Inferno

A single green shoot, pushing up from between the slightest of gaps in the dusty concrete, almost seemed to be enjoying throwing a minute splash of colour against the dead landscape. Too young to classify as anything beyond simply life, Cassian knew upon catching sight of it that come dawn the beautiful green thread would be reduced to nothing but another muted, dry husk. He looked up from his study of the infant plant to monitor the hazy glow on the horizon that signaled the imminent rising sun. The heat of it already evaporating any humidity of the dark night. It was time to move.

He placed a gentle hand on his sleeping sister’s shoulder,

“Sarah. Time to suit up.” He said in a soft voice.

Her eyes snapped open so quickly that he caught her pupils contracting against the growing light. She shot bolt upright and shook her head as if to hurl away the remnants of sleep.

“Look at the light Cassian! Dammit, I told you not to leave it so late! I’d rather be allowed time to get ready without being chased by the sun!”

“You need the sleep.” He replied, standing and brushing accumulated red dirt from the tight, black anti-thermal layer that made up his only clothing. 

“Being tired is better than being dead. Wake me earlier tomorrow or I’ll start taking the last watch!” An accusatory finger let him know she was serious.

Thankfully his lack of reply ended the argument there. In truth she was right that their time was now tight. Passing her suit over seemed to act as enough of a peace offering.

Cassian stepped into his own outfit while Sarah saw to herself. The shining, silver all-in-one reminded him of the science fiction movies he had loved as a child; before computers were able to generate images akin to reality, he had believed entirely that the cheap costumes made from everyday bits and pieces were genuine spacemen and monsters. Zipping up his heat-proof cocoon he felt like an astronaut from one of those early films, except that in this case the fabric barrier would genuinely mean the difference between living or dying. He secured the encompassing hood in place and looked down to check himself over through it’s narrow viewfinder. Everything looked good, so he hit the series of buttons on his wrist to ignite the cooling fans and immediately felt the sweet, icy breeze against his skin.

“All set?” He asked of his sister in an intentionally louder voice, to be heard through the layers of both suits.

“Yeah, I’m good, lets get going.” She replied.

Before leaving, Cassian took one last look at the emerging seedling that had captivated his attention all morning and with a shake of his head turned away before the colour completely drained from it. The vulnerable pioneer had visibly dried out and rapidly died under the emerging sunlight.

Over an hour of staring at Sarah’s back followed. Their daily routine of crossing the barren, sandy soil of the old park lands, weaving between charcoal tree stumps to reach the city proper, played out the same as it had every day for the past week. Pushing the empty wheelbarrow across the shifting grains was tricky but far easier in this direction. The way back would be far worse, with tired arms and hopefully, heavily laden. The solid, green-wood wheel hindered Cassian’s progression, but it was the only real choice over rubber that would melt or metal that could spark. He kept watch over Sarah as she navigated her own barrow across the desert-like landscape, avoiding the tarmac paths that could liquefy in the rising heat and watching for the ever more active snakes of the region. He had always felt protective over her, as an older brother should. The feeling was amplified all the more by their presence in the dead zone. Having convinced her to accompany him, as the only person he could ever truly trust and more so on a count of being too cowardly to go alone. She now faced this danger by his request and so her life was in his hands. 

She stopped ahead under the shade of an abandoned over pass, as agreed since the next few minutes would see them enter the city for real. He gently lowered the handles of his adapted wheelbarrow alongside her and checked his wrist display. 45C / 113F already.

“Damn. If today’s temperature follows the same gradient, which it always does, we are on track for the hottest day of the year. Could reach 65C / 149F at noon. We need to be even more careful than usual. Go gently, no metal, no sparks. Move slowly.” He warned Sarah.

“Maybe we should head back? Try again tomorrow? It might not be as bad?” She offered.

Cassian paused, seriously considering the suggestion for a moment.

“No, we are here now and there’s only a few days left before we need to make the journey back east. Just go more carefully.”

“Okay, I trust you brother. Why don’t we head away from the city centre today? How about that rich neighbourhood, ‘Walkerville’ was it?”

“Yeah that’s right. We used to go there you know…but you probably wouldn’t remember. You were too young. They had this supermarket that was like a whole luxury experience, food draped over every surface. Hard to believe everything we had back then…but it’s a smart target, lets make a run at it.”

He let her lead the way again, giving directions from behind; Cassian much preferred to have her in sight at all times. As they passed under the dual poles of a huge highway sign that read ‘Adelaide – South Australia’, he tried to remember his childhood home as anything other than the uninhabitable, hellscape of heat that it had become.

They made their way across parks and through backyards, only risking the roads when they had no other choice; the heat intensified when reflected from the man-made surfaces and melted tarmac was infuriating to remove from the bottom of shoes. It made for slower progress but eventually they noticed the houses growing larger, the gardens becoming gated and the walls showing more natural stone. They had moved into the realm of the previously wealthy. He laughed to himself at the sight, all that status meant nothing now. 

“Alright, we do one house at a time, together. I don’t want to see any silver this time Sarah, its not worth the added weight. Gold only, stones sure but remove them from anything other than the gold. With the mines in the north closed, it’s the biggest payday. Remember we have to get everything that we scavenge fifteen-hundred kilometres back to New Melbourne. Even using the boat it’s going to be hard going until we get back to the coast, so…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Alright Cassian I get it. No more silver, no matter how pretty it is.” He could see the mocking in her eyes through the tiny slit of her suit and read even more humour in her head movements. “Now come on big brother! This is the fun bit! Its treasure hunting time!”

The pair picked their way through the houses, pulling out bedside drawers, emptying jewellery boxes and grabbing any discarded wallets. The evacuation had been sudden enough that most people who could, had just left everything behind. By the fifth house Cassian realised they might have hit the jackpot. Every home was giving up fistfuls of gold and cash, if they kept going like this, there was a chance this could even be their last trip into the city.

“Oh my god! Cass! Look at this!” Sarah’s voice rang down the long corridor of the stone building that they were busy ransacking. “You aren’t going to believe it!”

He placed the watch he had uncovered onto the growing pile of valuables in his wheelbarrow and made his way slowly, carefully from the lounge down to what must have been the kitchen at the back of the house. There he found his sister digging headfirst through the…fridge.

“What are you doing in here? You know kitchens are too risky, one spark from the oven or a dropped box of matches and you could set the whole city alight…us included. This is foolish Sarah…you were supposed to be upstairs.”

“Oh, shush will you and come look!” He couldn’t see her face but a lifetime of shared body language told him that she was beaming. She spun around and held up two brightly coloured plastic bags, one either side of her head, each wrapping a mass of neon worms. 

“Are those…gummy snakes?”

“YES! A packet each! What. A. SCORE!” She yelled in excitement, bouncing on the spot.

“Sarah…don’t torture yourself…they’ll be liquid before you can take your suit off. Just like all the other packets not lucky enough to be left inside an airtight fridge.”

“Look. This is a once in a lifetime chance. They can’t make this stuff anymore. We have stumbled upon someone crazy enough to keep sweets in a fridge and I just dug through some black stuff I couldn’t even identify to reach them. I AM eating these. It’s worth the risk Cass.”

“All for some candy?” He asked.

“YES.”

“Okay…fine…but I go first.” He resigned, snatching one of the packets from her hand and checking the display on his wrist. 63C / 145F. 

Holding it in one hand and the zip at his throat in the other he took a deep breath. Then in one fluid movement dropped the zip, shoved the treats against his chest and ripped the suit closed. The entire movement lasted no more than a second but Cassian felt like someone had just opened an oven onto his chest. He waited for the discomfort and slight spike of panic to subside, then pulled his arms out of the sleeves and into the torso of his protective clothing, finding one of the joys of his childhood wedged inside.

“Wow, they really are almost like new…” He said, squeezing the warm package between his fingers. Before he could marvel any further at the find, his attention was diverted by the familiar sound of a zip descending. That spike of alarm hit him again and by the time his viewfinder had raised enough to bring Sarah into focus, his eyes found her rummaging around inside her own closed suit, giggling maniacally. 

Neither of them said a single word from then on, only moaned and groaned in pleasure as they worked their way through an entire bag each of sugar jellies. They hadn’t even bothered to move from where they stood in the kitchen. She had been right. It was worth the risk. Cassian had forgotten what simple pleasures as these could feel like. When they had both finished, he caught his sisters demeanour changing; her shoulders dropped and the life seemed to visibly leach from her soul.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy?” He asked.

“I am…it’s just. When were we reduced to this? That this is the pinnacle of what we can expect from life? I remember more than you think…from before. I remember what it was like to have a house in a city, rather than a tent in a refugee camp. I remember what it was like to have a hot meal…”

“Hey…look. That’s why we are here. Even counting only what we have scored so far…it should be enough to get us passage at least to New Zealand. A few more days of scavenging at this level, we might even be able to get across the pacific and north to the truly cool countries. Australia is burning away by the day, but we have a way out, we just need to keep going. Keep believing we can do this.”

“I don’t mean to sound bleak. I know we have options…thanks to you and this insane adventure you’ve brought us on. I’m okay, I just can’t help but let it get to me sometimes. Don’t you ever think about what the world is becoming? Big picture I mean, will we ever really be safe again?”

“Of course we will you dope! We were just unlucky enough to be born in one of the hottest countries in the world! There are plenty of places out there that are doing just fine and come winter there will even be people venturing this far west again. Which is why we need to get a move on, can’t have them finding us still here robbing them blind now can we?”

“You’re right, come on, lets put this sugar to good use!” She said, bouncing away as if all her cares were immediately lifted.

Cassian twisted his wrist while her back was turned, subtly checking the noonday temperature. 67C / 152F. There it is, the hottest day of the year…of all recorded history. He swallowed his fear and hoped his little sister would never notice the terror that constantly simmered inside him.

 They continued their treasure hunt to the end of the street, taking several hours to move through the large houses before stepping onto the hollow straw that carpeted the last garden of the row. The house was larger than the rest, being on the corner block and it looked promising.

“Last one okay? We need to get back out into the open before night falls” Cassian instructed.

“I still don’t see why we need to travel so far every day, I’m sure it would be safe enough to stay in one of these houses. Probably cooler too.”

“We’ve been over this. You want to wake up surrounded by flames with no way out? We need to be in the open, with sight lines to spot bush fires in time to escape. No Sarah, we play it safe.”

They moved through the house in what was becoming a routine. It was scarily obvious where to look for valuables, everyone always hid them in the same places. It was during their deconstruction of the master bedroom that Cassian heard the footsteps on the stairs. Muted thanks to the suit but unmistakable and close. He turned his whole body to direct the cumbersome suit at the door, just in time to see it slowly creak open toward them. No one entered, but a voice rang out from behind the thick timber shield.

“Who’s been sleeping in MY bed!? Hwee Hwee Hwee”

Cassian silently raised his hand, palm forward, to stop Sarah from moving or reacting to the sound. They both stood there, frozen in place, staring at the open door that was hiding the stranger, not daring to breath.

“Come on now sweeties. Don’t be shy. Ooooh no, don’t be that. Mummy just wants to tuck you IN. But not in that bed, hwee hwee” The creepy, squeaking laugh that was echoing from out of sight sent chills down Cassian’s spine. He pushed his hand forward, thrusting it at his sister, urging her to remain still.

“You know that’s not YOUR BED! YOURS IS IN THE NURSERY. GET OUT! GET OUT! Get out…”

The door pushed wider, revealing a small framed woman with a thin summer dress hanging from her shrivelled shoulders. Her skin was like leather; thick, rough and dark as if she had spent a lifetime in the scorching sun. Her eyes were wide and milky and her head cocked to one side. The whole ensemble reminded Cassian of the undead from the scariest of his old movies. The ones that he would defend against with a couch cushion.

“Why aren’t you listening sweet ones? Why oh why oh why won’t you come to bed. This isn’t yoooooour BED.”

Sarah’s terrified eyes met Cassian’s and her barely perceptible shrug and nod toward the woman asked What the hell is going on?

They had both seen sunstroke before, it was commonplace among those who had escaped the heat to New Melbourne, but this was something different. Something more. How this creature was still alive Cassian could not explain, no one should be able to survive any level of exposure to the sun here. Afraid to break whatever hallucination their guest was enthralled in, he stayed quiet. Who knew how she would react to learning they were not the children she believed them to be.

“I know what it is.” She said, suddenly with more clarity and intention. “You’re cold. You want to sleep in the warm with Mummy. Well. Lets get this place warmed up shall we.”

Cassian lunged for his sister the instant he caught the shine of the lighter clasped in the eerie woman’s hand. His subconscious calculated in a fraction of second that he wouldn’t make it to stop her in time, his body moving in protection of his only family instead. He stepped and pushed with all his might, sending Sarah backward through the second story window and plummeting down with a crunch into the dry bushes below. As the very air caught fire around the small frame of view he had through the suit, he saw her roll on to her side and stand, far below.

Good. All she has to do is make it back ahead of the flames now. Passage for one is half the price after all.

The display on his wrist jumped to 1000C / 1832 F, as the room exploded in an inferno.