Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 50: High Temperature, Vultures 2

At 3:40 in the morning, Evelyn Ford kept her head down as she hurried through streets and alleys. The potholed roads were littered with broken glass and rebar jutting out from the ground. Buses and private cars lay overturned in the mire. The faint outlines of malls and movie theaters still hinted at their former bustling glory.

A blast of hot wind blew past. Evelyn stopped and quickly held her breath. Only after the wind died down did she continue forward.

She encountered a pile of snake carcasses nearly every few steps. Occasionally, other people would emerge from empty buildings, hurrying along just like her. They shared a silent understanding, ignoring one another as they passed with heads bowed, quickening their pace in opposite directions.

Sweat was already beading on Evelyn’s back when a piercing pain shot through the sole of her foot. Lifting her right foot, she saw three nails had pierced her hiking boot. They had gone straight through the thick sole and into her foot. Evelyn pulled a wrench from her space and removed the three nails, their tips stained with blood. With no time to clean the wound on the road, she could only put her boot back on and press onward.

At 4:00 AM sharp, Evelyn returned to Prosperity Gardens. Just as she entered Building D, a blinding light rose from the horizon, rapidly blanketing the earth.

Evelyn hurried upstairs. The moment the sun had risen, a heatwave had nearly scorched her eyes. She suspected the temperature had risen again. Opening the door to her apartment, she stripped off her clothes and boots and turned on the air conditioner. She stood in front of it with her hands on her hips, letting the cold air blast over her.

After a few minutes, the searing heat on her skin subsided. Evelyn took out the herbal tea she had brewed earlier from her space, mixed in a vial of heatstroke medicine, and downed it in one gulp. The indescribable taste instantly twisted her face into a grimace.

The temperature had indeed risen another degree. Even the cacti on her balcony were starting to wilt. Evelyn grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

The wound on her foot was rather serious. The nails had been rusty. Evelyn gave herself a tetanus shot, then disinfected and cleaned the wound before wrapping it with gauze.

Besides scavenging for supplies, Evelyn had also used this trip to clear all the trash out of her space. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she had gone to a more distant location to dump it.

She took everything she had scavenged last night out of her space and laid it on the living room floor. After recounting and reorganizing it all, Evelyn set aside the rice, flour, grains, and oils, storing the rest away. She was a bit obsessive-compulsive; even things inside her space had to be arranged neatly.

The space was a gigantic warehouse. Evelyn didn’t know how big it was, only that she could never seem to fill it. Looking at the items piled on the floor, Evelyn stroked her chin. ’Looks like I should find some shelves next time I go out.’

After a simple breakfast, Evelyn planned to catch up on sleep. She turned on the humidifier and promptly lay down.

She slept straight through until three in the afternoon. The moment Evelyn woke up, she heard a violent thud from the balcony. She rubbed her eyes and walked over. The sight of a vulture circling outside snapped her fully awake.

The vulture flapped its wings, flying past her window. Evelyn saw it was clutching a person in its powerful talons. The person was struggling desperately, and their struggles seemed to have angered the vulture, causing it to flap its wings and strike the glass of Evelyn’s balcony.

The person in the vulture’s grasp grew frantic at the sight of Evelyn.

"Help! Save me! I see you, please save me!"

It was a woman with a young-sounding voice. But just as she finished crying for help, the vulture abruptly released its grip. The woman screamed as she plummeted. Just before she hit the ground, the vulture swooped down, snatched her up again, and flew dozens of meters into the air. Then it dropped her, caught her, dropped her, caught her...

Evelyn narrowed her eyes, watching the scene unfold. ’It’s toying with her. Like a cat that’s caught a mouse. It doesn’t kill it right away. It teases it, terrifies it, and plays with it until it gets bored, and only then does it deliver the killing bite.’

But vultures weren’t patient animals like cats. They were ferocious and brutal, devouring their prey immediately after capture. They didn’t toy with it like this.

’Unless the woman did something to make the vulture retaliate like this.’

"Help... help... please save me..."

Her voice grew weaker and weaker until she fainted. Just then, there was a knock on Evelyn’s door. She glanced at the vulture, still going about its business, then went back to her room to change before opening the door.

"Ford, did you see the eagle outside?"

"It’s a vulture," Evelyn corrected him matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Officer Graham said. "A vulture? What would something like that be doing in Corinth?"

Evelyn didn’t reply, her gaze sweeping over the four people at her door. Wendy was on Officer Graham’s back, her hair a messy bird’s nest, her big eyes fixed on Evelyn.

Roy Henderson and Owen Chapman stood behind them, heads bowed in silence.

"Do you think they’ll show up in swarms, like the poison moths, toads, and snakes before?" Officer Graham asked worriedly.

"It’s possible. We should be fine if we don’t go out during the day. Vultures only hunt in daylight; they don’t come out at night."

Officer Graham’s expression relaxed slightly. "Looks like we have another crisis on our hands."

No one suggested trying to save the woman outside. They all knew it was a pipe dream to rescue someone from a vulture’s talons.

"Miss Ford, what happened to your foot?" Roy Henderson stepped forward, looking at her foot with concern.

"I went out last night and stepped on a nail on my way back. You all should be careful when you go out, too. The roads are covered in glass, nails, and rebar."

"I have some ointment, let me go get it for you," Officer Graham said, about to head upstairs to retrieve it, but Evelyn quickly refused.

"No, thank you. I have some as well, and it’s not a serious injury. By the way, the temperature went up again today."

Owen Chapman and Roy Henderson exchanged a look, an unshakeable despair and fear in the two boys’ eyes.

"You could try checking Caelan Manor." Caelan Manor was the high-end residential complex Evelyn had visited last night.

Officer Graham’s eyes lit up. He immediately looked at Roy Henderson and Owen Chapman. "I’ll take you there tonight."

They all returned to their own apartments. Evelyn walked to her balcony and looked out. The vulture was gone. A large patch of fresh blood was splattered on the ground below, already dried and baked by the sun.

「

Flora Scott bitterly regretted her foolish impulse to throw a rock at the vulture. She never imagined it would not only hold a grudge but also be able to pick her out of a crowd.

When the vulture had snatched her, neither Jill Lynch nor Rachel Xavier had tried to save her. Gazing at her already mangled legs, Flora Scott’s heart was filled with nothing but endless resentment and regret.

But she thought she had seen Evelyn Ford. Even through the glass, she was sure she wasn’t mistaken. That girl with the short hair was Evelyn Ford.

In the final moments of her life, Flora Scott resented everyone. Jill Lynch, Rachel Xavier, Evelyn Ford—not a single one of them had saved her.

」

That night, Officer Graham left Prosperity Gardens with Roy Henderson and Owen Chapman, leaving Wendy locked at home. The wound on Evelyn’s foot was showing signs of inflammation, forcing her to lift her right foot as she walked.

Evelyn took out a map of Corinth and circled several residential complexes, industrial zones, and commercial districts situated on higher ground.