All Chapters of REBORN BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE: MY EX BEGS FOR MERCY: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

POV: HARRISONI once believed Phina would give me everything for free; now she made me earn every single bottle of medicine.The battery-powered tablet screen flickered in the dark cellar, reflecting off my stiff, frostbitten face as I read her cold, transactional response over and over again. Four emergency thermal sheets. Six days of dried rations. Three bottles of basic antibiotics. That was it. In exchange, she demanded my father’s classified municipal data files, sector road maps, and real-time movement logs for the local warlord factions."She’s insulting us, Harrison!" Vera shrieked from beneath her pile of filthy coats, her cracked lips bleeding as she glared at the glowing screen. "You were her husband! She built that mountain with resources that belonged to your family's network! Demand that she bring us into the core bunker! Reject her ridiculous deal!""Reject it with what, Vera?!" I screamed back, my voice cracking into a raw, pathetic rasp as I slammed my hand against th

POV: ALEXAlex discovered that one of the people Phina rescued was hiding a military background, and he might know more about the collapse than he admitted.The intake bay in Sector B was bathed in harsh, fluorescent light, smelling of wet wool, industrial disinfectant, and the sharp, metallic tang of melted frost. I was running a standard medical screening on the four survivors brought in by the Scouting Squad from a ruined road stop three miles down the pass.Standing against the concrete examination wall was a stocky man in his early forties named Michael Richmond. His intake sheet listed him as a former municipal transit worker, but as I adjusted his sling to treat a dislocated shoulder, I noticed things that didn't fit the profile of a city bus driver.His knuckles were heavily calloused in a pattern unique to hand-to-hand combat training, and when Marcus walked into the bay with his sidearm unholstered, Michael didn't flinch; his eyes immediately swept to Marcus’s trigger finge

POV: ALEXThe moment we returned from Haven Ridge, the atmosphere inside Sector A took on a hard, razor-sharp edge. The warning Director Vance had passed to Phina wasn't a vague rumor; it was an imminent operational threat. In a dead world, paper currency and offshore bank accounts meant nothing. But a self-sustaining mountain compound packed with years of medical supplies, geothermal energy, high-grade fuel, and automated defense grids? That was the ultimate prize in the wasteland.I immediately ordered Marcus to double the perimeter patrols, calibrate the thermal motion sensors along the North Ridge, and institute strict counter-surveillance sweeps on all incoming radio traffic. The mountain was quiet, but it was the kind of silence that usually preceded an avalanche.At the same time, I started digging into how information about Phina’s stockpiles could have leaked to the Apex Vanguard in the first place.I spent six hours in the central security hub, quietly cross-referencing trad

POV: ALEXThe only remaining supply route to the northern settlements passed through territory controlled by an armed faction, and there was no way around it.If we wanted to maintain our newly established trade connection with Haven Ridge and reach the isolated agricultural communities in the upper valley, we had to clear the North Pass. The primary highway had been rendered impassable by a massive, thirty-car pileup buried under six feet of hard-packed ice. That left a single, winding mountain road, a narrow asphalt vein cutting directly through the outer perimeter controlled by the Apex Vanguard.I stood at the tactical map in Sector A, adjusting my sidearm holster as I briefed Marcus and the Scouting Squad."We keep the footprint light," I laid out, pointing to the winding blue line on the glass screen. "One armored transport. We aren't going out there to start a war with the Vanguard. We're gathering real-time telemetry on their guard rotations, identifying their road checkpoints

POV: ALEXWhen the shelter was attacked at dawn, I realized I trusted Phina enough to fight without looking behind me.The blizzard had broken by 05:30 hours, leaving behind an eerie, razor-sharp silence under a pale, bruised morning sky. The storm’s howling roar had ceased, replaced by the faint, rhythmic crunch of heavy combat boots circling the snowy perimeter above our concrete cellar.I snapped awake instantly, my hand flying to my sidearm. Beside me, Phina was already on her feet, her dark eyes sharp, focused, and entirely devoid of sleep."Four contacts on the upper hatch," Marcus whispered, creeping down the concrete stairs with his assault rifle raised. "Two more flanking the rear ventilation shaft. It's the Apex Vanguard squad that tracked us from the warehouse.""We don't let them pin us in a subterranean trap," I ordered softly, gesturing to the Scouting Squad . "James, pull the medics to the inner alcove. Marcus, lock down the central stairwell. Phina, you and I hold the