The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 441

Chapter 441

At his sister’s question, Zeph said, “The clouds are blocking the sun.”

Lightning in the apocalypse wasn’t something to ignore. For safety, Nicole didn’t even turn on the solar lights. She took out a kerosene lamp from her storage space and lit it.

The glow was dim and yellow, but it pushed back the darkness.

Poppy stared at it, curious. “Nicole, what is that?”

It was practically an antique now.

Nicole began telling Poppy about the kind of life their grandmother’s generation had lived.

Outside, thunder rolled, and lightning split the sky. Inside, the lamplight flickered, shadows shifting along the walls.

Poppy leaned into Nicole.

Cola, rattled by the storm, pressed himself against Zeph with a soft whine. Poppy had already claimed his human.

The storm lasted about half an hour. Then the thick clouds began to break.

Light returned quickly, but the rain didn’t stop.

The temperature dropped. It was no longer scalding, now carrying a trace of coolness.

They went back to collecting water. Zeph and Poppy handled the buckets while Cola happily raced around in the pouring rain, making Nicole wonder if she should just leave him out there.

At the resettlement site, people had almost nothing left. Half-crazed with thirst, they rushed into the rain, tipping their heads back to drink, letting it wash the dirt from their bodies.

“It’s raining… It’s finally raining!”

Some laughed. Some cried. Some spun in circles, looking half-crazed.

Poppy crouched by the planters, worry on her face. “Nicole, will the sweet potato vines be okay?”

“They should be. We’ll know tomorrow.”

The rain had started hot, but the canopy had blocked most of it. It likely wasn’t enough to kill them.

The real problem came after the rain stopped. Heat surged up from the ground, turning everything into a humid, stifling bath.

The air turned thick and sticky.

Back inside, they switched on the air conditioning.

Just as Nicole settled in, Zeph leaned closer. “Any burns?”

She touched her face. “No. The redness is gone.”

The next day, the sun came out blazing again.

Nicole stayed indoors. Zeph took Poppy to her lessons. Cola went out on his own, sprinting around Oakhaven Gardens in dozens of laps before coming back. He even climbed a tree to help Miles catch his runaway rat and

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nearly got bitten for it.

By noon, they were back.

Zeph washed his hands before eating. “It doesn’t feel as hot today.”

“Really?”

Nicole had been in temperature-regulating clothes with the air conditioning on. She hadn’t noticed.

Zeph hadn’t either at first, but Cola had. His tongue wasn’t hanging out as much.

Nicole went to the balcony with a thermometer. It read 136 degrees. It had dropped, even if only by a few degrees.

After that heavy rain, it made sense.

That evening, Nicole carried a bucket downstairs.

The downpour had raised the groundwater level. The well was flowing again, no longer strictly rationed.

She made several trips.

The resettlement site didn’t have enough containers to store water. Alex gathered what he could and sent over pots and bowls, anything salvageable from the earthquake relief supplies.

Some metal barrels had been crushed, but they could still be hammered back into shape. 1

The temperature kept dropping, a few degrees each day.

When it reached 131 degrees, people who had endured 140-degree heat for so long finally felt some relief.

Human resilience showed again. They held on. With water available for several days in a row, their condition improved.

Some even formed small groups and ventured out, scavenging nearby collapsed buildings and villages for supplies, bringing back clothes, cookware, and whatever they could find.

The heat was still there, but the drop in water levels slowed.

The authorities restarted well-digging efforts, marking the end of the massive operation to bring water in from Halloway.

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