The more she practiced needle therapy, the more she understood how well it fit the reality of the apocalypse. With medicine and doctors in short supply, finding either modern drugs or traditional remedies had become nearly impossible. As a surgeon, she knew better than most the terror of having no tools and no medicine when lives depended on it. Needle therapy was different. A handful of needles could still treat illness. If she mastered the craft, she could shield herself and protect her friends. It could even become her way to survive. They agreed on a time, said their goodbyes, and went back to rest. By noon, Natalie was fast asleep when a blast of suffocating heat washed over her like fire. Her eyes shot open, her chest tight, and her pulse racing. In the haze between dream and waking, she thought for an instant she had fallen back into her past life. Lucky stirred beside her, tongue lolling as he panted and scanned the room with restless eyes. From the nearby apartments, frantic voices broke the silence. "Oh my God! Look outside! The snakes are roasted!" "Jesus, the ground must be nearly 200 degrees!" Natalie jumped up and looked out the window. The courtyard was littered with charred snakes. Many had collapsed before reaching shelter, their insides cooked alive on the blazing pavement. Some still dragged themselves forward, bellies scorched black, struggling toward the buildings. The air inside her apartment was suffocating, but the pavement outside radiated even more heat. Natalie glanced at her thermometer. It read 144°F. That number pressed on her like a death sentence. No human could survive in such heat. She checked her silent air conditioner and found it had shut down on its own. The outdoor unit had overheated and locked itself in protection mode. Natalie hurried to put Lucky into her climate suit. When she stitched it together, she had made it larger with stretchy fabric, so it still fit even as she had grown. And the dog grew fast. This time Lucky didn't resist. She let Natalie fasten the suit, then slumped in relief with a low sigh. Natalie pulled on her own suit. The difference was immediate, but not complete. Before, the suit erased the heat entirely. Now the sweltering air still pressed against her skin like an invisible weight. She thought grimly that the suit must have a limit. Against such brutal heat, it could only do so much. Still, it was better than nothing. She stepped to the window, sprayed the outdoor unit with water, and built a makeshift shade to block the sun. Once it cooled, she restarted the AC. This time she set it to the mid-eighties, keeping it from shutting down again. With the air moving and the suit adding its protection, both she and Lucky finally breathed easier. When she finished, Natalie went to check on Cash. The rooster handled the heat better than the dog. At an indoor temperature in the eighties, he looked fine. She remembered her experiment and poured him spring water from the storage. Cash dipped his beak eagerly. Lucky sniffed the dish, then rushed over to steal it. Natalie sighed and poured her her own bowl. When both had settled, she lay back down. From the outside, a wave of screams and cries filled the air. The heat was crushing. Windows stood wide open, and snakes climbed inside the buildings. When it was a harmless snake, the panic was bad enough, but survivable. If it was venomous, death was almost certain. Deaths piled up from heatstroke, dengue fever, venomous bites, and even desperate rat attacks. The afternoon, which should have been silent, roared with chaos. Natalie shut it out. She turned on gentle music, curled around her dog, and drifted off again. She remembered her past life. She had been one of those voices once. She had felt fangs before. Not knowing if the snake carried venom, she was forced to suck blood from her own wound and wait for fate to decide her outcome. If she was unlucky, she would die. If fate spared her, she would live, only to face the next catastrophe. No one had saved her then. No one could save anyone now. Each person carried their own fate. This time, she would not risk her life for anyone.Night finally fell, and Natalie woke slowly. After dinner, she heard a knock at her door. Olivia's voice called her for treatment. Inside 1401, Olivia had set a glass of lemonade on the table. It was a thoughtful gesture in this sweltering heat. Natalie had not come empty-handed. She had brought a cup of shaved ice she had prepared herself. Olivia's apartment was warmer than Natalie's. She had fewer air conditioners, so she rationed them carefully, running them for a few hours at a time, setting them high, then shutting them off. Thankfully, both women wore their climate suits. They sat together sipping their cool drinks while Olivia began her work. After checking Natalie's pulse, Olivia smiled. "You're solid as a rock. Just a little heat in your liver. Nothing that can't be fixed."For the days that followed, Natalie showed up at Olivia's apartment without fail.