When the World Ends, She Begins novel Chapter 26

The busier Natalie got, the more cheerful she became. With all this meat, she could throw a huge lamb party anytime she wanted.

And with all the lamb meat she'd stockpiled before the apocalypse, she figured she'd have enough to last her entire life.

"Woof woof! Woof woof!"

All of a sudden, Lucky started barking at her. When Natalie turned to look, she saw her stamping her paws and staring hard at the flames.

She chuckled and said, "Okay, okay, I get it. You want some of this! Time to eat."

The mouthwatering smell drifted all around ...

The roasted lamb was finally done, and Lucky was clearly losing patience. Natalie set aside her butchering tools and went over to join the meal.

The roasted meat crackled with juice, sending wave after wave of savory aroma straight to her nose.

She sliced off a big chunk of lamb leg and handed it to Lucky, warning gently, "Take your time. It's hot. Don't burn your tongue."

Watching Lucky wag her tail like crazy made Natalie feel all warm inside.

In her previous life, she had lived on the streets, starving, with two untrustworthy companions who could turn on her anytime. Each day had been full of fear.

But now, she had enough food and warm clothes, a whole roasted lamb even during the apocalypse, and loyal Lucky by her side.

She really was lucky.

As she chewed on a rib bone, her eyes grew wet.

Noticing her change in mood, Lucky stopped munching and hurried over to comfort her. She pawed at Natalie's arm and gently licked her palm.

Wait, why is Lucky licking my palm?

"Lucky! Your mouth is all greasy! Look what you did to my sleeve!"

Natalie snapped out of her swirl of feelings and looked down at her dirty sleeve, caught between laughing and crying.

"Woof woof! Woof woof!"

It translated to, "Oh, you're all good now? Then I'm going back to my food."

Lucky wagged her tail and trotted back to her plate, happily eating again.

The two of them enjoyed a warm, peaceful dinner together.

Once they were done eating, Natalie packed the leftover roasted lamb into her storage space, handed Lucky a bone to chew on, and returned to preparing the rest of the lamb.

Her movements, once clumsy and hesitant, had grown steadily more practiced.

"At this rate, if the world hadn't gone to ruin, I could probably make a living as a butcher."

She quickly handled several dozen lambs, and when she noticed how late it had gotten, she decided to take a break in her tent and finish up the next day.

The moon lit up the night, the cool mountain breeze drifted through the air, and countless stars sparkled above.

Outside the tent, the fire crackled softly. Beneath the starry sky, both human and dog felt more at ease than they had in a long time and soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

A rooster?

There were chickens, too? So the flood really had gathered animals from all over the place.

The higher she climbed, the steeper and harder it was to walk on. Just when Natalie was about to stop and catch her breath, Lucky perked up and bolted ahead.

She hurried after her and was shocked to spot a group of cattle grazing up ahead.

Around 30 big brown cattle were eating grass in the clearing.

Natalie's face lit up with excitement—each cattle could provide nearly 500 pounds of meat, meaning the whole herd could give her about 16,500 pounds altogether.

Even though she had already stocked up a lot of meat in her storage space, this find made her feel like she'd never run out of beef again.

This mountain truly is full of treasures!

If it weren't for the extreme heat and brutal cold that would come late—along with the very real risk of dying out here and becoming part of the wilderness—she might have thought about living here permanently.

Staring at the sturdy cattle, Natalie got nervous that Lucky might suddenly charge at them and get injured, so she quickly called her back.

"Lucky, come back."

Lucky seemed to sense that these animals weren't as simple to mess with as lambs, so she stopped and stared at them carefully.

"You really think you're some kind of bullfighting hero, huh?"

She didn't want Lucky getting hit or kicked by one of those cattle. "You're still young. Don't go doing anything crazy."

After saying that, she hurried over and pulled Lucky back, then slowly made her way toward the herd.

The big brown cattle, calm and steady by nature, didn't seem bothered at all and just kept munching on the grass without reacting.