34 Degrees (1-4)

34° Fahrenheit

They used to say, "Beware of what was to come". They were right.
(New Life Arc)

       They used to say, "Beware of what is to come". They were right.

They came. They stole. They destroyed.

It's been years since humanity fell. There isn't a time in my life, that I can remember, that I wasn't fighting to survive. This is the life that I was born into, the only life that I have ever known.

They used to warn everyone of global warming, but as it turns out, it was the exact opposite we should have feared. The sun expanded; the polar ice caps melted, flooding nearly 40% of the land, turning it into an underwater necropolis. I've been told that the sun eventually cooled. It imploded, turning itself into a small, shriveled form of what it used to be. It's now a blue sphere that rises in the sky every morning as a constant reminder of this new, desolate world that we are living in. The world is cursed with a cold essence about it and a blue tint clings to everything around us, serving as a constant reminder of what the world has become. A reminder that we can't ever go back. A reminder that every morning we wake up will be a struggle.

As a result of the retraction, the temperature worldwide dropped dramatically. A typical day averages around 34 degrees Fahrenheit, just above freezing. Water that had previously flooded the continents is now, for the most part, frozen over. In winter, finding natural running water is nearly impossible. Even in the summer, the peak temperatures only reach 39° Fahrenheit. If you are on your own, abandoned, or lost out there, you don't stand a chance.

We have a community - place where my parents lived and that I was born into. A place we have taken to calling 'Erical', named after Erica, who inherited it from her parents and proceeded to take authoritarian control over after their deaths. I've heard that they were often called paranoid or doomsday peepers and had previously built this seven floor, solid concrete bomb shelter. Each layer is equipped with housing, a ventilation system, a water supply and anything else that you may need for long term survival. I guess they weren't so paranoid after all, but I can't help but think that they never intended for it to be used as a permanent home.

Throughout time, each floor, or layer as we call it, has been assigned a name. The first layer is called 'Araca'. It sits at the top, above any other layer, just below The Surface where It holds the most expendable of us all: The elderly, the sick, and the imprisoned - everyone who isn't capable of doing much to pull their weight and provide for the rest of the community.

Descensing beneath the first, the second layer is 'Breca'. The seven floors in Erical alternate in a distinct pattern - one residential, one beneficial. This floor was for "Schooling" as they called it. A floor of Erical devoted to learning how to survive. Climate rooms, to test your endurance, skill rooms to test your abilities, and instructors to teach you how to hone your strengths. It was essentially a training camp, but was only used once before it was shut down. No one but Erica and her guards are allowed to enter the area now.

Floor three, 'Ceren', is for our average residents, aged anywhere from infant - 39 years, or longer if you can take care of yourself. If you live 39 years in this world, you're usually broken, feeble-minded, and unable to care for yourself.

The next floor, 'Dentre', is for farming and the production of food. Dentre is equipped with the entire storage system for food. If something ever happened to it, we'd be doomed. The only other option to avoid starvation would be to try and climb your way up the "corporate ladder", and that never happens, so why even bother? Somehow, those on top always have a steady supply of food, water and other necessities, even when the supply is short.