Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 360

Chapter 360 Two Visitors

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Raven relayed another exchange with the mole king, then turned back to Joanna. “He says he’ll send a few of his own to scout for tunnels near the base. He knows the smell of ant tunnels better than any of us could says it won’t take long.”

“Good.” Joanna nodded, already moving through the next set of priorities in her head Stay with them. Coordinate, and let me know the second you have anything.” She paused, glancing back. “Also – check in with Dante. I want an update on Shane and his crew. Anything ante’s spotted the last few days, numbers, movement, whatever he’s got.”

Raven nodded, already leaning down, moles settling restlessly around her feet as she worked.

Joanna left her to it and crossed the courtyard toward the lab, her thoughts shifting to the tuna can, the perfume bottle, the bagged leaf samples Will had collected from beneath the poisoned bush.

She pushed through the lab doors, the familiar hum of equipment and the sharp, clean scent of antiseptic washing over her. Michelle and Warren were both bent over the workbench, the virobane samples pushed aside in favor of the items from the ridge, murmuring, quietly to each other over something in a petri dish.

“Tell me you’ve got something,” Joanna said, crossing the room.

Michelle looked up from the petri dish, exchanging a brief glance with Warren before answering. “Actually – yeah. We do.” She reached for the small glass perfume bottle, now sealed in a clear evidence bag, and held it up. “This is the poison. Or close enough to it.”

Joanna’s eyes narrowed on the bottle. “The perfume bottle? Not the bushes?”

“The bushes are completely clean,” Warren confirmed, gesturing toward a row of test results spread across the workbench. “No toxins, no spores, nothing in the leaves or the soil around them. Whatever we thought was happening there – it wasn’t the plant.”

Michelle turned the bottle slowly in her gloved hand. “What’s inside this, though, is a neurotoxin. Fast-acting, inhaled or absorbed through skin contact. It doesn’t kill – it’s not meant to. It causes temporary loss of consciousness, and depending on dosage and exposure time, short-term amnesia around the event itself.”

Joanna’s stomach turned cold as every piece locked into place at once. “That’s why Jolie didn’t remember anything clearly. Why it felt instant – no warning, no buildup.”

“Exactly,” Michelle said. “This wasn’t an ambient gas drifting off the bush like we assumed. Someone had to be close enough to use this directly. Sprayed, most likely, right as she got

near.”

Joanna’s jaw tightened, the full picture finally snapping into sharp, infuriating focus. “So Jolie

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Chapter 360 Two Visitors

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wasn’t poisoned by the environment. She got too close to Shane’s people while they were out

here, and they used this on her. Knocked her out, dragged her through the tunnels, buried under that rockslide – probably hoping we’d assume it was some kind of accident.”

“That tracks with everything else we’re finding,” Warren said grimly. “And it means whoever’s out there has access to actual manufactured toxins. Not something scavenged. Something made. That takes resources.”

Michelle set the bottle down carefully, meeting Joanna’s eyes.” It’s starting to look like ey didn’t just watch the base from a distance.” She exhaled slowly. “They got in. More than once. Stole from us, probably ate well off what they took, all while keeping eyes on everything we do.”

“Thank you both,” Joanna said, already turning for the door. “A fight might be coming soon need you ready. Stock up on whatever medical supplies you can spare, make sure the bandages and antiseptics are fully stocked, and keep extra on standby. If this goes the way I think it might, we could have people coming in hurt.”

Michelle nodded, already moving toward the supply shelves. “We’ll be ready.”

Warren gave a quick thumbs-up, already pulling out a tray of fresh bandage rolls.

Joanna left the lab and headed toward the tunnels, mind already racing through logistics – guard rotations, the moles’ scouting mission, whatever Briggs and Julian had found so far – when Levi came jogging up the corridor toward her, slightly out of breath.

“Boss. You’ve got two visitors. At the gate.”

Joanna sighed, long and heavy, dragging a hand down her face. She didn’t even need to ask.

She walked out toward the front gate, waving off the guard stationed there, who pulled the lever to let it swing open.

Fletcher and Glacier stood just beyond it, leaning casually against the very truck Julian had described in far too much detail, both of them grinning like a pair of kids who’d gotten away with something.

“Surprise!” they said in unison, arms thrown wide, doing their very best impression of two people who hadn’t just stolen and frozen each other’s vehicles over the last twenty-four hours.

Joanna’s expression didn’t so much as flicker. “Julian told me everything.”

Both of them visibly deflated, shoulders slumping in near-perfect synchronization.

Fletcher recovered first, clearing his throat. “Little Dove. Look – the wall’s way ahead of schedule. Practically running itself at this point. So when we heard you had trouble up here, we figured, why not lend ourselves to the effort?”

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