Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 111: Reporting

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Evelyn Ford first went with him to 602. She took out all of Ronan Kendrick’s things and even made a point of giving him an electric blanket.

"I’ll leave a barrel of water with you. The water in the bathroom is only good for flushing the toilet, you can’t drink it." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Ronan Kendrick had no objections. Evelyn Ford stood to the side, arms crossed, watching him organize his things, make the bed, and fold his clothes. He was surprisingly tidy, even folding his quilt into a neat square.

"Give me a few more books."

Seeing how much he enjoyed reading, Evelyn gave him a few extra.

Back in 601, Evelyn started tidying her own room. She laid down a thick mattress pad and the electric blanket, and placed Mina and Lola’s beds at the foot of her own.

She took out a desk, placed three potted plants on it, and then set down a table lamp.

Evelyn took out a filtration system, planning to filter the water from the bathroom to see if it would be usable for laundry and bathing.

Although she still had plenty of water in her space, it was always best to conserve what she could.

The lock on the door had to be changed, too. She had taken a look at it earlier; for a skilled lockpick, a lock like this could be opened in three seconds. It offered no security whatsoever.

Evelyn stared at the filtered water. It was very clear, and the smell of bleach was already faint. She didn’t have any way to test the water source and didn’t dare drink it. Quincy had said that many people in the base had started having dental problems after drinking the groundwater.

Evelyn decided to use the filtered water on her cacti. If there was no change after three days, the water was clean.

With the room tidied up, Evelyn changed the lock on the door and prepared to take a shower and clean up.

It was now six in the evening, and the base’s residents would soon be returning from work.

Evelyn decided against installing a water heater. There were too many uncertain factors in the base that were beyond her control; she couldn’t afford to make a single misstep.

She took out a water heating element, heated the filtered water in the tub, and made do with a bath.

Evelyn’s hair had gotten quite long. She took out a pair of scissors, made a couple of snips in front of the mirror, and soon had her clean, neat short hair back.

Ronan Kendrick came and knocked on her door. He paused for a moment when he saw her short hair.

"Don’t recognize me?"

"I do."

Evelyn’s lips curved into a slight smile. "What’s up?"

"I’m going to take out the trash, thought I’d take yours too."

Evelyn saw that he was carrying a bag filled with old, worn-out clothes and shoes he’d changed out of.

Seeing him in a clean set of clothes, Evelyn clicked her tongue twice.

"You clean up nicely. But you’d better cover your face. Life isn’t easy for a pretty boy around here."

Ronan Kendrick took out a mask and put it on. Thinking he was a bit dense, Evelyn grabbed a black, insulated winter hat and tossed it to him.

"Cover up. The whole point is to cover up properly. You call this covered?"

Once she saw he had put on the hat and was thoroughly covered, Evelyn handed him her trash bag.

"Oh, right. I’ll give you a filtration system and a water heater later. You can’t bathe directly in that water."

Ronan Kendrick left to take out the trash. Evelyn inspected the glass window. It was small and thin. Evelyn was a person with a deep-seated need for security; any place she lived had to be reinforced until there were no flaws or blind spots.

There was glass in her space, but she didn’t have a glass cutter.

’Wait a minute...’

’Diamonds can cut glass. I remember collecting a lot of jewelry when I was gathering supplies.’

When Ronan Kendrick returned, he saw Evelyn on the floor, struggling to score a pane of glass with a diamond. He watched for a few seconds before silently walking over and taking the diamond from her.

Evelyn watched as he made a light pass, and the glass split in two.

"Do you want me to praise you?"

Ronan Kendrick nodded. "Shouldn’t you?"

Evelyn snorted. "Oh, so impressive."

With the new glass installed, Evelyn could finally relax.

After giving the filtration system and water heater to Ronan Kendrick, Evelyn deadbolted her door and prepared for bed.

She took out the paper she’d gotten from the administration building and glanced at it, discovering that the rules for earning points were quite harsh.

Hunting team: killing a large animal, like a wild ox, was worth eight hundred points if captured alive, seven hundred if dead, to be split evenly among the squad.

Small animals, like pheasants, were worth thirty points alive and twenty-five dead.

The medical department was divided into pharmaceutical research, herbal cultivation, surgery, internal medicine, gynecology...

There were also doctors who accompanied teams on expeditions, earning fifty to one hundred points per mission, with the exact amount varying by specialty.

She had to report at ten tomorrow. Evelyn glanced at the map and quickly committed it to memory.

Although she had been resistant to the idea of the base at first, things rarely went according to plan. Since she was here, she had to adapt, not spend her days tiptoeing around in a state of constant fear and vigilance.

Of course, caution would always be her number one rule for survival.

Knowing that Officer Graham and the others were all still alive made the trip to the base worth it. She wasn’t some deeply sentimental person, but Officer Graham, Wendy, Quincy, Roy Henderson, and Owen Chapman... they were the companions who had made it out of Corinth, out of Building D of Prosperity Gardens, alive with her. To Evelyn, they were comrades who had been through life and death together.

—

The moment the alarm went off, Evelyn’s eyes snapped open.

She got up, refilled the food and water for her two little ones, then went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she got dressed, she deliberately chose a drab, insulated down jacket.

Ronan Kendrick knocked on her door right on time. Evelyn opened it and let him in. They sized each other up for a moment, a silent understanding passing between them.

She took out breakfast, one box for each of them. Ronan Kendrick had a large appetite, so Evelyn added five steamed buns for him.

"Maybe I should join the hunting team too?"

’I really should have joined the hunting team. The two of us could work together to stock up my space with supplies.’

"Am I eating too much?" He actually looked at Evelyn with a bewildered expression.

Evelyn was speechless.

At nine-thirty, the two of them left the apartment building. Evelyn saw the couple from next door again. The woman was quite forward and friendly; seeing Evelyn and Ronan Kendrick come out, she immediately walked over to say hello.

"We meet again! I forgot to ask your names yesterday. Oh, by the way, I work in the plantation growing medicinal herbs, and my boyfriend is in the maintenance department, doing electrical repairs."

"I’m Evelyn Ford, in the medical department. He’s Ronan Kendrick, on the hunting team."

Serena Lynch looked at Ronan Kendrick and let out a "Wow." "Your boyfriend is so tall! Since you’re also in the medical department, we can head over together in a bit. It’s too bad Chase and your boyfriend aren’t in the same department, otherwise they’d have company too."

Evelyn just smiled and said nothing.

Downstairs, the four of them split up to head to their respective departments.

"I’m twenty-three this year. If I’m older than you, you can call me Miss Serena."

"I’m twenty." Evelyn silently memorized the surrounding routes and street signs. The people hurrying past them were all hunched over, their steps quick.

Everyone’s eyes were filled with exhaustion and numbness. Only a few had a decent spirit about them, a sparkle in their eyes.

"Why did you two only move in yesterday? Did you just arrive at the base? Does that mean you’ve been living outside all this time?"