Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 191

Chapter 191 Theory Of The Zombie Virus

Finished

The trip back was a lot faster since the team had already cleared the zombies and pushed the wrecked cars off the highway earlier that day. Jake cruised down the open asphalt, and within minutes, the tactical beast pulled smoothly into the secure perimeter of Joanna’s temporary base.

Once Joanna got back, everyone headed straight inside the massive courtyard tent. She pulled Uncle Nate, Raven, and Titan out from her space. The warm, fragrant air hitting their faces immediately made their mouths water. Danielle and Nana had spent the afternoon busy in the kitchen, laying out a large, steaming buffet of Asian comfort food to celebrate the team’s successful raid.

Sprawled across the long tables were heaps of savory beef bulgogi, crispy pork gyoza, and large platters of stir-fried lo mein noodles. Giant bowls of hot, spicy kimchi stew bubbled alongside plates of sweet chicken teriyaki and perfectly steamed jasmine rice.

“Look who finally decided to come home,” Danielle teased with a warm smile.

“Sit down, eat!” Nana Klein commanded gently, waving a massive serving spoon. “You all look like you burned through a mountain of energy today.”

Briggs didn’t need to be told twice. He immediately grabbed a plate and started piling it high with beef bulgogi. The rest of the team hurried to join him, filling their plates and finding spaces on the plush cushions. After a long day of intense breakthroughs and close encounters, the lively, fragrant tent felt like paradise.

Seeing Michelle and Warren, Joanna waved them over to sit down and eat by her. They were still a little nervous around Joanna, but over the past few days, they realized she really took care of her people.

Joanna, in the middle of scarfing down spicy kimchi stew, looked up at them. “What sort of information did you find out regarding Dr. Anderson’s work?”

Michelle and Warren exchanged a quick look. They both pulled out handwritten notes from their coats, smoothing the crumpled pages onto the table next to the platters of steaming food.

Joanna swallowed a spoonful of spicy kimchi stew, her face entirely unbothered. “Do you mean the bovine testing?”

Both Michelle and Warren looked completely stunned, freezing with their chopsticks in mid-air. They couldn’t understand how Joanna already knew a classified detail like that.

Warren swallowed hard and continued. “Yes. He introduced the pathogen to livestock, trying to see how mammal biology reacted to the virus structural strands. But his final journal entries detail a massive anomaly. The zombie virus isn’t static. It’s a dormant evolutionary engine.”

Michelle leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a tense whisper. “According to his logs, the virus is designed to mutate rapidly after hitting a specific catalyst. It reacts violently to sudden chemical shifts in the environment. Once the catalyst is introduced to an area, the local infected and wildlife bypass the standard mutation timeline entirely. They level up instantly.”

Joanna’s eyes narrowed, her thoughts instantly racing back to the level-two mutant dogs they had fought just a few miles from the Virobane bush. The chilling puzzle pieces from the highway were finally clicking together.

Chapter 191 Theory Of The Zombie Virus

Finished

Warren adjusted his notes, leaning in closer. “Dr. Anderson discovered that one specific herd of cattle possessed a completely unique, dormant strain of a synthetic growth hormone hidden deep in its genetic akeup. This herd became a silent carrier. They showed absolutely no symptoms of sickness whatsoever, meaning they passed every standard health screening.”

Michelle took over, her voice dropping to a tense whisper. “Because they looked completely healthy, the entire herd was processed and sent to commercial markets before the collapse. Once people ate the contaminated meat, the dormant strain reacted with the human immune system. It mutated instantly, serving as the biological catalyst that triggered the widespread outbreak of the zombie virus.”/

Michelle continued, her fingers tightening around her handwritten pages. “The government realized the mistake and tried to shut the entire supply chain down, but it mutated within hours of entering a human system. It honestly happened too fast for anyone to get ahead of it.”

The heavy revelation hung over the dinner table, the steaming plates of food suddenly losing a bit of their appeal.

As the team processed the grim news, Joanna’s mind suddenly raced back to Leo’s farm. She remembered how remarkably healthy and thriving Leo’s animals were. In a world where wildlife was rapidly twisting into bloodthirsty level-two mutants, his livestock remained completely pristine and unaffected.

Joanna paused, setting her chopsticks down, and filled in Michelle and Warren about the Virobane bush growing on Leo’s farm and the uncanny health of the animals there.

Hearing this, Warren got really excited. He sat up straight, his eyes wide with a frantic, scientific energy as he slapped his hand on the table. “If the source of the Virobane is on this farm, then that explains everything! Dr. Anderson believed it stopped the virus from mutating entirely!”

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