Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 208: Putting In Overtime

"We worked through the night, and pretty much all the materials for the insulated greenhouse structures came in. Construction's already underway. The indoor livestock facilities are being built out too, with crews running around the clock on the heating and floor warming systems.

"Oh, and the police sent a unit over to assist. When they found out we'd already ended the fight and wiped out the entire condemned raider crew, they couldn't believe it!"

Mariella wasn't surprised that the authorities knew about the coming polar night and brutal temperatures. They had elite meteorological teams working on exactly that, and she'd also sent a disaster alert to the official emergency inbox herself.

She'd used a phone seized during the fighting to draft and send the warning to the government base.

The alert had covered everything: the long night and brutal cold bearing down on them first, followed by extreme heat and extended daylight, then glacial melt and rising sea levels, and after that, escalating earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic activity.

Whether the authorities believed any of it was entirely out of her hands.

Once the message was sent, she pulled the SIM card, and the phone went into the storage space.

The government had probably made some preparations. How much, nobody could say.

She'd done what she could and warned them as thoroughly as she was able. Her conscience was clear.

The only thing she was actually curious about right now was: "Is the police unit still here?"

"The officer in charge has a history with the Hancocks. I asked them to station at Celestine Ridge for a few days, in case we get another wave of desperate people trying to raid our supplies." Kieran sent another message right on the heels of that one. "Also, Officer Abbott says he knows you! And one of the officers, badge number 653973, says you saved his life. Saved his whole family, actually."

Mariella hadn't expected to find anyone familiar among the unit stationed at Celestine Ridge, and the discovery genuinely intrigued her. "Where are they right now? I want to meet up with them!"

Celestine Ridge had launched a full-scale construction effort, hiring displaced survivors from the surrounding area to work without interruption on the insulated greenhouse structures and the indoor livestock heating systems.

The workload was enormous, but the sheer number of available hands made it manageable.

The survivors had already stripped the local waterways of every last alligator, and they were close to starving. When word spread that Celestine Ridge was hiring, they flooded in all at once.

Celestine Ridge had stopped using cash entirely. Payment was made in grain and oil.

An adult male laborer earned eight pounds of grain, one pound of cooking oil, and half a liter of diesel fuel for an eight-hour shift. People nearly came to blows competing for a spot on the roster.

The police unit stationed at Celestine Ridge was the only thing keeping it from descending into a riot.

When Mariella arrived, she found Kieran and Donald side by side, coordinating the work assignments.

"Nobody push, nobody shove, nobody crowd the front! We're running shifts! Eight hours per shift, three shifts a day, around the clock, no breaks in the schedule! Each round takes three hundred workers, three rounds totals nine hundred, and we're hiring able-bodied adult men only! Seniors, women, and children, step back!" A security officer repeated it into a megaphone, over and over.

The first round filled its quota quickly, and those workers were deployed immediately.

Everyone who hadn't gotten in had no choice but to wait eight hours and try again.

Kieran spotted Mariella and made his way over, leaning on a walking cane with a slight limp.

"Mariella, the cold-weather construction at both facilities is officially underway. We've also reinforced and raised the perimeter wall around the estate, and we're finishing it off with a high-voltage electric fence on top. That gives us one more layer of defense against outside threats."

He was clearly in full briefing mode.

Mariella held back a smile. "You have more experience with this than I do. You don't need to report all of it to me."

"You're the one holding Celestine Ridge together. Reporting to you is non-negotiable." Kieran's expression was completely sincere.

At this point, her word was the closest thing to law he recognized, and he wasn't taking any of it lightly.

"If you spot anything that needs adjusting, please let me know the moment you do!" Kieran was operating in full crisis mode and wasn't about to drop his guard for a second.

Mariella glanced at him. "How's the leg? You're moving around on it already?"

"Just soft tissue damage, nothing structural. Once they pulled the bullet, it's just a matter of time. It's fine."

While they were talking, Donald approached with the officer bearing badge number 653973 at his side.

Mariella greeted Donald first, then turned to the younger officer.

Donald looked her over carefully, his voice carrying a note of genuine disbelief. "You actually took down Black Bear yourself?"

He'd known she was capable. He hadn't known she was capable of that, though.

Black Bear's condemned raider crew had a notorious reputation, and they'd even managed to destroy an entire armed police unit at the height of their power.

Both the government and law enforcement had treated that crew with serious caution ever since.

On top of that, the authorities had been completely consumed with salvaging and stockpiling resources and building out disaster shelters. There simply hadn't been anyone to spare for a takedown operation.

It had taken considerable effort just to assemble this one unit and send Donald in to lead it. Every one of them had arrived prepared for a brutal fight with real casualties.