The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 453

Chapter 453

Nicole’s group finished up early. On the way back to Building 5, Nicole noticed a patch of land not far away, now covered in green, and walked over to take a look.

The women and children of Oakhaven Gardens hadn’t been idle. For the past two weeks, they had been clearing and planting without pause..

Corn had already sprouted. The vegetables were thick and healthy, close to harvest within a week.

But no one planned to eat them yet. They carefully pulled up the seedlings and replanted them to expand the yield. Once they matured, they would be dried for storage or traded for points.

People might be small, but when they set their minds on something, they could be relentless.

They hadn’t just reclaimed the land inside the compound. They had pushed outward, taking over every patch of ground they could.

The patrols had more work now, but no one complained.

After two days of rest, Nicole decided it was time to head into the mountains for timber. The nearby hills had already been stripped clean. They would have to go deeper and farther out.

It wouldn’t be a short trip, so Nicole decided to spend the night in the mountains and wait until they had cut enough timber before heading back.

This time, they brought the dog and the rabbits, but only the first and second generations, along with the younger ones. The fully grown rabbits were slaughtered and stored.

Nicole made sure not to do it in front of Snowy and Ash. She took them into another room. If those two could talk, she would never hear the end of it.

They never got left out when it was time for something unpleasant, but every fun outing was just Nicole and Cola.

Real classy.

Now she finally remembered to bring them along.

After storing everything important in the storage space, Nicole loaded the rabbits into the back of the Hummer, and they set off.

There weren’t many untouched forests left along the coast. After weighing her options, she decided to head for the abandoned hillside villa community near the city line.

The drive was a sobering one. Every wooded hillside they passed had been stripped bare, and the villa community itself had been reduced to rubble by the earthquake.

The sight stirred old memories. 1

Back when the floods had first begun, she and Hughie’s group had searched this place for supplies more than once. The fish she had stocked up on back then were still sitting in her storage space.

Somehow, almost three years had slipped by.

The landscape had changed beyond recognition, and so had the people who once lived in it.

Each of them carried a couple of rabbits as they crossed ridge after ridge. By the time they had climbed about eight mountains, they were all breathing hard.

1/2

+15 Brhus

From the summit, they could finally see the vast forest stretching into the distance. Most of it was dead, the trees killed by either the bitter cold or the scorching heat.

The outskirts weren’t safe enough, so they kept hiking deeper into the mountains.

After nearly a full day of climbing, they finally reached a part of the forest so remote that there wasn’t another person in sight.

The farther they went, the more nature seemed to be recovering. Many trees that had looked dead were sprouting fresh green buds after the recent rains.

They found a relatively level patch of forest and got to work. Nicole used her electric chainsaw, while Zeph started up his gas-powered one.

The two little ones weren’t much help with logging, but that didn’t mean they got to take it easy. Zeph sent them to higher ground to keep watch.

Poppy took the binoculars. She and Cola settled onto a large boulder, scanning the surrounding woods for any sign

of movement.

They cut only dead trees. Any tree that had started growing again was left standing.

Neither of them was afraid of hard work.

By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, it felt as though they had cleared half the hillside. Then they trimmed away the branches and stored the logs in the storage space in the gathering dusk.

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