Chapter 7 — Summer Never Ends

On the streets, fighting, killing, shrill screams and desperate cries continued endlessly. Someone beat him to the head with a water bottle until he bled. There were people driving indiscriminately, scavenging things from corpses. Some people even slit other people's throats to draw blood. Gradually, it began to match the picture in memory... This is not the human world, this is purgatory. June 1, temperature 65 degrees. Standing in front of the window, I lifted up a corner of the insulating curtain, and immediately felt so hot that I withdrew my hand. The sun hung high, the outside world seemed to be covered with a layer of gold, so bright it was blinding, so yellow it was pale white. There was no one on the road, the whole world seemed to have pressed the mute button, perhaps people had no strength left, and could only wait for a miracle to happen. If you listen closely, you can also hear a few small explosions from time to time. Perhaps the vehicle exploded and caught fire, or perhaps the glass cracked due to overheating. We sat in the living room with the air conditioner on, feeling very comfortable, but our hearts were extremely heavy. Lam Thu saw that my mood was down, so he joked: "People say that listening to your wife is a good thing, luckily I have you, otherwise we would probably be hot to death." Before natural disasters, humans are really too small. Occasionally I see one or two new messages, not just messages asking for help, but also a few lines of short letters. The air conditioner dripped drop by drop, along with the low hum of the engine, so harsh that it made people uncomfortable. The safety door in the seventh floor hallway was knocked repeatedly: "Tieu Lam, I know your house has electricity, please, give us some water, a bottle is fine!"

"Lam family, you open your eyes to see people dying of thirst, dying of heat, are you no different from murderers?"

"I have money! Can I use it to exchange for things? Just let me sit in front of your house, I won't come in, I'm too hot!"

"Please save my child, he's only three years old, please! I'm willing to be a buffalo and a horse for you."

The voice started out filled with hatred, then gradually weakened. My grandparents all lay there quietly. They know that all of this is my effort and arrangement. If it weren't for me speaking up, they wouldn't even dare open their mouths to say a single word. I once asked Ly Chi, when was the most difficult moment to endure during the end of the world? He told me, it was the first few days. Because if you just waver a little, open a crack in the door, everything will be eaten up, leaving only a pile of bones.

“Can you give them a bottle of water, a box of medicine, and feed them for life?”

Ly Chi asked me, I didn't answer. I never thought that the first hurdle of the end of the world would be the most difficult question of the human heart. A drop of water in the desert can save one person's life, but if it's a whole group of people, they will eventually die. In the end, I still didn't open the door. June fifteenth, temperature 70 degrees. The 70-degree heat sparked a forest fire. Outside, there was a bright red patch and the air became unusually turbid. Cars were charred black, debris littered the ground, the air was thick, everyone was in despair. Some people couldn't help but run out to look for supplies. Before they could take a few steps, they collapsed in the middle of the road. In less than a few minutes, it was exposed to the sun and turned into a dry, flattened body. In less than an hour, it began to spontaneously combust. Some neighbors started knocking on our door. They crave I was thirsty and got water and food to survive, but I still didn't open the door. I told Lam Thu to add a lot of reinforcement to the door, in case someone really broke the door and barged in. Days passed like that day by day. Every day there can be screams of despair outside, along with the sound of someone throwing things and banging on the door. But over time, the outside sounds gradually became less. Every day is dead quiet like the dark night. I've calculated the materials for ten trucks. If I save and spend, it won't be a problem to last for four years. Ly Chi only said he lived until 2027, but did not say what the world would be like after 2027. Even though we have been renovated and our food and water are abundant, what if the temperature continues to rise in the future? What if the apocalypse has no end? There is no other way, we can only step forward one day at a time. Me, Lam Thu, grandfather, grandmother, the four of us go back and forth day after day. Every day I monitor the outside temperature. One day, the highest temperature outside even reached eighty-nine degrees. Very quickly, we gritted our teeth and got through Tet 2025. Previously, Tet was extremely bustling, but Tet 2025 only left dead quiet. Through the new year. It's the same days repeating over and over again.