All Chapters of Rewrite the Apocalypse Dream : Chapter 351 - Chapter 360

The rattler sound intensified, a dry, violent buzz that seemed to vibrate straight through the snow beneath their feet. Raven's face went tight with concentration for a moment before she spoke."She says we need to leave. Or die."Joanna held her ground, voice steady despite the pounding of her own heart. "Ask her if she's heard anything about my friend. Someone went missing recently — we found her trapped underground, in a cave above this area."Raven's eyes unfocused slightly as she pushed the question through, lips parting after a tense beat. "She says it wasn't her." A pause, Raven's voice tightening with real fear now. "But she thinks it might have been the moles." Another beat, and Raven's breath hitched. "Joanna — we need to back up. Right now. She just told me, in detail, how good we'd all taste."Joanna's pulse spiked, but she kept her voice level. "Ask her if she likes rabbits."Raven relayed the question, confusion flickering across her face even as she translated, and whil

Raven's expression crumpled, the grim calculation in Joanna's head interrupted by something far more immediate. "Joanna, wait — can we help them? He sounds like he's already accepted they're going to die. It's so sad."Joanna looked past Raven to the scarred, blind creature standing patiently in the churned snow, waiting for whatever judgment the strange two-legged visitors might pass, having just calmly relayed the extinction of his own people like it was simply a fact of weather. Something in her chest twisted."How do we even help them," she murmured, half to herself, crouching slightly to study the mole properly. "What do they actually need to survive? What do moles even eat?"Uncle Nate answered first, scratching at his beard thoughtfully. "Normally, grubs, earthworms, insect larvae — anything soft-bodied they can find tunneling through loose soil. Mutated like this, probably scaled up accordingly. Could be eating larger grubs, maybe small burrowing rodents too, if they've adapte

They crested the final rise, and there it was — the same cluster of bushes Joanna remembered from days ago, stark and black against the melting snow, their branches strangely bare compared to everything else growing nearby, as if even the frost refused to touch them the same way."Everyone stay back," Joanna said quietly, holding up a hand. "Will — samples only. Don't linger."Will nodded, adjusting his scarf with exaggerated solemnity before stepping forward alone, boots crunching through untouched snow toward the bushes. The rest of them held position several yards back, watching in tense silence as he crouched beside the nearest branch, carefully snipping a few leaves into a sample bag."Smell anything?" Joanna called."Nothing," Will said, voice muffled behind the duck scarf. "No gas, no spores, nothing in the air at all. If something's released from these, it's not happening right now."He shifted closer to the base of the bush, parting the lower branches to check the soil beneat

Joanna huffed out a humorless laugh, staring down into her tea like it owed her answers. "Funny thing was, that's when I decided to date Drew. I actually thought — if he was willing to kill his own friend over me, that had to mean something. That he really cared." She shook her head slowly. "Turned out he only cared about my space. What it could do for him."Julian's expression darkened slightly, though he said nothing, letting her continue."He even turned on my sister to keep me close to him," Joanna went on, voice flattening with old, familiar bitterness. "Told our superiors he was the reason our team succeeded. Took full credit for it, every time." Her jaw tightened. "Most scavenging teams came back with a fraction of what we did. Too many mouths to feed along the w

Joanna raised a hand slowly, signaling the others to hold position, and reached into her space, pulling out several rabbit carcasses in quick succession, tossing them one after another toward the snake's massive coiled length — a clear offering, more generous than before.The snake's head swung toward the fresh meat immediately, tongue flicking rapidly, but this time there was no sharp spike of aggression behind it.Raven stepped forward carefully, focus already turning inward as she pushed the message through to the snake. "Joanna means no harm," she said, half to herself as she relayed it. "She wants to help. With the ants."The massive body, already heavier with its recent kills, settled lower against the rock, posture losing some of its earlier coiled tension now that a full belly and an unthreatening visi