper into the Earth, the people arrived at a turn at the end of the tunnel. They were almost there! The group hurried around the corner to arrive in a large cavern that, like the tunnels, was lit up by several lights built into the walls. In the centre of the cavern was their goal: a huge dome made out of some kind of metal – the Utopiadome. An opening was on the side of the dome, and a bright light shone from within.

"We've got less than a minute until impact!" shouted Captain Grant. "Everyone, get inside!"

There were no questions asked. The group hurried towards the dome and through the opening on the side. Like before, Captain Grant waited until the others were inside before going inside the dome herself. Once she was in, she tripped over and fell to the floor.

"Close the doors! Both of them!"

A couple of the crew members rushed past her to the open door. The way the Utopiadome was built was so that it would have two doors – an interior one and an exterior one – and they were going to close the latter first. They grabbed onto it and started to close it shut. The door was heavy and the two people had to practically drag it shut, all the while hoping they would close it in time. After a moment, the door was shut. They turned a large handle on the door to lock it as well. As they ran back, another crew member pressed a button on the wall that closed the interior door. All the time, the group had been panting and gasping heavily after having run for their lives.

One of the crew members, a man in his early thirties with dark hair and a beard by the name of Alex Fraser, suddenly looked up with a frown.

"Listen…Can you hear that?" he asked.

The crew fell silent and looked up. A deep, faint rumbling sound could be heard from outside. It was quite low at first, but the rumbling was quickly increasing in volume.

"Is that…?" one crew member asked.

"Yes…" Captain Grant replied, almost whispering. She turned to the crew. "This is it! Everyone, brace yourselves!" she exclaimed.

"But surely we're safe in here, Captain?" asked one of the crew.

"We should be safe from the blast, but the Utopiadome is very likely going to shake when the explosion reaches us and some of us could get hurt if we're not careful; I don't want to take chances. Everyone, get down on the floor and cover your heads!"

The crew immediately dived to the floor. Some of them hid under the table, but most of them remained where they were. The rumbling was increasing with every second, making the group's hearts race faster than ever before.

Suddenly, the Utopiadome began to shake. It shook a little at first, but it quickly increased to the point where it felt like they were in the wrath of an earthquake. The people could do nothing but shut their eyes and cover their heads more with their arms as the deafening rumbling shook everything. Even though the Utopiadome had been specially designed to survive such a tremendous impact as this, it felt like the explosion was going to rip through the walls.

After what seemed like hours, the rumbling and shaking slowly began to subside. Nobody dared move until it stopped completely, but once it did, everyone looked up.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Captain Grant, her ears ringing.

A few groans of "Yes, Captain" spread across the room.

The crew members carefully picked themselves up, rubbing their heads. Some of them looked up at the ceiling, almost expecting it to collapse, but there was nothing.

"I don't believe it…" one crew member, a brown-haired man in his mid-twenties by the name of Stephen Davies, muttered as he stared upwards. "Our world, everything we knew, destroyed…"

"I know, it's horrible," Alex said softly. "Try not to get too down; we'll be out of here before you know it," he comforted.

"I'm just sad about the poor souls who were left outside," another crew member, an older man called Malcolm Bayfield, said. "There's no way anyone could've survived that. It's a pity it came to this. Nobody deserved it."

As they spoke, a horrible feeling was brewing in the pit of Captain Grant's stomach. "Speaking of others," she said, trying to distract herself from her thoughts, "Peter, could you send a message to Utopiadome 12? It was closer to the impact zone and I want to know how they're coping."

"Yes, Captain," Peter Harrison, a dark-haired man in his late thirties, replied. "But what if something happened to them? We can't leave the Utopiadome until the radiation levels outside are down, so we can't go to help them if they're in trouble. Even if the radiation levels were down, the heat outside would be lethal to even walk in."

"I know," said Captain Grant, "but I just want to put my mind at ease."

Peter headed over to the system of computers and sat down. The others gathered around him, watching over his shoulders to see what he was doing. Peter typed in some digits on the keyboard and spoke into a small microphone that was attached to the monitor directly in front of him.

"Hello, Utopiadome 12? Come in. This is Utopiadome 05. Do you…" He noticed the static on the monitor screen in front of him, instead of a visual from Utopiadome 12 like he was expecting. "Captain, there's no signal!"

"There isn't?" Captain Grant asked worriedly. "Try contacting Utopiadome 04. They're further away from the impact zone than us."

Again, Peter typed in some digits on the keyboard and spoke into the microphone.

"Hello…hello? This is…Captain, I'm not picking up their signal either." Like before, there was nothing but static.

"What's happened?" Captain Grant asked herself. "Greg, what do you make of this?"

A man in his late-twenties approached closer to the computers. His name was Gregory Clarke, and he was the group's specialist technician.

"I don't think it's the other Utopiadomes not producing a signal; I think it's us who aren't able to send or receive anything," Gregory said. "It was most likely caused by the blast – it's taken out something."

"Considering how strong the blast was, that wouldn't surprise me. So do you know how to fix our communication blackout?" Captain Grant asked.

Gregory exhaled and scratched his head. "I'll have to take a look inside the computers to see what's causing the problem. I'm just hoping it is something to do with the computers; just if it's the exterior communication system that was damaged…"

He trailed off as he got to work.

The crew waited anxiously as Gregory investigated the problem with the broken communication. None of them said anything; they sat at the table and occasionally looked at one another or looked over to Gregory. If it weren't for the humming of the pipes and machinery around them, you would have heard a pin drop.

Eventually, Gregory stepped over to the others. They suddenly turned to him desperately.

"Well? Is it good or bad news?" asked Captain Grant.

Gregory looked to the floor and shook his head. "Bad, I'm afraid. The computers are all working fine. The reason behind our communication with the other Utopiadomes being cut off is something to do with the exterior communication system. I'm not sure what the exact damage is, but the blast has wiped it out and the only way it can be fixed is by going outside –"

"– Which is impossible," Captain Grant finished. Gregory nodded. Although it was possible to unlock and open the door to the Utopiadome, the high levels of radiation outside would be too high to last in, not to mention opening the door would contaminate the interior and affect the crew, and they didn't have special suits to go outside in.

"Now we're completely cut off from the outside world," one of the crew members commented.

A few others muttered nervously amongst themselves. The muttering gradually increased until all but a handful of the crew members were panicking and shouting. The only people who kept quiet were Captain Grant, Gregory, Alex and Stephen. Captain Grant and Gregory just watched the scene unfold before them while Alex and Stephen covered their ears from the voices. Stephen also ducked his head down a little as if it somewhat protected him from the panicking crew members. After a moment, Captain Grant finally raised a hand up in the air; she could take no more of this panicking.

"Be quiet!" she cried at the top of her voice.

There was silence as the crew turned to her.

"Now that I have your attention," Captain Grant said in a disgruntled tone, "I have to ask you all to stop this ridiculous panicking! It appears we don't have any way of communicating with the other Utopiadomes. However, that doesn't mean the Utopia Project will fail, at least for us. Our computers can still measure the radiation levels outside, as well as the time, date and geography of the Earth. We'll continue our stay in here as planned. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Captain," was the reply.

"Right." Captain Grant surveyed the crew members before her. Although she had reassured them not to worry, they still had anxious looks on their faces. "For now I think we should rest. We've had to run here and we need to settle down. But the Utopia Project will not fail," she added.

The crew members sauntered away, talking amongst themselves. Some of them sat down at the table while the others headed into the sleeping quarters. Captain Grant turned to look at the static on the monitor and sighed.

"I hope the project doesn't fail," she muttered to herself. "It must succeed. It has to…"