The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 796

Chapter 796

Nicole saw stars as the pod threw her around. Without the harness holding her securely at several points, she would’ve been knocked senseless.

The gravity stabilizer spun wildly. Just as she felt stomach acid rise in her throat, the pod wedged in place and stopped.

Darkness surrounded them, and the round window was their only way to see out.

The hatch faced up, giving them a clear view of the fissure overhead. They were so deep that only a sliver of daylight reached them.

Nicolle peered up. The opening looked almost 1,000 feet above them.

Even a pair of wings probably wouldn’t get them out of this.

After everything they survived, there wasn’t much left to scare her. She turned to Zeph.

“Well, looks like we’re retiring down here.”

Zeph took it in stride, as familiar with disaster as she was. “As long as I’m with you.”

He barely finished speaking before another tremor sent clumps of dirt and countless rocks raining down.

Falling from that height, they hit with devastating force.

One rock slammed into the pod, knocking it loose. Nicole felt them drop several more feet.

Thankfully, the pod’s aerospace-grade shell held up under the falling rocks. Dirt and rocks rained down for several more minutes before finally tapering off.

Then the faint light overhead began to dim.

Nicole instinctively looked up. Something was spreading across the opening.

At first, light filtered through it. Then it grew thicker, blotting qut what little daylight remained.

Realization hit. Nicole’s eyes widened, and she ducked to one side, throwing an arm over her head.

Waves!

They surged across the vast plateau basin, swallowing everything in their path. Seawater seemed to pour from the sky, thundering into the fissures like a towering waterfall.

The torrent crashed down on the escape pod.

They were safe inside, but the sheer force of it terrified her, Every blow agains

pounding against her heart.

The pod shuddered violently

at any second.

n the rush of water. Nicole stared a

What

hes

hell felt like an iron fist

the window, afraid it would shatter

But the engineers who designed the pod knew what they were doing. Even as the world fell apart around them, it held.

Chapter 288

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Seawater kept pouring in. Sand and rocks sank beneath the surface as the water rose rapidly.

The escape pod shot upward like a sprinter out of the blocks.

Apparently, Nicole wouldn’t be spending her retirement at the bottom of a fissure after all.

She made the right call. The escape pod was the best choice she could’ve made.

The collision between the tectonic plates loosened the ground throughout the basin, opening countless cracks that let groundwater seep up from below.

Even if the pod dropped into a fissure, the plates breaking apart and sinking would trigger a tsunami. The force of the water would tear through the surrounding earth, freeing the pod to float to the surface.

Zeph must have worked that out already. With Poppy depending on him, he never would’ve resigned himself to spending the rest of his life down there with Nicole.

Men certainly knew how to lay on the sweet talk.

Within two minutes, the pod burst through the surface, tumbling and spinning in the monstrous waves.

Then another wave hurled it into the air.

They drifted like debris in the current, helpless to control where they went.

Light flashed through the window, then vanished as they tumbled.

Dizzy and sick, Poppy said, “Zeph, I’m gonna throw up.”

Nicole unbuckled two of her safety straps and reached up to draw the curtain across the hatch, plunging the pod into darkness. She made sure Zeph installed that curtain himself.

Then she moved the pod and everyone inside into her storage space, taking them out of the chaos.

She slipped a sour candy into Poppy’s mouth. “Suck on that and close your eyes. You’ll feel better in a

minute.”

The candies helped settle their stomachs, so she gave everyone one.

Nicole was so dizzy that she couldn’t tell if she was still swaying or if it was all in her head.

The sweet-tart flavor slowly helped them feel grounded again, and Poppy’s nausea eased.

Nicole switched on the light. “Is anyone hurt?”

They checked themselves over. No one had any visible injuries, but the harnesses left them sore, and they still felt dizzy enough to fall over.

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Chapter 787

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Chapter 797

Nicole made sure to check Cola. He looked dazed and badly shaken, but Zeph kept him safe through the ordeal, stopping him from panicking completely.

He sprawled on the floor, panting. After half an hour of rest, he looked much more alert.

Nicole checked her storage space with her mind. In her rush to put their lunch away, she didn’t think about where to put it. The bowls ended up in the living room, with potato casserole spilled all over the floor.

So much for lunch. She would have to find them something else.

This time, she brought out sautéed beef. With no reason to hurry, they took their time eating.

After lunch and some juice, she sent Poppy and Cola off for a nap.

They spent nearly two hours in her storage space before she returned the pod to the ocean, where it rose and fell with the waves.

Nicole drew back the curtain, and bright light flooded in.

The worst of the tsunami triggered by the sinking land was over. But as far as she could see, there was only open ocean, fierce winds driving towering waves toward the horizon. 1

Not quite ready to give up, Nicole took out her binoculars and searched. She spent a full half hour scanning the horizon without spotting a single strip of land or a mountain.

If even ground that high was underwater, there might not be any land left on Earth. And anything still above water probably wouldn’t stay that way for long,

Nicole couldn’t imagine how they would live from now on. 1

They sat in a heavy silence, too drained to speak.

The wind howled and waves heaved around them, carrying them farther and farther. The light slowly faded as night drew near.

Poppy barely touched her dinner, eating less than half her usual portion.

As darkness settled in, she spoke up. “Zeph, I can’t sleep. My head really hurts,”

Zeph checked her temperature. No fever,

Her pulse and blood pressure were slightly elevated, probably from the stress and seasickness.

“We have some melatonin,” Zeph said gently. “It should help you sleep. Wanna try it?”

Poppy nodded, “Yeah.”

After giving her the pill, he stroked her hair. “Seasickness is miserable, but it’ll get easier once you get used to the motion. Try not to worry. Get some sleep. We’ll get through this.”

Poppy closed her eyes but kept hold of his hand. Half an hour later, she was sound asleep.

Nicole moved the escape pod and everyone inside into her storage space.

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