novelraw Chapter 180: Polar Day, Cellar 1
Chapter 180: Polar Day, Cellar 1
Evelyn Ford made a lot of tasty dishes with the pumpkins. Pumpkin pancakes were her favorite, while Ronan Kendrick’s was a sweet pumpkin soup. Evelyn noticed that Ronan seemed to have a sweet tooth.
Over the past two days, the temperature had risen by another degree, and the daylight had lengthened by two more hours. It now got dark at eleven at night and light again at three in the morning.
The residents who had traded for pumpkin seedlings with Evelyn Ford were also beginning to have a big harvest. Everyone’s cellars were piled high. With food secured, people felt a little more at ease.
Taylor Vance was leading people in chopping down trees. He had found a man who was an automotive designer before the apocalypse and traded him for a few simple blueprints for large carts. Now, he was leading everyone in building them.
Evelyn Ford knew they were worried. Once their stored water ran out, they would all have to leave this place and search for a new place to live.
But in fifty-plus-degree temperatures, how could they leave? How could they possibly travel?
The nights were growing shorter, and Evelyn Ford worried that a polar day would soon arrive.
The fourth year of the apocalypse. Crossing off the date on her calendar, she got up, walked to the window, and glanced outside.
"Something on your mind lately?" Ronan Kendrick asked, coming up behind her.
"I just have this feeling that it won’t be long before the night disappears completely."
"If the night vanishes and the temperature keeps climbing, people won’t be able to go outside. After we’ve eaten all the food and drunk all the water, will there be any way to survive?"
"It hasn’t rained in two years."
"Don’t worry," Ronan Kendrick said, patting Evelyn Ford’s head reassuringly. "Things will turn around."
Evelyn Ford turned to look at him. "I want to take a soak again."
With that, she went straight into the washroom, filled the tub with cold water, and even tossed in a few blocks of ice.
The moment Evelyn Ford stepped into the tub, the sweltering heat on her body vanished. For the past few days, the skin all over her body had started to peel and crack. Applying thick moisturizing cream did nothing. The cracked skin was both itchy and painful, and only when soaking in the ice water did she feel any relief.
When she still hadn’t come out after half an hour, Ronan Kendrick knocked on the bathroom door. Evelyn Ford looked at her skin, red from the soak, hunched her shoulders, and climbed out of the water. She then slathered another thick layer of moisturizing cream on herself.
Evelyn Ford’s hair was nearly waist-length. Because it was so thick, she usually had to wear it in a braid to keep it from tangling.
As she came out of the bathroom, Ronan Kendrick grabbed a towel to help dry her hair, but Evelyn Ford brandished a pair of scissors. "I’m going to cut my hair short. It’s too hot, and long hair is uncomfortable."
After she’d given herself a clean, neat bob, Ronan Kendrick helped brush the loose clippings from her neck.
Evelyn Ford kept squirming, and Ronan Kendrick, exasperated, had to hold her by the shoulders.
"Hold still."
"I’m like a fish that’s been pulled from the water right now."
Evelyn Ford showed Ronan Kendrick her arm. The skin, red from her scratching, was severely chapped.
"Even so, you can’t keep soaking in ice water all the time."
"Every time the disasters shift, my body develops all sorts of problems. I either get sick or cough up blood. It’s the same this time."
"Evelyn Ford, let’s dig a cellar too. A cellar we can live in."
Evelyn Ford looked up at him. "You mean, if the polar day comes, we hide in the cellar?"
"Mhm. The high temperatures will persist, and the sun will only get more blinding. Long-term exposure will be unbearable for our skin and eyes. With prolonged daylight, people’s lifespans will also shorten."
Evelyn Ford sighed. "I suppose that’s our only option. Let’s go talk to Mr. Graham and the others tonight and tell them to start preparing early."
"Okay."
After eleven that night, the two of them headed to the earthen house. After finding Officer Graham, Evelyn Ford told him she had something important to discuss. Officer Graham had Wendy go and gather everyone. Soon, Quincy, Wyatt Vaughn, Serena Lynch, Chase Underwood, Taylor Vance, Roy Henderson, Owen Chapman, and Miles Vaughn had all arrived.
"Ronan and I came over tonight because we have something to tell you all. You’ve probably noticed that the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. I’m worried that in a little while, we’ll enter a polar day. A polar day, as the name implies, means only daylight, no night. The high temperatures will be constant, and the sun will grow so blinding that the human body simply can’t take it."
Officer Graham nodded. "I’ve noticed it too. My eyes have been hurting these past few days, and they tear up for no reason. My skin is chapped, and the cracks are starting to bleed."
"I’ve discovered something else," Serena Lynch suddenly said.
"When I’ve been out digging for mushrooms these past few days, I’ve noticed that a lot of people’s hair color has changed. From the long-term sun exposure, their hair is turning brittle and yellow, or even white. And it’s not all of it, just patches of yellow and white."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Exactly. These are all side effects of the extreme heat."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Taylor Vance, who already looked worried, now seemed even more distressed.
"We suggest living in the cellars. It’s cooler down there, so it might be better to stay inside them."
Quincy suddenly slapped his forehead. "If I’d known, I would have dug my cellar bigger."
"You can expand it. Everyone should start preparing as soon as possible. Remember to leave several air vents. And be more frugal with water. It’ll be even harder for it to rain in the future."
Everyone was sighing in dismay. Evelyn Ford continued, "I have a little kerosene here. I’ll share some with everyone. Also, if you move into the cellars, you still need to come out and see the light regularly. If you don’t see any sunlight for a long time, your eyes could fail, and you could go blind."
Evelyn Ford took out a plastic bottle filled with kerosene.
"I trust Evelyn’s judgment. I’m going back to get my cellar ready and expand it a bit."
"Me too. But I dug my cellar really big, so it should be enough."
Naturally, the others had to be notified as well. Their numbers were dwindling; it wasn’t easy for anyone to have survived this long.
Back home, Evelyn Ford harvested the last few misshapen melons from the field. The chayote vines had already withered, so Evelyn picked the dozen or so fruits still hanging from them.
"Where should we dig the cellar?"
"Under the pumpkin patch. The soil there is more solid."
Evelyn Ford had plenty of digging tools in her space, so digging a cellar wasn’t a difficult task for the two of them.
"Should we put the wooden cabin away?"
"Let’s just lock the doors and windows and leave it. Or we can wait until the polar day arrives to put it into the space."
In that case, they couldn’t leave their things in the cabin. Whatever needed to be stored away had to be stored away.
The two of them chose a spot and started digging. Evelyn Ford’s strength had increased again recently, so digging was actually quite easy for her.
The next evening, Officer Graham, Quincy, and the others still came over with their hoes to help.
With more than ten people digging for three nights, the cellar was finished.
Evelyn Ford did a turn inside. The cellar was spacious, with two air vents, so it didn’t feel oppressive at all. And it was very cool.
The cellar was still a bit damp, so the two of them didn’t rush to move in. While the nights still remained, everyone not only dug cellars but also worked hard to forage for mushrooms.
Every little bit they could hoard helped. Some people also started chopping down trees to stockpile wood and dry grass. The dry grass could be spread on the cellar floor to serve as a moisture barrier and a place to sleep.
Looking back now, everyone was incredibly grateful to Taylor Vance and a couple of others. They had organized everyone to dig cellars to store food and water, so when the crisis arrived, people didn’t panic.
But the unknown nature of the disaster still filled everyone with dread. The terrifying part wasn’t that a catastrophe would come, but that they didn’t know when it would ever end.