I Hope You Burn

With trembling hands, I wiped my face. The fury in my eyes must have been terrifying, because Janine let out a sharp scream.

“Didn’t you promise me,” I demanded hoarsely, “that if I helped the O'Connor family survive the apocalyptic heatwave, you’d make sure someone took care of my mom’s burial tree for the rest of your life? And this is how you ‘took care’ of it? By letting Mark turn it into sunscreen?”

My eyes were bloodshot as I roared at her. I wanted nothing more than to rush forward and punch Mark a few more times. However, Mark immediately buried himself in Janine’s arms and cried out in pain.

Janine narrowed her eyes. Then, she raised her hand and slapped me so hard my head snapped to the side. Her small face was cold as ice.

“Are you done making a scene?” she said flatly. “Your mom has been dead for so long now. This is an apocalyptic heatwave. That tree might not even survive. Why are you nitpicking with Mark over something so trivial? Besides, I don’t need you to survive the apocalypse anymore. Mark’s shelter plan is a thousand times better than yours. Naturally, there’s no need to honor any promise.”

She shoved me aside and personally tended to Mark’s wounds, her eyes filled with tenderness and admiration as she looked at him.

Watching how she treated him so gently and affectionately, any last hesitation in my heart vanished. If surviving a heatwave were really as easy as Mark claimed, would I have stayed in the lab running simulations without sleeping a wink? Would I have pushed myself so hard that I developed night blindness?

Ever since my mom passed away, I had never planned to live through the apocalypse alone. It was Janine who had once clung to me, crying, saying she didn’t want to die. From that day on, I built the shelter under the blazing heat until my heart nearly stopped from heatstroke. I drank with powerful figures in the construction industry to secure resources, drinking until I was rushed to emergency treatment three times in one night. In the end, all my effort was destroyed by a ridiculous theory of “natural selection” and a glorified refrigerated warehouse.

My vision blurred with blood, and the world in front of me doubled and warped. Finally, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Just before I passed out, I thought I saw Janine rushing toward me in panic.

I had no idea how long I was unconscious for, but a sharp pain jolted me awake. I lifted my head with difficulty, only to meet Janine’s furious face.

At some point, Mark’s refrigerated warehouse had collapsed, and I was being forced to kneel on the rubble by bodyguards. The stones tore into my knees. Blood soaked into the cracks between the rocks.

I looked up in confusion, about to speak when Janine slapped my cheek lightly, almost mockingly. Her voice was icy.

“Quit the act.”

A blood-stained red cloth was thrown onto my face.

“I was wondering why Mark’s finished refrigerated warehouse would collapse for no reason. He knelt in the ruins searching all night and found out that you tampered with the foundations! Mark’s refrigerated warehouse is the key to the O'Connor family’s rise in the apocalypse! If I lose my chance to become the leader of the new base because of this, I will never let you go!”

I tore the red cloth off my face and almost laughed.

Looking hurt, Mark accused me. “Just to win a bet, you’d really go this far? Do you know that dozens of O'Connor family members are depending on my refrigerated warehouse to survive? Luckily, I had them undergo heat-resistance training ahead of time, so they’ll be able to endure the high temperatures for a few more days.”

When I heard that, something suddenly crossed my mind. When Janine slapped my face earlier, her body temperature felt scalding. Her thermoregulation system was already on the verge of collapse.

The sky, which had been dark just moments ago, suddenly brightened. Heat waves rippled through the air. Even my insulated protective suit began to grow hot. My eyes widened as it hit me that tomorrow was the day the apocalyptic heat would fully erupt.

Suppressing the instinct to rush back to my underground shelter, I forced myself to stay calm and turned to Janine.

“There’s going to be an explosive temperature surge today,” I said steadily. “If you want to stay here, that’s your choice. But I’m going back.”

Janine lifted one brow slightly, a conniving smile curving her lips.

“Will,” she said, “you’ll say anything to avoid responsibility. An explosive temperature surge? If it were really rising, wouldn’t we feel it?”