18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 379

Stella was behind the wheel of her eighteen-wheeler, and Jasper was tearing up the road in his rugged SUV. They hadn't even left the base when they realized someone was tailing them. But they played it cool. Grabbing their walkie-talkies, they coordinated a plan and split in different directions.

Duke, the ringleader, was flabbergasted. "Split up! Chase 'em down! They can't get away," he barked.

Don't let the mud and grime fool you; those vehicles were beasts under the hood.

Stella, now decked out in a bulletproof vest and a steel helmet, floored it. She handled the big rig like a pro, quickly leaving their pursuers in the dust.

Taking a hidden detour through a ravine, she slipped her truck into the safety of Arcadia.

The ragtag pursuers, pushing their beat-up jalopies to the limit, arrived only to be left scratching their heads.

Where'd the trucks go?

Before they knew it, a loud bang echoed, sending them diving for cover.

Turned out, one of their tires had blown out.

"Damnation!" they cursed, scared out of their wits.

With no trace of their quarry, they had to slink back to base, tails between their legs.

Stella arrived at the base of Mount Murray to find Jasper and their canine companions already waiting. "Everything good?" he asked.

"Just a bunch of riff-raff," she replied.

Those who made it into the Kindle Society were usually tough, but this lot? They were smooth-talking slackers. Any edge they had was dulled by life's grind, reduced to conning newcomers into doing their dirty work. If real trouble came knocking, they'd probably run faster than anyone.

"And you?" Stella shot back at Jasper. "Any close calls?"

"None. Lost 'em easy," Jasper replied. His SUV was a beast and had left the pursuers in the dust.

be tough to shake. They might set ambushes on the way back. We need to

"We'll cross that bridge when we

trouble, but if trouble came knocking, she

wander aimlessly. They broke out

to be napping in her room, but in reality, she was loading rare metals into the truck

two big rigs, but

she covered everything with

were trading for a submarine and couldn't afford any mishaps. If they ran into highway robbers, the tarp

judged the timing right

couldn't afford to let their guard down either.

recognize them, they drove their clunkers back towards base, only to spot something suspicious. The ambush was there, just as

out in disguise and driving vehicles that looked ready to fall apart at any moment, they slipped by the ambushers unnoticed. The

of the road, hunkered down in a no man's land just outside Kindle

open confrontation, so they had to deal

old beater of a truck stopped out of sight in a dip by

quietly attached a silencer

make it clean, and having Rosie around

taking a detour to bring the previously hidden trucks to the rendezvous point when the time was

back to flank the ambushers,

drove one of the trucks into view

expected, the ambushers were instantly on high alert. "Boss,

forward, bulging with

they'd have enough

and morale low, the thought of

to strike, all eyes glued to the approaching vehicle, completely oblivious to the imminent danger from

and both Jasper and Stella made

"Thwip! Thwip!"

silencers swallowed the

to act, she didn't hold back. One by one, the backs of

lookout, realizing something was amiss, started to warn his boss, "Boss, the driver's a young woman with a