The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 886

Chapter 886

Nicole told Zeph about the ferry ride.

“I traded a bottle of heart pills for three extra rooms and six months of free rent.”

With everyone living so close together, keeping a low profile wasn’t easy. All three of them were healthy and well- fed, and people were already noticing, even though they had only been there a few days.

Most just looked at them with envy, but there was no way to know who might be planning something.

Living among active-duty military personnel in Area B2 would hopefully save them a lot of trouble.

They decided to move right away, before anything could complicate the arrangements. With four of them squeezed into a room barely over 100 square feet, there was hardly room to turn around.

Nicole wasn’t about to pass up a chance to make them all more comfortable.

Zeph shook his head, smiling. “You came through for me again.”

Nicole gave him a playful glare. “As long as you appreciate it. You’re doing all the housework from now on.”

He knew exactly how to keep her happy. “You got it. You’re the boss.”

They didn’t have much to carry, so a few trips were enough to get everything into their new quarters.

Each room was the same size as their old one, but joining them in pairs gave them much more usable space.

Nicole and Zeph took one section, the middle became a living area where Cola could sleep, and Poppy took the far end. They could leave the sliding steel partitions open during the day and close them for privacy.

Everyone was in a better mood with a little room to spread out.

Once everything was in place, Nicole and Zeph went downstairs to get water. They were surprised to run into Jacob in the hallway.

“Jacob!”

They were both delighted to see their former instructor.

Jacob recently returned from a mission and ran into Sawyer, who was back at work after some time off. Sawyer told him that Nicole and the others had made it safely to Yorwick.

He planned to find them as soon as work let up. He never expected to run into them in the hallway.

If the tectonic plates hadn’t collided and the continents hadn’t disappeared beneath the sea, they might have remained nothing more than an instructor and his former trainees from the southern military base.

But after so many disasters, so many deaths, and so many people they would never see again, a familiar face meant something. Finding each other alive in a world almost swallowed by the ocean made the reunion all the more precious.

They exchanged warm hugs.

Then the three of them headed downstairs for water, catching up on everything since they last saw one another.

Jacob captained the 094A during the evacuation. The full-size nuclear submarine carried senior and mid-ranking officers from the base.

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Chapter 880

+25 BONUS

They ran into plenty of trouble at sea, but his experience and nerve, along with the submarine’s dependable equipment, got them through it all.

The mention of senior officers made Nicole’s pulse jump. She kept her voice casual.

“Submarines must’ve been one of the safer places to be when the plates collided and everything went underwater. I imagine most of the senior officers got out?”

Senior command personally chose Jacob to teach Nicule and Zeph how to operate their submarine.

He wasn’t one to pry, but he picked up enough to suspect they had some connection to Arthur.

“In a disaster that big, nowhere is completely safe. A lot depends on luck, keeping your head, and knowing what to do.”

As the navy’s chief submarine instructor, Jacob had attended planning meetings for the evacuation by sea. He helped draw up parts of the plan himself and saw no reason to withhold what he knew..

“The base evacuated people by land, sea, and air. Senior command had to coordinate all three operations, so they were supposed to leave last.

“The plan was for helicopters to take them out to the warships once everyone else was clear.

“Those ships can handle rough seas, and the crews know what to do in an emergency. I believe they’ll make it.”

Nicole smiled and left it there.

Once they carried the water upstairs, she invited Jacob to stay for dinner.

“If you hadn’t taught us so much, we probably would’ve gone down with the submarine a long time ago.”

Food was too precious to give away these days, and Jacob immediately tried to decline.

Nicole wouldn’t let him. “It’s one meal. What you taught us kept us alive more times than I can count.” 12

She and Zeph kept at him until he finally agreed.

Bringing out an elaborate meal from her storage space would raise questions, so Nicole kept the menu simple. She cooked some dried green beans, salted fish, and wilted greens, then served them with mixed grains and dried sweet potatoes.

She also took out a bottle of cheap liquor, carefully scuffing the bottle and its label to make it look years old.

Jacob already knew about Cola, so she didn’t bother hiding him.

When dinner was ready, Nicole opened the bottle with a grin.

“Try this, Jacob. It’s locally made. The salted fish is a few years old, and we grew the vegetables on the sub. Feeling brave?”

After everything Jacob survived, he wasn’t about to turn up his nose at food. If it wouldn’t kill him, he would eat it. Besides, by current standards, Nicole and Zeph were serving a feast.

The first swallow of liquor burned all the way down, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

Before the disasters, Jacob could walk into any corner store and pick up a bottle of this cheap liquor without thinking twice. Now, finding one was nearly impossible.

The distillery was underwater. As far as he knew, whatever bottles remained were the last there would ever be.

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Chaptor 880

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Even if people found a way to make liquor again, they couldn’t bring back the thriving country they once called home…

The memories stirred something in Jacob, and he helped himself to a couple more drinks.