The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 759

After Jeremy and the others left, Nicole sat on the couch and quietly leaned against Zeph's shoulder.

Zeph slipped an arm around her. "What's wrong?"

"I just feel happy. Really content." Nicole wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

He smiled. "For what?"

"For everything." Nicole smiled back at him. "For finding me. For understanding me. For loving me. For putting up with me. For forgiving me..."

Everything felt so right that she wished it could stay this way forever. She wanted them to grow old together and never have to be apart again.

Zeph simply held her, his chest warm and full.

In the kitchen, Poppy washed the dishes and pretended not to notice them being affectionate.

She saw nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Cola, on the other hand, shamelessly poked his head around the doorway. Poppy grabbed him by the ear and pulled him back.

"No."

The next morning, Nicole slept in and woke up on her own.

While eating the noodles Poppy made, she said to Zeph, "We don't have anything else going on today. Why don't we go pick up the coal?"

The coal yard was about 30 miles from the base. Plenty of places relied on coal, so trucks traveled that route every day. The road should be relatively safe.

Zeph agreed. The sooner they got the coal into storage, the less chance there was for something to go wrong.

Someone had already broken into the house once, so there was no way they were leaving Poppy or Cola behind. Anything else they could store away went with them, too.

Once everything was packed up, Zeph pulled out a few strands of hair and wedged them into the doorframe before locking the door.

The road to the coal yard was passable, but years of heavy truck traffic had left the dirt road full of deep ruts and potholes. The ride was so rough that Nicole felt like her insides were getting shaken loose.

Armed soldiers guarded the coal yard, which was operated by the military base. The office staff were all relatives of military personnel.

Most of the miners were survivors who had committed offenses serious enough to deserve punishment but not execution. When the yard was short-handed, ordinary base residents were assigned there, too.

"Doesn't look like it." Poppy kept an eye on them. "Probably some gang from outside the base."

Nicole had barely been outside the base a handful of times, so she couldn't think of anyone out there she had managed to offend.

They were wearing body armor and combat helmets, and the truck windows had even been replaced with bullet-resistant glass. The tires were the only real weak point.

Still, night was closing in. If a fight broke out, defending themselves or getting away wouldn't be difficult.

But whoever was following them either didn't want to make a move with military coal trucks still nearby or had some other plan. They simply stayed behind them without attacking.

Nicole needed somewhere private to move the coal into storage, so instead of heading back toward the base, she turned toward Mount Cedar.

Night came quickly. As soon as the two trucks split off from the military coal convoy, the people following them started closing in.

Nicole stopped at a bend in the road and got out to take a break.

The four of them sat on the ground and ate the food they had brought.

Once everyone had eaten, Nicole pulled out a tent and started setting it up. "We'll finish the delivery tomorrow, then head back to the base and get some rest."