The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 681

Nicole and Zeph didn't leave right away. They waited another hour or so.

They still had supplies to sort out, and leaving too soon after the others would make it easier to run into someone they knew.

Poppy looked out the car window. "I wanna say goodbye to Brandon."

Zeph nodded. "Go ahead."

There were other kids her age in the neighborhood, but Poppy had always kept her distance. After all these years, Brandon was the only one she had really gotten close to.

But getting attached to someone wasn't always a good thing in the apocalypse. The closer you got, the harder it hurt when you had to say goodbye or lost them for good. Sometimes, that kind of pain was more than a person could bear.

Poppy handed Brandon a drawing.

"I'm leaving. This is for you."

Brandon froze for a second. Then, he handed her a cloth doll.

"When I grow up, I'll come find you."

Poppy paused, then smiled. "Okay."

The years had flown by, and neither of them looked like little kids anymore. Poppy already came up to Nicole's shoulder, while Brandon was only a couple of inches shorter than his father.

Under normal circumstances, people might still have thought of them as kids. But in the apocalypse, they were already old enough to shoulder adult responsibilities.

Brandon knew there was still a big gap between him and Poppy. Right now, he didn't have what it took to get into a military base.

But one day, he would.

Poppy turned to leave, but Brandon suddenly grabbed her hand. He looked anxious and a little lost.

"Will you wait for me?"

Poppy knew perfectly well that the military base might not be the best choice for Zeph and Nicole. None of them knew where they would eventually end up.

But when she saw the hope in Brandon's eyes, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that.

"Sure."

Getting into a military base was still one of the better options out there. If having that goal gave him something to work toward, then maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

Brandon stood in the doorway and watched until she disappeared from sight.

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