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Short filmTranscript
00:00We're found out. However, dad doesn't panic. Our bunker is designed to run on batteries.
00:04To prevent any mishaps like this, Ned calls over two thugs and begins digging down the ventilation
00:09duct. Buzz, as they touch the protective mesh around the duct, a bluish arc of electricity
00:14flashed through him. It's a battery-connected high-voltage transformer. It can't kill anyone,
00:18but it can electrocute them instead. Ah. We hear screaming outside. Shit. I got electrocuted. Alex
00:27injuries or shock that causes sweating. In this minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit weather can easily
00:32cause death by hypothermia. They don't dare to linger. They just swear at us before leaving.
00:36However, that's just the start. An even greater crisis descended that night. The entire power
00:41grid in the area collapsed. Initially, faint lights can still be seen far away. But now,
00:46everything went out. The world is plunged into absolute darkness. Our cell phones are now useless
00:51bricks. As the last bit of signal died down, we're on our own now. Activate the diesel generator,
00:56Dad orders. A rumbling sound echoes in the soundproof bunker. Although there are layers
01:01of soundproofing, the ground still shakes and vibrates slightly. In the silent underground,
01:05with electricity, we turn on the old radio and listen to intermittent broadcasts on it.
01:09It's a global disaster, and we were to take refuge in a place. While waiting for help,
01:14Mom counts the remaining coal bricks and suddenly pales. Alex. Look at this corner. A layer of white
01:20frost is seeping out from the southeast corner of the bunker. Was the aerogel mat not applied properly?
01:25Or, Dad goes over and touches it. His face turns grim. No. It's already frozen solid. The outside
01:31has been frozen to a 10-foot depth, and cold air is penetrating through the concrete. If it drops to
01:36minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit, our insulation layer may not hold up. Back at the city center,
01:42the once glamorous five-star hotel is now just a giant ice casket. Jenny wraps herself up in an
01:47expensive mink coat, but still shivers from the cold. Meanwhile, Tom huddles up in a corner,
01:51wrapped up in all the curtains. All wooden furniture has been burned as firewood,
01:55including the expensive bed being burned to ashes. There's no food left, Tom says hoarsely. His eyes
02:00sinister. The $500,000 have all been used up. Buying bags, watches, and the useless mink coat.
02:06They didn't even buy a single pack of instant noodles. G go find Wendy. Tom suddenly says,
02:11standing up. His eyes flash sinisterly. Wendy has to have prepared for this, going back. There are also
02:16bunkers and firewood there. How do we get there? It's 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Jenny cries out.
02:21I have a car. Tom reveals a car key. It is the key to an off-road vehicle that he
02:26retrieved,
02:26from a corpse in the underground parking garage. The car has been modified and can still start up.
02:31They can survive if they don't die halfway there. They rush out of the hotel like mad dogs,
02:35passing frozen corpses everywhere. Some were in crawling positions, and some were hammering at the
02:40shop fronts. Luck is with them. The off-roader roars to life. It's gas tank full,
02:44smashing through ice sculptures and wrecked cars. On the way back to Blackville. A day later,
02:48an off-roader belching black smoke crashes into a massive tree. The door opens, and two ghastly
02:53figures crawl out. Jenny's face is frozen purple. She looks toward the Levine's home far away,
02:58that isn't covered in snow. A frosty look in her eyes. We're going to make it. Tom, we're going to
03:03live. We are all having dinner. Tonight, we're having calorie-dense food, to keep ourselves warm,
03:08like rice and stew. Suddenly, the buzzer in the scope goes off. Someone's nearby. I go over to have a
03:13look, and widen my eyes in shock. It's Jenny and Tom, but they aren't alone. Ned and two others
03:17are also with them. Wendy. Mom. Dad. It's me, Jenny. Jenny's voice is heard through the loudspeaker,
03:25sounding exceptionally piercing in the silence. I know you're in there. Tom told me everything.
03:29You sold your house and cars for 10 million dollars. I know the house is filled with food.
03:34Damn it. She's such an idiot. She revealed all our secrets so that Ned would show them the way and
03:38not
03:39kill them. Everybody. Jenny shouted at the villagers. My mom and dad are down here. They
03:43have tons of supplies. Everyone will survive. If we all break this door down. Her tactic is simply
03:48too ruthless. The villagers were only suspicious at first, but now, they know the truth. We had
03:53supplies worth 10 million dollars in here. Just how much food and coal would that be? Break it down.
03:59Ned yelled. His eyes red. Waving his hand. Three pickaxes and hammers slam down. Against our first
04:04blast-proof door. Mom's hands are shaking in the bunker as she tightly grips dad's arm. Dad's face
04:09is grim. He sets down his food and walks over to the control panel, opening the valve for the manual
04:14water pump. It wasn't connected to a well, but to a high-pressure water pipe buried near the doorway.
04:19Water is the most deadly weapon in minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit weather, after all. Turn it on. Dad says
04:25coldly. I press down forcefully on the handle. Splash. A hidden spray in the door sprays water at them.
04:30This isn't normal water. Dad added a lot of salt to the water tank, lowering the freezing point,
04:35to keep it in liquid form before spraying. Once it's sprayed at an object, it will freeze
04:39instantly in the cold wind. There are loud screams at the door. The people banging on the door are
04:43soaked, and their clothes freeze solid within seconds. Their hands are also frozen to the
04:48pickaxes. However, I see that Tom hides behind Jenny, using her as a shield. Meanwhile, Jenny is
04:53covered in icicles, and frozen in place like an ice sculpture. Her eyes filled with despair and
04:57disbelief. Their screams are ripped apart by the cold wind. The high-pressure sprinkler Dad
05:02designed is, originally intended to rinse off chemical suits. But now, it is a lethal defensive
05:07weapon. There's a high concentration of salt in the water, and it doesn't form ice in minus 60
05:12degrees Fahrenheit weather. Instead, it turns into, a super-cooled water mist. As soon as it lands on an
05:17object's surface, it will absorb a huge amount of heat at once, and form a hardened ice armor.
05:22Ned was at the very front, but the moment he raised his homemade rifle, he was sprayed with salt water.
05:27Crack! He freezes before he can pull the trigger. His fingers can't bend anymore. Then, his eyelashes
05:32stubble, and the hot breath from his mouth, frost over within seconds. Terrified, he tries to wipe
05:38his face, but his glove gets stuck to his face instead. Tom! Save me! Jenny screams so loudly her
05:44voice cracks. Through the periscope, I witness a scene that chills me to the bone. The instant the
05:48water spray erupted, the same man who said he loved her, and vowed to keep her alive, yanked Jenny
05:53toward himself, without any hesitation, and used her as his shield. The expensive but useless mink
05:58coat on Jenny, turns into a sopping sponge at once. The fabric soaking through, and clinging
06:03tightly to her body, she became Tom's human shield. Are you crazy? It's freezing! Tom! What are you doing?
06:08Jenny keeps struggling, but Tom grips her shoulders firmly, and hides himself behind her shivering
06:13body. His eyes filled with survival, desperation, and resentment toward us. Stop moving! You're my
06:18girlfriend! You should protect me! Tom roars, his voice trembling violently. Wendy! Open up! You
06:24bitch! Your sister is freezing to death! At that moment, Jenny stops struggling, not because she
06:29wants to, but because she's frozen solid. Her mink coat has now transformed into, a suit of ice armor,
06:34weighing her down, and trapping her firmly in place. She is facing our periscope directly, and the look in
06:39her eyes shifts, from fear to anger, to a final blank desperation. Ned's two henchmen try rolling on the
06:45ground, but the ice layer on them only grew thicker. They end up twitching in the snow. Ned is strong,
06:49but is also kneeling on the ground, like a bizarre ice sculpture, letting out loud, ragged breaths from
06:54his mouth. Is it all over now? Not yet. Dad suddenly points to a corner and says, Tom isn't dead
06:59yet. He
07:00isn't very wet. Also, what is he doing? On the screen, Tom realizes that Jenny can't move anymore, and shoves
07:06her frozen body to the ground. He retrieves a water bottle from his arms, a homemade Molotov cocktail, and ignites
07:12the fuse, before throwing it at our ventilation duct. Die? Die? All of you. Boom. The bomb smashes against the
07:18vent protective cover, and bursts into flames, but this is just a fleeting moment in the cold. Dad had double
07:24-proofed
07:24and insulated the vent, so the fire lasts less than half a minute, before the wind put it out. Yet,
07:30Tom doesn't
07:30stop there. He looks like a gambler who lost everything, as he raises the crowbar in his hand, and bashes
07:35the
07:35ventilation duct with it. Come out. Give me food. I have money. That stupid bitch gave me all her
07:40money. I can pay you. Tom keeps bashing the vent, while shouting and howling incoherently. However,
07:45he forgets that this is minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit hell. He may have escaped a majority of the water
07:51spray earlier, but his pants are soaked. I watch him coldly, through the observation periscope. His
07:55actions are slowing down rapidly. Five minutes later, the hammering on the door stops. Tom remains in his
08:01kneeling position. His hands gripping the door frame, and his face pressed against the metal door.
08:05He died with his eyes wide open. The five ice statues outside the door, are now the new, guardians,
08:10of our bunker. We may have eliminated the hidden dangers, but we also gave away our location. These
08:15statues act as a warning and a road sign. The next morning, Dad checks the gadgets as usual. Suddenly,
08:20his face turns very pale. He taps on the barometer with shaky fingers. This is bad. What is?
08:26I ask, my heart dropping. Not the gadget, he said, turning around, with a deep fear in his eyes. It's
08:32the air
08:32pressure. It's dropping rapidly. This means that, a massive blizzard is coming, the kind with winds that
08:38can uproot houses. At this moment, our bunker door is sealed with a thick ice layer. Because of the water
08:43spraying yesterday, if the exhaust pipe is also buried by heavy snow, we will suffocate from lack of oxygen.
08:48The so-called massive blizzard, is a lot worse than ever expected. The howling sound from the surface is now
08:53replaced, with the roar of heavy sand crushing steel plates. Then, the oxygen monitor emits a
08:58piercing red light. Carbon dioxide levels are skyrocketing. As the exhaust is blocked, due to
09:03heavy snow or a collapsed camouflage, our family will suffocate and die, if it's not cleared immediately.
09:08Let's go. Dad says without hesitation, he drags out the spare industrial hydraulic jack, and an
09:14extended alloy drill bit, aiming for the emergency repair well. I grip the drill handle tightly, while mom
09:19cranked up the blower frantically, trying to squeeze out all the air from the pipe. I begin seeing
09:23stars due to a lack of oxygen. My lungs feel like they're on fire. Ten minutes later, there's a
09:28loud clang. The drill bit got stuck. As it struck metal. Yet, dad looks happy. It's a car chassis. A
09:33car was blown over by the wind, which happened to cover the exhaust pipe. The jack made a loud
09:38hydraulic sound. Then, with a muffled thud, a metallic groan comes from above, and a rush of icy yet very
09:43sweet air rushes in. We gasp greedily for air. Dad pushes open the top cover, and I extend the periscope
09:49through the crack. It turns out to be Ned's or Froda, acting as a shield to shield us from the
09:53snow. I adjust the angle and look into the distance, feeling my heart lurch. A series of fresh, messy
09:58footprints is seen. Amidst the vast and desolate white snowfield, I follow the footprints and adjust
10:03the focus. Three hunched figures appear in the lens at once. The leader is Eric Holst, the village
10:08cripple. He's usually honest and unassuming, but now, he's leading two scrawny villagers, and breaking
10:13into the village reserves in a frenzy. The door is pried open, but it's empty inside, with just moldy
10:18grains and rat droppings. At that moment, humanity means nothing anymore. Eric grabs a brick without
10:23hesitation, and smashes it against the villager's head. Fresh blood spills onto the snow, like a
10:28glaring red flower. He also swiftly kills the other villager, grabs a handful of moldy grain and
10:33droppings, and shoves them down his throat, chewing hard. Meanwhile, I'm having lunch in the bunker.
10:38Lunch is beef curry with some rice, and the fragrance fills the air. Starving people can no longer act
10:43humanely. Dad picks up some beef, and stares blankly at the screen. This is the gap caused by the
10:48apocalypse. Some people kill for a moldy bite to eat, and some people enjoy hot meals in a bunker.
10:53On the screen, Eric tries to bring home a bloody sack of grains, when he suddenly freezes on the
10:57spot. Three pairs of eerie green lights, just appeared behind the snow-covered slope. The
11:01lights are the eyes of three starving wolves. Wild beasts that survive this frigid hell, are the
11:06strongest and most resilient. Eric doesn't even have time to run before. The first wolf bites his
11:11calf in two, and the second one attacks his throat. His screens echo in the bunker's speakers.
11:15The fight lasted less than 20 seconds, and blood froze rapidly on the snow. The wolves didn't even
11:20look at the bag of grains that were exchanged for two other lives. The wolves don't leave after their
11:25feast. Instead, they circle around our ventilation duct, their nostrils twitching. They can sniff our
11:30human presence. Reinforcements. Dad says, setting down his food, and heading toward the workbench to
11:36weld. Six rows of barbed wire behind the blast-proof door. Whoever forces their way in will die,
11:41while tidying up the pile of coal, mom suddenly exclaims, Alex. Look, a metal box fell out of a
11:47hidden compartment. At the bottom of the coal box, there are ten neat boxes of amoxicillin there.
11:52A free gift from the coal seller. We didn't notice it back then. And now, it's a priceless
11:56life-saving medicine. While rejoicing over this sudden windfall, the silent shortwave radio suddenly
12:01lights up. After some crackling sounds, a strange male voice rings out with a smirk. I found you. I've
12:07found a treasure grove in Blackville. We'll attack tomorrow. Bring the flamethrower. We're burning
12:11the whole shell down. The crackling sounds like nails on a blackboard. Dad tries adjusting the
12:15radio frequency. His face illuminated by the flickering red light. The man's voice rings out
12:20again. So clear it seems like is beside us. Target confirmed. That's the place. Ned died there a few
12:25days ago. The ice statues at our door are too conspicuous. Ah, trophies. The few frozen corpses at
12:31our door, ultimately lured the vultures toward us. It's all underground. They must have a lot of
12:35reserves. The men don't even bother searching the corpses. Dad turns off the radio volume,
12:40and the bunker goes deathly quiet. Prepare for battle. This time, we won't be on the defensive
12:45innermore. Mom rummages through the supplies, and finds a few bottles of strong liquor and spirits
12:49she couldn't bear to drink last time. Now, she smashes them open, and pours the liquor into a glass
12:54bottle, before stuffing it with greasy rag strips. I sit by the whetstone, holding the compound bow.
13:00As I sharpen the arrowheads rhythmically, gleaming coldly under the light, we feel no fear but the
13:04calm of rising adrenaline. It's a dog-eat-dog world where weakness is a sin. Later that night,
13:09the voice appears on the radio again, with an arrogant air of certainty. We attack midnight
13:13tomorrow. Just the three of us. There won't be enough for all of us. They can never stand up to
13:17a flamethrower. A blizzard rages late that night. Loud roars tear through the silence of the night,
13:22as three snowmobiles emerge from the blizzard, and stop at the entrance to our bunker. Through the
13:26periscope, I see three tightly bundled figures approach us. They say nothing. The leader waves his hand,
13:32and a man with a huge tank on his back steps up. Whoosh, whoosh. A long trail of flames appears
13:37in the air. It's an industrial flamethrower. The orange flames look really eerie. In this
13:41minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit weather, they rapidly melt the thick eye sealing the door,
13:45turning it into scalding steam at once. Then, the outside of the blast-proof door changes color,
13:50from black to maroon, then to bright red. The temperature alarm in the bunker won't stop going
13:55off like crazy. The icy bunker is soon turned into an oven. We hurriedly remove our clothes,
13:59as sweat streams down our faces. Waves of heat seep through the door cracks. Smelling of burned
14:04metal. The door won't hold much longer. The ceiling strip is melting. Mom grips her a lot
14:09of cocktail harder, but Dad checks the screen calmly instead, and puts his hand on a red button.
14:14It's a fire prevention mechanism. A dry powder fire extinguisher. However, the nozzle isn't filled
14:19with fire retardants. Instead, it's filled with flour from the mill. If the intruders want fire,
14:23we'll give them fire. Dad then presses down hard on the switch.
14:28Fat, the pressure valve hidden above the door frame, suddenly shoots out two streams of white
14:32smoke. However, it's not smoke but fine flour dust. With the extreme pressure, the flour dust envelopes
14:38the whole doorway area, in high concentrations, and surrounds the man with the flamethrower.
14:42The man obviously doesn't know physics, and doesn't even have time to react, as he's still
14:47operating the flamethrower. An open flame, a confined space, and flour dust. Boom! There's a loud
14:52explosion, like a thunderclap from a storm. A massive shockwave of flames, instantly engulf
14:57everything at the entrance. The periscope screen goes completely white. Then, there's a violent
15:01tremor, as dust and dirt fall from above our heads. Seconds later, visibility is restored.
15:06The snow is charred black, and the man with the flamethrower is gone. Or maybe his just charred
15:11remains on the ground, that can't even be identified anymore. His companion is sent flying 40 feet into
15:16the air, landing on a dead tree branch, not knowing if he's dead or alive. Did we win?
15:21I tighten my hold on the bow. Not yet. Dad stares at a corner of the screen. The leader is
15:26very lucky.
15:27He was standing far away during the blast, and he was just knocked over by the shockwave. His face is
15:32covered in blood, and an arm looks bent at a wrong angle. However, he staggers up unsteadily, and grins
15:37in a twisted manner. He retrieves a dark green object, with his intact left hand, and pulls the safety ring,
15:42pressing it against the warped door crack. Come out. If not, I'll drop this, and we'll die together.
15:48Don't be impulsive. I quickly turn on the speaker at the door. My voice is so calm I can't even
15:52recognize myself. That grenade will create a crater at most, but you're standing on top of explosives.
15:58There are 10 tons of TNT stored under your feet. If you drop the grenade, then we'll all be blown
16:03into ashes. Everything I say is a lie. However, at a crucial timing like this, the person who fears
16:08dying the most loses. The leader's eyes glinted slightly, his hand holding the grenade.
16:12tensing up, his hesitating and assessing the situation. At that critical moment, Dad stands
16:17at the firing port like a statue, the compound bow fully drawn and taut. As he looks through the
16:22scope, where the leader's wrist is largely magnified. Then, the bowstring releases with
16:26a twang. A carbon steel arrow whistles through the air, piercing the man's wrist at once, and
16:30pinning him firmly to the frozen ground. Ah, the pain makes him release the grenade, and
16:35it tumbles down the steps, finally landing in a snowdrift. Boom, the explosion can be heard
16:39from blocks away. A cloud of snow rises in the air, but the blast-proof door isn't damaged
16:44at all. Before the man can even recover from the pain, Mom lights up the Molotov cocktail
16:48and tosses it at him through the spout in the wall. Lanes engulf his struggling figure at
16:52once. We don't go out and just watch them turn into three charred corpses, billowing black
16:56smoke on the screen, until they finally stop moving. The coast is clear half an hour later.
17:01Dad goes out to clean up the area and finds a fireproof bag. In the arms of the charred leader,
17:06we find a hand-drawn map inside, with a circle around Blackville. A label next to it says,
17:10suspected groundwater vein edges. The map lights up Dad's eyes at once. If there's
17:15water flowing underground, our quality of life will improve a lot. Dad points to the
17:19contour lines on the map. Groundwater is constantly warm and inexhaustible, making it better than
17:23hoarding bottled water. According to the map, the suspected groundwater vein edges are located
17:28directly beneath our house. In three days, the place becomes a construction site. We take
17:33turns working, starting to dig in the corner of a 200-square-foot bunker. It's tough, hard work.
17:38The permafrost below is as hard as iron, making my hands go numb when I dig. We end up drilling
17:43holes first, before slowly hacking away with a pickaxe. Sweat pours down our bodies, before
17:48quickly cooling down in the cold. To conserve energy, we add an extra cookie to each meal.
17:52The cramped space stinks of dirt and sweat.
17:56Everyone knows that, water is more important than life. During the apocalypse, even more
18:01so than grains. After digging for three days, we've dug ten feet. Dad's swinging his pickaxe,
18:06when he suddenly freezes. Thump! It's not a dull thud in a moor, but a hollow echo. Dad
18:10carefully knocks the dirt again, and the solid dirt suddenly collapses in a chunk, revealing
18:15a dark hole beyond. A damp, musty draft, then slowly wafts up. The flashlight shines into the
18:20darkness. There's a man-made tunnel. Below the opening, the cement walls are covered
18:24in moss, and traces of graffiti can be seen as well. This is most probably, one of the
18:29abandoned air raid shelters from the past. Dad goes to scout it out with a safety rope.
18:34Ten minutes later, his trembling voice appears. Come down, quick! There really is running water.
18:40Mom and I slide down the narrow rope ladder, right past a narrow passageway. The view soon
18:44appears before us. A dark river flows quietly, at the end of the tunnel. It's not very big,
18:49but the surface of the water shimmers. When lit up by the flashlights, I reach out to touch it.
18:53It's surprisingly warm at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Dad's holding the thermometer,
18:57while his cheeks flush excitedly. It's the constant zone of subsurface temperature.
19:01The water here isn't frozen. We can build a water circulation system,
19:04and use geothermal energy to heat the bunker. We can even shower now. In this hellish
19:09minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit weather, 40 degrees Fahrenheit water is like a hot spring to us.
19:14We look greedily at the underground river, like we're looking at liquid gold. However,
19:18just as we're taking a sample from the ground, the flashlight suddenly shines on the riverbank,
19:22and I freeze at once. A set of footprints is clearly imprinted. On the soft, muddy ground,
19:27they're tiny, and barefooted, with deep toe marks digging into the ground. The soil is still damp.
19:32Aside from us, someone else is also living down here. In this bottomless underground network,
19:37we follow the trail of damp footprints, groping our way through the maze-like shelter. When we turn a
19:41corner piled with moldy crates, our flashlight shines into a corner, where something, or someone,
19:46is huddled up. He's very thin due to malnutrition. His clothes are tattered, and his skin is deathly
19:51pale from lack of sun. If not for his huge, frightened eyes, we'd think he's just a skeleton.
19:56He's a mute orphan from Blackville, Rocky Danon. He has a dead rat in his hands. His mouth is stained
20:01with a dark red liquid. There are some green moss-like plants beside him. Dad raises his compound bow,
20:06and aims it at his forehead. Right now, resources are more precious than lives, and another person only
20:11increases the risk. Moreover, he knows the secret of our water source. He doesn't resist and closes
20:16his eyes in despair, shaking like a leaf. It's so quiet we can only hear the rushing river.
20:21Whatever. Dad puts down his bow, and tosses two buns at Rocky from his pocket. Rocky's eyes widen,
20:26pouncing on them like a beast. As he swallows them without even chewing, after eating, he suddenly
20:30comes over, and thanks us, pointing to the top of his head. He spreads his arms and makes a huge
20:35circle,
20:35making anxious, ah, sounds. He then clenches his fists, and mimics the motion of a car steering wheel,
20:41before making a throat-slitting gesture. He's warning us that there are big guys coming, to kill us.
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