The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 607

Chapter 507

Once the polar night set in and raiders stripped away most of their supplies, they finally understood just how brutal the disasters could be.

Life became miserable.

They never had enough food or warm clothes, yet they still had to go out on patrol every day. After so long without sunlight, everyone’s health was starting to suffer.

If they were going to make it through the polar night, they needed more people to help carry the load.

Sven understood that perfectly. On the condition that every household provide one able-bodied man for patrol duty, he rented two villas at once.

He would cover the grain upfront, then deduct it from his men’s future shares once the polar night was over.

The area across from the police station was safe enough, but squeezing an entire family into a subdivided apartment was miserable.

The villas cost more, but they also came with far more space. They could raise animals, grow food, and live much more comfortably.

The middlemen knew how to weigh costs and benefits better than anyone. Naturally, they agreed. Besides, if things ever got bad enough that they ran out of food completely, they knew Sven wouldn’t just stand by and let them starve.

With the middlemen and the residents of Villa 42 joining the patrol rotation, the neighborhood officially switched to three shifts. Everyone’s patrol time dropped by four hours, and the whole neighborhood breathed a sigh of relief.

Marcus started pestering Nicole every day. “So when are you buying me dinner?”

Considering how much he had helped, Nicole agreed easily. “Tonight. Happy?”

If she was inviting someone over for dinner, she figured she should at least act like a decent host. She couldn’t spend the whole meal bickering with him.

But Nicole knew she could only tolerate Marcus for so long, and Zeph wasn’t much of a talker, so she invited Sven as well. No one was better at keeping a dinner from getting awkward.

Neither Sven nor Brandon could cook worth a damn, so there was no way they were turning down a free meal.

Sven showed up carrying the two biggest fish he had. “Nicole, dinner’s in your hands tonight.”

Nicole asked without hesitation, “Fish stew or Cajun-style fish?”

She had plenty of seasonings and other ingredients in storage, and Zeph had gotten surprisingly good at filleting fish.

Brandon pushed the thermos back into her hands. “It’s fine. I feed the goat every day. There’ll be more.”

Marcus was shameless enough about showing up whenever he pleased, but Dumbo was somehow even worse. Like owner, like dog.

At least Dumbo had brought a gift. He dropped a meaty bone in front of Cola as an offering to his boss.

Cola, who ate fish and meat every day, clearly wasn’t impressed. He nudged the bone back toward Dumbo, though he accepted the gesture.

Once Dumbo finished chewing on it, he became Cola’s sparring partner, and the two dogs started wrestling around the yard.

Marcus had swiped a bottle of whiskey from Eric’s collection. “This is from 1982. It’s older than my mom. Bet you’ve never seen anything like it!”

Nicole smiled. “Can’t say I have.”

The whiskey came in a rare ceramic decanter and was worth around 150 thousand dollars before the apocalypse. Now, it was practically priceless.

Nicole had ten bottles just like it tucked away in her storage space, all taken from Jason. Naturally, she wasn’t about to mention that.