Nine Years Earlier
The T.V. reporters were chattering excitedly. The United Nations had just released a climate report - with shocking and depressing contents.
"By 2030, almost all cities will be uninhabitable. The west and east coast of the United States will be underwater amid rising sea levels. Fires will be more frequent, more intense, and longer. And, perhaps the most horrifying - the temperature will be beyond human survivability."
Hopelessness hung in the air as much as the smoke did; people wore N95's and chemical-resistant SCBAs to get the mail and wipe the thick layer of ashes off their windows. The air was a pale orange. The smoldering remnants of homes and businesses floated with the breeze.
People had been warned of the inevitable for decades, but the people in power at the time called it a sort of hysteria. Governments worldwide took nearly no action to prevent the aforementioned disaster - after all, who would believe that? - and the seemingly outlandish predictions became more and more realistic.
Cedar was eighteen at the time and brushed off the news like everyone else. 2020 and 2021 were full of apocalyptic scenes; a worldwide pandemic, food and medicine shortages, and cities were still rebuilding after a horrific and devastating wildfire season. This report seemed both wildly outlandish and very unsurprising.
Nothing could have prepared the world for what was to come, and Cedar's entire life was about to change.
YOU ARE READING
Climate
Science FictionNobody leaves their homes. The sky is a tangerine color and the smoke is so thick the streetlights are perpetually on. Robots do basic tasks because the heat is unsurvivable. 98% of US cities are uninhabitable. This is 2030.
