When the World Ends, She Begins novel Chapter 5

Seeing Tiffany stomp her feet in fury left Natalie in an exceptionally good mood.

The moment she stepped out of her neighborhood, she headed straight for the hardware market.

Over the past couple of days, she'd stocked up on plenty of food, clothing, and daily necessities, but she heard of this somewhere—

While the neighbors hoard food, I hoard guns. Then, they'll become my supplies.

Natalie had no intention of becoming anyone else's supplies. That meant she had to stock up on weapons.

Of course, she couldn't get her hands on actual firearms. Drakoria's gun laws were still tight as ever. The silver lining was that if she couldn't buy them, neither could anyone else.

In her last life, the most common weapons during fights had been kitchen knives, axes, and baseball bats.

They were either too weak or too likely to cause accidental self-injury.

Natalie wanted something more fitting.

A chainsaw.

Sometimes called a criminal's knockout drug.

Once a person pulled the starter cord, no one within 30 feet would dare come close.

Comments online had once joked, "It's the most powerful weapon you can legally buy."

Never mind whether it could slice through bone cleanly—the deafening roar alone was enough to make anyone's knees buckle.

Its only drawback was that it ran on gasoline. So Natalie would need to stockpile fuel as well.

With social order gone during the apocalypse, both diesel and gasoline became rare, irreplaceable treasures.

So, besides buying five gasoline-powered chainsaws, Natalie also picked up five rechargeable electric ones. The storage space had electricity, so she could keep them charged at all times.

Once the chainsaws were taken care of, she added ten nail guns along with boxes of nails to her cart.

A nail gun might not match a real gun's power, but aim it at someone's head or chest, and two or three shots could drop them just as quickly.

The shop owner repeatedly warned her about safety precautions, clearly worried she might hurt someone by accident.

Leaving the store, Natalie stashed everything into her storage space, then sat in her van.

After pondering for a moment, she pulled out her phone and called one of her late mother's former business partners, Talia Carter.

"Hello, Talia, it's Natalie."

"Natalie? What's going on?"

The fact that Jacob had kicked Natalie out was common gossip in their social circle. Most people pitied her, but with Jacob now running the family's business, Talia kept her distance like other partners.

Her mother had passed away, and Natalie knew well that once someone was gone, they would be forgotten. So, she didn't bother with small talk.

"My mother once lent you a certain collectible to look at. I'd like to take it back."

"Oh—you mean that triangular bayonet?"

Talia paused. Is this girl so desperate that she had to sell collectibles to survive?

That bayonet wasn't particularly old or valuable—she'd only borrowed it out of curiosity. It couldn't compare to the antique treasures Natalie's mother had owned.

She guessed that Jacob had probably kept those for himself.

Thinking about Natalie's situation, Talia felt a twinge of sympathy. "Come by my place tomorrow to get it."

"Alright. Thank you, Talia."

After hanging up, Natalie felt more at ease.

A triangular bayonet had three ridge-like blood grooves along its blade. Once it pierced a target, it caused rapid and heavy bleeding.

Its unique wound was notoriously difficult to stitch up. In a post-apocalyptic world with scarce medical resources, getting stabbed with it was a death sentence.

Her mother's bayonet was already a bit rusty when she received it, but that suited Natalie perfectly.

Rust meant a high risk of tetanus. It was deadly in terms of damage.

Is there anything I have missed?

Oh, right! Natalie smacked her forehead. How could I forget the life-saving supplies?

Feeling content, Natalie ate while looking around.

With blast-proof doors and windows and ample supplies in the storage space, things were already far better than in her last life.

She opened her tablet and began downloading her favorite TV dramas and variety shows.

After the apocalypse, with no internet or electricity and danger everywhere, people's nerves would be stretched to the breaking point. Beyond the basics of survival, she'd need to protect her mental health too, if she wanted to last.

She downloaded all sorts of e-books and videos like novels, maps, cooking tutorials, combat lessons, wilderness survival guides, and more.

One device didn't have enough storage, so she decided to buy more electronics tomorrow.

After dinner, Natalie tossed her tablet aside to keep downloading at home and took her car keys to head downstairs.

The most urgent issue was still unresolved. Both the generators and chainsaws needed fuel.

She drove the rented truck to a gas station, filled the tank, and then transferred the fuel into barrels stored in her storage space.

One station after another, she kept at it until midnight, finally collecting 800 gallons of diesel.

Feeling a bit drained, Natalie found a parking lot and closed her eyes to rest. She planned to continue once she woke up.

But before long, a faint noise caught her attention.

She peeked out to see two scrawny men crouched beside a truck, moving suspiciously.

Are they fuel thieves?

Natalie had heard about groups in Northlorn who specialized in siphoning fuel from vehicles and selling it cheaply.

They were the bane of every truck driver's existence.

When the pair began to slink away, Natalie started her engine and followed them from a distance.

Fuel was exactly what she needed now.