Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 340

Chapter 340 The Frantic Search Is On!

+5 Pearls

Jonna stepped-out of her space, and immediately Bubbles growled low in his throat. “Take me too, Bos! If Jolie’s missing, I should be able to pick her scent up.”

Joanna didn’t argue. They made their way back to the tunnel, where Uncle Nate and Ryan were Ardy waiting, both bundled in thick coats, rifles slung over their shoulders. Survivalists before the work fell apart, hunters after – and now, level 3 ability users on top of it, more than capable of holding town if things went sideways.

“Ryan,” Joanna said, “I want you looking for animal tracks along the ridge. Anything fresh. If we find some, Raven might be able to ask them what they’ve seen out there.”

Ryan nodded once, expression grim but steady.

She turned to Uncle Nate. “You’ve got wind ability – and you can come with me into my space. I want eyes on the ground out there.” Then to Levi. “Keep Raven with you. She can reach me through the mind link no matter where I am. Anything happens, anything at all, you tell me immediately.”

“Got it, Boss.” Levi took off at a jog with Ryan close behind.

Joanna pulled Uncle Nate and Bubbles into her space, and a heartbeat later they reappeared out on the ridge, right where Jolie’s tracks had gone cold. The cold afternoon air hung silent around them, eerie in its stillness, the wind barely stirring the snow.

They spread out to search – checking for crevices, hollows in the rock, any gap large enough to hide a person or drag one through. Joanna scanned everything twice, and still came up with nothing. The ridge wasn’t large. There should have been something.

Overhead, dark shapes wheeled against the gray sky – Dante and his pigeon crew, circling low over the rocks. They’re saying there’s nothing on this side, Raven’s voice came through the mind link, relaying quickly. But Dante wants you to check near the base of that big boulder – he saw something glinting.

Joanna moved toward the boulder Raven described, scanning the ground near its base, but found only snow and stone.

“Joanna.” Uncle Nate’s voice cut through the quiet, sharp with focus. He crouched a few feet away, holding something up between two fingers – a crumpled, empty packet, half-buried in the snow and rock.

Joanna crossed to him and took it carefully, turning it over. Something about it tugged at her memory, familiar in a way she couldn’t place. “Where have I seen this before?”

T

Uncle Nate took it back, brought it close, and inhaled. His brow furrowed, then shot up. “Isn’t this the packaging from Jolie’s turkey jerky?”

patrol on this ridge. What are the chances Jolie would be snacking on jerky when she could be walking into a hostile situation? Bubbles sniffed it. Boss, that is not Jolie’s scent on the bag. Whoever was handling it last was not Jolie. Levi came back. That ridge is too small for regular patrols and with the snow so dense below, I told the men to hold off on that ridge until the snow disappears.

“Yeah,” Joanna agreed, turning the packet over once more in her hands. “That’s hers.”

Raven, she called through the mind link, ask Levi if he sends regular patrols out on this ridge.

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Chapter 340 The Frantic Search Is On!

A pause, then Raven’s voice came back. He says he’ll check.

+ Pend

Joanna frowned down at the empty packet. “What are the chances Jolie would be casually snacking onerky if she thought she was walking into something hostile? She’s not careless like that.”

Bubbles leaned in and sniffed the bag, nose wrinkling immediately, cars flattening. “Boss. That ist Jolie’s scent on this bag. Whoever handled it last, it wasn’t her.”

Joanna’s stomach tightened further. Someone else had touched this. Recently.

Levi’s back, Raven relayed a moment later. He says that ridge is too small for regular patrol routes, and with the snow packed so dense below it, he told the men to hold off patrolling it entirely until the melt clears if out.

Joanna’s jaw tightened, gaze sweeping back over the silent, empty ridge around them – the same ridge no one had walked in weeks, the same ridge survivors had vanished into five separate times.

“So nobody’s supposed to be out here,” she said quietly.

“Why would Jolie’s location register up here, though?” Joanna muttered, turning slowly in place, scanning the empty ridge again. “It doesn’t add up. If she was knocked out here, someone would’ve had to carry her, and there’s no drag marks, no footprints leading anywhere-” She trailed off, frustration mounting.

Another half hour passed, the search turning up nothing new, and Joanna’s worry crept steadily higher. The only thing keeping her from tipping fully into panic was the small, steady blip of Jolie’s heartbeat on the watch interface, still alive, still there.

Through it all, she’d kept half her attention on the mind link, checking in with the rest of her team back in Dillon. Allen had been the most vocal, insisting he’d drive through the night if they didn’t find Jolie soon, and Julian and RJ had immediately volunteered to come with him.

Stay put, Joanna had told them firmly. I need people in Dillon too. If this turns into something I can’t handle, I will teleport to you guys.

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