Two Degrees

The mountain lion stops for a moment but instead of attacking, it runs away. Soon, they start seeing other animals headed in the same direction as the lion. Dodger desperately wants to follow them but, afraid of the predator, Akira tells him to keep moving the opposite direction. A flock of bighorn sheep pass, and Dodger refuses to go any further. Akira soon realizes why. There is a wall of flames directly in front of them.

Akira and Dodger run toward the bald, a clearing she knows well. When they reach it, they stop, realizing the fire is skirting around the grassy area. The flames move quickly and soon they are surrounded by fire. Dodger is clearly worried, and Akira shares his fear. She has no idea how long they have before the grass is set alight. Suddenly, she sees a gigantic plane overhead and realizes it is spraying retardant chemicals on the hillside. In the valley below, she can see Cal Fire working to mitigate the blaze that has crept closer to her home. Then, she realizes another plane is headed right for them. She celebrates, thinking the chemical blast will create a means of escape.

The plane begins dropping its payload, a red-tinted cloud of chemicals that will halt the flames. As it approaches the bald, Akira realizes that they are also about to be sprayed. In an instant, both horse and girl are covered in red goo, and Akira’s mouth, ears, and eyes fill with the noxious substance. Dodger rears up in fright, and bolts directly into the still-burning forest.

Akira’s vision is impaired by the chemicals as Dodger gallops through the searing heat. She can barely hold on and can do nothing to slow or direct him. Even if she could, she knows they have to keep running. They are fully inside the fire. Just as Akira feels herself slipping off the saddle, they exit the inferno. She sits up as Dodger begins to slow and realizes a tree branch is directly in front of her. It hits her directly in the chest, and she is knocked backward off of the horse.

Akira lays in the grass assessing her injuries as Dodger snorts impatiently. She is surprised to find that other than one bad burn on her arm, she is relatively unscathed. Dodger seems mostly fine, as well. She wonders if the coating of fire retardant prevented them from burning completely. She rests for a moment to drink some water and clean her burn and her eyes, and to give Dodger a break. They are in a gully, so she climbs higher to see which way leads to the house. As she scans the landscape, she realizes that high above them the sequoias are on fire.

George fires another cracker shell to scare Nanuq away, but they know the bear will still follow them. They begin to joke around again as they walk, realizing that their friendship is more important than any disagreements. Owen begins to reflect on all the signs of climate change he has seen throughout his life, being trapped in the tundra is making him finally put all the pieces together. He somberly wonders how the polar bears and other Arctic species will survive the influx of warm weather, invasive animals, and people. He is lost in thought when George shouts that he sees a cabin up ahead.

The boys quickly realize the shack is long abandoned. There are no people, no food, no firewood, and nothing else that can help them survive, but they decide to climb onto the roof to get out of Nanuq’s reach. The sun is setting, and they realize they might have to spend the night on the roof. Soon, Nanuq appears outside.

The boys clamber to the roof through a hole in the ceiling. The bear sniffs around and then barges into the cabin, scattering its contents with a loud clattering sound. Thinking it sounds like someone cooking, Owen remembers the Inuit story and peeks inside to check if Nanuq has become a human.

As he looks through the roof hole, the bear stares directly back at him. Although he is still an animal, Owen can see a curious intelligence in his eyes. He stands to full height and is able to stick his head out the hole. George grabs the shotgun to fire another cracker round, which sends the bear tearing out the side of the cabin, almost knocking it over. He only runs a short distance, stops to poop, and then comes back to the cabin and lays down in the snow, covering his black nose and eyes as if to hide himself.

The boys cannot move, so they sit on the roof talking. Owen feels bad for Nanuq, knowing that it is partly humans’ fault that he is so desperate for food. Owen remembers his third-grade year, when the train tracks were washed out and Churchill became cut off from the rest of the world. The town struggled, and many people had to move. This is a reminder to him that everyone in the Arctic lives on the edge, and that maybe humans should not be there in the first place. George agrees, but argues that he doesn’t want to be eaten, and that humans need to survive, as well. Quoting a TV survivalist, he reminds Owen that humans are nature as much as animals.

The polar bear stays put as evening comes. The boys resign themselves to being on the freezing roof until morning and begin to formulate a plan to help George talk his parents into staying in Manitoba. The northern lights appear, and illuminated in the green glow they see the Ithaka, a hulking shipwreck near town. Now, they know they are not far from home, but they can’t leave the roof yet. Nanuq is still there, and another bear has joined him.

The storm is suddenly gone. Natalie leaves the shed and sees other people coming outside, all wondering what has happened. Just as she starts to believe it is a miracle, an orange-haired woman on a balcony shouts that the storm is returning.

Reuben isn’t over. Instead, the eye of the hurricane is passing right over the building where Natalie has landed. She knows she can’t keep hiding on the roof, so she decides to face the storm. She sees a cluster of floating train cars that form a bridge across the road, directly to the orange haired woman’s dry apartment.

The woman screams for her to stop, but Natalie is done letting Reuben push her around. She walks onto the slippery, wobbly train, determined to make it across before the other side of the eye arrives. Realizing she is not high enough to reach the balcony, she dives directly into an oncoming wave.

Natalie’s plan works, the wave rockets her upward and with the woman’s help, she climbs into the apartment. She is dry for the first time in hours. She collapses onto a futon as the woman introduces herself as Patience.

Patience brings Natalie water and dry clothes and asks her how she ended up stranded. Natalie finds out that she is in Liberty City, several miles from Hialeah. She quickly falls asleep and dreams that she is watching a giant hurricane from above.