The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 698

At that point, survival came down to luck.

The tents were filled with battered, barely recognizable faces, and the sight weighed heavily on Nicole as she checked each person carefully.

She desperately wanted to find Zeph, but at the same time, she was terrified of what condition he might be in if she did.

When there was still no sign of him, part of her felt relieved. The rest only grew more anxious.

She was about to leave when another rescue team rushed over carrying stretchers.

"Come on, give us a hand! These people were buried for a long time. Let's see if any of them can still be saved."

They had all been pulled from the mud, their bodies so thickly coated in yellow sludge that their faces were impossible to recognize.

The staff hurried over to help.

Nicole watched as the injured survivors were carried inside, her emotions churning.

"Nicole…?"

A weak voice came from behind her.

Nicole froze and turned around instinctively.

A teenage girl covered from head to toe in yellow mud stood a short distance away, staring at her. She swayed on her feet, and Nicole rushed forward just in time to catch her.

"Poppy!"

"Nicole…" Poppy managed a faint smile before her eyes rolled back and she went limp.

"Poppy!" Nicole called her name again and again, panic rising. "Where's Zeph?"

She carried Poppy into the empty tent next door, helped her out of her mud-soaked clothes, and collected some rainwater outside. Then, out of sight, she mixed in warm water from the storage space and cleaned her up.

Poppy was burning with fever. Her body was covered in injuries, and she had lost a frightening amount of weight.

They had been separated for so long. Nicole couldn't imagine what she went through just to stay alive. She quickly gave Poppy medicine to bring down the fever. When she noticed the injury on Poppy's head, she gave her antibiotics, too.

Once Poppy was settled, Nicole hurried back to the neighboring tent.

She had only glanced at the newly rescued survivors earlier, and none of them had Zeph's build. Even so, a small part of her had still held on to hope.

As the fog in Poppy's head gradually cleared, she suddenly grew anxious. "How are Beatrice and Diana?"

Beatrice was in better shape. She suffered from oxygen deprivation and multiple compression injuries, but Diana's condition was much worse.

When Poppy heard how serious Diana's injuries were, guilt filled her face.

"Diana got hurt because she saved me."

It wasn't just the knife wound on her arm. When the cave collapsed, Diana had thrown herself over Poppy and taken the brunt of it.

After hearing how Poppy had run into the two women, Nicole was stunned.

She could believe Beatrice would do something like that. But Diana...

Nicole stayed in the tent for nearly an hour. Poppy was still weak, and after eating something and taking her medicine, she soon drifted back to sleep.

When Nicole still hadn't heard anything from the tent next door, she started worrying about Beatrice and Diana again.

She lifted the flap and went back inside.