Night fell, and the lights of Rock Fortress came on once again.
In the dining hall, people gathered after a full day of work and training.
Duane and Little Jimmy sat beside Morgan, Tom, and Mira, excitedly gesturing as they described feeding the lambs that day.
Elena and her students sat around one table, still deep in an animated discussion about the details of the dam construction.
Daryl sat in a corner, quietly eating while listening to Merle brag.
On the other side of the room, Michonne silently sharpened her katana, while Gavin chatted with Mike about the day's haul. "...The welding equipment in that warehouse is in great shape. Ancheta said it'll work after a little repair."
After dinner, Calista finished making her rounds through the dining hall and was just about to leave when Rickson called out to her.
"Calista, at this rate, once spring comes, we really will be able to move on the Knoxville Industrial Park."
Calista looked out at the heavy night beyond the window and said softly, "Good. Keep it up. And someday, what I want won't be limited to one industrial park."
Rickson froze for a moment, then understood what she meant.
He looked at the people in the dining hall and suddenly felt that perhaps this seemingly impossible goal really might come true one day.
As the night deepened, the lights of Rock Fortress burned stubbornly among the mountains, like a spark that refused to go out.
A peaceful week passed.
Then winter arrived.
The temperature plunged within a few short hours one night, crushing the last trace of autumn warmth that could still be felt under the sun the day before.
Leaden clouds hung suffocatingly thick and low over the Great Smoky Mountains, as if they might come crashing down at any moment.
The north wind swept up dead leaves and lashed them against the fences of Blackberry Ranch, letting out an unsettling howl.
Then snowflakes, fine as grains of salt, began to fall.
The first true winter after the apocalypse announced its arrival in the harshest way possible.
Inside Rock Fortress, the usual noise of training and work was replaced by an even more urgent kind of bustle.
The cold was an enemy that slipped in everywhere. Through gaps in doors and windows, through brick and stone walls, even through the air people breathed.
Rickson became the frontline commander in the fight against the cold snap.
His tall figure kept appearing at every critical point.
"All rooms in Rock Fortress have been inspected! We used damp hemp rope and every rubber sealing strip we could find to block the main gaps!"
"The reserve firewood from Blackberry Ranch has been moved to the designated storage point near the main fireplace!"
"Report! The medical room says frostbite ointment is being used up faster than expected!"
Information kept pouring in to Rickson, while Ellie stood beside him, her fingers sliding quickly across her tablet.
"Prioritize heating for the medical room, command room, and living quarters. Notify the kitchen that starting today, all meals are to be hot food and stews, with hot water provided." Rickson spoke quickly.
"Tell everyone to put on their thickest clothes. Don't try to save them for later. Keep moving. Staying active will save your life better than sitting still."
In the weapons repair workshop, Ancheta faced a new challenge.
Precision weapon maintenance became exceptionally difficult in low temperatures.
Metal parts were bitterly cold. Touching them bare-handed for even a few seconds risked frostbite, but thick gloves made delicate work almost impossible.
"Damn it! This firing pin's as brittle as a damn popsicle!" This time, Mike had been dragged in to help. He complained loudly, breathed a cloud of white air onto his hands, then quickly shoved them back into his gloves.
Ancheta had no choice but to temporarily set aside the work in the weapons repair workshop and shift his focus to inspecting and maintaining the base's equipment.
Tom took several mechanics and carefully climbed onto the roof to check the chimney.
The freezing wind nearly blew him off.
"There are bird nests and debris blocking it inside! I need a few people up here to clear it out!" Tom shouted down, his voice torn apart by the wind.
The people below held the safety ropes tensely.
Cleaning the flue was dangerous work, but in the apocalypse, there were no professional chimney sweeps. They had to do it themselves.
Ancheta inspected their few fuel heaters and generator units, trying to mix a small amount of their rare aviation fuel with regular diesel to keep it from thickening in the cold.
"Use it sparingly. Only start them when it really matters," he reminded the others again and again.
Outside, under the watch of armed guards, Jason and Wagner were carrying heavy bundles of firewood from outdoors to the designated indoor storage points.
The cold made their movements stiff and clumsy, and their breath condensed into thick white mist in the air.
Jason's nose was running from the cold, his eyes dull and numb.
Wagner worked in silence, occasionally glancing at the snow swirling beyond the window, his expression complicated.
They had moved out of the dungeon now and were living in a tool shed beside the three main buildings of Rock Fortress.
Though it was warmer than the dungeon, the cold-weather supplies they had been given were very basic.
Only blankets and limited food.
Until they saved up enough redemption points, this was both punishment and test.
Calista had put on a military parka with a fur collar that the search team had found, and she trudged across the ground of Blackberry Ranch, where snow had already begun to pile up.
Her top priority lately was making sure the base's livestock survived.
They were not only a future source of meat, but also dairy, draft power, and a symbol of the base's hope for sustainable development.
Mrs. Howard, Guillermo, and Miguel were all bundled in several layers of clothing, making them look extremely bulky, but it did not slow them down at all.
When they were not redeeming points for supplies, they would go help the others as well.
"Hurry! Use all the old canvas and tarps. Cover the livestock shed roofs with them, layer by layer. Weigh down the corners with heavy objects. Don't let the wind tear them loose!"
Tommy's voice came in broken bursts through the wind and snow. He and Guillermo were struggling to drag a huge, heavy tarp onto the roof of the largest cattle shed.
The tarp thrashed violently in the wind, like a beast trying to break free.
Inside the cattle shed, the massive dairy cows and two bulls stamped uneasily at the ground, their white breaths joining into a single misty cloud.
By instinct, they pressed together, using each other's body heat to stay warm.
Sarah, together with Duane and Little Jimmy, focused on the more fragile lives.
The pregnant sow brought back from the prison had given birth to a litter of piglets a few days earlier. At the same time, they also had several sheep that were visibly thin and weak.
"Duane, bring more dry hay to the pigpen. The driest you can find. Lay it down thick!" Sarah directed the children as they helped.
She and Miguel carefully laid every old blanket and worn-out piece of clothing they could find, layer by layer, inside the wooden brooder built specially for the piglets in the indoor pigpen, already padded thick with hay.
Several pink, fragile-looking piglets huddled beside the sow, letting out faint squeals, their bodies visibly trembling.
Duane's little face had turned bluish from the cold, but he did not complain once. He simply kept running back and forth between the hay shed and the pens.
Everyone knew how important these animals were.
Little Jimmy stood guard beside the brooder, constantly gathering scattered hay with his hands and covering the piglets with it.
"Don't be scared, don't be scared. More hay and you won't be cold," he murmured to himself. His small face was red from the freezing air, but his eyes were full of responsibility.
He even tried to warm the weakest-looking piglet with his own little hands, but it did no good. All he could do was look anxiously at Sarah.
...
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