Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 80: Arduous Solo Survival 4
Evelyn Ford planned to lay red bricks on the outside of the cabin and then coat them with cement to prevent rain and snowmelt from seeping in. The cabin’s foundation also needed to be raised significantly higher than the surrounding ground. A higher foundation would be more moisture-proof.
After she finished sawing the wood, Evelyn began digging the foundation. She planned a footprint of twenty-five square meters, with the cabin’s interior to include a small bedroom, a small kitchen, and a simple washroom.
Digging the foundation trenches alone took a full day and a half. She laid a flat layer of gravel in the trenches, then stood the fir logs upright in holes at each corner to serve as posts. She had already chiseled notches into these posts. Between every two posts, she stacked fir logs horizontally, fitting them snugly into the notches. She continued this interlocking pattern, stacking the logs higher and higher.
For the horizontal logs, Evelyn chose thinner fir wood; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to lift them on her own. She calculated the required number of logs, sawed them to their respective sizes in advance, and found it made the construction process much easier.
Rural earthen houses were typically built using triangular support frames when raising the main roof beam. Evelyn had studied her architecture book, but she wasn’t strong enough to install a large, single main beam on her own. Instead, she had to use several fist-sized crossbeams, securing them one by one.
It took Evelyn five days just to build this large frame. She had only one requirement for the house: it had to be practical. Aesthetics didn’t matter. The most important thing was for it to be sturdy—truly indestructible.
On the sixth day, Evelyn took out a plastic waterproof tarp. She draped it over the roof frame, starting from the ridge, and secured it with nails and small wooden planks. The tarp was very thick, providing both blackout and rainproof qualities.
But just the tarp wasn’t enough. On the roof, over the first tarp, Evelyn laid a tightly packed layer of wooden planks, then added another layer of tarp on top of the planks.
With these multiple layers of protection, not only was it impossible for rain to get in, but snow would also have a hard time accumulating on the roof, thanks to its smoothness and steep slope.
For the kitchen, Evelyn specifically built an exhaust vent and a chimney. Since she didn’t have any chimney pipe, she had to construct it out of red bricks.
For the section of the chimney that extended above the roof, Evelyn planned to build a bend at the top. This way, even when it rained or snowed, nothing would fall down the flue.
With the frame largely complete, Evelyn planned to start on the interior floor.
She tamped the ground flat with a shovel, scattered a layer of gravel, and then added a layer of earth. She continued tamping until the ground was completely compacted and level, at which point she would lay thick wooden planks on top.
Evelyn discovered that a person’s potential was truly endless. ’As long as you push yourself, you can do anything.’
The cabin was really starting to take shape. Still, the fireplace, fire pit, kitchen sink and drain, cooking stove, and bathroom drain all needed to be built. ’I’ll take it one step at a time,’ she thought. ’Even though the weather is getting colder, there’s no need to rush.’
She had far more fir logs than she needed. She built a five-step staircase outside the cabin, then sawed the remaining logs and used them to build a fence around the property. It was still missing a gate. ’I’ll make that after the house is done.’
On the seventh day, Evelyn began to build the fireplace. ’To be honest, I’ve never even seen one of these in real life.’ She could only follow the pictures in her book and figure it out as she went.
The fireplace also required a chimney flue. After two days of trial and error, Evelyn finally finished building what looked simple but was actually incredibly difficult. It was a bit ugly, and the bricks and cement hadn’t fully cured, but she didn’t worry about it. ’It’ll have to do.’
Mina had been sulking for the past few days because Evelyn no longer had time to play with him. She would start working the moment she woke up and go straight to sleep after finishing her chores and washing up at night. It was the same routine every day. Every so often, he would wander in front of her, only to be shooed away in annoyance.
Evelyn held a roasted chicken leg out to him, but Mina pretended not to see it. With a flick of his rear, he turned his back on her completely.
"Not even for a chicken leg? I roasted this just for you."
Mina flicked his tail but continued to ignore Evelyn.
"Fine, don’t eat it. Fine, ignore me. We’re giving each other the silent treatment starting now. If you’re going to ignore me, then I’ll ignore you too."
Evelyn deliberately huffed at his back and ate the chicken leg herself. Mina’s ears twitched. Then his tail twitched. Finally, he tentatively turned around. When he saw that Evelyn was eating the chicken leg, he yelped in alarm and lunged forward to snatch it.
Evelyn wasn’t about to spoil him. Once she’d had her fill, she went back to work, leaving him to continue sulking.
When she got bored, Evelyn would take out her MP3 player and listen to some music. It was strange, though. After living in the mountains for so many days, she hadn’t encountered a single animal.
’Have all the animals gone into hibernation?’
’It’s November. Hmm, I guess it really is winter now.’
In the final days of construction on the cabin, the temperature had already dropped to five or six degrees Celsius. The mountain fog was still very thick, making it nearly impossible to see anything more than ten meters away.
The kitchen’s cooking stove was finished and could now be used to boil water and cook. Evelyn usually kept a fire going in it anyway to help dry out the new cabin.
The exterior of the cabin still needed its layer of red brick and cement. Worried that it might rain before it started to snow, Evelyn sped up her work, focusing on laying the bricks for the outer walls.
After several consecutive days of hard labor with her hands constantly in water, they began to turn red and swell. At night in bed, the itching was unbearable. Ointment didn’t help, so Evelyn had no choice but to give herself a couple of injections.
Laying the bricks and applying the cement took several more days. The weather was so overcast that the cement wouldn’t air-dry properly. Evelyn had to build a few bonfires in the yard, using the external heat to speed up the curing process.
On November 11th, a few scattered snowflakes began to drift down from the sky. The cabin was more or less finished, inside and out. It was still a bit damp, so she couldn’t move in just yet. Evelyn lit fires in the house’s stove, the fireplace, and the heated brick bed. The cabin retained heat very well; with the doors and windows closed, it was quite warm inside.
To celebrate the cabin’s completion, Evelyn planned on making a special dinner.
Mutton stew with goji berries, fish in broad bean sauce, napa cabbage and tofu soup, braised eggplant, stewed pig’s trotters...
After three hours of cooking, dinner was finally ready. It was the best meal Evelyn had eaten since the start of the apocalypse.
Also worth celebrating was that Evelyn and Mina had made up. The silent treatment was over, and they were best friends again, even sleeping with their heads snuggled together at night.
Evelyn sat in her RV, looking at the small yard and the little cabin inside it just a short distance away, feeling immensely satisfied.
Snowflakes began to flurry down, mixed with a light, drizzling rain. Inside the RV, the lights cast a dim, yellow glow. Mina was watching cartoons on a tablet, while Evelyn sipped her soup and watched the snow fall outside the window.
’What should I do tomorrow?’
’I’ll build the gate for the fence, and then work on the pond. I should keep the water in my space as a reserve. The pond water is incredibly clean and clear, much cleaner than the tap water in the city ever was.’
’And the day after that?’
’Oh, right. I need to take out that bison from my space and process it. Bleed it, skin it, and butcher the meat. I can make some Dried Beef, and some braised beef too.’
