18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 211

Rosie was chewing on a piece of dried orange peel, "I miss Mom and Dad, but I don't want to leave you guys."

Jasper held her close, "Be a good girl, listen to Stella, and stay awake."

The pounding on the outside door grew louder. The faces of the men barricading the storage room were twisted with rage, as if they were dealing with vile criminals.

Despite Jasper's attempts to block the door, it was still being kicked with a loud bang. The last thing a concussion patient needed was to be jostled. The door wouldn't hold much longer at this rate.

Stella lifted Rosie off the ground and peered through the small window opposite the door. The ground outside was littered with dense hailstones, and the hailstorm was starting to let up.

Hailstorms usually lasted for 2 to 10 minutes, rarely more than 30 minutes. It had been about 20 minutes since the storm began and it looked like it would stop soon.

The commotion outside the door grew fiercer. Stella, without hesitating, filled a bag with empty medicine bottles and handed out masks to everyone. She held Rosie close, protecting her head with her hands.

Just as several angry men were about to kick the door again, it swung open suddenly, nearly causing them to fall. They looked up to meet a pair of cold eyes and the barrel of a gun.

Jasper pressed the gun against one of the men's heads, his voice seething with suppressed rage, "Kick it again. I dare you."

The man, who was not hurt at all, was startled by Jasper's fierce gaze. He stuttered, "I... I'm injured. I just wanted some medicine. I didn't mean any harm."

Jasper took a step forward, causing the man to step back, "Don't... don't do anything rash. There are police officers here."

The crowd began to shout, "We're all injured! Give us some medicine!"

"The medicine's here, but there's not much left," Stella said, holding up the bag. She handed it to the man who'd been leading the kicking. "Here. If you want it, ask him."

the gun, no one dared to stop

had time to celebrate before others lunged

or water in

one to try to steal was quickly followed

stop it. The medicine's mine..." The man's angry voice was

made it out of the chaotic lobby, the hailstorm had mostly stopped. An occasional hailstone would fall, but they were

survivors, desperate for water, ran out with buckets to

and were bleeding from the head, but they didn't care. They were just

hailstones were covered with dirt. They

a world where drinking water was scarce, who cared about

the survivors used cloth bags to plug the holes and continued to collect ice. Others had lost their buckets in the chaos and had resorted to stealing from others, resulting in fights. Several people lay dead on the community center playground. It was unclear whether they had been

thinking that with food

where survival was a struggle, who had the time to mourn the

more ice they could collect, the longer they could survive. When your own survival was in question, you didn't

like a

has a gun!" someone in the crowd behind them suddenly shouted. "There's a man

about to leave when the police and the

Jasper, Stella, and Rosie. "Carrying a gun is illegal," one

his hand. "Even a toy

was right. The gun Stella had given him was a high-quality toy

a toy gun. He breathed a sigh of relief but still looked concerned.

Stella countered. "It's made of plastic, but it's helped us fend off nine robberies. We've barely made it out alive each time. And just now, if we didn't have it, I doubt we would have made it out of there at all. Those people were unarmed, but they were desperate and violent. They were trying to steal the medicine, but you guys didn't make it in time to help. Without this

moment before saying, "Just don't use it to

We still have our humanity," Stella assured