Chapter 1

"Don't you know how to greet your instructor when you see him? Village idiots like you have no manners, do you? Do you think you can throw that attitude around just because training is over? Get down to the floor, right now!"

I froze at the man yelling at me. When I looked up, I realized it was our boot camp instructor, Howard Enders, with my childhood sweetheart, Yvette Lambert, standing next to him. At a glance, they looked more like a couple than I did with Yvette.

While still in a daze, I looked at the time. This was the day before the world was hit with a high temperature. Had I returned to the past?

Hate started brewing within me. If Howard had not suddenly requested all of us to hand over our water source in my past lifetime and backed out on his promise, and if Yvette had not chosen to defend Howard and agreed to tie me up on the field, I would never have burned to death under the scorching sun.

"Are you deaf? Are you trying to defy your instructor's orders?" Yvette berated me as she acted like she was the instructor.

That was when several women walked by and waved at Howard.

"Hey, Mr. Enders! You're looking pretty sharp today!"

"Be careful, ladies, you might end up falling in love with me," Howard said, trying to be smooth, but failing tremendously.

"Why aren't you punishing them? They didn't greet you either!" I questioned him.

"Are you comparing yourself with them? Don't you know that we should be taking care of the fairer sex?"

"Mr. Enders is right. He's an example of how a man should be, unlike you, who's nothing but a sissy." Yvette looked at me with disdain.

I was so tempted to beat them up, but I was rational enough to obey Howard's orders. "I apologize, Mr. Enders, for not greeting you before."

"Hmph! You should learn how to be a man from me, or any woman you're with would end up running off with another man!" Howard seemed happy with his lecture, and he threw me a taunting glance before leaving while holding Yvette's hand.

"What are you looking at? Unhappy with something?" Howard asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yvette said with slight embarrassment, "My relationship with Mr. Enders isn't what you think, Nathan."

"There's nothing between us, of course. We just have a normal student-teacher relationship. Stop letting your imagination run wild, Nathan, but I won't blame you for it. After all, any man who sees me would be threatened."

After that, Howard left while chuckling.

Once they were gone, I quickly called my family to warn them about the upcoming rising temperature and to get ready for it, and I sorted out my finances at the same time.

The summertime boot camp, which was held in college, had ended by then, and most of the students had gone home.

As my hometown was quite a distance, I decided to stay back at college until the semester started. Howard had stayed behind as well, as the college needed someone to manage students who were staying back.

Howard was just a random outsider the college hired for the camp, and he turned out to be my nightmare.

Even though Howard was not a professional instructor, he was tall and muscular. Going head-to-head with him would only end up with both parties wounded, and this might affect my survival rate during the apocalypse.

The most important thing to do right now was to use the last of my time to hoard enough water and provisions to get through the heat apocalypse. The only problem I had was finding a hiding place for them. If I headed back to my hometown now, I might die on the way.

I thought about this for a while and suddenly had an idea.