Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 258

Chapter 258 Briggs Gentle Approach

26:38:64

Finished

Caleb leaned his head back against the headrest, looking out at the frozen landscape. “Brandon is a good puzzle piece, like Glacier and Fletcher. Brandon will help Fletcher seize control over Westridge within one year. By rescuing him, they both will allow free trade to be set up there with favorable discounts for you. Also, they will act as sentinels to warn us of trouble.”

Joanna raised an eyebrow, listening intently.

“By destroying Tech Valley, a lot of groups will eventually come looking for you,” Caleb continued, his tone turning serious. “Glacier and Fletcher will help catch anyone looking for your team.”

Julian, looking thoroughly annoyed, spoke up from the driver’s seat. “Do you not see his unhealthy obsession with Joanna?”

Caleb sighed heavily. “I know, Julian. The good news is he will have his hands full with Rebekah once he settles in with Fletcher. She should wear him down in a year, so he won’t fixate on Joanna anymore.”

Caleb tensed a little bit. “Joanna, on our way back, it would be good to stop in Dillon again. Glacier is going to get stabbed in the back somehow. If you rescue him, he will soften significantly towards you.”

Joanna sighed. She really did not want to go anywhere near Glacier, but she understood the strategic need for multiple layers of defense. “Fine. But right now, me, Briggs, and RJ have had no sleep. You guys deal with the zombies and any ambushes. We earned a nap.”

Briggs grunted in agreement from the back. “Yeah. Anyone who wakes us up will get their hair singed.”

When Briggs spoke in that cold tone, Joanna couldn’t help but smile, while everyone else cast a nervous eye toward him. Julian reached over and turned on the radio, filling the cabin with low background noise. Kailee passed Joanna a blanket, offering a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, boss,” Kailee said softly. “We got it covered.”

Joanna pulled the blanket up, closed her eyes, and finally let go of the tension. She fell fast asleep to the rhythmic sound of the convoy crashing through random, stray zombies on the frozen road.

Joanna woke up around noon, the heavy fog of exhaustion finally lifting from her brain. She blinked, feeling immensely better after the deep, uninterrupted sleep, and stretched her stiff muscles under Kailee’s blanket.

But as she sat up and looked around, the relaxed atmosphere was entirely gone.

The Beast was parked on the side of a snow-dusted highway. The engine was idling quietly, but the silence inside the cabin was deafening. Julian was gripping the steering wheel, staring straight ahead with an unnaturally stiff posture. In the back seat, Caleb and Kailee were frozen in place, looking at her with wide, panicked eyes-the exact expression of guilty kids who had just dropped a glass of milk on the kitchen floor.

Joanna’s spatial instincts kicked in. She instantly grew alert, her eyes darting between them.

“What happened?” she demanded, her voice sharp.

Nobody spoke. Caleb slowly lifted a trembling finger, pointing out the passenger window toward the front of the vehicle.

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10:34 Fri, Oct 9

Chapter 258 Briggs Gentle Approach

26:36:94

Finished

Joanna leaned over and looked. Standing right in front of the Beast’s massive grille was a solitary, Completely frozen zombie. It wasn’t moving because its entire head was enveloped in a small, localized, crackling cloud of electrical energy-and its hair was smoking, completely singed down to the scalp.

“We… we ran into a small pack about twenty minutes ago,” Caleb squeaked, his voice cracking. “One of them jumped onto the hood. It was going to slam against your window.”

Julian cleared his throat looking annoyed, but still refusing to look Joanna in the eye. “I didn’t want it to wake you up. And Briggs said…”

“I said anyone who woke us up gets their hair singed,” Briggs’s deep, sleep-graveled voice rumbled from the very back row. He hadn’t even opened his eyes, but a dark smirk was spreading across his face. “The zombie counted.”

Joanna looked back at the bald, smoking zombie, then at her terrified crew, and tried very hard to bite back her amusement.

Joanna burst out laughing, the sudden burst of sound causing Caleb and Kailee to visibly deflate with relief. “Briggs,” she said, shaking her head as she looked toward the back row, “you need to learn a gentle approach

at times.”

Briggs didn’t even open his eyes. He just shifted his massive shoulders against the seat and let out a soft grunt.

“That was my gentle approach,” Briggs rumbled in a flat, deadpan voice. “If I wasn’t being gentle, I would have used shampoo first so the fire caught better.”

Julian let out a rare, sharp snort of amusement, finally letting go of his death grip on the steering wheel, while the rest of the cabin erupted into chuckles.

“Let’s pause here and eat lunch,” Joanna announced, unbuckling her seatbelt. “You can deal with the hood ornament, Briggs.”

Briggs let out a heavy sigh, finally opening his eyes. “The things I do for peace and quiet,” he muttered, pushing his door open.

Outside, Jake was already in motion, gesturing for the convoy to hold their positions. Levi walked up from the rear of the line, and Jake met him halfway. “Let everyone eat and stretch their legs,” Jake instructed. “We’ve got a long drive ahead before we can rest again.”

While the soldiers started breaking out rations, a small clearance team formed to secure the immediate perimeter. Kailee led the way, taking a few of Levi’s men along with RJ and Jake to systematically eliminate a handful of stray zombies wandering near the highway.

Behind them followed Jolie. Over the last few weeks, she had developed an incredibly steady hand and a sharp eye, getting really good at extracting the valuable cores from the zombies after they died. She moved efficiently among the fallen infected, retrieving the glowing gems with practiced ease.

Joanna leaned against the hood of the Beast, nursing a warm canteen as her gaze swept over the resting convoy.

The change in the air was undeniable. Levi and his men looked completely different now that they had been dragged out of the stifling, oppressive atmosphere of Tech Valley. The haunted, exhausted look was

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