They searched the island inside and out but couldn’t find Chad Lowell and Don Caldwell, so they moved on to the next location.
"Do they think those two are just missing and not dead?"
"Whatever the case, we’ll lay low for a while. Once they leave, we can bring the cabin back out."
Search parties were on both banks of the stream and along the main road. Once they did a full sweep and didn’t find the two men, they would head back.
If this little cabin weren’t so small and shabby, they wouldn’t have left so easily.
Evelyn Ford pulled her tattered cotton jacket tighter and took some food out of her storage space.
"All this fuss has made me hungry."
"Evelyn, where did you hide Mason Morgan?"
"Oh, I almost forgot about him. He’s on the roof of the outhouse. Let’s get him down and put him back in the woodshed. When he wakes up, give him something to eat and a heater. We don’t want him to freeze to death."
No one had expected Evelyn to hide someone on the roof of the outhouse. When Ethan Dawson and Miles Vaughn went over, they found Mason Morgan trussed up and stuffed inside a dark burlap sack.
He had been given an extra-strength dose of sleeping pills, so he’d probably be out for two or three days.
Quincy kept sighing after he came back. "We won’t get any peace for the next few days. They’re still searching. If the sun would just come out, we wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble."
"The darkness is a cloak for crime."
"Those two got what they deserved. People shouldn’t be so arrogant and reckless."
"But where are we all going to sleep? The cabin’s a little small."
Those men could come ashore to search at any moment, so for now, they had to stay in this small cabin. It was difficult to accommodate thirteen people.
"Wyatt Vaughn, Joelle Finch, Wendy, and Zoe, you’ll be with me in the bedroom. The rest of you guys can make bedrolls on the floor in this little living room. There’s a fireplace, so you won’t freeze."
Inside the cabin was a wooden plank bed, which was Ronan Kendrick’s spot. The others slept on the floor, and there was actually plenty of space.
The bed in the cabin wasn’t small. Evelyn, Wendy, and Zoe slept on the bed, while Wyatt Vaughn and Joelle Finch made bedrolls on the floor. Evelyn took out a battery and laid out electric blankets for them.
Before bed, Evelyn Ford went outside to check on things. She could still see the faint glint of flashlights, and in the distance, she could hear cars on the main road.
’It seems this Don Caldwell really was someone important.’
’But he’s dead now. No matter how impressive he was, it’s all just smoke in the wind.’
Evelyn Ford was getting drowsy. Just as she lay down, she heard a chirping sound. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Zoe cuddling a small bird. Evelyn sighed.
"Zoe, honey, birds don’t like to sleep with people. You should let it outside. The heated platform is very hot. If it falls off, it might become a little roasted bird."
Though Zoe didn’t want to, she let the little finch go to prevent it from becoming a tiny roasted bird.
"Auntie, Ashy is going out to scout for information."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "He’s very professional. When I wake up, I’ll give him a worm as a reward. Now, go to sleep. I can’t keep my eyes open."
With that, Evelyn Ford fell asleep.
She slept soundly. Despite the chaos outside, there was a pocket of tranquility here.
When Evelyn Ford woke up, Wyatt Vaughn and Joelle Finch were already up. Evelyn pulled the blankets up over the two little girls before leading the other two women out of the bedroom.
"It’s 10 AM sharp. There’s no one outside anymore, but cars still pass by on the main road from time to time."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Let’s wait another two days. There’s no guarantee they won’t search again. Of all the places to die, those two had to pick one so close."
The others couldn’t help but laugh. "It’s not often you hear an impatient complaint from Evelyn."
Evelyn Ford shuffled over to Ronan Kendrick and took his hand. He gently tucked a stray strand of her hair back into place. She had cut her hair short after being struck by lightning, but it had grown out quite a bit lately.
Evelyn Ford wrinkled her nose at him. Ronan Kendrick broke into a helpless smile and gave her cheek another gentle squeeze.
"Ethan, go check if Mason Morgan is awake. It was pretty cold last night. I hope he didn’t freeze."
"He should be fine. I took a heater over." Ethan Dawson opened the door and went out. He returned a few minutes later.
"The sleeping pills are too potent. He’s still not awake, but he’s stable. No signs of hypothermia."
Evelyn Ford nodded and said no more.
Just as Evelyn had predicted, the second search party arrived soon after. Mason Morgan was once again tossed onto the roof of the outhouse. The men barged in to search again. Beyond just searching, they interrogated the group, demanding to know where they came from, when they’d arrived, if they had IDs, and whether they had been to any towns or bases.
After a thorough search yielded nothing, two of the men, unable to keep their hands to themselves, casually pocketed a Magnesium Rod from the mantelpiece and swiped a coat.
They did it with a practiced ease, their gazes filled with contempt as they looked at Evelyn and her group.
Evelyn Ford stopped her group from reacting. It was just a Magnesium Rod and a coat; what was the point of making a fuss?
However, she still handed a few thin needles to Ronan Kendrick. The tips were coated with various poisons.
"What a shame. That coat was new, and the Magnesium Rod was barely used. Those people are disgusting. So greedy."
Quincy was furious; after all, it was his coat they had taken.
"It’s fine. It’s just a coat," Evelyn said. "They outnumber us. We’re in a vulnerable position. A direct confrontation over a coat isn’t worth it."
Evelyn’s advice was impeccably righteous, but Quincy just snorted. "But that was my coat!"
"I’ll give you a better one later."
She might not dare a direct confrontation, but Evelyn loved to stir up trouble from the shadows.
On their way back, those two men started foaming at the mouth, convulsed a couple of times, then stopped breathing and died. The others thought they had contracted a strange disease and dumped their bodies on the side of the road.
Two days later, Quincy fished another two bodies out of the water.
A week later, things outside had finally quieted down completely. Perhaps Don Caldwell’s and Chad Lowell’s families had accepted their deaths, as the base sent no more search parties.
Evelyn brought out the large cabin, and the others set about re-securing its foundation. She then burned the two bodies completely before digging a pit to bury the ashes.
She couldn’t very well scatter them in the water; after all, the ashes of wicked men would only pollute the stream.
And just like that, their lives returned to a state of peace. Mason Morgan’s leg healed up, but he was still groggy and disoriented, supposedly from the severe side effects of the sleeping pills.
The others didn’t know the truth. It wasn’t the side effects of sleeping pills at all, but memory confusion from being hypnotized.
Evelyn had Quincy and Ethan Dawson see him off. As a parting gift for their brief acquaintance, she gave him some clothes, a few packs of dry rations, two lighters, and a knife for self-defense.
You couldn’t survive in the wild without a way to make fire.
Mason Morgan knelt to thank them all before leaving. This time, his departure was swift and clean.
He headed in the opposite direction of the base.
Quincy clicked his tongue. "He may be timid, but he’s pretty sharp. He was well-behaved the whole time he stayed with us."
"At the end of the day, he’s not one of us. He’ll be more comfortable living somewhere else," Ethan said.
"True. He seemed terrified of Evelyn, though I don’t know why."
"Evelyn held a gun to his head and threatened to kill him. If you were Mason, wouldn’t you be scared?"
"Talking bad about me again? You two tired of living?"
Hearing Evelyn’s voice, Quincy scrambled away, leaving Ethan Dawson to stand there dumbfounded.