enjoyebooks Chapter 320: Life-Saving Grain
Chapter 320: Life-Saving Grain
The morning air in Tarr City was bone-chilling. Evelyn Ford put on a new pair of gloves and watched the road behind her through the rearview mirror.
At 8:15, a truck slowly approached the small grove of trees. Evelyn pulled out her binoculars to get a look. It was Kevin Holloway. Besides him, there were three other men in the truck, likely his bodyguards.
Evelyn’s right hand rested on the car window, her fingers tapping lightly on the frame.
As soon as Kevin Holloway’s truck entered the woods, he spotted a blue truck already parked there. After getting out, he led his three bodyguards toward it. Evelyn and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a look, then opened their doors and got out.
"I’ve prepared the gasoline. It’s in the truck." There was still a hint of terror in Kevin Holloway’s eyes.
Evelyn didn’t comment on his tardiness. Ronan went to inspect the truck while she stood her ground, sizing up Kevin Holloway. His hand was bandaged, and both his visible eyes were bruised, as if he’d been punched.
Kevin Holloway was sizing her up, too, but Evelyn was bundled up tightly and even wore sunglasses, so he couldn’t see her face clearly. Thinking of his old man’s tragic state, Kevin felt these two had actually gone easy on him.
When Ronan returned, he gave Evelyn a slight nod. She smiled in satisfaction.
"Kevin Holloway, take your men and go. I’m confiscating your truck."
Kevin Holloway was stunned. "You’re taking the truck, too? Don’t you already have a vehicle?"
Evelyn flexed her wrist. "What? Unwilling?"
His bodyguards looked ready to make a move, but Kevin Holloway stopped them. The wound where his finger had been severed still throbbed with a dull ache. These two had taken all his guns. His villa had been practically emptied—everything but the front gate and the floor tiles was gone. He had only brought the three bodyguards today for moral support and protection. He didn’t dare retaliate.
Besides, the base had issued a wanted notice overnight, warning that two unidentified terrorists had arrived in Tarr City. He suspected it was the pair standing before him.
"No, I’m willing."
After speaking, he glanced at Evelyn. "Can I go now?"
Evelyn nodded. "You may."
Kevin Holloway found it strange. Evelyn had agreed too readily, and he worried it was a trick.
"Is there anything else I need to do?"
Evelyn cleared her throat. "Did you see us today?"
"No, no. I haven’t even left Tarr City today. I’ve been at home nursing my wounds."
Evelyn was very satisfied with his answer. "Good. Go on back. By the way, is your father still alive?"
Kevin Holloway flinched. He would never forget the scene when he saw his old man last night. He’d been given a devil’s haircut, castrated, and hung from the third-floor stair railing. Unable to accept being turned into a eunuch, the old man had been so enraged he’d had a stroke. Now his mouth was twisted, his eyes were crooked, and he couldn’t move.
Just before he came over, his half-brothers were discussing whether or not to euthanize the old man.
And the old man was right there listening. Though he couldn’t move, his mind was still clear. He was foaming at the mouth and his eyes were rolling back in his head from pure rage.
Kevin Holloway couldn’t figure out what Evelyn was getting at. He was afraid if he gave the wrong answer, she’d cut off another one of his fingers. Racking his brain, he came up with a noncommittal response.
"He’s had a stroke. He can no longer move."
Evelyn nodded. "Tell him to take care of himself." With that, she waved her hand, and Kevin Holloway scurried away with his bodyguards.
"Mr. Holloway, there are only two of them. We have guns. We could take them out easily."
Kevin Holloway slapped the bodyguard on the back of the head. "Idiot! How do you know there are only two of them? They crippled the old man and plundered all the food and weapons from the house. Do you think two people could do all that? And the vicious dogs my older brothers kept are dead, too—and those were wolf-dog hybrids. Let’s go back first. We’ll act like this never happened. And keep your mouths shut. If anyone breathes a word of this, they’ll lose their head. We need to find a new place. I’m moving out. The old man isn’t dead yet, which means they’ll be back."
—
Ten tons of gasoline were stacked neatly in the truck’s cargo bed. After stowing the entire vehicle in her space, Evelyn was in a reasonably good mood. At this time of day, more cargo trucks were appearing on the road, and they blended in unnoticed.
Back in their vehicle, Ronan Kendrick took the wheel while Evelyn’s consciousness entered her space to check on the germinating seeds. The corn and wheat sown in the black soil were already ten centimeters tall; they were growing rapidly. Evelyn dug up the corn seedlings, planning to transplant them into the cornfield.
The black soil was so fertile that there was no need for plastic sheeting. After planting the corn, Evelyn used a hose to draw water from the well for irrigation.
Farming in her space offered no real shortcuts. After several hours of hard work, she had only planted about an acre.
Opening her eyes, Evelyn looked at Ronan and sighed. "I still have to plant the rice. If only I had a rice transplanter, it would go so much faster."
Ronan reached out and took her hand. "Don’t worry. Once we get back to Immeasurable Mountain, we can plant everything at our own pace."
They still had to go to Mount Caldera, and the return trip would take about three days. That afternoon, the two of them left the Tarr region. Evelyn recalled a village up ahead with many children and elderly people. She thought about the hundreds of pounds of wheat bran and rice chaff she had collected the previous night. It wasn’t that she was trying to be charitable; she just had a softer spot for children.
"Ronan, there’s a ruined temple up ahead. I want to leave the bran and chaff there."
Ronan thought for a moment. The village did indeed have a ruined temple, though only crumbling walls and wreckage remained.
"Okay. You call the shots."
They drove the car to the front of the ruined temple. Evelyn got out and looked around inside. Although dilapidated, it was relatively clean. The space under the candlestick holder was a perfect hiding spot. Evelyn took the rice chaff and wheat bran from her space and stuffed it all underneath the candlestick holder.
Before the apocalypse, this grain residue was only fit for livestock, but now it was lifesaving food that many used to fill their stomachs. There were still many more who couldn’t even afford grain residue and had to resort to eating tree bark and leaves.
Evelyn righted a toppled Buddha statue. Some of the other statues were missing arms and legs and couldn’t be pieced back together, so she had to leave them be.
A rustling sound came from ahead. A few rail-thin children in ragged clothes were scraping bark off a tree with knives in the distance. Ronan returned to Evelyn’s side, took out his whistle, and blew it three times. The children started heading toward the temple.
Seeing the upright Buddha statue, the children were a little scared.
"Did we run into a ghost?"
"This is a temple, there are no ghosts. There are footprints on the ground. Someone was here. I came here last night to scrape bark, and I remember these things were on the floor." A boy of about twelve or thirteen pointed at the Buddha statue above the candlestick holder.
Suddenly, he noticed something was off about the candlestick holder and slowly walked over.
"There’s something inside."
The boy removed the bricks from under the candlestick holder, revealing a burlap sack inside.
He froze for a second, then dragged the sack out.
"Oh my god, it’s so much bran! We have food!"
"Shut up," the boy snapped, glaring at the younger child who had cried out. He stuffed the sack back in its place, then did a quick sweep of the area around the temple.
"We’re saved."