Ronan Kendrick smiled and squeezed Evelyn Ford’s hand.
"You think that because you, me, Wendy, Zoe, and Wyatt Vaughn all wore helmets, the five of us would be the first to wake up, right?"
"Mhm."
Ronan Kendrick continued, "A child’s immune system is weaker than an adult’s. I actually think Zoe might be the last one to wake up."
"That’s definitely a possibility, but we got some good news tonight, so I feel more at ease."
At five-thirty in the morning, neither of them felt sleepy, so they decided to enter the space to continue farming.
After all, the weather was getting worse. A cold front was sweeping the globe. Even if the sun came out, the land had turned to permafrost and would take a long time to thaw. Besides, it was uncertain whether they would have to find a new shelter or if they could stay here. At the moment, only a stable food supply could give Evelyn Ford any peace of mind.
"Let’s plant five acres of rice, five acres of corn, and with what’s left, two acres of chili peppers, and one acre each of cabbage and ginger."
No sooner said than done. Evelyn Ford got all the seeds ready. While Ronan Kendrick tilled the rice paddies, she went to work on the vegetable plots. The chili peppers and cabbage had to be sown first to sprout. Only when the seedlings were about ten centimeters tall could they be transplanted into the fields.
They needed to plant more ginger too. Based on the pattern of natural disasters over the past few years, Evelyn Ford had noticed that the cold periods lasted longer than the hot ones. Warding off the cold was crucial; otherwise, by the time they were in their thirties or forties, they would suffer from rheumatism in all parts of their bodies.
They should also add more chili peppers to their meals in the future, as they could also help ward off the cold.
At nine in the morning, just as the two of them came out of the space, they heard a faint noise outside. Evelyn went to check and found that Wendy was already up. She was already starting a fire to boil water. When she saw Evelyn, she yawned.
"Miss Ford, I’m boiling some water so we can wash our faces in a bit."
"It’s still early. You should go back to sleep for a while. If you need to go to the bathroom outside, call me. I’ll go with you."
Wendy scratched her head. "I can go out by myself. Nothing will happen to me."
"It’s too cold outside. Will you be okay on your own?"
"I’ll be fine, Miss Ford. I’m very strong."
Evelyn Ford knew she was strong, so she didn’t argue. Wendy was grown up now, after all; she didn’t need to be watched over every second.
"Alright then. Take the stove, and here, take this."
Evelyn Ford handed her a very compact pistol. Previously, worried that they might get separated in the torrential rain, the weapons Evelyn had prepared for the others were daggers.
Firearms and crossbows were things she couldn’t possibly give to the others, but with Wendy, Evelyn Ford was more generous.
Wendy took the gun and put it in her pocket. "Thanks, Miss Ford. You should go back and rest. I’ll boil the water first, and when the food is ready, I’ll call you."
Seeing how insistent she was, Evelyn said a few more words of caution and then went back to the small wooden cabin to catch up on sleep.
After sleeping for two hours, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick got up. Evelyn planned to go outside and build a simple latrine for Wendy. Even though they were in the wild, using the toilet was not something to be taken lightly. Icy winds blew from all directions. If you got frostbite, in severe cases, it could lead to paralysis.
There was a small pit about a hundred meters to the right of the cave. They could lay two logs over it, enclose it with a tarp to create a shelter, and then weigh it down with more wood to keep it from being blown away by the wind.
Ronan Kendrick didn’t want Evelyn Ford to go out. By his calculation, her period was due in a few days.
"You shouldn’t be out in the wind. I’ll go take care of it; it won’t take long." With that, Ronan Kendrick grabbed a machete and the tarp and went outside.
Wendy heard that Ronan Kendrick had gone out to build the latrine and wanted to help, but since she had just woken up, neither Evelyn nor Ronan wanted her to be out in the biting wind for too long.
"Miss Ford, I wish I were a boy."
"Why would you think that?"
Wendy looked a little dejected. "If I were a boy, I’d probably be stronger, and I could help you guys more."
"You’re already very capable. It has nothing to do with gender. You’ve helped us so much as a girl. In many ways, you’re stronger than we are."
Wendy shook her head. "If I were a boy, maybe I could be omnipotent like Mr. Ronan Kendrick."
Evelyn... ’Ronan Kendrick isn’t exactly a normal human being in the truest sense.’
"But I’d rather be a doctor like you. The person I admire most is still you, Miss Ford."
Evelyn chuckled. "You already have a good foundation. By the time you’re my age, you’ll definitely be more skilled than I am."
Evelyn took Wendy to the large communal sleeping area. They had to check on the others every day. Seeing no change in their condition, both Evelyn and Wendy felt a little disappointed.
"Dad, you have to wake up soon," Wendy whispered in Officer Graham’s ear before they left.
Another week passed in a flash. The others still showed no signs of waking up. The cold outside persisted as the cold snap intensified. Over the last few days, the temperature had dropped to minus nine degrees. Fierce winds raged outside the cave, making it incredibly difficult to even step outside.
The cabbage and chili pepper seeds they had sown earlier had sprouted. In the space, the rice paddies and the black soil had all been tilled and were ready for planting. They had also sown a large bag of rice seeds, and the sprouts were only about two millimeters long. It would be another half a month before they could be transplanted, but they could start flooding the paddies with water.
In his spare time, Ronan Kendrick built a doghouse for the two wolfdogs. It was clear he was very fond of them. He had been giving them extra food every day recently—sometimes chicken legs, sometimes roast duck, and sometimes even raw fish.
"Can their stomachs handle such a varied diet?"
Ronan Kendrick raised an eyebrow. "Dogs and wolves are actually the same species. Wolfdogs combine the best traits of both: they can be trained, but they retain their ferocity. They’re not like pet dogs. They’re very tough; they can eat anything without a problem."
"You have to let them embrace their wild nature sometimes. Always eating dog food is like keeping them in captivity. We need to treat them like beasts, not puppies."
’No wonder the two wolfdogs like him so much. Ronan Kendrick really understands them.’
Wendy cleared a few patches of ground in a spare area of the cave to make vegetable plots. She had scrounged up all the seeds from everyone else’s bags.
Evelyn put her in full charge of the vegetable plots. With Officer Graham still unconscious, Wendy was constantly on edge. It was better to keep her busy so she wouldn’t have time to dwell on things.
"Miss Ford, it hasn’t been raining outside. Where did you get the water? There are only two buckets left. I can go fetch some."
"No need. Just put the buckets outside the cave at night. There’s water vapor in the cold air. When you go get them tomorrow morning, you’ll find condensed mist in the bottom. You can also scrape the frost off the trees and melt it for water." Evelyn was just making it up.
Wendy finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I was really worried we wouldn’t have enough water."
Just then, Evelyn suddenly heard a muffled groan from the communal sleeping area.
"Wendy, did you hear something?"
Wendy shook her head. "No, I didn’t. Was that Mr. Ronan Kendrick?"
Ronan Kendrick had taken the two wolfdogs outside to check on things. Evelyn was certain it wasn’t his voice. "It came from the sleeping area. Come on, let’s go see."