The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 425

Chapter 425

Seeing Nicole didn’t answer right away, Alex added, “The rescue team is strictly voluntary. No one’s forcing anyone.”

Nicole considered it. “At 140 degrees, even with protection, most people won’t last more than a couple of hours in direct sun. How are you planning to run this?”

“We keep it voluntary, and we keep it safe,” Alex said: “We’ll bring shade canopies. People rest when they’re tired No pushing past limits just to save someone.”

He had already thought it through. “Anyone we pull out gets sent to the city’s temporary shelters.”

Nicole hadn’t expected such a rational response. He wanted to help, but not at the expense of everyone’s safety.

“If people want to join, one person per household is enough. I wouldn’t recommend sending more than that. We still need people here to keep watch.”

Then, he mentioned the well. It had collapsed.

It was a good well, dug by an experienced well-digger. The damage wasn’t catastrophic, but with aftershocks still possible, no one was willing to risk repairing it yet.

Water had to be rationed.

Luckily, Alex had been pushing conservation for a while. He had also managed to get a batch of purification tablets through connections, traded with sweet potatoes from the community.

It wasn’t much, but it would hold for a few days.

Nicole kept her tone even. “Captain Landon, it’s a solid plan. We’ll check on things at home first and get back to you.”

Alex hesitated. “There’s one more thing.”

“Go ahead.”

His eyes shifted to Cola. “If you decide to join, could you bring him?”

Nicole frowned slightly.

“Dogs can pick up scents we can’t,” Alex said quickly. “There was some warning before the quake, so maybe fewer people are trapped, but we don’t know for sure. Without a way to narrow the search, we’ll waste time and miss the window. A search dog would help.”

He added, “Molly will be there, too. They’ll only help locate. No digging, nothing dangerous.”

These days, anyone still feeding a dog treated it like family. No one would risk them lightly.

Nicole nodded. “I understand.”

She didn’t give him an answer. The four of them headed back to Building Five.

When they arrived, they didn’t go inside right away. They circled the building first.

It had held up well, with no visible cracks. Building Four next door wasn’t so lucky. A long fracture ran down one side. Inside, some hallway tiles had fallen, and a few doors had loosened and would need reinforcing.

1/2

+15 Benus

Their apartment was untouched.

Zeph handed the little ones some snacks to keep them busy, while Nicole brought their stored supplies back out.

They reset the apartment. The simple stuff went to Poppy and Cola. Curtains and the AC were handled by Zeph, with Nicole helping.

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