The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 795

Chapter 795

Zeph knew wilderness survival inside and out. He studied the grass, his expression grim.

“Nicole, this place is going under, too.”

Nicole nodded. “We need to get ready.”

It was sedge, one of the few plants used for landscaping at high elevations. In places at risk of turning to desert, its roots held the sand in place, kept the soil from washing or blowing away, and helped it retain

moisture.

Normally, it stayed green year-round. Up here in the basin, though, it only put out new growth in late spring, when warmer temperatures melted the snow and supplied much-needed water.

Yet here it was, sprouting in the driest part of the year.

There wasn’t any recent rain to explain it, but the soil was damp enough for the dormant grass to put out new shoots. Cracks must have opened underground, letting moisture seep up from below.

Zeph dug into the ground with a shovel. About a foot down, the soil was noticeably wetter.

*A few days later, Nicole caught a faint salty smell on the breeze. The air felt damper now, with a chill to it.

It smelled like seawater.

She lived on the coast in Grayport for a while, and that same smell drifted in whenever she opened a window.

The wind was especially strong today.

If it carried the smell of the sea this far into the enormous basin, the land didn’t have much time left.

Nicole crouched beside the RV to inspect it and spotted another problem.

The RV weighed several tons, and it was starting to sink, leaving a shallow depression in the ground.

They couldn’t afford to ignore the warning signs.

Nicole immediately put the RV into her storage space and took out the escape pod.

They were already at a high elevation. The only higher ground left was the world’s highest peak, Mount

Evercrest.

But it sat along an earthquake belt, where collapsing mountains would make things even more dangerous. Besides, sooner or later, that would go under, too. They might as well stay and face whatever came.

Zeph squeezed Nicole’s hand, “I don’t care where we are, as long as we’re together.”

“Woof!”

“With Cola and Poppy, too.”

Nicole took out four life jackets. Everyone had to keep one on, day and night. Cola’s needed a few adjustments to fit him, so she took out a needle, thread, and scissors and altered it.

There was no telling when the ground would give way. The four of them set up a tent nearby, took turns

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keeping watch during the day, and slept in the escape pod at night.

Two days later, Cola grew restless early in the morning. He wouldn’t even eat his favorite drumstick. He nosed it onto the ground and kept snorting.

Then he barked sharply at Nicole. “Woof!”

“I know.” Nicole picked up the drumstick and nudged it into his mouth. “You still need to eat. Finish that, and we’ll pack up.”

While Cola wolfed it down, she stepped outside the tent and looked around.

The air felt damp, and the salty smell was stronger.

Her unease deepened. As soon as Cola finished eating, she and Zeph packed up the tent.

Animals could sense earthquakes and other natural disasters long before humans. Nothing seemed to calm Cola down, and they couldn’t ignore that.

He finally settled a little once they were inside the escape pod, lying in Zeph’s arms.

At noon, they watched a show while eating lunch. Lunch was a homemade potato casserole loaded with sausage and smoky ham, with sautéed greens on the side.

Nicole was about to take a bite of ham when her fork jerked, sending the meat to the floor.

It wasn’t her hand. The escape pod was shaking.

She reacted instantly, whisking her bowl into her storage space, then grabbing Zeph’s and Poppy’s bowls and doing the same.

She reached for Cola’s bowl just as a violent jolt sent the pod tumbling.

It rolled left, then right, lurching off at odd angles.

Even with the gravity stabilizer, they were thrown around so hard that they nearly lost their lunch.

The pod tumbled for more than two minutes. Then, suddenly, it was in free fall.

Countless cracks ripped through the ground, as if some monstrous hand were slashing at it with a blade. The basin stretched for hundreds of miles, and now, its entire surface fractured into a jagged mosaic.

The fissures raced outward, and then the land gave way with a thunderous roar.

The escape pod plunged, slammed into something solid, and dropped again.

Over and over, it crashed deeper into the shattered earth.

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