The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 676

Of course, Marcus and Sven were suspicious. Both of them were sharp as hell. The only question was what exactly they suspected.

Zeph figured they wanted to know what disaster was coming next.

In the past, Villa 50 always seemed to prepare before anyone else even realized something was coming. But lately, even they had stopped making any obvious moves.

Nicole leaned against him. "So what do you think will happen next?"

"I don't know." Zeph kissed her forehead. "As long as we're together, we'll deal with whatever comes."

Satellites kept falling from the sky with no rhyme or reason, like some out-of-control kid swinging a hammer at random. How many fell, where they landed, what they hit… None of it followed any pattern.

The neighborhood stayed lucky and wasn't hit again, but the city's waste-to-energy plant wasn't so fortunate. A satellite crashed into it and started a massive fire that burned for two days straight.

The streetlights never came back on. No one knew if they ever would.

That night, the four of them sat on the roof eating barbecue under a sky full of brilliant stars.

Poppy was eating grilled squid when her eyes suddenly widened.

"Zeph, look! A meteor shower!"

Zeph looked up, and his expression changed instantly. "Move!"

Nicole instinctively followed his gaze. Red streaks cut across the night sky, growing larger and brighter as they came closer...

They burned a deep red as they tore across the sky, seeming so close that Nicole could almost feel the heat against her skin.

They grew larger and larger, seeming to race straight toward them until they filled more and more of the sky.

Then Nicole blinked, and somehow they looked distant again.

The four of them shot to their feet, abandoned the barbecue, beer, table, and chairs, and sprinted downstairs before scrambling into the vehicle.

"Buckle up," Nicole reminded them.

The seats were reinforced against explosions and designed to absorb heavy impacts.

Afraid Cola might get hurt, Zeph picked him up and strapped him securely against his chest.

One violent impact after another shook the ground. Even the 15-ton Marauder rocked beneath them.

The barrage lasted more than ten minutes. Sometimes, the crashes sounded far away. Other times, they were terrifyingly close.

Their hearts pounded with every tremor.

Nicole and Zeph locked their fingers tightly together, neither of them daring to breathe too deeply.

Then everything went quiet, as if nothing had happened at all.

No one moved right away. They stayed inside the vehicle for another half hour before finally getting out.

The neighborhood radio channel had already erupted into chaos. Some people said an entire cluster of satellites had fallen. Others swore another earthquake had started.

"What the hell? Is the whole planet about to blow up? Just kill us all and get it over with!"

"Maybe aliens are attacking us. We're dead. We're definitely dead!"

People argued back and forth, but underneath it all was fear. Everyone was terrified.

Nicole frowned and said nothing. The uneasy feeling in her gut only grew stronger.

An hour later, the radio crackled. Marcus was calling.

"It was a cluster of satellites."

Something in his voice immediately put Nicole on edge. "Where did they come down?"

"Mount Graypine."

Mount Graypine? Nicole's heart sank.

According to geological surveys, Mount Graypine was an ancient extinct volcano, billions of years old. As far back as recorded history went, it had never erupted. For thousands of years, it had simply been a scenic landmark.

But was it really extinct? Or had it only been dormant all this time? And if it was dormant, could impacts that violent possibly wake it up?

After ending the call, Nicole couldn't shake the tight feeling in her chest.

Zeph looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Mount Graypine, the place where we went to gather herbs back then, is an ancient volcano. That cluster of satellites just slammed into it over and over."

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