fire season, a short story - office air purifier

Diary Entry -
One day after the end of the world, this is the event of some time in May 2027.
I'm not sure about the day, but it was a couple of weeks before the winter solstice, so I know it's possible.
I had a hard lesson: never follow the crowd.
You will be killed.
Well, at least I survived without getting hurt.
It was my best luck in the fire season.
I hate traveling with strangers.
There may be too many people stealing your things.
But if you are alone, you will be robbed, murdered or all of the above.
Stealing from people who carry supplies with them is easier than finding them yourself at the risk of chemistry and disease.
So, I made up a group of 100 strangers, and they all moved in the same direction.
Some of them know where they are going.
Some of them just think that being with the crowd can lead to their safety.
Or, at least, it's safer than the pandemic they fled.
Juarez, the man who took the lead, and a few friends with guns.
He won the championship by asking his friends not to kill anyone or steal anything.
When he lets everyone watch together at night, no one likes them, even those who want to leave.
But then they shot a mountain lion and it wanted to eat a couch guy the same age as me.
Then, friends of juarez industries were paid for each person's precious leftover food to ensure the safety of the rest of us.
That's their whole plan.
Until they reach a town with a local militia, they can join or provide food they can look for or know what.
They live, and in order to live, they work together, and they think that their chances will also increase if they keep others together.
Stay with the crowd and we'll be able to get anywhere on the road to take them most of the time.
I stayed because they were heading in my direction.
I'm not sure how I got away.
Maybe hiding in an abandoned town as they pass by, they want to move in the direction I don't have
There are many small towns along these roads, where there are only old people and migrant workers until they are filled with sick refugees.
You always stay in the road or in the field.
You never enter the building.
It may be full of living people who may hurt you or die, and their bacteria will kill you even if they don't.
I don't know what town it is when others start to get sick.
Not only in the hot weather, people cough because of a cold and become bronchitis. cold-wet-
Crazy weather with dry weather.
From all the city fires left by the Raiders, so much smoke came out that it competed with the smoke from the mountain fires and no one had enough resources to fight.
The whole group stopped for two days because there was clean water in the hand pump at the roadside rest station, and more people became weaker. if they had to continue walking, there might be SARS, they had no chance at all.
I stay away from campfire but stay under their lights and fear as many bacteria as coyotes and human predators that make simple food on refugee streams.
Friends of Juarez mills hunt here and bring fresh food for the first time in a few days.
Rest and charge is a safe time.
I wandered around the annex building and noticed the anonymous grave of an early group.
It must have been early and fell 2022, because people are buried one by one and marked.
By the spring of 2023, if anyone is buried, they will be buried in a mass grave.
Only one person died in that stay, so I think we are lucky so far.
This group of people want to go south and go to an agricultural commune.
I want to go north, but the fire on the horizon says I can't go that way.
The next morning, a new fire at a lower altitude sent the smoke to the rest station.
It was said that, according to the map he saw, there was a stream that could protect them by crossing the water.
A person who is no bigger than me will not say anything like others starting to follow the new leader.
Juarez Martinez's friends said nothing when they packed up their bags and headed to the so-called water shelter Villa.
I don't remember why this seems wrong, but it's only right to follow them.
Apart from me and a lonely person, everyone is in a hurry for the safety of a stream that could be on the next ridge.
I watched another straggler start picking up the gear as much as possible.
Is he just using the opportunity of a quick retreat to fight for more for himself?
Then I watched him start to move towards the annex building, almost straight to the approaching flame Wall threatened in the distance.
He knows where to go.
I caught my backpack tighter while watching the robbers.
After thinking about it, I took someone else's abandoned backpack.
The more supplies, the more opportunities to survive.
It will slow me down, but after the fire they have nothing left.
Then I tried to chase the scavenger who was full of sofas.
When he was running fast between empty buildings and abandoned cars, I tried to follow him.
Post Office. A small hotel.
Several gift shops.
I saw him walk towards the biggest building.
The sign fell from the storm.
Then I saw a smaller logo. ATM. It was a bank.
The stranger ran in. The idiot!
People can buy more with dollar store vitamins than with dollar bills!
But the smoke in the fire is getting stronger and stronger.
I ran in and hope strangers don't go crazy.
He is opening a vault full of safes.
He took a funny look at me for a minute and then saw my extra backpack.
You give me extra food and I will let you in with me.
What are you doing?
A place to seek asylum.
He threw the excess property into the vault and freed up his hand. âx80x9cWhy here?
There is no time to argue.
Food for shelter
His eyes were fixed on the second bag. âx80x9cYes or no?
He put his hands on the huge revolving door and began to close it.
I really have time to decide.
I can hear the fire coming too close.
If I follow others, I will be further away from the flame. âx80x9cYes! âx80x9d I screamed.
He safely and reliably pulled a metal lock inside the door.
The whole darkness is terrible.
I want to scream.
Calm down or you will use it too fast.
His arms swayed in the dark until his hand touched my shoulder. âx80x9cLook.
These vaults were designed to prevent thieves from entering.
Elastic and explosive resistance.
Valuables should also be kept properly.
It means fire. proof.
If the bank was burned, the vault would still stand still and all the valuables would be safe and sound.
You say that in the event of a bank robbery, bank employees can take refuge and close the door in one of the places.
If the power is turned on, there will be an air purifier running so that all occupants will have fresh air before helping to arrive.
There is a power outage everywhere. we only have air here.
How long is the last time?
How long can you hold your breath?
All of a sudden, his flashlight hit my face.
Just kidding.
The room began to warm up.
I think it's the fire here.
How do you know this is a good idea? âx80x9dâx80x9cHey.
One of these things kept me from being killed in the food riots in Tacoma.
Another time, it kept me safe and kept me away from the band. How did you know you were here?
There is a bank in every town.
Every bank has a vault.
How did you find the bank vault safe?
Have you worked in a company? âx80x9d I asked.
You can say that.
The room was so hot that it was suffocating.
I reached out to get the door and found it too hot to touch.
We will want to stay here before the door cools down.
I sat on the floor and put my head between my legs.
Hey, the fire may have passed by us.
The building will burn down, but we have no problem. And then? What?
Look for anything of value in the afterfire.
That's not what I did.
Suitable for your own taste.
Don't stop me, I won't stop you either.
Do you really work in a bank?
I challenge him. âx80x9cNot really.
I was a car thief.
When everyone is trying to withdraw cash, because the bank is closing the account, I am there to withdraw money from my account.
The robbers came to ask for cash. as a result, 30 others and I were crowded into a locked bank vault.
Everyone else was robbed.
Several people were shot. And I was safe.
After the first wave of SARS deaths, maybe one out of every three deaths, and I'm running short of cash on the black market trying to buy things.
Since the government has closed the grocery store so people don't get together, where else can you get anything from?
I entered a bank.
I think safety is lax as food riots continue and all of this.
That's why I chose to rob this place that night.
Someone has already robbed the bank.
There is nothing but an empty vault.
Someone even emptied every vault.
When fighting and robbery arrived at the bank, I closed the vault and sealed it as I saw it for the first time.
They burned it on the ground and four other blocks.
But I lived there, and a lot of people didn't.
I want to live well this time.
So do you.
He touched the door.
It began to cool.
Fire should pass by us.
We may want to wait a little longer to ensure its safety.
Is there anything really safe? I asked him. âx80x9cNyah.
Maybe the agricultural commune that others are talking about survived the fire.
It should be in a barren area except for their farmland, so the fire should not get there.
There was no fuel in the fire.
Do you think other people will get there in time? âx80x9dâx80x9cNo. âx80x9dâx80x9cWhy not?
I asked him angrily.
The fire is the fastest on the slope.
Before the fire, they had to cross the ridge and go down to the stream.
The stream runs further than you, and can beat the flames.
The Valley of the farm is a few miles further than that.
He touched the door of the bank vault and his hand was still there. Not hot.
Then he pulled the door handle.
It opens loudly.
I almost crashed because the fire welded the door or caused the debris to drop and trapped us inside.
The buildings around us are smoking, and the wood and drywall are smoking.
Volcanic ash fills the air.
I reached out and took out a headscarf from my spare backpack next to me.
He took the spare package I brought before I stopped him.
I found you a shelter. I get the pack.
But you already have so much!
I helped move.
You don't need "Hey ! "! Shut up!
Because of what I did for you, you lived a day.
That bag of things will keep me alive for a few more days.
In addition to what I have already got, I can easily live another two weeks.
You have a chance to live longer because of me.
No matter how long it is from you, I ask you to keep your own backpack.
Don't make me angry or I won't leave you so much.
Just then I saw a gun on his belt.
He could have used it, but not yet.
He saved my life.
He took my food, really, but didn't steal my own stuff.
This is the definition of honor, I think, and even if there is a chance, it will not kill people because of what they have.
Then I suddenly remembered the rape attempt I had barely escaped the other day.
For the gun I lost and how vulnerable I am now.
He didn't even ask for it in exchange for my life-just food.
Memories of constant hunger keep my eyes on my backpack and my body knows how light my own weight is.
You already have a place to go.
I suggest you go.
His words were mild, but not on purpose.
Glad I was honest or I just shot for your stuff and kept everything for myself.
I don't care at all that it's honest to laugh at thieves.
It's enough to prove that he's not bad without killing me.
I began to walk in the burning ruins.
The smoke stimulated my lungs, but hid me away from those who might be looking for it.
When I got to the nearest logging road, where he could not see me through the trees, I went north.
Although he is honest, there is no reason for trust.
Live and alone
Why do the two always go together?
But hope is not forever.
I walked towards heaven, where my cousins should be waiting for me.
They are just the family I am leaving now, with some relative around them, not the miners farm in a remote place.
Fruit trees grow in the forest, a small house on a hill, without any strength except the Amish
Style punishment for foot pedals and elbows.
After graduating from college, they plan to hide there for a year with several laptops and iPods, which sounds like a nightmare.
There is no electricity except for the battery.
No blog or Twitter if their party crashes.
Lots of fruits and nuts, small animals that are occasionally trapped, and in the making process, live a hard life in the Forest Book.
This is the plan.
If the world is not over, they will have an epic adventure experience of up to 12 months of technicians, and a publisher has lined up.
If the world breaks down, it's a plan for survival.
The only joke is that it was because of Obama's second term and the terrorist attacks he refused to stop, not the Mayan prophecy.