18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 489

Jasper and Cooper took off like a shot.

As they bolted, the distant red dots started closing in faster, like they had rockets strapped to them.

Inside the house, Snowflake sensed something was off and bared her teeth, ready to charge out the door. Stella and Rosie instinctively grabbed their guns.

The two women and the wolf reached the door just as Jasper and Cooper came barreling back in.

"What's going on?" Stella asked.

Jasper quickly deadbolted the door, securing all three locks. "A pack of gators."

No sooner had he spoken than a series of thuds hit the door.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The impacts were rapid and fierce, shaking the entire shipping container like a tin can in a storm.

Stella was baffled. The gators hadn't bothered them last night when they came ashore to lay eggs. Why were they attacking now?

The banging didn't let up; it only got more intense.

Front, sides...

Even through the container and layers of ice, Stella could imagine the swarming chaos outside.

She approached the lookout point with her gun, trying to get a glimpse.

In the gloomy watchpoint, a pair of red eyes suddenly appeared.

Cold and bloodthirsty.

Holy smokes, red-eyed gators.

If it weren't for the lookout point being just 20cm wide, trapping the gator's head, they'd be flooding in.

Even so, the trapped gator kept wriggling, trying to get inside and devour them.

Could it be because she threw their eggs into the sea?

After a whole day, any traces or scents should have been scattered by the wind and snow by now.

Stella was puzzled, but the eerie red eyes made her quickly close the lookout.

She put on night-vision goggles and peered through a higher watchpoint, spotting a mass of gators outside, easily a few hundred.

If they broke through the container, the three humans and five dogs wouldn't even be enough to pick their teeth with.

and Snowflake

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

noise only intensified the

exasperated; these two were

ferocity, and

can't beat 'em,

shipping container into the

in the Arcadia tonight, see who could last longer, and deal with

the Arcadia, and everyone, humans and dogs alike,

a shower and lights out, Stella and

incredibly tough. Darting through the snow made them hard to target, a much tougher fight than dealing with Union Base's troops. After much

up the next day, well-rested and fed by 8 AM, they armed themselves to the teeth. Even Cooper and Snowflake had bulletproof vests, Rosie having altered Snowflake's

and even flamethrowers at

was the round

outside, it

lookout, but saw no sign of the

they returned to the

triple-checking and finding nothing, she finally opened

the place was

They resembled pig dung.

their prey, had vented their frustration with excrement.

the gator droppings around

"Should we dry it out

found the idea repulsive.

had plenty of fuel stored in the Arcadia,

level of the gators' vengeance,

with ease, so why

figure it out, she

gator eggs were buried in the snow,

tell it was Snowflake

wonder the red-eyed gators had been

at her nose, scolding, "Don't

this family, you won't

of

it, it went in one

spared, turning the area around the house into

Snowflake when Cooper came to defend his mate, pushing Stella's hand

No scolding, no hitting.

grabbed Cooper by the ear. "And

the two had stashed away. This time, instead of tossing them

of heat, and a simple flame probably wouldn't