Chapter 373: Chapter 373: Extreme Cold Descends Again
"It’s possible he’s already recognized Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell. I don’t know why he hasn’t said anything, but I can tell he means us no harm."
Sure enough, Ethan Dawson came over the next day with thirty men. The others had to stay behind to clear more land at the farm, so the thirty he brought were all young guys in their twenties. Evelyn Ford gave him the vegetable seeds and threw in a handful of radish seeds as a bonus.
Quincy drove them to a mountain five kilometers away to chop firewood. It only took them half a day, and half the mountain was gone. The wood they brought back would probably last them seven or eight years.
The temperature these past two days had already dropped below zero. The sun was gone, the sky was filled with dark clouds, and a biting wind was blowing. It felt like another heavy snow was coming.
"If this keeps up, my rheumatism is going to flare up," Chet Lawrence said, rubbing his knees with a pained expression.
With the sudden drop in temperature, many people at the farm caught a cold. Even Evelyn Ford had a stuffy nose and a cough.
The vegetable seedlings and wheat in the greenhouses were growing fairly well. Evelyn Ford went to the livestock area; a few of the ewes were about to give birth. By now, many people at the farm knew how to deliver the young, so Evelyn no longer had to worry about these things.
Before the new round of extreme cold arrived, Evelyn Ford gathered everyone in the screening room to go over a few things.
"Mr. Graham has already assigned everyone’s jobs, so I won’t be rearranging anything. The most important thing is for those in charge of the livestock area and the greenhouses: if any animal gets sick, you must notify me immediately."
Evelyn Ford glanced at Aunt Crane. "Everyone is eating at the cafeteria now. Since Aunt Crane and Ian Yates can’t keep up, Penelope Parker, please go help out in the kitchen."
Penelope Parker nodded. "Okay."
"Let’s close the farm gates. Fairgate Farm doesn’t need to come over to trade for supplies anymore. The screening room can be opened up. You can all come watch TV from seven to eleven in the evening."
"That’s great! We’ve all been so busy restoring the farm’s production that there’s been no time for TV. Quincy, hurry up and put on that show I requested."
Quincy looked at Aunt Crane, his face blank. "Aunt Crane, nobody else likes those mother-in-law dramas you’re so fond of."
"I’m not watching shows about mother-in-law feuds or cheating husbands! I want to watch an idol drama," Wyatt Vaughn said, quickly searching for a disc.
"I was in line first! I want to watch a movie. I’m going to watch all three parts of *Azure’s Annihilation* back-to-back," Miles Vaughn declared. As soon as he finished, everyone glared at him.
"Can’t you say something a bit more cheerful? Forget *Azure’s Annihilation*—you’re the one who’s going to be annihilated!"
"It’s just a movie. Why are you all getting so worked up?"
"It’s bad luck! We can’t watch this movie. Get rid of it, now!"
Seeing that everyone was about to start arguing again, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick quickly slipped away.
It was time to go back to hibernating for the winter. Evelyn Ford cleaned out the fireplace and checked the chimney flue for ventilation.
Outside the window, the cold wind howled. The temperature plummeted from minus three degrees down to minus twenty. The two wolfdogs, returning from their patrol of the farm, were nearly swept away by the wind. Fortunately, Ronan Kendrick reacted quickly and yanked them back.
Evelyn Ford hardly ever went outside anymore. She had been busy harvesting the rice in her space. The new rice was fragrant, and Ronan Kendrick sent some over to Officer Graham and Quincy’s group. Except for the two women, Penelope Parker and Claire Moss, the other short-term laborers all lived in one wooden house. They ate their meals together at the cafeteria, while the core members could cook their own meals.
Although the temperature was very low, there was still no rain or snow. The roads outside Fairgate were already impassable. Ethan Dawson came by for a visit. He knew the farm had wolfdogs and was hoping to trade for a couple of pups once they had a litter. To his surprise, both wolfdogs were male. Settling for the next best thing, he traded for two roosters instead.
Evelyn Ford couldn’t fathom his bizarre line of thinking. Roosters could wake people up, but they couldn’t guard a home. Still, seeing his confident expression, she figured he was planning to train the two roosters into fighting machines.
No one had the heart to burst his bubble, so they just traded him the two loudest, noisiest chickens they had.
"Another batch of refugees has shown up outside, but they’re not from the direction of Tarr City. They look more like they came from Varden. It’s a waste for them to come here; there’s no way Tarr City will let anyone in right now."
"Did a worse disaster happen in Varden?"
Ethan Dawson shook his head. "I’m not sure. I’ve arranged for three teams to patrol outside, twenty-four hours a day without a break. They just said that refugees have been trickling in over the past two days, whole families in tow. Some are even on horseback pulling luggage, while others are just carrying their packs. There aren’t many, only about twenty or thirty people."
"Is their destination Tarr City?"
"Probably. Maybe they’ll just settle down if they find an empty house. With all those cockroaches and crows before, a lot of refugees probably died, so there must be some empty houses now."
After Ethan Dawson left, Evelyn Ford sent Peter Owens and Raymond Shepherd out on a patrol. Just as Ethan had said, there were quite a few refugees on the roads outside Fairgate. Some had walked out of the mountains. With the weather so cold, some people had even fainted from exposure on the roadside.
"I wonder what on earth happened in Varden for so many refugees to be heading this way. Tarr City can’t take them in, so they’ll just have to turn back. It’s a terrible shame."
"There are very few people with food reserves left. These days, aside from the bases, most people are probably reduced to eating tree bark."
"Could it be that the beast tide in Varden hasn’t ended yet?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "It can’t be a beast tide. The chances of escaping a beast tide are slim. The crows would have swarmed and picked them clean."
"Another earthquake, then?" Wyatt Vaughn’s brow was furrowed, his face full of sorrow.
"For now, let’s not worry about what happened in Varden. Over this period, the patrol teams need to be extra vigilant. Remember to take the wolfdogs with you, and don’t go out alone."
Officer Graham was more optimistic about the situation. "Fairgate Farm is acting as a buffer out there, so we’re relatively safe."
"I’m just afraid Ethan Dawson will sell us out." Miles Vaughn felt that Ethan didn’t look like a good person, so he remained wary of him.
"He won’t. The truth is, Ethan and I have already reconnected. He remembers me. Over the years, his family members left one by one, until he was the only one left. His personality might have been affected by all that, but I can feel that he means us no harm."
Everyone was stunned after Taylor Vance finished speaking.
"When did you two reconnect?" Zion Lowell was the most surprised of all; he hadn’t known a thing about this.
"A few days ago."
"We live together every day, and you’re still keeping secrets from me," Zion Lowell said, clearly displeased.
"It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, but there’s more to this story that I can’t share with everyone. But I can guarantee you, Ethan is definitely a good person."
No one probed any further. Perhaps worried that Evelyn Ford might have her own suspicions, Taylor Vance found her and explained the situation.
"Ethan came from Tarr Base. He told me he killed a few people at the base. They were his enemies, and they were part of the management. He spent some time in the base’s prison, and when he escaped, it was just as Tarr City was driving out refugees. So he blended in with the refugee crowd and eventually ended up in Fairgate."
Evelyn Ford understood.
