Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 351

Chapter 351 The Angry Snake

Finished

The rattler sound intensified, a dry, violent buzz that seemed to vibrate straight through the snow beneath ther feet. Raven’s face went tight with concentration for a moment before she spoke.

“She says we need to leave. Or die.”

Joanna held her ground, voice steady despite the pounding of her own heart. “Ask her if she’s hear anything about my friend. Someone went missing recently we found her trapped underground, a caye above this area.”

–

Raven’s eyes unfocused slightly as she pushed the question through, lips parting after a tense beat She says! it wasn’t her.” A pause, Raven’s voice tightening with real fear now. “But she thinks it might have been the moles.” Another beat, and Raven’s breath hitched. “Joanna – we need to back up. Right now. She just told me, in detail, how good we’d all taste.”

Joanna’s pulse spiked, but she kept her voice level. “Ask her if she likes rabbits.”

Raven relayed the question, confusion flickering across her face even as she translated, and while she did, Joanna reached into her space and pulled out one of the mutated rabbits she’d set aside for Bubbles, tossing it underhand toward the snake’s massive coiled length.

The snake’s head snapped toward the offering immediately – but instead of calming, its agitation seemed to spike further, tongue flicking rapidly, body coiling tighter.

“She says she didn’t do anything wrong,” Raven translated quickly, voice rising with urgency. “But if any more survivors come near her den again, she’ll kill them on sight. No warnings next time.”

Joanna saw the tension in the massive body ratchet higher with every passing second and made the call fast. “Everyone, fall back. Now.”

The group started backing away as one- and the snake lunged.

The massive head snapped forward across the snow faster than anything that size had any right to move, jaws unhinging wide toward Joanna before RJ’s hand shot out, eyes flashing bright with effort.

The snake froze mid-strike, body rigid, head hanging suspended inches from where Joanna stood, trapped entirely in RJ’s mental grip, muscles straining uselessly against the hold,

“Fall back!” Joanna barked, voice cracking across the clearing. “Everyone, now!”

They scrambled backward as one, boots skidding in the snow, putting distance between themselves and the frozen, furious creature.

“Raven – tell her we’re leaving,” Joanna called over her shoulder, still retreating. “Tell her I’ll order everyone to stay clear of this clearing. We’re not here to hunt her.”

Raven relayed the message, and slowly, as they put more distance between themselves and the den, the snake’s rigid posture began to ease, RJ’s hold loosening in careful increments until the creature settled back, coiling low near the rabbit carcass, tongue still flicking but no longer poised to strike.

Joanna kept her eyes on it even as they retreated. “Ask her where the moles are. The ones she mentioned.”

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10:23 Tue, Oct

Chapter 351 The Angry Snake

Finished

Raven pushed the question through one last time, and after a pause, translated the answer. “She says they’ further back in the valley.”

They pushed on through the brush, the snow growing noticeably heavier the deeper they moved into the valley, drifts rising past their knees in places where the wind had carved deep pockets between the trees!

brow furrowed. “Boss – why didn’t you just teleport out when the snake

Levi fell into step beside Joanna, brow furrowed. “Boss – lunged?”

Joanna smirked slightly, still watching the terrain ahead. “RJ had it locked down the whole time. I wasn’t worried for a second. Also, something that large is another form of defense.”

Briggs huffed from a few paces back, arms crossed against the cold. “Please. Boss could’ve punched that thing straight into next week if she really wanted to. RJ’s control was just the cleaner option.”

Jake, walking beside Raven, glanced over. “Boss, the moles up ahead probably don’t have great eyesight most burrowing types don’t, even mutated ones. But hunting them underground is going to be a different problem entirely. We can’t exactly dig through half the valley looking for tunnels.”

Joanna sighed, already turning the problem over. “True. But I want eyes on whether there’s actually life down there before we commit to anything bigger.” She glanced toward the deepening snow around them. “Are moles even active this time of year, with winter barely breaking?”

“Should be,” Uncle Nate offered from behind. “Most burrowers start stirring the second the ground starts thawing even a little, especially if they’re hungry enough.”

Joanna nodded, already forming the plan. “Allen – your earth ability. Can you shake the ground up ahead, disturb it enough to push anything living underneath toward us instead of away?”

Allen grinned, cracking his knuckles. “Sure thing, Boss. Give me a minute to find the right spot.”

Uncle Nate and Ryan fell back a few paces from the group, moving slower now, eyes scanning the snow and underbrush with the practiced patience of men who’d spent years reading the land before the world ever fell apart.

“There,” Uncle Nate murmured, crouching beside a slight mound in the snow, barely noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for – the surface packed just a little too smooth, too rounded, compared to the natural drifts around it.

Ryan knelt beside him, brushing away a thin layer of snow to reveal churned earth beneath, dark and freshly turned despite the cold. “Tunnel entrance. Recent, too – this hasn’t frozen back over yet.”

They moved along the tree line together, tracing a loose, meandering path of similar mounds breaking the snow’s surface every several yards, each one slightly fresher than the last.

“They’re denning in a network,” Uncle Nate said quietly, following the line with his eyes toward a cluster of exposed roots near a fallen tree. “Classic pattern – multiple entrances, probably one main chamber somewhere in the middle where they’re nesting.”

Ryan pointed toward the fallen tree itself, its roots torn up from the ground in a tangled mess, dirt disturbed heavily all around the base. “If there’s a main chamber, my money’s on right under there. Roots like that don’t just collapse on their own, not clean like this. Something’s been using the hollow underneath as a den.”

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