Burning sun

It's been 5 years since the “end”. Unlike what you see in movies, there is not just one day that automatically ends the world. No. It’s a progression through time that will slowly kill the planet you're on. Especially when it’s not being taken care of. But the time was around five years ago when it got really bad. The sun got progressively warmer. It used to just be a few degrees every few years or even months. But that only lasted seven years. After that, the world started to reach new record highs every week. It became so bad that people couldn’t spend more than a minute or two in the sun without getting second degree burns. It didn’t matter where you were at anymore, you were hot. The places that never had heat were the first one’s to die off. They had little supplies and their bodies didn’t have time to adapt to the sudden changes. After that, there was madness. Seeing people actually die from something you did nothing to avoid probably was scary for most. But for me, I knew this was coming. I would say that my whole generation knew. Most of us were old enough to see what was happening but too young to actually do anything about it. And here we are stuck with the consequences of someone else.

After the first few million people died off the next group to go were children and geriatrics. Don’t get me wrong a few did survive, but, the lack of knowledge and ability took out a huge portion of the world. Leaving people in their early teens to late fifties. Most of us were able to join together and find solace beneath the tree’s. We have a whole community within the forest. It still gets hot but it covers the sun from burning us. We built small tents to sleep in and planted gardens to provide us food. The heat took most of the animals so we have had to adapt. But for the most part, this is home. We have all formed close relationships with one another. And we all do our part. In order to keep it fair we have all learned how to do everything around the community. And everyone has a different task each day.

Today, my task is to chop wood for the fire tonight. This might be my least favorite task because it makes you sweat the most. Under the tree’s, the temperature is still in the high nineties. I find myself taking breaks every few pieces I chop because I feel like I could faint. I slice one more piece and then fall to the ground, drenched in sweat. I take a few deep breaths and a sip of water. When I finally get myself back up to chop some more I grab the biggest piece I can. I swing it and it splits perfectly down the middle. After the slice, I hear a scream. I quickly look over and see flames engulfing the tree’s above us. The screams become louder and I scramble to find something to cover myself from the sun. Some people were able to grab the blanket covering the cots. Leaving only a few without something yet. I grab my sleeping bag and throw it over me. I gesture to my friend, Henry, to join in behind me. He looks at me and rushes back toward the fire. I scream for him and wait to see what he’s doing. He then sprints back with a heart shaped locket in his hand. We begin to sprint to the end of the tree line and into the scorching sun.

When we exit the trees, the heat from the sun is immediate. Unable to cover all our skin, most of us start to get burned on our ankles and hands. I look around and see a tree with shade ahead. I point and my group sprints towards it. We get there first. We’re able to take off our covers and look around for more shade. Our group see’s a few more trees spread out a few hundred yards away. The other two groups end up splitting off and finding shade. We only have a few seconds to catch our breath before the fire starts to catch the dry grass below our feet. This time it spreads more rapidly. We all get under the covers again and sprint away.

As we’re running one of the groups gets too far behind. The screams from behind us make it apparent that we lost them. Trying to hold back tears, we keep going. It felt like forever before we ended up finding a concrete bridge that hung over a dried up river. We take shelter under the bridge as the fire still burns around us. The dirt from the river stops the fire from getting to us. I turn back to my people who all look defeated. I drop to the ground as well. Everyone's concerned with where we will go and how long it will take. The burns from the sun are getting worse. Half the group didn’t have time to grab their shoes and have burns on the bottom of their feet. We decided that we’ll stay here until it's dark. At least then we can travel in a little cooler temperatures. Until then, we sleep.

The night arrives and the fire is still burning around us. But we are able to travel down the river. We gather our things and begin to walk. We load the injured onto the blankets we used to cover ourselves earlier. We drag them along while they watch our surroundings. We maneuver around the fire that seeps into the dried up river plants. The walk is never ending. We walk until the sun starts to rise again for the day. As soon as the first light reaches over the mountains we rush to find shelter. We see another concrete bridge about a football field away. We start to run as fast as we can. As we start to approach we see a group of people gather under the bridge. The sun is starting to burn our skin. The group of people stare at us, creating a wall, as we run toward them. As we get closer the sun continues to burn all of us. I can feel myself slowing down from the pain. But I force myself to pick up the pace. We finally get to the bridge and the group still stands in a wall formation. The shade only covers half of our group. We try to get in but they shove us backwards. The injured people are burning behind us. As they scream we try to pull them under the shade as best we can. The, what looks like, leader of the group stares me in the eye’s. He’s holding a machete at his hip. He starts to raise it and as he does, Henry grabs a rifle and shoves it in his face. The opposing group grabs their weapons as well. I grab my dagger out of my pocket. Before long, we stand face to face. I stare at their leader waiting for him to make a move. He never does. Instead we stare at each other for a long time.

After a few moments pass he raises his weapon, in order to tell his group to stand down. But before he can, Henry misconstrudes his actions and fires the gun right at his face. Their leader falls to the ground as both groups let out a loud gasp of disbelief. The look on Henry’s face is a mix of shock and doubt of his own actions. They stare at their leader's lifeless body as anger fills their faces. Before we can react, they grab Henry and drag him into the sun. He tries to re-enter the shade but they push him out. His skin starts to burn away. He looks around for other shelter but he only sees fire. We try to push through and help him but we can’t break their wall. He falls to the ground. His body twitching as his skin continues to burn. The sun catches his body on fire. A minute passes and I watch the light leave his eye.

As their group faces Henry’s dead body I become enraged. I grab my knife and quickly stab it into one of their members in front of me. The rest of my group follows. They start to fight back but we are stronger. Some of us manage to push them into the sun as well, one of our members, Marie, pushes one of them into the fire. I continue to use my dagger. It doesn't take long for us to terminate their entire group. They fall to the ground. The bodies that were pushed in the sun are starting to catch fire. The smell is atrocious. I fell to the ground. I can’t believe the events that have unfolded. We sit and watch the concrete walls as they continue to burn.

I wake up with my leg on fire. The fire from the trees around us have managed to catch onto the bodies that lay. I rush to put it out and notice that night has arrived. I quickly wake everyone and we get ready to leave. We gather our stuff to find shelter once again. We exit the bridge and the fire stops on the dirt. I look at Henry as we pass and the locket sits in his hand. I reach down and grab it with my shirt sleeve. I stick it in my pocket and we continue to walk. Noone talks as we walk. Before long we come across an area where the river splits into a lake. The shape is like a giant “T”. At the bottom letter of the “T” shape there is a small path of tree’s. We make our way over. Before long we reached the tree line and I couldn't believe it. An abandoned campground lies before our eyes. The area does look scavenged through but we don’t find a single person. There are five small buildings filled with beds. A kitchen and dining room in the middle of the camp. And a fire pit just inside the treeline. To our amazement, the place is still pretty well kept. We are all still stunned by the sudden events that took place but we are still joyed with what we found. We each decide which bed we want to take. As the night time soon comes to a close we gather some wood and bark from the tree’s. Until we have new gardens we have to stick with eating tree bark. We gather around the fire and share memories of Henry. I start to cry. I remember I had his locket in my pocket and grabbed it. Inside the locket are small little seeds. And that is when I realized that he risked his life for our group. He knew we would end up somewhere and not have food. And in that moment I knew we were going to be okay.