Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System novel Chapter 67

Meanwhile in the city:

The once vibrant communities have now become quiet ghost towns, with many homes destroyed. Scenic parks and tree-lined streets have turned into an unrecognizable landscape, with uprooted trees and fallen power lines.

The survivors have taken shelter in half-broken buildings or underground metro stations, trying to seek refuge from the strong winds outside.

Stores have long been closed, and people are slowly suffering from starvation. While the slightly braver ones went out to scavenge, most of the people are too afraid to leave their shelters.

The building where Rayne lived was one of the few still standing, as it was located in a more remote area and was newly constructed. The residents here were relatively lucky compared to others, as it was still a relatively secure area.

While there was no electricity, making the elevators unusable, the stairwell had a manual key lock, which every registered resident had access to. This prevented outsiders from flooding in... at least for now.

"We are so lucky that nice young lady allowed us to use what she left behind in her house," said the elderly lady who lived next door to Rayne.

Her grandson nodded while opening a can of shelf-stable soup. "Yeah, we would have run out of food and water a while ago. I still feel bad taking her things. Are you sure she said we could take them?" he asked guiltily.

"Yes, I’m sure. She told me that she won’t be back for a while and that we were free to use anything and everything we could find," answered the elderly lady. _{frёeweɓηovel.coɱ}

They were heating up the can of soup on a small camping stove they found in Rayne’s apartment.

"Still, don’t you think it’s a little strange that she had every cabinet stuffed with canned and shelf-stable food? There’s probably enough to last us half a year if we ration properly," said the grandson.

He had made it back home from a business trip the night of the initial earthquake. He was glad to see that his grandmother, his only living relative, was okay. They had been holed up inside their house ever since.

The food they had was quickly used up, but just as they reached a point of starvation, his grandmother pulled out a key that their neighbor had given her. He quickly went next door to find the house fully stocked with camping supplies, non-perishable food, and water.

The two of them were so grateful to Rayne for these items, wishing her a lifetime of blessings.

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The next morning, Rayne woke up extra early to get ready for the trip back to the city. She needed to see what things were like after the back-to-back natural disasters.

After showering, she got dressed, putting on one of the thermal shirts she had in her system. Although the winds and rains had lessened, they were not fully gone.

She fished out her black backpack from the box of things Ian managed to salvage, giving her a cover if she needed to use her system later, and headed out to meet up with everyone.

"Hey, you’re up early," greeted Julian from the communal kitchen.

They walked for a few hours due to the rough terrain until they reached the open field on the other side of the forest. From there, they had just a short walk to a hidden garage where they could jump into a jeep and drive into the city.

They split into smaller teams of four, taking three cars total into the city. Rayne was on the team with Julian, Noah, and Ian, while the other two teams were made up of Alpha Team members.

After a few hours of careful driving, they finally made it to the edge of the city. Rayne looked out of the window in shock. The once massive and modern city was now a large pile of fallen buildings. Almost all of the buildings with more than four floors had been affected, toppled to the ground.

The strong winds from the hurricane blew smaller debris around, shattering windows and flipping cars. She couldn’t see anyone walking the streets, giving a sense of quiet despair.

The jeeps made it as far into the city as they could before encountering a full roadblock caused by a fallen building. Ian parked the car and got out to signal the other cars behind him.

Rayne hopped out, following everyone else toward an empty gas station that was still standing. All of its windows were blown out, but the building was still standing strong.

Once they entered, they noticed that all of the shelves had been cleaned out, leaving nothing but a few candy wrappers on the floor.

"Okay, we will split into teams of two and search for anything useful. If you encounter anyone who is in need of help, assist to the best of your ability. We’ll meet back here in three hours. Radio in if anything comes up," said Julian.

(A/N: thank you all who left a review so far! We have reached 10, and as promised I will be gearing up for a mini mass release. I’ll do my best to squeeze it in between Christmas and New Years but if not, it will be the start of January! Thank you all again, and hope you all have a good holiday!)