The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 619

Chapter 619

Victor had taken it especially bard

For days, he barely ate or drank. He blamed himself for Michelle’s death, convinced that if he had been more careful, she never would’ve gotten pregnant in the first place.

If they had ended the pregnancy as soon as they discovered how badly the baby was positioned, maybe Michelle would’ve survived. But by then, she could already feel the baby moving, and she couldn’t bring herself to give it up. She even begged Victor not to tell the rest of the family…

After she died, Victor completely lost the will to keep going.

If the baby’s cries hadn’t finally snapped him out of it and reminded him that he was a father now, he might’ve done something stupid.

But that was a family matter, and Gabrielle had no intention of sharing the details with outsiders.

She and Lydia had come over simply because they wanted to thank Nicole.

Nicole pushed the rice back toward them. “Gabrielle, take it home. Grind it into rice cereal when the baby is old enough for solids. Consider it a gift from me.”

The Goodmans had owed Nicole too much over the years for Gabrielle to feel comfortable leaving it at a simple thank-you, so she kept insisting.

“Then let him repay me himself when he’s older.” Nicole still wouldn’t take it. “We’ve all made it this far, and every year, there are fewer familiar faces left. Just consider it luck that our families found each other.”

She had to admit that she had grown used to the cruelty of the apocalypse. Most things barely fazed her anymore. Other people’s happiness, grief, survival, or death rarely stirred much in her now.

The Goodmans were one of the few families who could still stir something in her. If she stopped feeling anything at all, how was she any different from a machine?

That was why Nicole still helped people from time to time. Whether she was lending someone a hand or saving a life, it reminded her that she was still human.

Tears suddenly spilled down Gabrielle’s wrinkled cheeks. “Thank you, Nicole. I really mean it. Thank you.”

If Nicole hadn’t stepped in and performed the emergency C-section, the baby wouldn’t have survived. And without that child giving Victor something to live for, he might have completely fallen apart.

The rest of the Goodmans weren’t doing much better.

But no matter how hard things got, they still had to keep going. They couldn’t just give up and die. They had a child to raise now, for their family and for Michelle, who would never get the chance to raise him herself.

After seeing them off, Nicole returned to Villa 50 and buried herself in her books again.

Marcus still pestered her over the radio every few days.

“Want some barbecue?

“Need any beef or lamb?

“I’ve got some medicine that’s about to expire. Want it?”

Nicole had no interest in getting too friendly with a spoiled rich kid like Marcus, so most of the time, she simply turned off the radio.

+15 Bonus

As things became safer, Sven and Weasel’s middlemanı business took off. They had practically cornered the local trading market and already started expanding into other neighborhoods.

After two years of polar night, the gap between the haves and have-nots had only grown wider.

Plenty of former socialites watched their families lose everything. Desperate for food, they dug through their closets for whatever luxury goods they had left, Chanel dresses, Louis Vuitton bags, Hermès heels, anything that might still be worth something, and carried them to the night market to trade for whatever they could get.

Other survivors laughed as they passed.

“Are these people serious? Half a pound of rice for a Chanel dress? What’s that supposed to do, keep me warm or fill my stomach?”

Some men were even worse. They walked over just to harass them.

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