Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 96: The Stampede and the Harvest

She perked her ears. Sure enough—the deep, heavy drumming of hooves, getting louder.

Seven or eight bulls were charging straight toward the helicopter.

Mariella grabbed the rope and scrambled up in seconds.

Chandler pulled the stick. The helicopter lifted as Mariella hauled in the rope.

They moved in perfect sync, smooth and clean.

The helicopter had barely lifted clear when the bulls charged straight through the spot where it had been hovering.

Bulls were territorial and massive—horned, aggressive, and a hundred times more dangerous than sheep.

The helicopter's engine had agitated them, then enraged them. They'd charged on pure instinct, trying to ram the thing out of the sky.

Even after the helicopter rose, the bulls were still down there, pawing the ground in fury.

Mariella's eyes lit up. "That many bulls. If we could get them all..."

After hunting the sheep, she knew better than to open fire directly. That would scatter most of the herd.

The helicopter circled low. Every time it came close, the bulls charged in blind rage.

Mariella noticed a cliff ahead—a sheer drop of maybe 150 to 200 feet, with enough open ground for a helicopter landing.

An idea hit her.

If the bulls were this easy to provoke, she'd just provoke them harder.

She and Chandler locked eyes. Instant understanding. Both nodded.

Chandler pushed the stick forward. The helicopter dove at the herd, faked a charge, then pulled up and reversed, playing the fleeing target.

The bulls took the bait and accelerated, hell-bent on catching the low-flying metal nuisance and stomping it flat.

Chandler controlled the speed precisely, letting the herd close the gap inch by inch, leading them straight toward the cliff.

The lead bull's horns were practically scraping the tail of the helicopter. One more step and it would connect...

Mariella yanked the helicopter—pilot and all—into her storage space.

The lead bull hit nothing but empty air. At that speed, there was no stopping.

The cliff edge. Straight drop. It went over without hesitation.

The rest of the herd stampeded after it. By the time they saw the edge, momentum had already decided.

"Thud! Thud! Thud..."

The entire herd went over the cliff. Instant wipeout.

At the base of the cliff was a cattle graveyard.

The helicopter hovered nearby. Mariella fast-roped down and happily collected her haul.

They got eight full-grown bulls. Each one was over a thousand pounds. There were over 8,000 pounds of freshly killed beef in total.

She immediately collected the ones that were already dead. The ones still breathing got a chainsaw.

All eight bulls went into her storage space. She grabbed the rope and climbed back up.

Chandler lifted off. Mariella pulled the rope.

Almost no words were exchanged, but they moved like partners who'd been running ops together for years.

Chandler noticed the sun was setting. It would be dark soon.

"Head back?" He checked with her.

"Find somewhere stable to land. Dinner first. Then you're coming into my storage space to help me process the meat." Mariella waved off the idea of heading home.

...

Chandler found a relatively flat landing zone. They touched down.

Today's haul had been enormous. Mariella didn't bother rationing her storage-space time. She brought Chandler and the helicopter straight in.

It was Chandler's second time inside the space, and he was still floored. It had expanded to almost double what he'd seen before.

"You helped me hit the jewelry store. Plus the load of jewelry Number One brought in, plus the 44 pounds of gold from the generator sales. All of it fed the space and nearly doubled the volume." Mariella's voice was charged with excitement and anticipation.

Kieran had also pre-ordered 60 more generators and 100 dampening kits. That deal would bring in another 340 pounds of gold—enough for several hundred more cubic feet of static space.

She had to keep pushing. Stockpile harder. Stockpile everything.

Mariella dug out a large coffee table and two stools from her supplies and had Chandler set them up.

Then, she pulled out roasted chicken with herbs, fish stew, barbecue pork ribs, fried shrimp, and a big plate of buttermilk cookies.

The table was barely big enough. The aroma alone made mouths water.

"I didn't have time to stockpile proper furniture." Mariella was a little annoyed with herself, mostly because the space had been too small in the early days.

Back then, she'd prioritized food and medicine, then weapons and energy equipment.

Later, she'd added some fine porcelain, tea sets, drinkware, a coffee table, and a bar table with matching stools and chairs, but no real furniture.

The expanded apartment inside the storage space had no furnishings. It was just a bigger warehouse.