Solidified

                           Prologue 

     The president stands at the podium and gives her speech about the solar flares coming towards Earth from the sun. Occasionally, if you looked close enough, you could see a flicker beneath her eyelids when she blinked as if she had some kind of snake eyes. 

     The news everywhere is talking about these solar flares causing record breaking heat waves. People all over the world stand around waving fans across their faces; drinking water if they could find it. If anyone had air conditioning they stayed inside their homes to escape the heat. Even the air wasn't enough relief. We still felt the heat waves being absorbed by the atmosphere. 

     The government has informed us of a waning greenhouse effect, stating that with all of the solar flare pop ups our trees are beginning to die out, even the ones in the rainforests, so we must do everything we can to preserve our water resources. The oceans are drying up. The rivers are not spilling over into the lakes as they should. 

     "If anyone has any extra water resources, please bring them to your local distribution center sites that have been constructed in your states.  We have set up reserves to distribute the water as needed to greenhouse buildings and shelters all around," the President announced. The Earth has become one giant gas ball of desert. 

     Many of us that do have extra water resources take them to the designated area as per requested, but there are those that believe the government officials are trying to obtain all of our necessary resources for themselves with the intention of ensuring that they and the elitists are the last remaining humans left on Earth should the solar flares become more of a problem than already ensued. These conspiracy theorists have hoarded their own extra resources underground awaiting Martial Law should it go into effect, as they believe it will. Who's to say for sure they are wrong? Most of us are just trying to follow the rules to survive and "beat the heat" as the saying goes. 

     Let me start from the beginning. It was the last few days left in the year two thousand and twelve. We had heard about the so-called end of the world theories by the Mayans so, of course, the believers were unusually distraught over the possibility that we were literally counting down the last few seconds left of humanity. Pandemonium and delirium were happening all over the world in underground gatherings. Families and groups all gathered together to say last goodbyes or tearful prayers that it was not a real thing but something made up to scare the population. Just another tabloid election scare. The rest of us went on about our daily lives as if the end of the world wasn't even an existing thought inside of our heads. 

     Days pass by; Christmas comes and goes. The last day of the year was approaching and everyone who wasn't praying was prepping for the biggest night of the year. Bars were staying open an hour later. The ball was in production to be dropped in New York City. People were getting drunk or already sloshed. Countdown had begun. Midnight struck and we lived to see another year; the year of two thousand and thirteen. Most of us went home and went to sleep or passed out wherever we landed after giving each other our midnight kisses. 

     The same ones who prayed left their gatherings disappointed and maybe a little embarrassed that they had listened to all of the tabloid media about a fictitious event drawing near. Next it'll be a meteorite or a mega earthquake or even a major pandemic. The same people will either tire of panicking or will go back to praying and saying endless goodbyes. What we weren't preparing for was a catastrophic event so worldwide it would bring the entire planet together hoping for peace and harmony but more than likely ending up being more pandemonium and tears or something far more sinister. 

                       Chapter 1

    The year was two thousand thirty three, twenty years after the scare of the Mayans twenty twelve calender. We'd all been walking the campgrounds of the water shelters seeking refuge from the heat for a few days now. President Lansing says that according to NASA the solar flares should be nearing an end soon. We hoped so. It was just a group of friends and I, about four or five of us, with our families huddled together under one of those industrial fans we carried with us each time we moved spots. We tended to keep our circle tight but would still help others as much as we could.