novelraw Chapter 188: Polar Day, On the Road 9
Chapter 188: Polar Day, On the Road 9
Most migrations in human history have been for the sake of survival and the search for new places to live.
There wasn’t much in Evelyn Ford’s bamboo basket; it was mostly just a large, puffed-up sack.
After walking for nearly three hours, many people were running out of strength. Taylor Vance borrowed a whistle from Quincy and blew it, signaling for everyone to rest in place for twenty minutes.
Ronan Kendrick took a water canteen from the handcart and passed it to Evelyn Ford. Evelyn took a sip and handed it back to him.
Everyone was exhausted. Some of the children couldn’t walk anymore and had started to cry and fuss. Evelyn Ford checked on Mina and Lola; the two little ones were on a handcart and seemed to be in relatively good spirits.
"Are you okay?"
Evelyn Ford nodded. Just then, the whistle blew again, and everyone continued on their way.
The group was silent and subdued. Everyone walked hunched over with their heads down, and the children walked quietly within the procession.
Heatstroke was a common occurrence. If only acupuncture was needed, Evelyn Ford wouldn’t accept any supplies as payment.
After more than ten hours of walking, they reached a valley. Taylor Vance blew his whistle, signaling for everyone to stop and rest. They would set out again in five hours. Those who needed to eat, ate; those who needed the latrine, went; and those who needed to sleep, slept.
Evelyn Ford took the small, tattered tent from the handcart and set it up on a flat patch of ground. The others also began to settle down to rest. Officer Graham had a black umbrella, which he opened for Wendy to sleep under.
Many people used a few sticks to prop up clothes or bedsheets for shade, spreading out straw mats on the ground and lying down just like that.
There wasn’t a single tree in the entire valley, not even a place to hide in the shade.
After setting up the tent, Evelyn Ford had Ronan Kendrick watch over it while she and Serena Lynch went to relieve themselves.
The men went to the left, the women to the right. Out in the open, with the surroundings completely bare, Evelyn thought, ’I can probably hold it a little longer.’
In the end, however, she found a large boulder and took care of business behind it.
By the time she returned to the valley, Evelyn Ford was utterly exhausted.
"The trees on the road were either withered or had burned down from spontaneous combustion. It feels like the soil itself has been cooked."
Evelyn Ford crawled into the tattered tent and quickly pulled out a pack of wet wipes. She had been wearing a hat and a gauze scarf, and she was drenched in sweat.
"Ronan, you should go now."
Ronan Kendrick tucked away her damp, stray hairs, then turned and left the tent.
Officer Graham, Quincy, and their groups were nearby, so Evelyn wasn’t worried about the things on their handcart. A layer of heat-insulating board was placed under her straw mat, and Evelyn lay down. ’I can’t believe I’m this tired after just the first day,’ she thought. ’Still, carrying a pack for over ten hours is a considerable distance.’
People on both sides were eating. Evelyn Ford took out her pocket watch and glanced at it. It was eleven at night. She was sleepy and hungry, but at least she hadn’t gotten any blisters on her feet yet.
Ronan Kendrick returned shortly. After he zipped up the tent, Evelyn took out a steamed bun and handed it to him.
The temperature was still a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind wasn’t as hot anymore. Evelyn lay down as soon as she finished eating; she was truly too tired to move.
Ronan Kendrick touched her face. "Do you have heatstroke?"
"No. Just tired... and sleepy."
"Give me the fan."
With her eyes closed, Evelyn Ford pulled out a fan and tossed it to him. Ronan Kendrick picked it up and sat beside her, fanning her.
"Ronan, I’m not hot anymore. You should get some sleep."
"It’s fine. I’ll sleep after you do."
Evelyn couldn’t win against him. The cool breeze on her face was comfortable, and she fell asleep in no time.
Ronan Kendrick pulled out a wet wipe and dabbed the sweat from her neck. Once she was sound asleep, he lay down beside her and gently wrapped an arm around her waist.
Evelyn slept soundly, but the time flew by. Five hours passed in a flash, and the whistle blew, waking everyone. Evelyn went to the latrine again, and by the time she returned, Ronan had already packed up the tent.
The sun hung high in the sky. It was time to keep moving.
Evelyn Ford popped a mint into her mouth, the sensation instantly clearing her head. She quickly gave one to Ronan Kendrick as well.
"Put the basket on the handcart."
"It’s fine, it’s not heavy."
From the look in Ronan Kendrick’s eyes, you could tell he wished he could just carry Evelyn on his back, too.
The contents of the bamboo basket didn’t even weigh twenty-two pounds. With her current physical fitness, Evelyn could have carried another twenty-two without a problem.
On the second day of the journey, most people had lost the energy and spirit they’d had on the first. Many were already straggling, falling far behind.
After two days of walking, there wasn’t a single bird in the sky, nor any crawling creature on the ground.
What was even more terrifying, however, was the perilous mountain path. As they traversed a narrow ridge, Evelyn didn’t even dare to look down. Below was a bottomless abyss; to fall meant being smashed to pieces.
Large beads of sweat dripped from her forehead. Evelyn edged forward cautiously. To make matters worse, the wind picked up on this particular path. Even though the narrow track was over six feet wide, her legs still felt weak.
Evelyn hugged the inner edge of the path, so focused she didn’t even react when Ronan called her name several times.
The path was almost two miles long. By the time they finished, many people had collapsed from exhaustion.
"Do your legs hurt?"
"They’re fine. It’s more the lingering fear. I kept feeling like I was going to fall."
Ronan Kendrick smiled. "You won’t. I wouldn’t let you fall."
At the end of the second day’s journey, Evelyn discovered she had a blister on her foot.
Luckily, it was on her heel, so it didn’t affect her much. Evelyn simply lanced the blister and cut away the dead skin.
Inside the tent, Evelyn leaned against Ronan. "We walked an hour longer today than yesterday."
"We’ll be at Stag’s Leap Mountain soon," Ronan said, stroking her ear. "Do you remember Stag’s Leap Mountain?"
"I remember. We dug up a lot of medicinal herbs there. It’s probably a barren, bald mountain now too."
’Maybe in another three or four days, we’ll reach the Silver River,’ she thought. ’I wonder if there’s still any water in it.’
As they talked, Evelyn dozed off. Once she was fast asleep, Ronan cut his finger and held the wound to her lips, letting his blood drip into her mouth.
Just as the wound was about to heal, he gave Evelyn a few sips of water and put a mint in her mouth to wash down the taste of blood.
Traveling on foot made one incredibly thirsty, but no one dared to drink much, conserving every last drop.
Some people had already fallen out of the main group, lagging a great distance behind.
Just as Evelyn had predicted, Stag’s Leap Mountain had become a barren, bald mountain, covered in the scars of a great fire. As they passed, they could still smell the wood ash.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the group arrived at the Silver River.
Those who had hoped to collect water from the Silver River were met with disappointment. The riverbed was dry and cracked, its banks had collapsed, and fissures snaked across the empty expanse.
"The Silver River... it’s dried up," Quincy said in disbelief. He had been here many times. The last time they came to catch fish, the water was still rushing and powerful.
Many people broke down, crying in despair. To Evelyn’s surprise, several hundred people chose to turn back to the safe zone.
"There’s no water in the Silver River! Continuing on is a dead end! I’m going back to the safe zone. Even if I’m going to die, I can’t die on the road. If you die on the road, you become a lonely, wandering spirit that can never go home."