18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 469

Discussing why Lillian got hurt was enough to give the warden a migraine. "Area F is a madhouse, full of folks with dual diagnoses. Not a single sane soul among them, and the numbers just keep growing. We're fresh out of management strategies," he lamented. These folks might be off their rockers, but they sure knew how to pick on the weaker ones-the meek and the women.

Sure, the wardens were there, but they weren't superhuman. They couldn't keep eyes on every patient all the time, and training or reforming this crowd was a lost cause.

We've got a disciplinary ward, but what good is punishment to someone who's lost their mind?

Lillian was an easy target, bullied by both men and women. The wardens had stepped in more times than they could count. The aggressors, when lucid, would apologize, but in the throes of their illness, they lost all traces of humanity.

And Lillian? She was like wet clay-no form, no resilience. Aside from her constant, delirious cries for Stella, she was passive to a fault.

After several conversations, it was clear to the wardens that Lillian's mental state wasn't as severe as some others. With the right cooperation, she could be healed and moved to Area E.

Area E housed those with physical ailments, mentally more stable than the folks in Area F, where you had to earn your keep to get your meals.

But Lillian was a complex case.

Even in the base, it was a dog-eat-dog world. If the warden were in Lillian's shoes, he'd have fought back against the bullies. After all, they were all in the same sinking ship. Lillian, however, was prone to dodging issues, mistaking her naivety for cleverness, and always pinning her hopes on others. In the end, her reliance on others was her downfall. But as a warden, there were thoughts he kept to himself.

Listening to all this, Stella remained expressionless.

The woman before her was a shadow of her former self, a far cry from the pampered life Lillian once led.

Always depending on someone else.

What was going through Lillian's mind?

Born into a world that didn't want her, tossed into an orphanage, ignored for years, and nearly killed for someone else's gain.

Why couldn't she stop fixating on it?

Julia was her pride and joy, Daniel her knight in shining armor. Why weren't they on her mind now?

Stella watched as Lillian's breath grew ragged.

Lillian reached out, blood smeared across her face, trying to muster a smile. "Ginger... Ginger... I'm sorry... it was me... my fault."

Her arm fell limp, her eyes wide open, never to close again.

In her final moments, Lillian's life flashed before her eyes like a flickering film. She had held on to the hope of her beloved returning. And he did return.

child, the wedding, and the blissful

Stella, I'm sorry.

Daniel, I'm sorry.

the courage to love but not

but

did have was never what she

deceased. Stella glanced at Lillian one last time and walked away, not back to work but out to the hospital

reached the door, along came

you supposed to be hauling

her with feigned innocence. "Yeah, but I overate last

"You look more like a starving ghost than someone with

"Sis, I'm craving

one. The guy just needed to scratch

had a few stale cigarettes left over. "My brother-in-law's got a

her. "You're

smirked. "Can't get rid of you no

little kindness never hurt, especially to someone who'd been

guess who I partied with last

"Someone

their relatives, and one of them claimed to be a survivor from a transport ship in the Ru Province. Said they ran into a ghost

composure, though her

to come back to haunt her at Hope

"He bit his tongue talking too much.

chill crept up Stella's

I had indigestion, but I guess the

before waving goodbye. "I'm off to

leave, lost

mulled things over before seeking out

puzzled to see her. "What brings you

pulled

fell. "What

the previous night's gathering and the

a

but the goods

the time, and if it weren't for the cargo from the sea floor, Stella might have never considered heading

he could piece it together, what about

five hundred on the transport alone, dozens at the