Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53 It’s time to put your training into action

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Something caught her eye. High up on the side of the corrugated steel warehouse wall, one of the heavy industrial windows was slightly askew.

She stopped, her eyes narrowing. The latch on the window was warped, and a thin, jagged crack ran through the safety glass. Fresh scuff marks marred the metal siding directly beneath the sill. Someone had pried it open, and by the look of the boot imprint below, it hadn’t happened days ago. It happened recently.

“Joanna?” Jake asked, noticing her sudden pause. “What is it?”

Joanna kept her expression perfectly neutral, her eyes scanning the surrounding treeline before returning to the truck. “Nothing,” she said smoothly, opening her door. “Just thinking about the transport logistics. Let’s get back.”

That evening, the atmosphere in the Aurora apartment was quiet. Jake was in the kitchen, meticulously cleaning his training knives, when Joanna walked into the living room.

“Jolie, Raven,” Joanna said, her voice dropping to a low, serious tone. “Grab your coats. We’re heading back to the fabrication site. I need your help with something.”

Jake froze, a sharpening look in his eyes as he set his whetstone down. “If you’re going back there tonight, I’m coming with you.”

Joanna turned to him, her expression soft but unyielding. “No, Jake. I need you to stay here. If something goes sideways, I need our anchor at home base. Trust me on this.”

A shadow of disappointment and quiet frustration crossed Jake’s face. He looked at his hands, then at Joanna, a heavy sigh escaping his chest. “Fine,” he muttered, his voice tight. “But keep your comms open. If I don’t hear from you every few hours, I’m driving down there and I’ll be in a real bad mood.”

“Deal,” Joanna said with a slight smirk.

The drive back to Blackwood was dead silent. Both Jolie and Raven sat in the cabin, sensing the gravity of Joanna’s mood. When they pulled into the darkened industrial park, Joanna bypassed the main gates and parked the truck a quarter-mile away, hidden behind a row of overgrown pines.

“Leave your phones in the truck,” Joanna instructed as they climbed out. “No lights. Follow my lead.”

They slipped through the shadows, moving like ghosts toward the side of the fabrication warehouse. Joanna led them through a heavy, side door, stepping into the cavernous, pitch- black interior. The only illumination came from the pale moonlight filtering through the high,

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Chapter 53 It’s time to put your training into action

windows. The massive silhouettes of the 40 custom shipping containers loomed in the darkness like sleeping giants.

“Joanna,” Jolie whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs. “What are we doing here? Why are the lights off?”

“It’s time to put your training into action,” Joanna whispered back, her eyes fixed on the cracked window above. “When Jake and I were here earlier, I saw signs of a forced entry at the window. Someone scouted this place. These containers are worth thousands of dollars on the black market, and in a town like this, desperate people are starting to notice. Someone is going to break in tonight maybe to scout, or maybe to steal something.

Raven’s grip tightened on her custom steel-tipped spear, her young face hardening with a chilling, calm intensity. “Are we going to stop them?”

“Yes,” Joanna said. “But we aren’t using weapons unless we absolutely have to. You’ve spent the last week mastering leverage, speed, and close-quarters combat. Your job is to overpower them, disarm them, and knock them unconscious. No hesitation.”

They took their positions. Jolie melted into the shadow of the second container, her hands gripping her heavy, crow bar. Raven slipped into the narrow gap between two steel hulls, virtually invisible in the dark holding a small metal bat. Joanna stood perfectly still near the center bulkhead, her senses dialed to the absolute maximum.

Twenty minutes crawled by in agonizing, breathless silence.

Then, a sharp clack echoed through the rafters.

The high window creaked open. The silhouette of a man appeared against the moonlight, sliding over the sill and dropping onto the concrete floor with a dull thud. A second later, another man followed, both carrying heavy iron crowbars.

“Check the big ones first,” the first man whispered, his voice raspy. “The copper wiring inside these off-grid units could be worth a fortune. Move fast.”

The two thugs crept deeper into the darkness, their heavy boots scraping against the grit on the floor. They had no idea they were being watched.

Joanna leaned into the shadow and breathed a single, lethal word.

“Go.”

Before the first thug could even turn his head, Jolie exploded from the darkness. She didn’t swing wild; she executed the low-center-of-gravity block Jake had beaten into her muscle memory. Dropping low, she drove the crow bar directly into the man’s knee.

A sickening crack echoed through the warehouse as the man let out a strangled yelp, his leg

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Chapter 53 It’s time to put your training into action

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