The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 594

Chapter 594

Nicole motioned for Diana and the others to stay back, then fired three quick bursts.

Did they really think they could fool her?

They had the bright idea to strip the wealthy hostages and disguise themselves in their clothes, but they were in such a hurry that they forgot about their pants and shoes.

A change of clothes wasn’t enough to hide what they really were. These wolves weren’t fooling anyone by dressing like sheep.

The three men cried out, rolled over, and reached for their guns, but Zeph was faster. He fired, hitting each of them in the arm. Their weapons clattered to the ground.

Nicole remembered what the kidnappers who had gone to collect the ransom told them. These men were working with the raiders, too.

She pulled out several handkerchiefs soaked in ether and held them over the men’s faces. Soon, all three were unconscious. They wouldn’t be waking up for at least 12 hours.

Nicole tied their hands and feet securely. No matter what they tried when they came to, there was no way they would be getting loose.

She did the same to the wealthy hostages, just in case any of them decided to make trouble.

It didn’t take long to find the room where the women were being held. There were exactly 30 of them.

Nicole didn’t let them out yet. Instead, she added two more locks to the iron gate. They could free the women once they had finished hauling out the supplies.

That was what Diana and the others had come for in the first place. After searching the entire cave and making sure everyone who needed to be dealt with was dead, they immediately gathered up the guns and other weapons.

They started with the most valuable supplies. Salt, alcohol, sugar, and medicine came first, followed by unprocessed rice, which could keep for three to seven years under the right conditions. The packaged rice and flour, on the other hand, had probably gone bad by now.

They could only carry so much by hand, so they found some rope and wooden poles and rigged up makeshift shoulder carriers, loading them with as many valuable supplies as they could manage.

Only the four of them carried supplies. Zeph had Marcus slung unconscious over one shoulder.

Marcus alone was worth a helicopter. He was the whole reason Nicole had agreed to come.

Nicole carried nothing but her backpack so she could stay out front and keep an eye on their surroundings. Cola stayed close at her side, alert to every movement and sound.

The kidnappers who had gone to collect the ransom must have run into trouble somewhere, because they still hadn’t come back.

The group hauled the supplies down to the vehicles, then drove to a secluded spot near the mountain pass and concealed them.

Instead, the authorities would end up taking all the credit.

Nicole lowered her voice and tried to calm them down. “We’ve already made out pretty well. We got enough supplies to last us for years. Let’s go. If they catch us here, they’ll probably confiscate everything we’ve taken!”

There was nothing else they could do. They had to get out of there immediately.

The city probably wouldn’t be safe tonight, but where could they hide that much stuff?

Taking it back to the apartment was out of the question. These days, even carrying in a beat-up old sack was enough to draw attention.

The villa wasn’t much safer. Before the polar night, it might not have been a problem, but now, even plenty of wealthy people were surviving on black moss.

They couldn’t afford to find out what desperate, starving people might do. Rich or poor, hunger could drive anyone to extremes.

“If you trust us, Zeph and I can find a safe place to stash everything for now. Once things settle down, we’ll bring it back and split it up.”

Of course, they trusted her. They had just risked their lives together.

Besides, Nicole managed to keep her truck hidden all this time without anyone finding it. Wherever she kept her things was clearly secure.