Chapter 396: Chapter 396: Sunbake 1
Evelyn Ford was in no mood to make pottery right now. She took out a bottle of water to test the clay’s stickiness. It worked quite well—they could dig it up and take it back to plaster the inner walls of the cistern.
After the temperature rose, the sun grew more intense with each passing day. It wasn’t about the heat, but the sheer exposure. Everyone had shed their heavy winter coats. Evelyn Ford told Officer Graham about finding the clay and asked him to take a few people to dig some up and bring it back.
After the clay was plastered on, Evelyn Ford started a fire inside. Once the wood framework within the cistern had burned away completely, they could begin storing water in it.
Evelyn Ford had planted a large patch of mint in front of the cabin. With the sun beating down, everyone had to drink several bowls of mint-infused water daily to prevent heatstroke.
In just three short months, the rising temperatures had swung to another extreme. Fearing a severe drought, everyone began making their own pottery to store more water. Quincy and Miles Vaughn built a new cabin on the empty lot next door. As soon as it was finished, Quincy, Wyatt Vaughn, Miles Vaughn, and Joelle Finch moved in, leaving Evelyn Ford’s cabin feeling much more spacious.
The living room had been partitioned into two rooms, one for Wendy and one for Officer Graham. The father-daughter pair continued to live with Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick, and the four of them shared all their meals.
"Miss Ford, Penelope Parker got heatstroke just now," Wendy said, her expression grave. "If I hadn’t been carrying the cooling ointment you gave me, she definitely would have passed out."
Over the past couple of days, several people on the farm had suffered from heatstroke. The kitchen always had mint water on hand, but it seemed to do little to counter the intense sunlight.
The workload on the farm wasn’t heavy these days. Chores were limited to feeding the animals, patrolling the perimeter, and fetching water.
The cabbages and pumpkins in the greenhouse didn’t require much care either. The cabbages would be ready for harvest in another half a month, and the pumpkins, which thrived in the heat, needed no weeding or watering.
"Mr. Graham, have everyone slaughter the two pigs tomorrow." The two pigs had grown exceptionally fat, weighing over a thousand pounds combined.
Officer Graham understood what Evelyn Ford was implying and immediately agreed.
"Once the cabbages are harvested, tell everyone to stay inside as much as possible. Something’s not right with the sun."
"Is it the toxic sun again?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "It’s not the toxic sun, just regular sunlight. Immeasurable Mountain is at a high altitude, so intense sun is to be expected. But the light right now is abnormal. The temperature is only seventy-nine degrees, but the intensity feels like it’s a hundred and thirteen degrees."
Evelyn Ford’s brow furrowed. "The temperature hasn’t risen in a week, but the intensity of the light grows more fierce each day."
"We should just tell everyone to drink more water," Officer Graham said after a long pause, unable to think of a better solution.
Lying in bed late at night, Evelyn Ford tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The temperature was fine at night. Without the sun, everything felt normal; even the wind outside was cool and refreshing.
"What’s wrong?" Ronan Kendrick took her hand, gently turning her to face him.
"I’m wondering what this intense light signifies."
Evelyn Ford pulled her hand away and gave Ronan Kendrick’s chin a little scratch. "Did I wake you?"
"I wasn’t asleep. Evelyn, being anxious isn’t going to help. The disasters seem to happen at random, haven’t you noticed? They never follow any rules. We thought the deep freeze would last for five years, but it ended after only one. We thought there wouldn’t be any more earthquakes, but then an earthquake came. We figured a great drought would follow the freeze, and we prepared for it. But what came even before the drought was this scorching sun and its intense, fierce light."
Ronan Kendrick wrapped his arm around Evelyn Ford’s shoulder, pulling her into his embrace.
"So, let’s keep guessing what might happen next. Maybe it will be extreme heat. Maybe torrential rain. Maybe a thick fog, or it could even be another blizzard."
He chuckled. "We can’t predict the future, so how could we possibly know what’s coming? Don’t dwell on it. Just relax. You have to trust in the new laws of nature."
Evelyn Ford nuzzled against his chest. "Laws of nature?"
"What are these new laws of nature?"
Ronan Kendrick said with a completely serious expression, "Perhaps it’s a kind of duality. When disaster strikes, maybe if you look at it from a different perspective, you’ll see it’s not just a catastrophe. It’s also a new baptism, a reset. After the animals mutated, mushrooms started growing right next to their corpses."
Evelyn Ford understood what he meant. She scoffed. "So, slap you in the face and then give you a piece of candy? The new law of nature is just toying with humanity?"
Ronan Kendrick smiled. "That’s possible. After all, the laws of nature are determined by Nature itself, not by the humans who are merely parasites living in it."
Evelyn Ford yawned. "I’m holding back a curse word right now."
Ronan Kendrick encouraged her, "Let’s hear it."
Evelyn Ford opened her eyes. "Fuck the laws of nature."
"Hahahaha..." Ronan Kendrick froze for a second, then burst out laughing.
"What the hell are you laughing at? Go to sleep."
At six in the morning, the sun rose. Evelyn Ford had taken off her heavy winter jacket, but she still wore a long-sleeved shirt, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and even goggles.
No one else was awake yet. Evelyn Ford went to the livestock enclosure by herself and moved the two Mammoths into her space. Over the past two years, the number of horses had grown by several foals. Evelyn Ford left behind ten bay horses, one takin, and two pigs. The mares, foals, and all the other livestock were moved into her space.
When everyone else woke up, Evelyn Ford told them with a deadpan expression that the weather was too hot and the livestock had all escaped. Aside from Officer Graham, everyone else was so frantic they started to cry.
"Let’s go out and search! Did the Mammoths escape too?" Quincy was so agitated his hands were trembling. Evelyn Ford rubbed her nose—a habitual tell for when she was feeling guilty.
"I already went looking, but I couldn’t find them," she said. "With the sun this intense, maybe they’ll have a better chance of survival out there on their own."
Hearing Evelyn Ford’s explanation, Quincy calmed down slightly. But the thought of the dozen or so horses, the Red Deer, the argali sheep, the takin, and the roe deer all being gone made his heart ache.
"I never even got to taste takin meat, and now they’re gone," Quincy lamented. "We raised them for nothing. If I’d known this would happen, I’d have said we should have just slaughtered them all earlier."
Meanwhile, inside Evelyn Ford’s space, the animals were already fighting over territory and grass. The very takin Quincy was just mourning had been so terrified by a Mammoth that it practically dropped to its knees on the spot.
"There is still one takin and two pigs left," Evelyn announced. "Everyone should help slaughter them later, before they run off too. Besides, with the sun this strong, the groundwater supply in the pump house probably won’t last much longer. We’ll barely have enough water for ourselves, let alone for livestock that drink several barrels a day."
"All right, what Evelyn Ford says, goes. It’s not like she’ll let any of you starve," Officer Graham interjected, trying to smooth things over.
Seeing how calm he was, Quincy looked like he wanted to argue, but Taylor Vance stopped him.
"Let’s just do as Evelyn Ford said," Taylor Vance added. "The sun is brutal. We should hurry and butcher the pigs and the takin before one of us gets heatstroke."
Taylor Vance and Officer Graham exchanged a glance, but neither said anything more. Swallowing his heartache, Quincy led the others to butcher the pigs and the takin. Afterward, he went to the ten remaining horses, stroking each one lovingly as if they were priceless treasures.
"You lot better not sneak away," he muttered to them. "The other horses have no conscience. We raised them for so long, and they just up and ran. After we brought you all the way back from the Yaxi Basin... is this how you repay us? I’m so furious."
From a distance, Evelyn Ford was trying to stifle a laugh, but Quincy caught her red-handed.
"Evelyn Ford, what are you laughing at?"
