Two Degrees

Akira and Lars wind their way higher into the mountains, admiring the fall colors along the way. Passing groves of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine, they finally reach their destination, a grove of giant sequoias. Reverently, the duo dismount and gaze at the trees. Akira bristles when her father breaks the silence by making a snarky comment about a fire destroying the grove. Sequoia cones are fire-dependent, and their size makes them impervious to even the most intense flames. Akira knows this and realizes her father is mocking her. She resents him for bringing the topic back up in a place they both love and wonders how a man who knows so much about nature can dispute the reality of climate change. As she ponders this, she is suddenly startled by a girl’s voice behind her.

Another father-daughter pair, Daniel and Sue, walks into the grove. They are newcomers to the area, and this is their first time seeing the sequoias. Akira is annoyed about these “trespassers,” but Lars immediately strikes up a conversation with them. To Akira’s horror, Daniel mentions climate change, which launches Lars into a lecture about the natural hot and cold cycles of the biosphere. The men begin to argue, but they are interrupted by Sue screaming. The small valley fire has become a raging inferno that crawls steadily up the side of the mountain in their direction. Lars directs Daniel and Sue to get on the horses so he and Akira can rush them back to their car, knowing that they will not have time to hike out.

Lars and Akira encourage the horses to move as quickly as they can, but Akira can tell that Dodger is nervous. Daniel, sitting behind her, is shaking with fear. She grabs her phone and opens an app that shows the progression of wildfires. The entire mountainside behind them is a huge red dot labeled “Morris Fire” that grows with every second. Akira wishes that she had called Cal Fire when she saw the smoke from the valley. As they reach Daniel and Sue’s car, the red mark on her phone envelops the parking lot on the map. She looks back into the forest and sees flames.

The fire is quickly engulfing the group, and they know they have to act fast. Daniel motions for everyone to get into the car, the only option is to drive out and hope the road slows the fire enough to let them escape. Lars dismounts his horse Elwood, yelling and hitting him to encourage him to run ahead of the fire. He tells Akira to do the same. She cannot imagine leaving Dodger to fend for himself, but knows that she has to, otherwise they will all be burned. With a mixture of sadness and fear, she slaps his rump and watches him disappear into the forest. All four people pile into the car and speed down the road directly toward the flaming forest.

Daniel drives toward the main road as the flames surround the car. Akira and Sue, sitting in the back seat, share worried glances as they sweat from the heat of the fire. Akira notices three parallel scars on the side of Sue’s face and wonders what they are from. Lars tries calling Akira’s mom but gets no response. Her mind races with thoughts of her family and Dodger as she imagines her house engulfed in flames and the fire catching up to the galloping horses. They eventually reach the main road, which looks like a tunnel as the flames blow across it to the treetops on the other side. They realize their route is blocked by a dark shape just visible through the smoke. As they get closer, they realize it is a car on fire.

Lars jumps out of Daniel’s car and makes his way through the thick smoke to check if there is anyone in the burning vehicle. To their relief, he can’t see any passengers. Just as he climbs back into the passenger seat, Akira gets a text from her mom assuring her that she and her sister, Hildi, are safe. They drive past a burning house, which to Akira looks like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. Suddenly, around a curve in the road, the flames stop. The group has just a moment to celebrate before they are hit by another car rushing out of a nearby driveway.

Owen Mackenzie and his dad are guiding a group of tourists to see polar bears in their hometown of Churchill, Manitoba. The family owns Tundra Treks, a company that operates during the short fall season when hundreds of polar bears gather near the town on their annual migration back to the Arctic as the winter sea ice re-forms. Owen explains how polar bears live and reminds the guests that they are extremely dangerous; even in town, residents must be on the lookout for the aggressive animals. As the tour ends, a boy who had been asking annoying questions throughout the tour approaches Owen, and both break out in laughter. The boy is his best friend George Gruyere. They pretended not to know each other just to mess with the tourists. The boys are excited because they plan to spend a weekend together at George’s family’s cabin and they immediately begin to prepare for their trip.

Owen and George head out through town on George’s snowmobile. George complains about the tourists who don’t know how to drive in the snow, but Owen likes them. He likes the money they provide to his family and enjoys having new people around during polar bear season. Near the edge of town, two trucks with flashing lights appear from a vehicle of the Manitoba Department of Natural Resources. The boys watch as someone in one of the trucks begins shooting cracker shells, non-lethal shotgun rounds, at a large polar bear to drive it out of town. Owen remarks that the bear is late getting out to the sea ice. They turn a different direction, not wanting to join the tourists watching the bear hazing.

Once out of town, George speeds up the snowmobile and the boys fly through the tundra, right next to the semi-frozen sea. They laugh and joke at first, but then George begins to complain about Churchill. Owen can’t believe what his friend is saying because he loves the remoteness and thought his friend shared his view. He drops the subject by mentioning that he has to pee. They stop, and Owen annoys his friend once again by suggesting that they go by “Mac and Cheese”: Mac for Mackenzie and Cheese for Gruyere. George makes fun of the idea, but Owen’s attention suddenly turns to a tiny polar bear cub playing on the ice just a few meters away. At first, he stands in awe, watching the cute baby, before his survival instincts kick in and he begins to wonder where the mother is, but it’s too late. He looks at George just as a giant polar bear claws his friend’s head from behind.

The adult bear rears up and looks at Owen, who realizes that his bear spray, shotgun, and other bear deterrents are all on the snowmobile, and the bear is blocking him from getting to it. He panics, looking at his friend lying in the snow and wondering how he will escape from the angry mother. He has never been so close to a bear before, and certainly never had one showing every sign of an imminent attack. The only thing he can do is run, so he takes off through the snow with the bear close behind. He trips in the snow, which slows him down, and suddenly he feels something massive hit his arm and knock him over.

Natalie Torres lives in Hialeah, Florida, and has been obsessed with hurricanes her entire life. Although the Miami area has not been hit directly in 100 years, she wants to be prepared in case “The Big One” ever arrives. One fall day, she sits watching the local meteorologist Maria Martinez, who reports that Hurricane Reuben is making its way to South Florida. Natalie and her Mama can’t afford to leave town and live in a single-story house, so they prepare to be stuck in their house, filling water bottles to drink if the power goes out and moving their valuables to high places in case of flooding. She texts with her best friend Shannon, who is also staying put in her high-rise apartment. Natalie is worried, and her fear grows as she realizes that she can hear frogs frantically croaking and sees snails by the house slowing making their way to higher ground. She believes that if the animals are concerned, there must truly be a devastating storm on the way.

Mama looks out the window and realizes that Tía Beatriz, their elderly neighbor, is not prepared for the storm. Her son was supposed to come help her board up her windows, but he must be stuck in traffic. Mama runs next door and brings Tía and her chihuahua, Churro, to their house. Tía and Natalie have known each other for many years, and they embrace while Churro, who hates Natalie, barks frantically. Tía muses that it is late for a hurricane, as it is already October. Natalie, who painstakingly tracks every storm, tells her that hurricane season has been extending every year, and that it is all humanity’s fault. Mama tries to calm her, but Natalie’s frustration is broken by an announcement on TV. Hurricane Reuben, a Category 5 storm, is heading directly for Miami.

The trio sit on the couch eating ice cream and watching telenovelas, waiting for the storm to hit. Natalie feels like she is at a party, but suddenly a huge crack of thunder signals that Reuben has arrived. Churro, shaking, throws up. Something heavy hits the side of the house, and with a flash of lightning the power cuts out. For the first time, Tía seems worried. She talks about Hurricane Joan in Nicaragua, which devastated the country and caused her to move to Miami. Natalie feels sick, so she daydreams about Mariposa, a peaceful fictional country she invented as a child.

Natalie runs to her bedroom, remembering that she forgot to secure the shoeboxes that hold the tiny version of Mariposa she created throughout her childhood. The country is an escape for her, a way to imagine her neighborhood as a sparking, magical world. She feels foolish thinking about fantasy now, as a seventh grader trapped in a raging storm. A gust of wind blows down the mattress that covers the front door, and things escalate quickly. The walls begin to buckle, and suddenly a wall caves in.

Reuben has caused the ocean to surge, and water rushes into the house, knocking everything ever and drowning the candles they had lit. Natalie frantically tries to keep her head above water, and finally finds Mama. They are both okay, but with a flash of lightning they see Churro barking on the upside-down couch. They flip it over and find Tía trapped underneath, motionless. They have no time to determine if she is alive. They try to leave the house through the fallen wall, but realize they are trapped by furniture and trash pushed toward them by the sea and wind.

Mama motions for Natalie to climb through a small broken window, the only one they didn’t board up before the storm. She does, flopping into the chest-high water outside. She tries to open doors and windows but cannot budge any of the boards. She looks inside and sees Mama holding Tía, both too large to fit through the small window. Mama hands her Churro and yells for her to try to escape the storm. Natalie refuses, but Reuben decides for her, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her down the street.