December 24th.
Temperature: −20 °C.
Vikram woke up at 10 a.m.
Without Pinku's usual early-morning crow acting as an alarm clock, he allowed himself a rare moment of indulgence and slept in longer than usual.
What truly surprised him, however, was how mild the so-called extreme cold disaster had been so far.
It had already been six days since the cold wave began, yet the temperature remained stubbornly fixed at –20°C. There had been no terrifying plunge into deeper freezing as he had imagined.
This weather was certainly uncomfortable, biting at exposed skin and stiffening one's breath — but it was far from the absolute despair he had experienced during the acid rain disaster.
Back then, he had been forced to hide inside the Treehouse just to survive. Now, he even felt that a steady fire for others survivors alone could be enough to get through the night.
"Logically, acid rain should have been the novice protection period…"
"So why does this extreme cold feel easier instead?"
