جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 120

The newcomers didn't look friendly.Everyone tensed up, especially the Goodmans. They had never been in a situation like this. They were educated, quiet people.Unfortunately, the world didn't have room for that anymore.Hands shaking, they still pulled kitchen knives from their bags.The motorboat roared across the water, the tattooed men shouting wildly. Behind them, the others paddled hard on their rafts to keep up.They saw fish floating belly-up across the surface and bags on Nicole's boat, packed full. Greed lit up every face.About 30 feet out, the lead motorboat stopped. One of the men swung out a machete and shouted, full of swagger, "Leave the fish, the boat, and the dog! Do that, and we'll let you live!"There were two women and four men in Nicole's group. Aside from the tall guy, the rest looked like easy targets.Nicole's voice stayed steady. "If we give you everything, how are we supposed to leave?""That's your problem," he said with a grin. "Jump in and swim. I

The two groups just about cleared the area. Fewer and fewer fish were surfacing, and Zeph's group had already hauled in close to 3,000 pounds.Right on cue, the fishing device died.The wind picked up hard. The rafts started drifting, pushed off course.Nicole's motorboat stayed put only because it was weighed down with fish, but even then, it rocked under their feet. Standing steady took effort.The lighter rafts had it worse. No matter how hard they paddled against the wind, they kept drifting farther and farther away with the current.Nicole frowned, a nagging sense that something about the current wasn't right. It felt like there was a pull, dragging everything toward the dam.Zeph felt it, too. He looked over at her instinctively.Their eyes met, both catching the warning in an instant."Run!""Run!"They shouted at the same time, already moving.Nicole yanked the starter cord. "Hughie, hold on!"The motor roared to life, and she swung the boat hard in the opposite dir

Nicole slept in and didn't even make it to breakfast before Beatrice knocked on her door. "Nicole, what are you doing with your fish?"Nicole answered casually, "I'm thinking about curing it. I'll check with Gabrielle's family later."Hughie's group had ended up with two shares, which were way more than they could eat. They were planning to take half of it to the market at the department store and trade for other supplies.Nicole wasn't interested. "I'm taking Cola back to the hillside villa, see if he can catch a rabbit or something."The reservoir was too dangerous now. And after the past couple of days, Jeremy and Hughie were wiped out. No one wanted to go back there.So they knocked on Zeph's door instead. He agreed to go to the market, but mostly to take Poppy along and let her see what the world had turned into.Which left Beatrice stuck at home again.She didn't even have time to complain before Gabrielle came up and knocked, asking quietly if anyone from the 18th floor

That first fight hit Poppy harder than anything.She wrapped her arms around Zeph's neck. "When I grow up, I'm going to protect you, too.""Alright.""And I'll protect Nicole. And Cola.""Sounds good."After that came the fish-selling. Zeph walked her through it step by step, teaching her hands-on.Nicole listened, quiet for a long moment.The way Zeph taught was blunt, almost harsh. Still, this wasn't the old world anymore. All the rules about kindness and manners didn't mean much now. If anything, sticking to them blindly would get Poppy hurt."He's not wrong," Nicole said finally. She glanced at Poppy. "Have you ever gone hungry? Been hit?"Poppy lowered her head, fingers twisting in her clothes."It's okay. You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Nicole said. "When Zeph wasn't home," Poppy said. "I was really hungry, and my cousin would bully me. My aunt would yell at me…""Do you want to go through that again?" Nicole asked. "No!" Poppy shook her head hard

Nicole headed home and got straight to work, pulling together ingredients for ravioli.She started by making the fillings: a classic ground pork mix, a ricotta and herb blend, and a simple mushroom filling. Once everything was prepped, all that was left was to start assembling.Ten pounds of dough was a lot. At this rate, it felt like it would take all afternoon to get through it.Zeph stood at the sink washing vegetables while Nicole cranked a manual meat grinder she had pulled out from her stash, working the fillings.Once the dough was ready, she showed him how to roll out pasta sheets.No surprise, Zeph was good with his hands. The only problem was he was way too particular. He kept frowning at the pasta sheets, insisting they weren't perfectly square.Somehow, he even found a copper cutter and started stamping each piece into exact squares.Nicole just stared at him. Some dedication.Once the fillings were mixed, they started assembling the ravioli.Poppy came running ove