Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 344

Chapter 344 Mysterious Rodent Problem

Finished

Joanna made her way across the courtyard toward the meeting room, Bubbles trotting alongside her, and reached out through the mind link as she walked.

Jolie’s going to be alright, she sent to the group in Dillon. But I need to stay at the base for a few more day Something’s happened here I need to deal with personally.

Julian’s voice came through almost immediately, tinged with a whine. Joanna, come on- let us come b We can drive out in a couple days, it’s not that far.

Yeah, Briggs added, equally petulant. Being out here is boring. We’re just standing around watching earth users stack dirt. It’s not like we’re built for wall construction.

You’re built for whatever I tell you you’re built for, Fletcher cut in, dry as ever. Also pretty sure I saw you volunteer to “supervise” this morning, which just meant sitting on a crate eating jerky while everyone else worked.

That’s called leadership, Briggs shot back.

That’s called laziness with a title, Fletcher said.

Glacier’s voice came through last, clipped and sharp with none of the humor the others carried. If either of you actually cared about being useful, you’d stop asking to leave and start pulling your weight where you are. Boss said stay. So stay.

There was a brief, chastened silence on the line.

…Copy, Julian muttered eventually, sulking.

Joanna almost smiled despite everything weighing on her, reaching the meeting room door. Thank you, Glacier. Everyone – hold the line in Dillon. I’ll update you the moment I know more.

By the time everyone had crowded into the meeting room – Levi, Raven, Virginia, Noah, and Ryan, all still faintly out of breath from rushing over – the mood in the room had shifted heavy with unspoken tension. Joanna waited until the door shut behind the last of them before she spoke.

“Jolie was poisoned,” she said flatly, watching the words land like a stone dropped into still water. “Not stabbed, not attacked directly – poisoned. Michelle thinks it came from something released in those bushes we saw shaking on the ridge. Some kind of gas or spore, triggered somehow, carried on the wind toward her. She never even saw what did it.”

Levi’s jaw tightened. “That’s not natural.”

“No,” Joanna agreed. “It’s not.”

Ryan cleared his throat, shifting his weight. “Boss, while I was out looking for tracks – found something strange near the base of the ridge. Prints, small, four-toed. Could be rodent, if I had to guess, but…” He hesitated. “They’re wrong. Too deep for how light the prints look, and the stride’s too long. If it’s a rodent, it’s not a normal one.”

The room went quiet at that, another piece sliding into place beside Jolie’s poisoning.

Raven spoke up next, voice careful. “Dante’s been scouting like you asked. He says there are definitely

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Chapter 344 Mysterious Rodent Problem

Finished

people two ridges over – living out of caves, from what he can tell. But they’re quiet. Barely move. No fires he could spot, no real activity. Like they’re trying not to be seen at all.”

Joanna’s mind turned the pieces over the mutated tracks, the silent survivors tucked away in the rock, the poisoned bushes, Jolie waking up a mile from where she’d fallen with no memory of how she got here. None of it fit together yet, but all of it felt connected, like threads pulled from the same tangled knot.

“Alright.” Joanna straightened, shifting into command. “Here’s what we’re doing.”

She turned first to Virginia. “Do you know Jolie’s routine? Food reserves, distribution?”

Virginia nodded slowly. “Not all of it, but Nana and Danielle have been helping her for weeks now they’d know most of it.”

“Good. Virginia, you and Nana take over Jolie’s job while she recovers.” Joanna glanced at Noah next. That means the kitchen’s short-handed. Noah, pull a few extra hands to help Danielle cover meals until Jolie’s back.”

Noah nodded immediately. “On it.”

She turned to Levi. “I want that ridge locked down. Eyes on it around the clock, in shifts. Nobody goes near those bushes again – when I was out there, only one cluster looked wrong. If anyone spots movement, they report it immediately. No one investigates alone.”

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