Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 342

Chapter 342 The Cave Collapsed

The last slab of rock groaned free, and for one heartbeat everything seemed to be going right — until the ground beneath the diggers’ feet gave a low, ominous shudder.

“Wait-” one of the earth users gasped, stumbling back. “Something’s shifting below-”

The words weren’t even fully out before the whole gap seemed to exhale, a deep grinding rumbleling up from beneath the rock. Snow sloughed off the boulders above in a sudden sheet, and Joanna’s stontac dropped as a fresh crack split across the stone right where her hand had just been reaching through

“MOVE!” Levi bellowed, yanking one of his men back by the collar as a chunk of the ridge above sheared loose and slid.

“JOLIE!” Joanna screamed into the opening, no longer caring about calm and controlled. “Jolie, talk to me!”

Silence. A full second of it, the worst second of Joanna’s life, filled only with the grinding, shiding roar of rock resettling.

Then – faint, muffled, but there – “I’m okay! I’m okay, the vines – I pulled them back around me like a shield, I’m okay-”

Relief crashed through Joanna so hard her knees nearly buckled, but there was no time to feel it. The opening they’d carved out had partially resealed, rubble and snow choking half of it, and the ridge above groaned again, unstable, unhappy, threatening more.

“We’ve got maybe one more good push before this whole slope comes down,” one of the earth users said grimly, already back on his knees, hands flat against the rock despite the danger. “After that, I don’t know if we can control it.”

“Then make this one count,” Joanna snapped, dropping back down at the edge herself. “Jolie – brace yourself, we’re going again, and it might get loud.”

Ready, Jolie’s voice came back, tight but steady.

Joanna nodded to the earth users. “Now!”

Rock ripped apart in one final, violent shudder, dirt and snow cascading down the slope in a wave that sent two of Levi’s men scrambling sideways to keep their footing – and there, through the settling dust and debris, was Jolie. Curled tight, vines wrapped protectively around her like a cocoon, hair full of dirt, face pale and scraped, but alive, blinking up into the gray daylight like she couldn’t quite believe it was real.

“JOLIE!” Joanna didn’t wait for the ground to fully settle — she threw herself forward, hauling Jolie out of the last of the rubble and into her arms, both of them nearly toppling backward down the slope in the process. Levi caught them both by the shoulder, steadying them just as another small slide of loose rock rattled down where they’d been kneeling seconds before.

For a moment, nobody said anything. Joanna just held on, feeling the frantic thud of Jolie’s heartbeat against her own chest, the tremor running through Jolie’s whole body, cold and exhausted but undeniably, miraculously whole.

“You scared the hell out of me,” Joanna finally managed, voice cracking.

09:47 Fri, Oct 16

Chapter 342 The Cave Collapsed

Jolie let out a shaky, broken laugh against her shoulder. “Yeah. Me too, Boss. Me too.”

+5 Pearls

hind them, Uncle Nate exhaled a long breath he’d clearly been holding, and Levi ran a hand down hi face, looking, for the first time all day, like he might actually believe this had ended well.

“Everyone, back to the base,” Joanna called out, voice hoarse but firm, already scanning the group for stragglers. “Levi, get your men off this slope before it decides to finish what it started. Uncle Nate with Levi.”

Nobody argued. The earth users climbed down first, followed by Levi’s men, all of them casting war glances back at the ridge as they went. Joanna didn’t waste another second – she pulled Jolie into perspace and teleported straight back to the base, leaving the unstable slope and the biting wind behind.

The moment they landed inside her space, Jolie’s legs buckled. Joanna caught her before she hit the ground, easing her down gently instead.

–

“Easy. Easy, I’ve got you.” Joanna guided her toward the hot spring tucked on the side of the villa – one of the space’s earliest and best discoveries, one she’d relied on more times than she could count over the months.

Jolie’s hands shook as she tried to undress, fingers fumbling uselessly at her jacket zipper until Joanna gently brushed them aside and did it for her. What the coat had hidden made Joanna’s jaw tighten deep bruising bloomed along Jolie’s ribs and one shoulder, dark purple already spreading beneath the skin, scrapes crusted with dried blood along her forearms, and her right wrist held awkwardly against her chest, swollen and already starting to discolor.

“Wrist too,” Jolie mumbled, wincing as Joanna carefully turned it over. “Think I landed on it wrong when the rock gave out.”

“Definitely sprained,” Joanna murmured, examining it as gently as she could. “Maybe worse. Let’s get you in the water – it should help some, at least until Michelle can take a proper look.”

She helped Jolie the rest of the way into the spring, and Jolie let out a shuddering, broken groan the moment the water closed around her, some of the awful tension finally bleeding out of her shoulders as the familiar warmth worked into abused, frozen muscle. Already, the angriest of the scrapes along her arms looked to be knitting closed at the edges, and her breathing came easier within minutes. Joanna knelt at the edge, keeping a steadying hand on her good shoulder, watching the color slowly creep back into Jolie’s lips.

“Just breathe,” Joanna said softly. “You’re safe. You’re out.”

Jolie nodded, eyes fluttering shut, exhaustion finally catching up to her now that the adrenaline had nowhere left to run.

Joanna reached for a cloth, dipping it in the warm water and carefully cleaning the dried blood and grit from the worst of the scrapes, working in silence for a few minutes while Jolie floated, boneless, letting herself be looked after.

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