The World Ends In 27 Days

By evening, the city’s cooling centers had become a massive security problems.

Jingwei had recognized the failure before officials did.

Stadiums, subway stations and government buildings had been selected because they could hold thousands of people. That capacity meant nothing when every person arrived frightened, overheated and convinced there wouldn’t be enough water or space for everyone behind them.

Yunzhou had reached 61°C.

The municipal camera network showed crowds moving toward every publicly announced center. Some people carried bags and water containers. Others supported elderly relatives between them or pushed children in strollers covered with damp towels.

The towels were drying within minutes.

A camera outside the southern sports complex showed more than 3,000 people gathered beneath its entrance canopy. The crowd extended across the plaza and onto the surrounding roads, where abandoned vehicles blocked emergency access.

Jingwei enlarged the image.

Temporary barriers formed narrow lines toward the doors. Police officers and private guards stood between them, but the lines had already collapsed into a dense mass pressing forward.

"They’ve created a choke point," he stated.

Zeyu looked toward him from the sofa. "They’re trying to stop everyone from rushing the doors."

"The barriers won’t stop them." Jingwei pointed toward the center of the image, where people had begun climbing over the metal rails. "They’re trapping the crowd in place."

The camera refreshed.

One barrier tilted.

On the next image, it had vanished beneath the people surrounding it.

The public feed had no sound, but Jingwei didn’t need it. He had managed crowds during protests, corporate evacuations and attacks against protected clients. He knew what happened when pressure moved through thousands of bodies with nowhere to escape.

People at the front couldn’t retreat. Those behind them couldn’t see why the line had stopped. Every new arrival increased the force against the doors.

A woman near the outer edge lifted a child above her head.

The camera operator zoomed toward her.

She was shouting something, but the surrounding crowd continued moving. The child disappeared from the next image, then reappeared several meters closer to the entrance in the hands of someone else.

The woman remained behind.

Qinghe leaned forward, his brows drawing together. "They’re passing the child toward the doors."

Jingwei watched the small body move above the crowd from one pair of hands to another. The child reached a police officer near the entrance, who pulled them across the barrier and carried them inside.

The camera panned back toward the woman.

She had fallen.

People attempted to step around her, but the crowd closed over the space before she could stand. When the camera refreshed again, only one of her arms remained visible between moving legs.

Jingwei’s jaw tightened.

He had spent most of his adult life believing that sufficient force and planning could control any threat. But the Heat didn’t negotiate, and it couldn’t be deterred. Every conventional security measure became another object people could be crushed against.

The sports complex doors opened fully and the crowd surged forward.

Several police officers disappeared beneath it.

Inside the cooling center, a news crew continued broadcasting. Thousands of people occupied the seats, corridors and playing surface. Industrial fans moved hot air through the building while volunteers distributed water from shrinking pallets.

The reporter stood near a temperature display reading 43°C.

"The cooling system is operating at reduced capacity," she explained, wiping sweat from her upper lip. "Officials assure us that additional generators and water deliveries are on the way."

Behind her, the lights dimmed and the fans started to slow down.

A low mechanical whine passed through the building before stopping entirely.

The crowd noticed.

People nearest the exits immediately attempted to leave while those outside continued forcing their way in. Security personnel shouted instructions, but their voices disappeared beneath the rising panic.

Shichen studied the building information beside the broadcast. "The generators have overheated."

"How long before the temperature inside matches the temperature outside?" Hanchuan asked.

"Not long enough to evacuate that many people," Shichen answered. His face remained controlled, but his fingers tightened around the tablet.

The reporter lost her position as the crowd moved around her. The camera tilted, showing people pushing toward water tables and electrical outlets. Someone overturned the first pallet. Bottles scattered across the floor, and dozens of people dropped to their knees to grab them.

One man collected several bottles against his chest.

Another struck him.

The fight disappeared beneath more bodies before either could stand.

Jingwei changed the screen to the municipal cameras surrounding the complex. Water-delivery trucks remained trapped six blocks away behind abandoned vehicles. One driver had climbed onto the roof of his cab and was waving toward the people gathering around him.

The camera angle moved closer.

Several people smashed the truck’s rear lock with a piece of concrete. Others struck the cab windows, demanding that the driver release the water.

The rear doors opened.

The crowd pulled cases onto the road until the first layer disappeared. People farther back began climbing over those in front, ripping bottles from broken packaging and from one another’s hands.

A police officer attempted to intervene.

He took three steps before vomiting against the side of the truck. His helmet slipped when he bent forward, revealing hair soaked flat against his head. He tried to straighten, swayed once and collapsed beside the front tire.

No one stopped.

The exterior temperature at Xiling reached 47°C.

Jingwei’s security system increased the power directed toward the western barrier’s cooling channels. The reinforced entrance could withstand far more heat, but it had never been intended to remain exposed to temperatures approaching 80°C for years.

Nothing had.

Another cooling center announced that it had reached capacity. Officials ordered the doors closed while hundreds of people remained outside.

The municipal camera showed them pounding against the glass.

A man used a metal crowd barrier as a battering ram. The first impact cracked the door. The second widened the fracture. When the glass finally failed, the crowd poured through the opening over everyone who had fallen beneath it.

Jingwei turned away from the screen.

Zhiyi sat motionless beside Hanchuan. Her face revealed little, but her fingernails had left white marks across the back of his hand.

Hanchuan bent closer to her. "Was it this bad on the first day?"

She didn’t answer immediately.

Before she could, every phone in the room emitted the same piercing tone.

The communications wall switched automatically to a red emergency screen. Large characters appeared beneath the municipal warning symbol as a recorded voice repeated the order.

SHELTER IN PLACE

REMAIN INDOORS AND AVOID ALL NONESSENTIAL TRAVEL

Residents were instructed to remain in the coolest room available, conserve water and reduce nonessential electrical use. Air conditioners should be set no lower than 28°C to protect the municipal grid.

The message ended by assuring them that the temperature was expected to peak within several hours.

Too bad the six of them all knew better.

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