Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

"What a coincidence. So much of one it’s creepy."

May Warren’s hysterical screams were still faintly audible. Quincy let out a breath. "I suspect it was murder."

"You’re not a cop, so what’s the point of playing detective?"

Evelyn Ford placed the teapot on the stove and picked an orange from the fruit platter. Just as she was about to peel it, Ronan Kendrick took it from her.

"I just feel like there’s something off about this whole thing. Spoiled kids are a pain, but the parents who don’t rein them in are even worse."

Evelyn Ford nodded. "That’s why they say if parents don’t discipline their children, someone else eventually will."

Taking the peeled orange from Ronan Kendrick, Evelyn Ford glanced outside. "Why aren’t they coming back in?"

"May Warren is making a scene. She tried to get back into her villa but was locked out. Now she’s in the road, wailing that her son was murdered and that she’ll find the killer to avenge him. Her family hasn’t shown their faces this whole time. Pretty cold of them."

After finishing her orange, Evelyn Ford went to the kitchen to start cooking. Ronan Kendrick followed her, tying on an apron to help.

A few moments later, Rhys Chase came over holding a teacup. He looked at Ronan Kendrick with a complicated expression.

"You know how to cook?"

Ronan Kendrick shot him a look, then picked up a cleaver and began hacking at the ribs on the cutting board.

"Mrs. Kendrick."

"You can just use my name."

Rhys Chase nodded. "Alright. In that case, you don’t have to call me Mr. Chase. Just use my name. Look, after watching things for the past few days, I’ve noticed Kestrel Villa is still too chaotic. You two should consider moving to the base’s villas or the Undercity. It’s quieter there. I can guarantee no one will bother you."

"That’s not a decision I can make on my own."

Rhys Chase smiled. "Good. Why don’t you two discuss it? There are too many people and prying eyes out here. And with the long night lasting for months, the oxygen is getting thinner. It’s very dangerous to stay on the outside."

"I understand."

"Say what you need to say and get out. Don’t just stand there bothering us." Ronan Kendrick brought the cleaver down, splitting a rib, and glared coldly at Rhys Chase.

Rhys Chase raised an eyebrow. "Can I help?"

"No. Please leave."

Ronan Kendrick physically pushed him out of the kitchen and shut the door.

"He’s so annoying."

Evelyn Ford nodded. "He is."

After lunch, Ronan Kendrick and Evelyn Ford drove away from Kestrel Villa, heading for the base. The medicinal herb fields were a few kilometers outside the base proper. When they arrived, Liam Sterling was already waiting for them.

Miles Vaughn and Peter Owens weren’t with him today. Liam Sterling explained to Evelyn that the two of them were at the pharmaceutical factory’s warehouse, organizing the medicines they were about to collect.

"Let’s get the herbs first. How much is there?"

"A hundred tons. The herbs have all been bagged. This season’s harvest is complete."

The warehouse where the herbs were stored was huge. It was brightly lit and equipped with security cameras. After Liam Sterling shut off the main power, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick began collecting the herbs.

"Some of these herbs were just dug up and haven’t been processed yet. We should probably leave them here and come back to collect them after the workers are done."

’That means we’d have to come back a second time?’

Evelyn Ford looked at Liam Sterling. "Let’s just take everything. I can keep them separate. We can bring them back out later for them to be processed."

Liam Sterling nodded. "We’ll do as you say. There are also a few machines over here. Can you take them too?"

"Mr. Chase said the oxygen is getting too thin, so we can’t keep growing the herbs. He ignored the objections from the other managers and ordered the workers to harvest everything."

’Evelyn understood. She had to admit, Rhys Chase was incredibly thorough. He was a Commander for a reason.’

"Alright, let’s take it all."

The soldiers stationed at the herb fields were also being recalled. Liam Sterling mentioned that the base had already shut down many of its factories; only the cannery and the pharmaceutical plant were still running.

"The base has already started building an above-ground shelter. It’s based on the same principles as the Undercity and will be designed like a space station. It can hold a maximum of one hundred thousand people and withstand storms, lightning, extreme heat, and radiation. But a shelter like this will take four months to complete."

’The base itself had several hundred thousand people. Add to that the residents of Flumen, the refugees in the resettlement housing... all the survivors together numbered over a million.’

’One shelter was nowhere near enough.’

’Evelyn understood Liam Sterling’s subtext: when the crisis hit, the base planned to save only its elite personnel.’

’It seemed the expeditions the base had sent out to find new habitable zones had not gone well.’

After they had collected all the herbs and machinery from the warehouse, the three of them drove back to the base.

"First, we’ll go to the pharmaceutical plant’s warehouse to pick up the oxygen tanks. The plant has several production lines that have already been divided up among the base’s various factions. Mr. Chase still controls two of them, and for the past while, they’ve been dedicated entirely to producing oxygen tanks."

"How many oxygen generators do you have?"

"Two hundred."

When they got to the pharmaceutical plant’s warehouse, Peter Owens and Miles Vaughn were inside taking inventory. After the main doors were shut, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick began to collect the oxygen tanks and various finished medications.

"Liam Sterling."

"Ma’am? You called for me?"

"Yes. I wanted to ask, is the pharmaceutical plant going to shut down too?"

Liam Sterling shook his head. "The plant can’t shut down. We have to keep the production lines running, even if it means the workers have to rush while wearing oxygen tanks. The medicine is too important, and so are the tanks. To be honest, a lot of people have already collapsed and died in the last few days. The doctors are saying it’s from hypoxia."

"And the workers are willing to keep at it?"

"These are our own people. They’ve been promised a place in the Undercity, so of course they’re willing to work themselves to the bone for Mr. Chase."

"Oh, right. Mr. Kendrick, ma’am, there’s also a lot of grain and vegetables to collect. It’s all been moved to the warehouse next door."

Evelyn Ford made an okay sign. "Got it. Let’s get to work."

Before they left that morning, Ronan Kendrick had told Evelyn that Rhys Chase had changed the terms of their deal. All the supplies they helped him "collect"—be it machinery, food, or medicine—would be split 20-80 with Ronan. The eighty-percent share, of course, belonged to Rhys.

’Ahem... The supplies were secondary. Evelyn simply enjoyed the process of collecting them.’

There were so many medications and oxygen tanks that by ten o’clock at night, they had only gotten through less than half. Liam Sterling suggested they stay in the Undercity for the night and finish collecting everything the next day before heading back to Kestrel Villa. Evelyn had never been to the Undercity, so she readily accepted his offer.

"Liam Sterling, what about the plane Rhys Chase promised us?"

Liam Sterling smiled. "Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ll take you to get the plane tomorrow."

Miles Vaughn and Peter Owens already had their own rooms in the Undercity. As soon as she entered, Evelyn felt like she had stepped into a science fiction world. Once her fingerprints and irises were scanned and registered, Liam Sterling led them to the mess hall.

"The mess hall serves food twenty-four hours a day. The Undercity currently runs on hydropower from the reservoir, but Mr. Chase has prepared three layers of backup. The primary is hydropower, the secondary is wind power. If both of those are cut, the Undercity has its own fuel-powered generators that will automatically kick in."

"The current fuel reserves can keep the Undercity running for one hundred and fifty years."

Evelyn Ford gave Liam Sterling a thumbs-up. "Impressive. Is there any internet access?"

"No internet, but we have a lot of books."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!