BSI Chapter 88 Heavy Snow Blocks the Door, Temperature Plummets
Chapter 88 Heavy Snow Blocks the Door, Temperature Plummets
The biting cold felt like it was seeping into your very bones.
Tom jolted awake, his gaze snapping to the fireplace. The flames were still burning, but they were shriveling weakly.
His heart tightened, and he looked sharply at the iron-casting furnace.
The coal in the furnace was still warm, but there was no flame left.
Using the dim light from the fireplace, he subconsciously glanced out the window.
One glance was enough to freeze him in place.
The lower half of the window was completely blocked by thick snow!
Outside, a blizzard is howling!
The wooden house was buried alive!
They were completely unaware of the silent, devastating disaster that struck during the night!
Fear gripped my heart instantly.
Tom suddenly remembered something and abruptly turned to look at the ever-burning kerosene lamp. The wick had long since gone out, leaving only the cold glass shade.
His pupils contracted sharply, and he hurriedly looked at the fireplace chimney again. Fortunately, no black smoke was pouring out, which barely calmed his wildly beating heart.
Before he could catch his breath, Tom quickly sensed his body and an indescribable feeling of weakness crept over him.
It's a lack of oxygen!
Or even more deadly carbon monoxide!
Alarm bells rang in my head, leaving no room for hesitation!
He rushed to the wall, climbed the ladder with both hands and feet, and forcefully pushed open the pre-installed ventilation opening near the roof.
"call!"
A biting, knife-like wind, carrying ice shards, instantly and violently filled the entire wooden house!
"Get up, everyone!!" Tom roared as he rushed into the living room, but thankfully everyone was still crammed into the main room.
Thankfully, everyone is together!
He grabbed the thickest fur coat, wrapped it haphazardly around little John, and shoved it into James's arms.
"The snow has buried the house! The temperature is plummeting!" The shout woke everyone up.
Before he finished speaking, he had already rushed into the bedroom like a whirlwind, kicking the door open with a bang: "Get up! The doors and windows are all blocked! I'm freezing to death!"
After shouting, he immediately turned around and rushed back to the ladder in the living room, and with all his might, slammed the deadly vent shut!
It only took about two minutes!
Fresh air came in, but the precious warmth was also instantly sucked away!
In the living room, James reacted quickly, having already placed little John, wrapped in thick cowhide, on the warmest floor by the fireplace, with another layer of cowhide underneath him.
"Dig the snow! The snow is blocking the door!" Tom gasped, pointing to the half-meter-deep cellar entrance by the door.
James ripped off the thick wooden planks above the cellar.
Below, the cellar has thumb-width iron plates embedded on both sides, leading directly to the outside!
When everyone crouched down to look, they saw a cold iron chain hanging from a thin wooden board in the same spot outside the door!
Without hesitation, James reached out and grabbed the chain, his muscles bulging, and pulled hard!
Zach and Ennis immediately pounced on him, and the three of them, with veins bulging, pulled him into the house with all their might!
The chains rattled as the wooden planks outside were dragged in inch by inch, filling the cellar like a waterfall of snowflakes, instantly leveling out most of it!
It wasn't until the heavy wooden plank with several small iron pulleys was completely dragged into the house that several people worked together to move it away!
The moment the wooden planks were removed, an extreme chill, carrying the aura of death, instantly swept through the living room!
Everyone involuntarily shivered, their teeth chattering, and they wrapped themselves tightly in whatever they could to keep warm.
"Quick!" Tom growled, grabbing a wooden shovel.
Ignoring the cold, everyone raced against time to frantically shovel up the snow from the cellar and dump it into the empty wooden buckets beside them.
The women in the bedroom rushed out and used icy snow to extinguish the last faint red light in the iron furnace.
All people, all the energy, must be concentrated!
In the living room, the fireplace flames flickered precariously, battered by the cold air pouring in from the vents and the cellar.
Jonah reacted quickly and shoved in two large pieces of firewood!
Wooden shovels flew, and chunks of snow fell.
They dug open the white grave outside the door, shovel by shovel!
The moment the passage was opened!
Outside the window, the roaring that had raged all night had stopped at some point.
A faint but incredibly precious ray of dawn pierced the grayness of the east.
The sky finally brightened!
After managing to stuff a few mouthfuls of dry, hard food, the group plunged headfirst into the icy world, their leather jackets, pants, and boots covering them completely, leaving only their eyes exposed and stinging from the cold wind.
In just a few breaths, everyone was enveloped by an invisible, heavy force!
Each inhale felt like ice shards scraping against my throat.
With each exhale, the frost instantly congeals, obscuring the gaps in the fur before my eyes, rapidly blurring and shrinking my vision.
"Quick! Don't stop!" Tom roared, his voice sounding particularly weak in the dead silence of the snowfield.
They frantically swung wooden shovels, desperately clearing the path leading to the livestock shed.
But the body loses heat faster than the snow shovels fly down!
"I can't hold on any longer! Get back inside!" someone shouted. A chill crept up their limbs and into their heart. If they didn't go inside soon, their hands and feet would be useless!
The group retreated to the cabin in a sorry state, their heavy leather boots striking the doorway and creating thick slabs of ice.
Tom was the first to rush to the fireplace. His hands were almost numb, and he could only frantically rub them together, greedily absorbing the meager warmth from the leaping flames. A wisp of white steam even rose from his leather gloves.
"This damn heavens... when will it ever end?" Margaret's voice trembled as she handed over a cup of scalding hot coffee.
Ignoring the heat, Tom gulped down a large mouthful, the scalding liquid barely dispelling the slight chill in his throat.
"I don't know!" He gritted his teeth, wrapped himself up tighter again, and looked resolute. "But the animals can't wait!" Before he finished speaking, he had already smashed open the door again and rushed into that frozen hell.
In, out; warm, cold; catch your breath, then fight on again!
In this hellish cycle, the lifeline to the livestock shed was finally carved out inch by inch by their almost frozen hands and numb will!
The "snow grave" in front of the gate was also completely leveled.
As I rushed into the livestock shed, a wave of relatively warm air, mixed with the smell of livestock, hit me.
Ok!
The shed was sturdy enough that the livestock, huddled together, miraculously remained unharmed!
However, the water stored in the sink had long since frozen into solid blocks of ice.
The moment the fireplace in the barn was lit, the warmth from the leaping flames made them feel truly alive again; their stiff bodies seemed to thaw, emitting soft moans.
"Ennis," Tom gasped, "were Montana winters always this horrible?"
Ennis stood in front of the fireplace, stamping his numb feet in an attempt to regain consciousness.
"Hmm!" he groaned, his voice low and deep. "It's been this cold all this time."
"When will this awful weather finally get warmer?" someone asked, clinging to their last shred of hope.
"March," Ennis uttered, the two words as crisp as icicles hitting the ground.
A collective gasp filled the air.
It's only December now!
The long torture has only just begun!
Ennis lowered his eyes, staring at the flickering flames, his mind racing: This cold is eerily cold, and it's too early!
It's never been this early in previous years!
On the day the blizzard sealed off the house, the livestock shed survived by relying on the thick walls and each other's body heat.
But Tom and his group looked like they had crawled back from the gates of hell, each of them looking like they had been drained of half their life!