The Apocalypse Survival Manual (Three Days Before Doomsday, I Stockpiled Billions) novel Chapter 913

Chapter 913

Cola wagged his tailat Nicole, still barking as though he had plenty to complain about.

Nicole crouched beside him and rubbed his head. “Good boy. No more being cooped up all day.”

Zeph kept his feelings to himself and focused on taking the submarine deeper.

At the periscope, Poppy lingered over one last look at the huge platforms standing firm above the water. She was saying goodbye for good this time.

Nicole noticed but left her to it.

Submarine 2688 slowly headed out of Yorwick.

Three hours later, they neared the edge of the base’s territory, and Zeph brought the submarine to a stop.

Nicole lay in bed with her eyes closed, trying to nap, but sleep wouldn’t come.

Zeph helped her sit up. “What’s on your mind?”

She rested her head on his shoulder without answering.

He put his arms around her. “Nicole, we’re family. You can talk to me. You don’t have to keep it all to yourself.”

She stayed quiet.

“Do you feel like Poppy and I are giving everything up because of you?” he asked.

Nicole lifted her head. “How do you feel about leaving?”

“I’ll miss it, of course, but keeping you safe matters more.”

He brushed her cheek.

“Like I told you, you don’t have to carry this alone. We’re a team. Your storage space helped all of us, so we all share the risks,

“If we can’t make a home here, we’ll find somewhere else. And if we have to keep moving, we can live with that, too.

“To Poppy and me, being with you and Cola is what makes it home.”

Nicole wrapped her arms around him and held on, unable to say anything.

Once they crossed the perimeter, there would be no going back. Barring something extraordinary, they would never return.

And with Nicole, Zeph, and Poppy all disappearing at once, the base authorities were bound to notice soon. Anyone who kept digging could eventually put the pieces together,

Chapter 93.

They needed to decide whether to leave now or do one last thing for the base. After all, Yorwick still meant something to them.

Nicole still had all 26 shipping containers they recovered from the ocean floor tucked away in her storage space.

The equipment inside was no use to her, but it could help the base reclaim land from the sea.

With those components, Yorwick could finally finish its artificial island. More land meant room to grow more food and medicinal herbs, making life much better for everyone at the base.

Nicole didn’t hesitate. “Let’s give them back.”

Before, she worried that returning the containers would expose her storage space. They expected to live at the base for years, so she wanted a way to do it without any risk of discovery.

Now that they were leaving, she no longer needed to protect their future there.

Still, it was daylight, and patrol boats were on the water. Returning the containers anonymously would take

some care.

Zeph had quietly looked into the patrol schedules when they first discussed returning the containers.