My English class first semester final

I had to write a short story that takes places in a post apocalyptic setting for my English final, I ended up doing the whole thing like two days before it was due so it's super rushed. I think the options where Wasteland, Island civilization, back to nature and some other shit. I Picked the third one cause nature's badass, plus some added bits like giant animals. 

This is really my first actual story so please enjoy and feel free to leave critiques in the comments. oh, and the name of the story is sol child

     The warm, kind sun chooses to rise into the cold morning sky for another day. Its caring rays gleam over the thriving nature of the valley. Somewhere in a small forest, up in between two tall trees there laid a hammock, and on that hammock there laid a person. Peacefully resting on it with warm, colorful blankets covering him, so oblivious to their surroundings you’d think they were one of the branches. But even the clouds have to move at some point; Clancy let out a long yawn as they stretched out their long slumber. As Clancy wakes up, their oblivious movement causes the hammock to flip over and drop them down to the grass below. “Jesus! God- dam” Clancy exclaimed as they rubbed their head. They looked up at the hammock still rocking back and forth, “screw you dawg! I thought we were cool”. Clancy’s childish thinking comes to a halt once they realize they are talking to an inanimate object. “Oh my god…” Clancy buried their face into their palms, “barely two days out here and I'm already going crazy” they sighed. Clancy looks up from their hands and starts looking at the surrounding forest. The short grass with a thin sheet of ice over it that would easily melt later into the day, the pale burch looking trees with minty leaves to them, and the large blueberry bushes that made up the creek all blended to shape a cool morning in the post western civilized valley of what was once known as Riverside California.    “Found you!” Clancy exclaimed once they located the beefy bush where they hid their belongings last night. Packed up and ready to go, Clancy was equipped with a large school bag that had the bare necessities like food, water and some extra clothes for example. The clothes they had on for the weather; a map for navigation. And a Smith and Wesson 500 with 8 bullets in their pocket, for the bugs. They had never shot the thing and were quite frankly kinda scared of it for its sheer size, but they would never leave a safe zone without it nonetheless. Clancy takes off south, leaving the hammock in the trees for being mean to them. (While looking at the map) “ *lip smack* Let's see…. uh, nope, no, not here… not there either, that looks wrong too…”, Clancy turns the map around as if it were upside down no matter which way they held it, “where is it!” Clancy scans the map up and down hastily, “Where’s the next safe zone dammit, I’m not gonna make it at this pace” they whined. Suddenly a sharp wind steals the map from their nervous hands. “No Wait!” Clancy chases after the map, but the wind grasps it tightly as it gets further and further away, every second reaching higher heights. As both Clancy and the gust of wind exit the small forest, they both enter a large, dry, grassy hill biome littered with rocks and boulders. There are almost no trees around apart from the occasional dead ones, while the land may not seem to house much life, even places like these have thriving ecosystems of plants, bugs and some animals that have managed to evolve into its conditions. “No please, give it back!” Clancy pleads with the wind as it takes the map higher and higher into the sky “Come one man!” until eventually spreading into two directions and ripping the sheet of paper in half  “That's not even how air works!” they yelled at the sky angrily. Angry at Mother Nature for this, Clancy picks up a rock and threatens to throw it “You see this! I got your kid! I'm gonna do it! I’ll chuck him!” they yelled at the surrounding nothing. Clacy lets out a tired sigh as they lower the feeble stone, “Two days…(they rub their eyes) I've been on my own for only two days” Clancy looks down at the rock in their hand “Sorry little man, I wasn’t gonna do it you know?”. Silence fills the air. “Wow, ok that's enough” Clancy drops the rock on the grass and pats their hands on their clothes. They decide to head for the tallest hill they can see “Maybe I’ll see something from up there” they said as they headed for a hill in the dry grass “Some signs that someone else has been past here would be nice, just to know the dead looking place is passable” Clancy thought to themselves. The big valley wasn’t a dangerous looking place, but something doesn't need to be terrifyingly evil-looking to be dangerous. It’s big, brush-filled landscapes like these that the new world's ecosystem seemed to love. While the grasses and weeds growing alongside the mountain Clancy was currently going up were small, the rest of this dry hill desert was filled with human-sized bushes. Like a greenish pool of thorns and cacti, you’d be lucky to make it through the ruff plants without any holes in you, and that's just the plants. There are theories among tribes and gangs about how the world got to this point, but people are so far removed from the actual cause that they are more like fairy tales than actual possibilities. “Yes!” Clancy yelled with joy as they reached the top of the hill and looked far onto the horizon. Luckily for them, they were on top of one of the bigger hills this valley ocean had to offer. “I see it! I  see it! One of the safe zones!” Clancy yelled at the top of their lungs “WOOOOO HOOOOO!” it was far, but it was there. This had all taken time out of the day, from the minute Clancy fell off the hammock to where they found themselves now yelling at the top of a hill, the day was ending and the sun was tired.   The moon went for another trip around the world and the sun chose to bless the valley once again. Clancy rose from under the wing of the Alioth like a hibernating bear, here’s where they finally got a good look at it. “Wow, I’ve never seen one this close before…” they stared in awe. “Coats, Slays, weapons, tools, the sheer amount of things that I could make out of this could have its own book…. I don’t have the time for that” Clancy looked behind them as the giant’s body laid there on the dry grassy hill for scavenger bugs and fungi to have it. That was Clancy’s second mistake, wastefulness. Having that out of the way, Clancy decided to head back to the forest, it was far but at least you could walk through it. They had thought up a plan during the night. “Ok, I’ll head back there, go AROUND this grassy dump and then I’ll head to the safe zone I saw from that hill, cool? Cool” they thought. Clancy walked back through where they had chased the map before, but once they made it to the once cool and minty forest something was different. “What the?”, Clancy looked around as they entered the forest, the sun couldn’t seem to pierce through the leaves like it had before, it wasn’t pitch black but it was harder to see nonetheless. Clancy started walking along the side of the forest's edge, to see when the un-walkable grassy biome ended. They walked for what felt like hours, the dimly lit forest would make eerie noises as Clancy moved. It was starting to get to them, “What is that?!!”, they thought to themselves as a wet crackling sound came from the deeper wood, it sounded like a million small bugs all traversing across the floor like rush hour traffic. Unable to see the sun through the tree’s leaves, Clancy lost track of time. It was all just too much. “That’s it!” they exclaimed to the forest, “I don’t feel safe down here *they looked up* so I’ll go up there”, “Clancy dropped their bag from their shoulders and onto the floor by the side of the tree as they started to climb. The tree wasn’t too tall, nothing they couldn’t get above. “Almost there..” as Clancy started approaching the top. Suddenly, a low grumble shook the ground, worms burrowed underground, and the smallest creatures of the forest rushed to the trees. The sound almost made Clancy's heart stop, before they could react accordingly, the sound of a million steps came bursting through the ground knocking over the tree Clacy was on. As they opened their eyes all they could hear was a high-pitched screech coming from this giant thing coming out of the ground, Clancy’s senses were all numb, They’re sight was blurry, the sounds sounded muffled, and everything hurt. All they could hear was a slight ringing and the creature’s cry. The thing looked around itself to see where it was, smelling, listening. It was angry, no it was enraged, as Clancy's sight returned they got a good look at the pole coming out of the ground. It was giant, the size of a three-story house and it wasn’t even all the way out of the floor. It had these dark, reflective scales going all the way down its back and four large antennas coming out of its head. Its face had none, for it only housed a gaping mouth and a million teeth. The belly of the long creature was covered from beginning to theoretical end with sharp short legs; they looked like sharp blades that would skewer anything it stepped on. That’s when it noticed them, Clancy's face went cold as the creature stared back at them from its high ground. They lay completely still, hoping the sweat falling from their face wouldn’t alert it. The creature stared back with its non-existent eyes. After five seconds that felt like they took years to come had ended, Nearly at the exact same time, the monster charged as Clancy reached for the gun on their hip. But as they grip the non-existent weapon they get flashbacks to the night before. “CRAP!” Clancy quickly leaped off the ground like a bullfrog before the thing caught them. It crashed head-first into the ground before quickly getting back up and chasing after Clancy. They didn’t have time to locate their bag in all the chaos, Clancy ran as fast as their legs could possibly take them, but even then the giant nightmare traversed through the trees like a fish in a river, it was quickly gaining speed on them. Clancy let out quick breaths as they jumped over logs, and dogged coming trees, almost crashing into a few of them. Meanwhile, the centipede effortlessly went down and around the trees, simply crashing through the ones it couldn’t avoid. Clancy went deeper and deeper into the forest. Just before the bug caught them, Clancy leaped forward landing on a floor of sand. The bug comes to a halt, quickly using all of its legs to stop itself from exiting the forest. It started in anger at Clancy as its antennas searched in front of it, looking for any sort of structure. Clancy looks back at the creature as they try to catch their breath, “... HA. HAHA.. look at you! you scared of a little sand?!” The creature roared at them but eventually left back into the forest, somehow looking satisfied as if it had completed some type of goal. “Yeah! Coward! Go back to your burrow you mud worm!” Clancy bent over on their knees trying to catch their breath, they had never encountered anything like it. But now far from where they were and with no possibility of going back they had only one option, the dessert.

     Clancy looked up at the sky to finally tell what time it was, the harsh sun was high in the sky, signaling it was somewhere around 2 pm. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and without anything but the clothes on their back, they went the only way they could, forward. The land wasn’t just dry, it was hot; the sun stung anything that wasn’t covered in the shade. A shade which there was none of, at least on dried bush for every hundred miles. The dunes stretched out as far as the eye could see, like a restless ocean, there were waves after waves made up of nothing but sand. Small gusts of warm wind would occasionally pass by, lifting some sand off the top of the dunes as our protagonist wandered the deserted planes. “Three, *they look up at the neutral sun* I’ve been out here three days,” Clancy said tiredly, at the brink of tears. “Kinda wish I kept that rock, I bet he’d know what to tell me right now, God! How long have I been walking for?” They look at the shining sun. “Yo! *whistles* Mr you got the time?” Clancy told the sun, “...” replied ht sun “So no?”, said Clancy, “whatever dawg, I didn’t need it anyways”. Clancy can’t tell how much time has passed, only focused on getting on foot in front of the other, they quickly lose track of everything. “Left, right, left… and right” Clancy counted as they put one foot after the other. Their eyes were drowsy, their chin itchy, and they could feel the warmth built up inside their jacket. “Get this thing! Off me!” Clancy tears off the suffocating jacket and throws it a few feet back, “GOD! So overbearing you”. Clancy takes off their shirt and wraps it around the top of their head in hopes that it will help them deal with the heat of the desert. “What the…”,They looked up, far in the sky, way above the world below it, an Allioth can be seen soaring through the heavens “Hey… I know that guy” Clancy shoots a sharp whistle at the shadow in the sky “Yo! Can I get a lift, man?”. As Clansy pleaded with the animal that was too far away to even see them, it disappeared into the wind. “What the??” Clancy said as they tried to figure out what just happened, there was no way they simply lost track of where the moth was since there were no clouds in the sky, so how did it disappear? Clancy thought as they went over the millionth sand hill, where their eyes saw something that would make even the most grizzled and rugged of men weep. “WATER!!” there it laid, in between the hills, a small lake. The water was so clear you could see every detail of your face in its reflection, so clean that even the worst of parasites couldn’t dirty it. Clancy rushed over to it, stumbling on the sand like a drunken fool but running nonetheless. They dropped to their knees and stared into the water’s eyes, tears of happiness fell from Clancy's face as they said, “Thank you!” Clancy didn’t know who they were thanking at the moment, but they were thankful nonetheless. Clancy drops their head into the lake like a pelican to engulf themselves in the rich water. They take gulps of the refreshing drink“It.. tastes.. so.. good” Clancy thought between the gulps. “This is the best water I've ever ha- *coughs*” Clancy starts to violently cough out the plates of sand they had just swallowed, one after another, Clancy spits out all the sand; the lake is no longer there. With a mouth coated in sand, the realization finally quicks in, “... I was hallucinating” Clancy looks up into the rich blue sky “It was all in my head..”. With absolutely nothing left, Clancy keeps walking.

    The warm, kind sun remained in the sky for longer than usual, being quite intrigued by what it was seeing. Clancy walked miles in this deserted land. With nothing to see and no one to talk to, they turned to the sun for conversation once more. “How do you find yourself on this lovely day Mr?” Clancy asked, the desert seemed to just never end. “...”, “Yeah, I do think this weather’s pretty harsh” Clancy responded. “Man, you know what's crazy about all this Mr?” a few seconds of silence passed, “I thought. That this would somehow be easy!”, they exclaimed. “For some INSANE reason, I thought that little old me, little incompetent me, could survive this!”, “Can you believe that Mr?” Clancy asked, “...” silence filled the air for a few seconds. Clancy reached for his hip, even though they couldn’t feel it, they could very vividly see it. “ANSWER ME DAMMIT”, They angrily held the gun up to the sun. “Say SOMETHING, anything…”. Their hands were shaking with anger as tears ran down their face. Angry and scared, Clancy pulled the trigger and shot their only friend. That was when only for a moment, they stopped feeling the heat. “You were one of her favorites”, a low voice said. “Putting all your trust in her hands and choosing to go on your own like that. You captivated her heart, you know?”, the voice continued. Clancy kept the shaking gun aimed at the sun; in a shaky voice, “What?” Clancy asked. “Which is why you hurt her so badly when you showed her your true, vile colors on that hill that night. Disrespecting her gift to you and leaving it to rot like you did. You broke her heart.”, The gun in Clancy’s hands disappeared in front of their eyes. “Oh, I see…”, Clancy’s head hit the desert floor, as tears fell from the side of their face and watered the dry sand they laid on as the atmosphere went quiet. Now from afar, all you can see is an ocean of sand, something small lying flat on the ground; and the warm, kind sun.

thanks for reading :3