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.

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

"We'll cross that bridge

up trouble, but if trouble came knocking, she wouldn't

their four-legged friend didn't wander aimlessly. They broke out

watch, and Stella seemed to be napping in her room, but in reality, she was loading rare metals

big rigs, but

covered everything with

submarine and couldn't afford any mishaps. If they ran into highway robbers, the tarp would give them a chance

judged the timing right and prepared to haul

couldn't afford to let their guard down either. They'd take

recognize them, they drove their clunkers back towards base, only to spot something

looked ready to fall apart at any moment, they slipped by the ambushers unnoticed. The ambushers even

the

risk an open confrontation, so they had to deal with these goons

out of sight

quietly attached a silencer to

have helped, but Stella wanted to make it clean, and having Rosie around complicated

to bring the previously hidden trucks to the rendezvous point when the time was

she crept back to flank the ambushers, finding cover

the time came, Rosie drove one of the trucks into view from the

high

forward, bulging with cargo that

heist and they'd have enough

stomachs aching from hunger and morale low, the thought of imminent

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

arrived, and both Jasper and Stella made

"Thwip! Thwip!"

the sound

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

was amiss, started to warn his boss, "Boss, the driver's a