We are not angry enough – chapter 3

This is a story set in Malta and Europe in the near future. In the form of a letter from a mother to her daughter Maddy, it shows a family trying to navigate the crisis in the region caused by a rapidly warming climate.

See previous chapters in the story and read a note by the story's author.

The first serious looting started in March of ’29. 

The taps ran dry for three days, and a rumour swept through the socials that the largest Reverse Osmosis plant, turning seawater into fresh, had broken down. Government insisted that there was no problem, that there was more than enough water for everyone, but by that time government’s word wasn’t worth shit.

There was a rush at the supermarkets – at first for bottled water, but it didn’t stop there. We all shared, with growing worry, chaotic clips of looters running through the streets with covered faces and overflowing shopping trolleys. 

It was all pretty disorganised, and only lasted a day or two that first time – people grabbing whatever they could, a few hunting shotguns brandished around the streets, some unlucky Africans beaten up for no apparent reason.

Things did calm back down for a while, but something had changed. 

There was a...