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

the school library. Over the years, she

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 of anti-depressants, hoping she would never have to

sealed, but the room was still damp. Stella had bought many large compression bags to store unused clothes and quilts, and hung wet clothes on

was mysterious. Even though it was synchronized with the outside world, the vegetables grew much better than those outside. The potato tubers in the planting pots had sprouted, and the grapevines showed

on top. During rainy days, roaches were rampant,

second and third floors had already begun to complain in the chat group before the internet was cut off,

Although they could

needs. However, thinking about throwing them downstairs, she held back

as she was about to cook, Angela knocked on the door from outside. The two had slept all day and were

came over with a block of alcohol, surprised to see Stella's well-stocked home, complete with a vegetable garden and rabbits on the balcony. "Stella, no wonder Lukas said you could survive even if thrown

was nothing to hide about

few 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

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

internet exploded. Living for almost twenty years, they had never experienced such a

advance, otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? In his building, there was a single young man who suffered from depression. A few days after running out of food, he had a

difference between the current situation and

"Have you been in contact