Evelyn Ford and Wendy entered the large common sleeping area. It was rather dim inside. Even with a kerosene lamp, their eyes needed a few seconds to adjust before they could see clearly.
"Dad," Wendy cried, running over to hug Officer Graham. Evelyn Ford blinked, forcing back the sting in her eyes.
On the seventeenth day, Officer Graham woke up.
The moment he woke up, however, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Wendy’s face went white with fright, and Evelyn Ford rushed forward to check on him.
"It’s probably nothing. That’s just congealed blood. It’s better out than in. Mr. Graham, does your head hurt?"
Officer Graham shook his head. He tried to speak, but after being in a coma for so long, he couldn’t make a sound.
"Wendy, pour your dad a cup of warm water."
Evelyn Ford went out and brought in another kerosene lamp. Officer Graham seemed to be in decent spirits. There was a light in his eyes, a sign that he was fully conscious.
"Mr. Graham, do you feel any discomfort anywhere else in your body?"
After drinking the warm water, Officer Graham’s throat felt much better. He got up and moved around a little. His body felt light, and the pressure in his chest had eased considerably, especially after coughing up the blood. He didn’t feel any discomfort.
He shook his head, then pointed outside.
"Ronan Kendrick is out on patrol. Including you, that makes four of us who are awake. The others are all still unconscious."
Officer Graham nodded. He then moved a finger, and Evelyn Ford knew he was asking how many days he had been unconscious.
"Seventeen days. Wendy woke up on the ninth."
Officer Graham sat for a while to stretch his limbs. As he got up to go outside, Wendy found his bag, took out a pair of shoes, and helped him put them on.
Officer Graham had just stepped out of the common sleeping area when Ronan Kendrick returned.
"Mr. Graham, you’re awake." Ronan Kendrick came over to check on him, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"There’s nothing wrong with you physically. You’ll make a full recovery after a few days of rest."
Officer Graham was thrilled to see Ronan Kendrick. He raised a hand and patted Ronan’s shoulder. Looking around at the cave’s current state, he knew it was their handiwork and was filled with emotion.
"Dad, I’ve been planting vegetables for the past few days! When you’ve recovered, you can help me," Wendy said, pointing to the nearby vegetable patch, her face beaming with excitement.
With Officer Graham awake, a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders.
Officer Graham smiled and nodded. The four of them sat in front of the fire while Evelyn Ford cooked some porridge. It was for Officer Graham; someone who had been unconscious for so long could only handle light, liquid food to ease their digestive system back into working.
"Dad, the latrine is outside the cave. I’ll take you out later, but you need to dress warmly. It’s freezing out there, and super slippery. I fall every time I go out, but Miss Ford gave me a knee pad, so it doesn’t hurt anymore when I do."
"And my vegetables... it’s so cold, I’m really worried they won’t sprout. That would be a waste of my seeds. But Miss Ford said it’s okay if they don’t grow, that she won’t let me go hungry, hehe."
Officer Graham raised a hand and ruffled Wendy’s hair. ’He was so glad he’d woken up, and even more glad that Evelyn Ford had been the first.’
After eating the porridge, Officer Graham felt some strength return to his body, and Wendy led him outside.
"When the others wake up, how are we going to explain the straw mats, the kerosene lamps, and those tattered blankets? We didn’t have any of this stuff on us when we left."
Ronan Kendrick, however, was perfectly calm. "We’ll just say we found them in another cave. The refugees inside had died, so we brought their things back here."
No one would care if the items belonged to the dead anyway. The story was airtight.
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Alright, we’ll go with that."
Evelyn Ford no longer bothered hiding things in front of Officer Graham. Since he already knew the secret, it was better to eat and drink openly rather than sneaking around.
Wendy, for her part, didn’t ask a thing. Perhaps Officer Graham had spoken to her. She had always been a smart child, knowing what to ask and what not to. Even when they ate fish, she showed no surprise.
「Two days later.」 Officer Graham’s body had fully recovered, and his voice had returned to normal. After coughing up that congealed blood, he looked five years younger.
"Evelyn," said Officer Graham, "according to Ronan, if this cold air is sweeping the entire globe, then not many people on Azure will be left alive after this. Of course, we can’t rule out that there might be other Undercities. As long as people are living in an Undercity or some other airtight place, they should be able to survive this crisis."
Even after so many years of the apocalypse, the thought of countless people dying in every natural disaster still pained Officer Graham.
"This wave of cold air is no different than a massacre."
Evelyn Ford sighed. "Who knows when the sun will come out again. As things are now, we can’t go anywhere. All we can do is hide out in the cave for the time being."
"Dad? Miss Ford?" Wendy asked suddenly. "Aunt Crane was all alone at the farm... Do you think she’s already dead?"
Evelyn Ford froze for a second, then nodded. "She’s probably dead."
"Then dying is a kind of release, isn’t it?" Wendy said. Her words stunned both Evelyn Ford and Officer Graham.
"Death isn’t always about suffering. It can be a release. And living... isn’t always a good thing." She shrugged. "That’s just what I think, anyway. But I treasure my life, so I’m definitely going to live it to the fullest."
"By the way, Mr. Graham, would you and Wendy like to build a small wooden cabin? With Ronan and me helping, the four of us could get it done in half a day. We could put up a wooden partition in the middle. It would be more comfortable."
Officer Graham didn’t want to trouble them at first, but on second thought, it would be very cramped once the others woke up.
The common sleeping area wasn’t very large—only about twenty square meters in total.
"We can make it a little smaller. Wendy and I can handle it. I have experience building wooden cabins."
"Don’t be so formal. We’re all in this together. It’ll be done in no time. Besides, who knows how long we’ll have to stay here? If this cold air doesn’t let up, we won’t be able to leave anyway."
Officer Graham looked a bit sheepish, but he didn’t refuse again.
The four of them worked together, and the cabin was finished in just a few hours. Officer Graham insisted on building the heated brick bed, or *kang*, inside by himself, so Evelyn Ford didn’t press the issue and let him have at it.
That night, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick were lying in bed, talking. "Oh, by the way," Evelyn said, "when I went out today, I found more dead birds in the mountains. Looked like they’d only been dead for a day or two."
"They probably survived the initial wave by hiding in a cavern," Ronan replied. "Birds don’t store food, so they have to come out to forage. They must have frozen to death the second they stepped outside."
This cold air was more terrifying than the extreme cold had ever been. At forty or fifty degrees below zero, some creatures could still survive. But after this wave of cold air, even eight or nine below felt worse than death.
"At least the cabbage and radishes Wendy planted have sprouted. In places the cold air can’t reach, planting is completely unaffected."
Ronan Kendrick grunted in agreement. "A lot of the trees outside have frozen solid. I kicked one when I was out today, and it snapped right in two."