Chapter 359: Chapter 359: The Coming Storm (2)
The next morning, the blizzard stopped. The gray, hazy mist dispersed, and a blood-red sun slowly rose. Evelyn Ford quickly took out her thermometer to check.
"Am I seeing things?"
Evelyn handed the thermometer to Ronan Kendrick. "What’s the temperature?"
"Negative one degree."
The two exchanged a look. Evelyn took out a second thermometer, but the result was the same. The temperature hadn’t changed; it was still negative one degree.
"The temperature is abnormal, and now there’s a red sun. Something bad is about to happen."
Evelyn put on her overcoat and blew her whistle to summon everyone.
Evidently, everyone else had also noticed the rise in temperature. A few of the children were especially happy, even taking off their overcoats and hats.
"What a beautiful sun! It’s so bright red, and it has a halo. Does this mean the extreme cold is about to end?"
"No way. In my experience, this probably means something even more terrifying is about to happen."
Officer Graham nodded. "That’s right. I remember a red sun appeared once at the very beginning of the apocalypse. Everyone thought the torrential rains were ending, so they all rushed out to look for supplies. But right then, many people were burned by the sunlight. Everyone who was burned died. The appearance of a red sun might mean it’s emitting sun poison."
Officer Graham’s words made the once-relaxed atmosphere instantly turn grim.
"Mr. Graham is right. The red sun might be emitting sun poison. When you go outside, bundle up tightly. Don’t look up at the sun to avoid burning your eyes. There’s some black oilcloth in the warehouse. Mr. Lowell, take a few people and make some sun umbrellas."
Zion Lowell nodded. "Okay, how many do we need?"
"Two for each cabin."
Seeing how serious Evelyn was, everyone grew tense.
Officer Graham raised a hand to quiet everyone. "Alright, get to work for now. I’m going to check the fence."
Back in her cabin, Evelyn hung the thermometer directly on the wall for easy viewing.
Only after taking inventory of the protective suits, helmets, gas masks, and oxygen tanks in her space did Evelyn feel a little more at ease.
As the sun rose higher, the sunlight grew more and more blinding. Evelyn prepared a medicinal solution and had Ronan Kendrick wash the hair dye out.
After putting on her sunglasses, Evelyn went out to find Officer Graham.
"Mr. Graham, the situation is bad. How soon can we harvest the winter wheat in the greenhouse?"
Officer Graham looked grave. "Probably another month. Should we do something about the livestock?"
Evelyn shook her head. "Leave the livestock for now. Distribute a month’s worth of supplies from the warehouse to the other cabins. During this period, everyone is to cook for themselves and avoid gathering. Move the feeding time to the evening and try to stay indoors otherwise. Find a few people to patrol the farm in shifts, once every two hours, day and night."
"Okay, I’ll get right on it."
Evelyn trusted Officer Graham completely. She consulted with him on many matters before having him carry them out.
Evelyn handed him a pair of sunglasses. Officer Graham removed the gauze from his eyes and quickly put them on.
When she returned to the cabin, Ronan Kendrick had already washed out the hair dye. Evelyn rubbed her eyes; even with sunglasses on, they still felt sore and strained.
Soon, Officer Graham returned with people carrying the distributed grain and vegetables. Watching the red sun’s halo grow larger and larger, Evelyn’s unease intensified.
’Could the sun poison be causing animal mutations and triggering a beast tide?’
At 6:30 PM, the sun set, and the temperature immediately plummeted to negative twenty degrees. The erratic temperature changes were taking a toll on everyone’s bodies. Evelyn went to check the greenhouse and had everyone harvest all the vegetables.
The eggs in the henhouse were also to be collected. They would keep ten chickens and ducks, and ten rabbits. The rest were to be slaughtered, made into smoked meat, and stored in the cellar.
Since returning from Tarr City, Lola and Red Bird had been acting a little strange. Animals are highly sensitive and often sense impending danger before humans do. Evelyn kept them shut inside the cabin, doing her best to keep them from flying out.
The next morning at 8:30, the sight of the red sun rising again made everyone’s hearts sink. The day before, Joelle Finch’s eyes had been burned, and she had cried all night. Her symptoms only eased after Evelyn gave her a bottle of eye drops.
Evelyn holed up in her room. Everything that needed to be arranged had been. Her mindset was very stable; aside from earthquakes, she could handle most disasters with composure.
Ronan Kendrick sat across from her, reading a book. Evelyn was feeling drowsy. She had spent the entire previous night processing rabbits and was now extremely tired. She had already stored four of the rabbits in her space.
As for the Mammoth and the herd of horses, she would wait and see for a few more days. If a beast tide really did happen, she would have to move all the livestock into her space to prevent them from getting infected.
The number of argali sheep had already exceeded two hundred. The flock was too large to afford any losses.
The two wolfdogs’ kennels had also been moved to the cabin’s entrance. The wolfdogs would alert everyone to the slightest sign of trouble. Although they were noisy, they were highly intelligent and extremely alert.
With the rise in temperature, the refugees from Fairgate wanted to come over to trade for supplies. Even though Chet Lawrence had already told them the farm would no longer be trading, they hadn’t given up hope.
A few refugees had just made it halfway when they suddenly felt unwell and collapsed on the ground, wailing in agony.
The sun poison hit their eyes, and after a sharp, piercing pain, they suddenly went blind.
Their exposed skin began to swell, redden, and itch. One refugee, driven mad by the pain, started rolling around and screaming in the snow.
"It’s sun poison! Get back home!" Among the refugees from Fairgate were a few who had come from Corinth; they were survivors who had experienced the sun poison before.
"Sun poison makes your skin fester and your eyes go blind. Don’t go out during the day!"
Hearing this, the surrounding refugees were terrified and immediately fled.
After sunset, Zion Lowell delivered the sun umbrellas. They were made with two layers of black oilcloth and offered excellent protection.
After the red sun appeared, the temperature rose, the snow in the mountains began to melt, and the permafrost started to thaw. Various microorganisms and small animals hibernating beneath the surface crawled out of the soil to bask in the sun.
Evelyn looked at the Gilded Tortoise that Ian Yates had found, finding it a bit incredible.
Gilded Tortoises can hibernate under permafrost and layers of ice. As soon as the sun appears, they wake up.
But this particular Gilded Tortoise was the size of her palm. It was moving its limbs, looking a little clumsy.
"Where did you find it?"
"On the ground behind the kitchen. I thought it was a rock at first, but then it moved, and I realized it was a turtle."
Ian Yates handed the Gilded Tortoise to Evelyn. "For you."
"Why are you giving it to me?"
Ian looked at her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Don’t you like raising small animals? You can raise a turtle, too. Besides, this one is so pretty."
Evelyn smiled. "I’m not really a fan of turtles, but it does have great research value."
This Gilded Tortoise gave Evelyn a flash of inspiration about something that had been puzzling her.
Ian grew nervous. "You’re not going to experiment on it, are you?"
Evelyn shrugged. "It’s possible."
