Rewrite the Apocalypse dream (by Dee Cari) novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65 Run-down roadside motel

Finished

Jonna turned her head to look out into the shifting shadows of the passing forest. Her expression grew grim. “It isn’t just us,” she shared quietly, her voice carrying a chilling weight. “When the virus starts, the environment also changes fast. Humans get superpowers or turn into zombies, but one percent of animals and plants mutate too. They become hyper-intelligent, apex predators. Flesh-eating vines, massive wolves with hides as thick as steel, birds that can mimic human screams to lure prey into the deep woods. The ecosystem completely turns against us.”

Julian raised an eyebrow, a flicker of genuine intrigue crossing his features. “Do you know of any specific mutated creatures from your dream? Any territories we should avoid?”

Joanna shrugged, a shadow of bitter regret crossing her eyes. She shook her head. “I don’t. I didn’t meet any specific high-level mythical creatures or mutated beasts in that lifetime. I only belonged to the basic scavenge team for the base. My job was to haul dry goods and run from anything that growled. We didn’t fight the monsters and barely survived the zombies.”

Julian’s gaze sharpened as the pieces finally clicked together in his mind. He realized, with a sudden wave of profound respect, that this was exactly why she had been so fanatical about preparing such a massive cache of supplies, heavy gear, and preserved rations. She wasn’t just planning to hide from zombies; she was building a fortress capable of surviving a completely hostile, mutated planet where nature itself was trying to hunt them down.

Wanting to shift the focus away from the grim future, Joanna turned to him, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Tell me about Brimstone. What are we actually driving into?”

“Brimstone is remote,” Julian said, his gravelly baritone steady as the road began to incline sharply into the foothills. “It’s old-fashioned, deeply isolated, and mostly cut off from the modern grid. The kind of place where people still use wood stoves and don’t trust cell towers. To be honest, I don’t know much about the local layout. I heard rumors about a great-uncle who lived up there-my grandmother’s younger brother- but I’ve never met him or anyone else from that side of the family.” He sighed softly, his expression turning pragmatic. “All I want to do is get up to the peak, quickly scatter her ashes as she wished, and return to the team immediately if the apocalypse is truly coming this fast. We don’t have time to play tourists.”

Joanna turned thoughtful, her eyes reflecting the dim green light of the dashboard. An isolated, old- fashioned town deep in the mountains, untouched by modern infrastructure, with a localized historical storm gathering directly overhead. It was the perfect, terrifying crucible for unlocking the kind of raw, devastating electrical power Julian was destined to wield. But the mention of an unknown great-uncle lingered in her mind, a variable she hadn’t accounted for in her calculations.

As the truck climbed higher into the darkened peaks, the first heavy drops of rain began to splatter against the windshield, signaling the approach of Brimstone and the true beginning of Julian’s destiny.

The armored truck groaned as it climbed into the steep, fog-shrouded roads of Brimstone. Sheets of heavy rain slammed against the windshield, illuminated by the violet flashes of the gathering atmospheric storm. Through the downpour, the flickering neon sign of a run-down roadside motel appeared like a jagged tooth against the dark tree line.

“We’re stopping here,” Joanna said, gesturing toward the dilapidated building. “Driving into the peak during a flash flood is suicide.”

The front desk clerk was a greasy, shifty man whose eyes darted continuously to Julian’s designer watch. He leaned over the counter, trying to prod them with friendly questions while staring intensely at Joanna. “Up

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Chapter 65 Run down roadside motel

here for the storm, folks? Not many travelers take this route. What’s a wealthy city guy doing in a place like this?”

Juan handled the transaction with smooth, freezing efficiency. He threw down cash, his dark eyes fixed on the clerk with a heavy, wordless intensity that made the man instantly swallow his questions. Julian took the rusted key to Room 104 without a word.

The moment the heavy wooden door clicked shut behind them, Joanna stepped into Julian’s personal space Before he could react, she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight, sudden hug.

Julian’s posture locked. He didn’t wrap his arms around her, nor did he relax. His chest didn’t hammer with romantic excitement; instead, a calculated, predatory awareness took over. The sudden proximity felt hyper-charged, the dangerous tension between them snapping taut as his eyes narrowed into the shadows.

Then, her lips brushed the shell of his ear, her voice dropping into a freezing, razor-thin whisper. “Don’t look around. The clerk is shifty. Look at the smoke detector.”

Julian didn’t break the embrace, playing along flawlessly while his analytical mind tracked her direction. Tucked inside the plastic casing of the smoke detector was the tiny, glass reflection of a hidden pinhole camera. They were being recorded.

“Charming,” Julian murmured back, his gravelly voice dropping an octave, completely flat and devoid of warmth. He stepped back, breaking the contact with clean, clinical precision, his focus entirely on the threat.

They left the camera intact to avoid alerting the clerk, quietly settling down on the creaking mattress to rest. Because they were on high alert, neither of them truly slept. Three hours into the dead of night, a faint, metallic scraping sound echoed from the front walkway.

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