18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 11

They didn't have keys to room 1803. Stella considered prying the door open with a tool. However, Lukas surprised her by pulling a strangely shaped pick out of his pocket. A few minutes of fiddling with the lock and - voila - the door was open. Stella was taken aback. Suddenly, she felt that the two doors to her home were not safe at all.

Angela chuckled, "He has been messing around with this for a couple of days."

1803 was a spacious three-bedroom, two-bath apartment. The furniture was covered with cloths, under which were some top-notch pieces. It seemed like the owners were quite well-off, hence not renting it out.

Intruding into someone else's home is illegal, and Angela felt uneasy. She suggested to Lukas, "We're only staying temporarily, so let's try not to touch their belongings and restore everything to its original state when we leave."

They selected a room with less furniture and started cleaning up. Stella pitched in. The apartment was nice, except for the balcony, which was not enclosed by glass but cordoned off with invisible steel wires, causing water to spread everywhere. Stella noticed there was about a sack and a half of rice left, enough to last until the storm ended. So she dismissed the idea of giving them more food.

She prepared a batch for Lukas and another for Cody. To avoid suspicion, she only gave them the necessary essentials. How far they could go depended on them.

After cleaning up, seeing that the two were exhausted, Stella bid them goodnight. Being neighbors, they were bound to visit each other. Stella hid everything that should not be seen and had a hearty lunch. Chicken soup, BBQ ribs, stir-fried spinach, and a slice of watermelon.

When she woke up from her nap, the internet was down. With the internet out, she felt completely cut off from the world, a wave of loneliness hitting her.

Feeling gloomy, Stella started to exercise. She was physically fit, having joined several clubs in college - taekwondo, self-defense, and boxing, which she learned from Angela. She wasn't an expert in any of them, but she had a good understanding of them all. After two hours of vigorous training, she was dripping sweat but felt a sense of satisfaction she couldn't describe. If she wanted to survive, and survive well, she had to keep improving herself.

three hours studying medicine, and another

books, all stolen from the school library. Over the years, she

studying soon. Besides natural disasters and deaths, those who survived till the end of the world were not normal - some committed suicide, some harmed themselves, and some took revenge on society. Stella was no exception. She was irritable, anxious, and depressed. So she had stocked up on plenty

large compression bags to store unused clothes and quilts, and hung wet

though it was synchronized with the outside world, the vegetables grew much better than those outside. The potato tubers in the planting pots had

and then placed stones on top. During rainy days, roaches were rampant, especially in the later stages when they were endless and could easily

on the upper floors were relatively better off. Those living on the second and third floors had already begun to complain in the

upper floors were not comfortable. Although they could manage to flush, the disgusting

in case, Stella had prepared many black plastic bags for physiological needs. However, thinking about throwing them downstairs, she held back and planned

on the door from

well-stocked home, complete with a vegetable garden and rabbits on the balcony. "Stella, no wonder Lukas said you could survive even if thrown into a

gardening, and there was nothing to hide

days before the storm, I was running errands for Cody. He had a customer who's a rich kid obsessed with end-of-the-world games. He asked me to prepare a lot of medicine for him and gave me a survival package when I delivered the goods." She listed several items, including a rubber

Lukas were stunned. "Now that you mention it, it

but many people felt the same way when the storm first hit, and the posts on the internet exploded. Living for almost twenty years, they had never experienced such a

a single young man who suffered from depression. A few days

was the difference between the current situation and the end

suddenly asked, "Have you been in contact with