Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 193

Chapter 193: Warmer Weather
A few months later…

Cal was standing still, holding his breath. He was scared to move a single step out of place and end up on Dillon’s bad side.

“All this time, and you still haven’t found Julian or Rayne?! How useless can you be?” Dillon slammed his fist down on the table.

His face was red with anger. It had been two whole months since they took over the government base, and there still hadn’t been any progress made.

“Boss! The previous weather made it difficult to send anyone out to search. And with Ace’s passing, we had to train up a new team leader,” said Cal with a pleading expression.

Dillon was terrifying when angry. He had only a faint grip over his emotions, so when he was in a heightened state, anything was possible.

“The weather has just recently gotten better, so I need you to go back to the government base and keep your eyes peeled for any information while carrying out this new mission,” ordered Dillon.

He had recently been assigned a new mission to begin spreading a new drug throughout the government base.

It was less potent than the previous version but still needed testing. The higher-ups wanted to use the residents of the government base as test subjects before mass-producing it.

One of the missions Dillon passed down to Cal was to begin spreading this drug under the pretense of it being medicine.

Along with Ace, many of the people at the government base had died, and new people continued to get sick every day. A new ‘medicine’ would be very well accepted, making it a relatively easy mission.

“Yes, Boss!” Cal bowed slightly.

The wind had finally calmed down these last few days, and the temperature even warmed up. Cal no longer had the excuse of poor weather to protect him from Dillon’s wrath.

He would need to put in a lot of effort to locate Julian and Rayne.

—

At the mountain motel, Rayne finally went outside and felt the warmth of the sun. While the air was still cold, it had a new kind of freshness to it.

She walked over to the supply RV to take inventory and add any items that were missing. She was careful to only add a few, as a large amount would be suspicious.

“I’m surprised we were able to survive off of this for so long. It’s all thanks to you that we haven’t starved these two months,” said Julian.

Rayne smiled. “I’m just happy that everyone is in good health. With the weather getting warmer, we can start to make progress on the new base.”

Having this new base would be a turning point for them. It would serve as a supply and living place where Julian could recruit more talents to help combat Damien’s ever-growing force.

It would also hopefully serve as a bastion of hope for those trying to survive. Rayne looked around the RV and thought how nice it would be to see people smiling and children running around—maybe even she would have a child of her own one day…

“What are you thinking about? Your face is turning red,” Julian asked, smiling at her from across the small kitchen area.

Rayne shook her head. “No… nothing!!” She didn’t want to expose her thoughts of wanting children because she knew Julian would be more than willing to fulfill that here and now.

Seeing her embarrassed smile, Julian decided to leave her alone and switched the subject.

“If the weather continues to get better like it has been, the snow should start melting soon,” said Julian, looking out the window.

“Yeah, I hope it does get warmer. I’m tired of this cold. Plus, the warmer weather will make it easier for people to go out and find food,” agreed Rayne.

—

A few miles from the motel, a group of people huddled together in the basement of an old grocery store.

“Mila! The weather has finally gotten better. We can leave soon to find supplies and food,” a handsome man in his late 30s walked over to his wife.

He had just taken a quick walk outside to gather any kind of wood to keep the small fire going.

“Come warm yourself, honey. Tell me more about what you saw outside,” his wife excitedly said, inviting him to stand beside her.

Brandon walked over with a big smile on his face and a pile of broken wooden furniture in his arms.

“Outside just now, the sun was shining, and the winds are gone. I think better weather is finally on its way, and the snow will finally melt!” he explained.

They had been surviving in this basement for over three months now, and their supplies had been almost all used up.

Mila looked at her husband with a big smile. “This is truly amazing news. This means we will finally be able to move from this place and find more food before we make our way to the government base!”

Brandon hugged his wife. “Go tell Laura the good news! I’m sure this will lift her spirits! Also, give her my portion of today’s meal—she needs the nutrition.”

“Okay, sunshine, we can split my portion today,” smiled Mila. She was happy that her husband was such a caring man.

Unfortunately, their food supplies had gotten to alarmingly low amounts recently. This made them agree to ration what little they had left, only eating once a day or even once every other day.

The only exception to this was Laura, who was recently discovered to be pregnant. The group felt bad for her and wanted the baby to develop properly, often giving up their meals to her.

Mila walked over to the corner of the room where Laura was lying down.

“Laura, guess what?” said Mila.

“Oh, Mila, what is it?” smiled Laura, sitting up.

Mila motioned for her to lay back down. “Brandon just came back from gathering wood outside. He told me that the weather is getting better and even suspects that the snow will melt soon.”

She passed along the message, describing the changing environment she heard from her husband.

Laura’s eyes sparkled at the news. “Oh, thank goodness! There is hope after all!”

With every passing month, Laura became more and more nervous that she would have to give birth in this room or, worse, lose the baby.

“Brandon said that he and some of the guys will go out tomorrow to see if the conditions are good enough to set out. There’s a small town a few miles away from here where we can search for supplies,” said Mila.

Laura nodded. “I’ll tell David to go with you. He’s been more worried about my pregnancy than I have. Maybe seeing the changes outside will ease his nerves.”