The price of fever-reducing dication was now astronomical, and the Lancaster family couldn’t get their hands on any.
All they could do was fill bags with water, leave them in the snow to freeze, and then place the makeshift ice packs on Simon Lancaster’s head to bring his fever down.
Simon Lancaster was bedridden, Silas Lancaster was complaining about his leg pain, and Robert Lancaster and Elaine Hughes used their age as an excuse to do nothing. Naturally, the task of clearing the snow fell to Sylvia Lancaster alone.
Every two hours, Sylvia had to climb onto the roof and brave the bone-chilling wind to clear the accumulating snow.
This was the first ti in her two lifetis she had ever endured such misery. ’I’m going to lose my mind from all this suffering!’
When Sylvia ntioned she needed a break, Elaine Hughes didn’t say a word. She just reached out and viciously twisted her ear.
Elaine Hughes gritted her teeth, her voice laced with fury. "You useless girl, why are you so lazy?! Rest, rest, that’s all you think about! How dare you ask for a break just for clearing so snow? If you don’t go, then you can get the hell out of this house!"
Ever since she discovered that Sylvia’s mother was the one who had switched her own daughter at birth, Elaine Hughes had stopped treating Sylvia with any kindness.
’It’s all Sylvia’s fault!’ Elaine thought resentfully.
’If it weren’t for her mother, I never would have been separated from my own flesh and blood!’
’If it weren’t for Sylvia, my real daughter wouldn’t refuse to acknowledge !’
"AAAAGH—"
Sylvia felt as if Elaine was about to rip her ear clean off, and she couldn’t stop a pained wail from escaping her lips.
Robert and Silas heard the commotion from Sylvia’s room but didn’t react. They no longer cared about her, so they couldn’t be bothered to get involved.
The only person who would have protected Sylvia, Simon Lancaster, was still unconscious with a high fever.
Helpless, Sylvia had no choice but to painstakingly climb back onto the roof.
Stepping through the icy black snow, Sylvia felt waves of bone-piercing cold seep into her ankles through her soaking-wet pants.
She gritted her teeth and bent down, beginning to clear the snow piled on the roof.
The black snow was still falling relentlessly. A couple of flakes landed in Sylvia’s eyes, and she felt a sharp, stinging pain.
Sylvia knew the snowflakes contained hard particles of volcanic ash. She didn’t dare rub her eyes, so she could only let her tears wash the grit away.
Sylvia cried as she cleared the snow, and soon, she couldn’t stop crying at all.
She could feel her feet and calves slowly going numb from the cold.
Sylvia’s heart ached with misery. ’When will this nightmare ever end?!’
******
anwhile, lody Sumrs and Grace Sutton took their grandmother and Miss Lowell to the supply distribution point, taking advantage of a lull in the snowfall to collect their cold-weather gear.
The property managent staff had been diligent ever since the snow began. They worked in shifts, on call twenty-four hours a day, and kept the grounds swept clean of the black snow.
After several snowfalls, the sky was no longer pitch-black as it had been. It had lightened to a hazy gray, and a faint glow was now visible.
The residents in the complex were all excited. It felt as if in just a few more days, the sky would clear completely, and this whole disaster would finally be over.
A long line of residents had ford in front of the plaza, all waiting to receive supplies.
People chattered amongst themselves as they waited in line:
"Look at the sky, everyone! It’s getting brighter, isn’t it?"
"It is! It is! The first few days after the eruption, it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It’s definitely much brighter now!"
"Man, another six months have passed since the eruption. When do you think this catastrophe will finally end? I’m at my breaking point!"
"Tell about it. I’ve been unemployed for over six months. And with no sun for half a year, my sleep schedule is a total ss. I feel like a walking corpse."
"My wife ran off with so rich guy last month. That bitch. He lured her away with just two self-heating hot pots. My parents died during the heat wave, too. Now it’s just . All alone. If I live, I live. If I die, I die. I don’t care anymore."
"People can barely survive, and you expect soone to stay faithful to you? Forget your wife, if a man offered a self-heating hot pot, I’d go with him in a heartbeat! We’re talking about a self-heating hot pot! I’d have no regrets if I could just have one bite before I die!"
"Stop being so pessimistic! The experts said daylight is coming soon. Once the sun is out, this will all be over. Better days are right around the corner!"
"That’s right. We’ve endured for over a year, ever since the heat wave last year. What’s a few more days? We just have to grit our teeth and get through it! This is the darkest hour right before the dawn!"
"..."
lody listened to the idle chatter around her as she shuffled forward with the line.
After more than a year of disasters, the news no longer dared to report unemploynt or mortality rates. Life was hard for most people.
As the line shuffled along, lody and her group got closer and closer to the front. Soon, she could see Winnie Sumrs and Colin Sumrs busy at the distribution table.
Hollis from property managent was in front of the table maintaining order. He held a gaphone and shouted to the crowd, "One padded coat and one pair of snow boots per person! Don’t take more than your share!"
"If you need more, you can use your weekly supply allowance to trade for quilts, blankets, electric blankets, space heaters, personal heaters, hot water bottles, solid alcohol fuel..."
There were six people in the Sumrs family, so they collected six coats and six pairs of boots. They didn’t trade for anything extra.
lody paid close attention and noticed that most people were trading for quilts, blankets, and alcohol fuel.
It seed the power outages and rationing during the heat wave had served as a wake-up call. Compared to electric heating devices, everyone now considered non-electric supplies like quilts and fuel to be more reliable.
Just as lody’s family was about to head ho with their coats and boots, a commotion suddenly broke out.
Winnie Sumrs frowned at the ID in her hand. Looking up at the middle-aged man in front of her, she said, "This ID has already been used to claim a coat and a pair of boots. You can’t get them again."
The middle-aged man was bundled up in a padded coat, a scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth. He had a receding hairline that left the top of his head bald—a chro do—and it was the only part of him exposed to the cold.
Hearing Winnie’s words, the man scowled. "When did I claim anything?" he grumbled. "Don’t you go making false accusations!"
Winnie calmly explained, "Your wife ca by this morning with all of your family’s IDs and collected four padded coats and four pairs of shoes. We have a record of it right here."
The middle-aged man, Chro Do, was just trying to scam an extra set of free supplies. Cold-weather gear was precious now. On the black market, a single padded coat could be traded for five pounds of rice, and a pair of snow boots could fetch ten compressed ration bars!
Now, hearing Winnie say it was all on record, he felt the awkwardness of being caught in a lie.
When the onlookers saw what was happening, they began to point and gossip:
"What’s going on here? Is soone really trying to scam governnt supplies?"
"Supplies are rationed per person. If you take extra, what’s left for everyone else? How can you be so selfish?"
"Hey buddy, are things that bad for you?"
"And you call yourself a man? Acting so greedy!"
"..."
Hearing this, Chro Do’s face flushed bright red, a mixture of sha and anger.
He snapped. Shoving Winnie hard, he cursed, "Bullshit! I said I didn’t take anything, so I didn’t take anything! You damn bitch! How dare you accuse ! I don’t care! You’re giving those supplies today, one way or another!"
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