The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 631

Chapter 631

Howard was wheeling a body toward the operating room.

Nicole hurried over. “Dr. Jones, are you taking him in for emergency surgery?”

“Emergency surgery? He’s already dead.”

Howard looked exhausted.

“This virus moves too fast. We can’t see what’s happening inside a patient just by looking at them/ and what they describe doesn’t always match the actual damage. That makes it hard to choose the right treatment.

“I want to perform autopsies on several bodies and get some solid data. It might help Dr. Chapman and the others narrow things down.”

There were barely any surgeons left, and Howard couldn’t handle all of it by himself.

Nicole didn’t hesitate. “I’ll help.”

Howard glanced at Zeph. “You too, young man. Come give us a hand.”

Nicole could kill without blinking, but the moment she saw the dead patient’s chest opened and the damage throughout his lungs, her stomach lurched.

She turned away and nearly threw up. It took her several deep breaths before she managed to force it back down.

Zeph, meanwhile, didn’t even flinch. He stood beside them and quietly passed over whatever instruments they needed.

Once Nicole got over the initial shock, she quickly pulled herself together and followed Howard’s instructions.

The two of them worked side by side through one autopsy after another, while Zeph stayed nearby and recorded their findings.

The lungs of the critically ill patients were riddled with tiny holes, almost like sieves. Some coughed up bits of damaged tissue along with blood, and many died when blood flooded their airways, and they choked on it.

There were no ventilators, no intubation equipment, no defibrillators, and no epinephrine. Once a patient reached that stage, there was almost nothing the doctors could do.

By the end of the day, Nicole’s back and waist ached from exhaustion. After everything she had seen, even the thought of food made her lose her appetite.

She and Zeph disinfected themselves thoroughly before going back to their room.

The first thing they did was check on Poppy and Cola. Neither had much of an appetite, but Nicole made them eat anyway. “Eat. You need your strength to fight this.”

After giving them the herbal medicine, she waited an hour before giving them regular medication.

Poppy was doing relatively well. She followed every instruction without complaint, which somehow made Nicole feel even worse.

Cola, on the other hand, had become unusually clingy.

Dogs already had much shorter lives than humans, and every treatment at the institute was designed for people. Nicole’s chest tightened as she stroked Cola’s head.

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“You have to hang in there. You’re supposed to stay with us for a long time.”

Cola looked up at her with watery eyes.

Nicole suddenly broke down. She wrapped both arms around him and held on tight. “Cola, don’t leave me.”

Cola whimpered softly and kept nuzzling against her.

For several days, Nicole followed Howard through one autopsy after another. What horrified her at first gradually became something she could face without flinching.

Then Howard got sick. His fever and coughing became so severe that he could no longer keep working.

Nicole had no choice but to take over. By then, she knew the routine well enough to handle the work efficiently on

her own.

Poppy and Cola’s conditions kept going back and forth. One day, they seemed better, and the next, they got worse again.

Nicole had to keep working while taking care of both of them, and she was quickly wearing herself out.

She kept hoping the researchers would develop an effective treatment soon so Poppy and Cola could get it right away. People died in the wards every day, and she was terrified they wouldn’t hold on long enough.

Fortunately, Zeph stayed by her side. They kept each other going, took their medicine every day, quietly gave themselves immune-boosting injections, and regularly drank electrolyte and vitamin supplements to keep their strength up.

People were dying every day, everywhere. Nicole heard about it so often that eventually, she barely reacted anymore. Her whole world shrank to two places: the operating room and their quarters.

On the sixth day, she came down with a fever and cough, and her nose wouldn’t stop running.

She stopped working.

Every day, Nicole drank a little high-proof whiskey and soaked in the hot spring before taking her medicine. She forced herself to eat something nutritious, then burrowed under the blankets and slept.

Zeph started showing symptoms soon after.

His whole body ached, and fever and chills came in waves. His nose was completely blocked, while sudden, stabbing pains cut through him, and a deep chill settled into his bones.

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