The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 560

Chapter 560

The neighbors once laughed at Villas 49 and 50 for being paranoid. Now, they couldn’t have been more envious. The ten-foot stone walls topped with electric fencing looked safer than ever.

Before long, residents began approaching Sven, hoping to trade for enough construction materials to build walls around their own homes.

To their surprise, Sven turned them all down.

“I’m sorry, but the government took nearly every building material they could find for the new district. I don’t have any connections in that business. You’ll have to ask someone else.”

He wasn’t stupid. If every house became a fortress, where would the rioters turn once they started attacking the neighborhood?

Besides, he wasn’t lying. Westbridge’s population was still growing, and construction materials were becoming harder to find by the day.

Nicole was still half asleep when she noticed how cold her hands and feet felt. She pulled the blanket higher, but the chill continued to seep in.

Nicole switched on the bedside lamp and saw that it was already 9 a.m.

Damn it. She had overslept again.

The bedroom seemed unusually dark, so she reached over and pulled open the curtains.

Outside, everything was pitch-black.

Nicole went still.

Polar night had arrived.

More than two months earlier than expected, at that.

Zeph stirred beside her. “What’s wrong?”

The cold weather made it easy to sleep in, and after their late night together, neither of them had woken up on time.

“Polar night is here.”

Nicole checked the indoor thermometer. The temperature had already dropped to 32 degrees.

The house had been heavily insulated during the renovations, which meant it was probably below zero outside.

Zeph immediately got out of bed and went to Poppy’s room to add another blanket.

“Zeph, why is it dark outside?” she asked.

He turned on the light. “Don’t be scared. Polar night has started.”

Poppy was wearing temperature-regulating clothing, so only her hands and feet felt cold. “Do you think Brandon and the others are freezing?”

Zeph paused. “You’re that worried about him, huh?”

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Poppy thought for a moment. “He’s really nice to me. He listens to me and helps with chores. What if he gets sick from the cold?”

“Call him on the radio.”

Poppy pulled on her socks and immediately reached for the radio.

Zeph got dressed, then switched on the light above the second-floor balcony, as the neighborhood had agreed The glow pushed back some of the darkness around the villa.

Carrying a flashlight, he went into the backyard to check on the animals.

They had internal clocks, too. After nearly two years of constant daylight, the sudden darkness had left them agitated and huddled together.

The greenhouse wasn’t insulated as well as the house, and the birds were shivering from the cold.

Zeph turned on the lights and spread the wheat straw they had prepared across the floor.

Nicole followed him outside. It still wasn’t warm enough, so she took several wooden boards from her storage space and used them to reinforce the greenhouse walls.

She moved all the vegetables from the growing shed into her storage space. She could bring them back out whenever she needed them.

Once they had finished in the backyard, they went up to the roof to take care of the medicinal herbs growing there.

From the rooftop, they could hear generators rumbling as lights came on in one villa after another.

The lights barely reached beyond each property. Against the absolute darkness of polar night, they looked faint and insignificant.

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