All Chapters of The Apocalypse Survival Manual: Chapter 821 - Chapter 830

When Ardelon was destroyed in a matter of moments, many of its survivors drifted from one country to another or turned to piracy. They didn't just rob people; they hunted survivors from other nations for food.Of the dozens of Savadian survivors captured just ten days earlier, only a handful remained. The Ardelonian pirates forced them to pretend they were injured and call for help, drawing other survivors aboard so the pirates could kill and eat them.Sawyer kept one detail to himself. Several bodies lay in the hold, all victims who had been lured aboard and murdered that day."Those monsters," he spat. "How could anyone do this?"Sawyer spent years at the military base, sheltered from much of the violence and cruelty beyond its walls. Nothing prepared him for a discovery like this.Nicole shared his anger, but the pirates' physical deformities concerned her more. Something caused those changes, and she needed to know what it was.Zeph frowned. "Could eating mutated sea creatu

It took two trips to ferry all the supplies back to Sawyer's submarine.The submarine sounded its horn in thanks. Across the water, Sawyer and his crew saluted Nicole and Zeph before heading below.Then submarine No. 1926 slowly submerged and disappeared beneath the surface.Nicole watched the water settle, surprised by how much she already missed them. With nothing but ocean stretching in every direction, she felt alone again.Zeph seemed to sense it. "You still have me."Nicole took his hand. "We're a family. We count as one, don't we?"He smiled and conceded the point."Does it feel a little lonely now that they're gone?" she asked.After nearly two weeks together, they were friends. Saying goodbye was bound to hurt."Do you want to go to the new settlement?" Nicole asked."Not right now," Zeph admitted.She turned to him, curious. "Why not?"People were complicated. They fought and schemed when they lived together, then missed the company when they were alone. Even the

At first, Zeph mistook the dark patch for a current. But the wind was mild, and the darkness spread far too quickly.The mass raced toward the fishing boat and surrounded it. Then countless tiny shapes swarmed up the hull in a dense, unbroken stream.They were black, roughly the size and shape of beetles, and moved astonishingly fast.The swarm poured over the boat like a black tide. Dense clusters never bothered Zeph before, but the sight made his skin crawl.He lowered the binoculars to tell Nicole they needed to leave. Before he could speak, Poppy screamed. "Bugs! There are bugs!"They spun around. While they watched the fishing boat, black insects climbed aboard behind them.More raced up the yacht's hull. Their legs made an audible rustling as they scrambled over one another.Each had a black shell and eerie green eyes. They covered more of the deck by the second.They seemed to track by scent. As soon as they reached the deck, they headed straight for Nicole and the other

Watching the tide bugs crawl over the capsule made Nicole's skin crawl. With each new horror, humanity's chances of surviving seemed a little slimmer.The bugs swarmed over the shell for another 15 minutes. Whether the aerospace-grade material held no appeal or simply proved too hard to bite through, they finally gave up and left.As they cleared the window, Nicole could see outside again.The fishing boat floated nearby. The swarm retreated as quickly as it arrived, pouring down the hull in a dense black mass and disappearing beneath the surface.Nicole waited another 15 minutes. Only when she was sure the bugs were gone did she open the hatch.The sea breeze barely carried a trace of the stench. In that short time, the swarm apparently consumed almost all the decomposing bodies aboard.Her stomach turned.With the fishing boat so close, Nicole remembered the radiation protection suits she asked Marcus to find back when they lived at the villa complex. After getting those, she

Nobody could prepare for every disaster. No matter how carefully people planned, nature could undo it all in an instant."Nicole, if you ever lose any of us, promise me you'll keep going," Zeph said. "Don't blame yourself for things you couldn't prevent. You've already done more than anyone could ask. Every extra day we have together is a gift."Nicole clung to him, tears sliding silently down her cheeks.Zeph bowed his head and gently wiped them away. "What happened to the Nicole who wasn't scared of anything?""She's scared now."He kissed her forehead. "That's okay. I'm here. We're all still here."Zeph stayed with Poppy through the night so Nicole could rest. He was still awake when she came to relieve him at dawn."Go get some sleep," she told him.Poppy's fever kept coming back, and her voice was hoarse.Nicole gave her antiviral medication and herbal remedies, hoping they would help her recover. She also administered several bags of IV fluids.After half a bowl of chic