Chapter 7: The Day After Tomorrow
New York City in the pouring rain.
When Jake, bundled up in heavy winter gear and carrying a massive backpack, materialized in the world of The Day After Tomorrow, he was immediately greeted by a torrential downpour.
"Damn it, bad timing!" He quickly ducked under a building's awning, checking his right sleeve which had gotten soaked in those first few seconds. Jake frowned but didn't worry too much—it was only slightly wet, and he could dry it out once he got inside somewhere warm.
Looking at the pedestrians rushing past on the street, they were merely annoyed by the sudden downpour, completely unaware that a new Ice Age was about to descend upon them.
The air wasn't cold yet—despite the heavy rain, it was still humid and uncomfortably warm. Jake had expected this movie world to already be freezing, given what was about to happen, but the reality was quite different.
Feeling the oppressive humidity and watching the rain come down in sheets, Jake had to strip off his heavy winter jacket and stuff it into his oversized backpack.
After catching his breath, he hoisted the pack over his head like an umbrella and ran through the pouring rain toward higher ground.
His actions clearly puzzled some passersby—who runs around in summer wearing winter gear?—but this was New York City. People had seen weirder things. Nobody pointed or stared.
Soon, Jake reached the New York Public Library from the movie's storyline. After a quick check by security, he successfully entered the iconic building.
Now he just had to wait quietly for the plot to unfold—wait for the catastrophic flood, the freeze, and then for conditions outside to stabilize enough for him to venture out and search for valuables buried under the ice.
With that plan in mind, he carried his backpack to the second floor of the library, found a window seat, and looked down at the still-crowded streets below, watching the slow-moving traffic. Did any of these people know that in just minutes they would face an inescapable deluge?
Even if he ran outside and told them right now, they'd probably just think he was another crazy New Yorker.
Taking a thermal jacket from his backpack and putting it on, Jake bundled up to avoid freezing when the temperature suddenly dropped. Leaning against the window frame, he let his eyes close halfway. He'd jumped straight from The Princess Diaries to this world without resting, and now he realized he'd pushed himself too hard—he was exhausted.
He'd barely dozed off for five minutes when a chorus of screams jolted him awake.
Outside the window, raging floodwaters—like some biblical monster—mercilessly devoured everything in their path: cars, people, trees, everything!
ROAR!
The flood thundered through the streets!
AHHH!!
People screamed, especially the survivors who'd made it to the library's second floor. Their cries were loudest—whether from grief over the apocalypse or relief at their own survival was unclear.
Probably both.
One life after another vanished before his eyes. Jake realized he couldn't simply treat them as NPCs anymore. They weren't just characters following a script in a movie. Here, they were real.
Then the air suddenly turned brutally cold.
He could see it through the window—a massive tanker ship, carried by the surge, drifting impossibly down a New York street.
The Ice Age had arrived.
Feeling the sudden chill penetrate even his thermal layers, Jake could only try to burrow deeper into his jacket for warmth.
Besides the library, there were survivors in other high-rise buildings throughout Manhattan. The number of people who'd survived in this world was thousands of times greater than what the movie had shown—it had focused on just one building, but the reality was much larger in scale.
Within minutes, the cold front swept through completely, and the temperature plummeted to below 15°F.
The floodwaters, which had reached the second and third stories of buildings, began to freeze solid. Some people were trapped forever beneath the ice. Jake hoped they might somehow sleep through it like Captain America and wake up decades later, but he knew that was just wishful thinking.
Those who survived were filled with uncertainty about the future and desperate worry for their families. Before cell service and internet completely died, many managed to send final messages to loved ones.
Hundreds of people in the library, without clear direction or adequate supplies, didn't know what to do. Led by a police officer who'd been trapped inside, everyone except the main characters decided to brave the freezing conditions and head out, believing they could make it to safety somewhere else.
Jake remembered that in the original movie, very few of those who chose to leave survived. The further they went, the more companions they lost to the cold, and they all came to regret their decision.
Jake could have chosen to leave this world entirely and simply reappear to search for treasure after the plot concluded. However, he had a strong hunch: would staying immersed in the movie's events increase that mysterious progress bar? What would happen when it reached 100%?
Therefore, he decided to stick it out with the main characters.
Of course, the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal played the lead role was also a factor. Jake had always appreciated his performances—the guy was a legitimately talented actor.
"So we're the ones staying behind?" Jake stood up, brushing ice crystals off his thick, warm jacket.
"Looks like it," replied the male lead, Sam. His dejected expression clearly showed his regret at not being able to convince more people to stay where it was relatively safe.
After brief introductions, Jake successfully joined the small group of survivors. Everyone was particularly curious about his obviously prepared cold-weather gear.
It was weird, after all—in the middle of a New York summer, who walks around in a heavy winter coat carrying a massive survival backpack?
"I know this sounds crazy, but I went to a psychic this morning," Jake explained, giving an answer that left everyone speechless. "She told me I absolutely had to carry all this stuff with me today, no matter how hot it got. Charged me two hundred bucks for the reading. I was thinking about reporting her as a scam artist, but now I'm thinking I might have underpaid."
"Seriously? That's insane. You're really lucky," one of the survivors said. Psychics and fortune tellers in America occupied that weird space where they weren't completely dismissed but weren't exactly trusted either—it was all about personal belief, so nobody could really argue with Jake's explanation.
The conversation ended there. Looking at two young women who were dressed in just light summer clothes and shivering violently, Jake generously pulled a couple of spare thermal layers from his backpack and offered them over, receiving grateful thanks in return.
Neither of the women was particularly striking—even with their carefully applied makeup mostly ruined by the chaos, they couldn't compare to even pre-makeover Mia from The Princess Diaries. Jake felt a bit guilty for the shallow thought, but it was honest.
After that exchange, led by the head librarian—a stern older man who clearly took his responsibility for the building seriously—the group made their way to a large reading room and began the grim task of burning books for warmth.
In centuries past, people would rather die than destroy written works. Now, these survivors were burning irreplaceable knowledge just to stay alive. Was this disrespecting the legacy of human civilization? Or was it simply the reality of survival? It all depended on your perspective.
Anyway, Jake himself didn't feel too conflicted about burning the books. What else were they supposed to do—freeze to death surrounded by paper?
What's most abundant in a library? Books. And right now, those books were the fuel that would keep everyone alive.
After hauling several hundred pounds of books to the fireplace, the group finally stopped, huddling together around the growing flames, lost in their own thoughts.
"Do you think we'll make it?" asked Laura, the female lead. Her leg was injured from the initial chaos, and she looked pale and weak.
"We'll survive," Sam assured her, though his voice wavered slightly.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because we have to," Sam replied. "We just have to hold out until this passes."
Jake stayed quiet, warming his hands by the fire. He knew how the story ended—at least for the main characters. But sitting here, feeling the genuine cold seeping through the walls, watching real people struggle with fear and uncertainty, it all felt very different from watching a movie on his couch.
This was going to be a long few days.
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