The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 423

Chapter 423

Up close, Nicole and Zeph saw a boy, maybe ten, struggling to shift a section of collapsed wall. A woman lay pinned beneath it. The blood on her had dried, her body already stiff.

At his age, he knew what that meant. He kept trying anyway, pushing at the broken slab with everything he had. He was skin and bones, too weak for the weight. His hands were scraped raw, but the wall didn’t move.

Zeph stepped in and helped lift the debris aside.

As soon as it was clear, the boy grabbed at his mother, shaking her, trying to wake her. The girl rushed over, her voice already hoarse from crying.

They called to her again and again, but she didn’t move.

Poppy’s eyes filled. She tightened her grip on Zeph’s hand.

Nicole pulled the girl closer. “Do you have anyone else?”

The girl shook her head. “My grandparents and my dad are gone.”

Nicole took out a bottle of water and handed it to her. The girl drank fast, gulping it down. “Thank you.”

She stopped halfway and passed the bottle to her brother.

He held it tight, but didn’t drink.

Zeph rested a hand on his head. “You’re the older one. You know what’s happened. You have to accept it. Take your sister into the city and find the rescue teams. They’ll take care of you. Don’t stay here. Leave now.”

This place was too isolated. Two kids wouldn’t last long.

The boy said nothing. He kept wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

Nicole pulled out another bottle and pushed several packs of hard tack into his hands. “Hide these. Don’t let anyone see. Take your sister into the city.”

“Thank you,” he said, his voice catching.

They were already losing time. Nicole turned and kept walking.

After a while, Poppy glanced back. “They’re following us.”

Nicole looked over her shoulder. The boy was there, holding his sister’s hand.

The girl kept up, but she kept looking back, again and again, watching their collapsed home fade behind them.

The sun climbed higher. Nicole didn’t slow down.

As they got closer to the city, more survivors came into view. Some were badly hurt, others less so. Most had nowhere to go. Some were still digging through the rubble, refusing to leave what they had lost.

Several people stepped in front of them, asking for food and water. “We’re hurt. Do you have any water? Help us

out.”

The injuries were real. So was the desperation. But their eyes were measuring.

Nicole kept moving.

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A few tried to follow. She stopped, pulled a crossbow from her pack, and looked at them. “Stay back.”

They hesitated, then backed off.

The delay let the two kids catch up.

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