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.

to spend two hours every day exercising, three

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

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

large compression bags to store unused clothes and quilts, and hung wet clothes on Arcadia's

world, the vegetables grew much better than those outside. The potato tubers in the planting

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

floods, flushing toilets was extremely laborious. Those living on the upper floors were relatively better off. Those living on the second and third floors had already

not comfortable. Although they could manage

needs. However, thinking about

the door from outside. The two had slept all day and were much

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

nothing

me to prepare a lot of medicine for him and gave me a survival package when I delivered the goods."

and Lukas were stunned. "Now that you mention it, it feels like the end of the world is

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 huge disaster. Moreover, not only the southern coastal areas were affected, but there was also no rescue news to date. Who

such a coincidence? In his building, there was a single young man

between the current situation and the end

asked, "Have you been in contact