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..."

intensified the

exasperated; these two were

the scent of humans was inciting the gators' ferocity, and she didn't feel confident

can't beat

shipping container into

see who could last longer, and deal with it

danger in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans

out, Stella

snow made them hard to target, a much tougher fight than dealing with Union Base's troops. After much thought, with no best plan

and fed by 8 AM, they armed themselves to the teeth. Even Cooper and Snowflake had bulletproof vests,

even flamethrowers at the ready, it was time to face

lose, this was

outside, it

the lookout, but saw

to the sea

finding nothing, she

place was littered

They resembled pig dung.

unable to catch their prey, had vented their frustration with excrement. Talk

cleaned up the gator droppings

ever thrifty and handy, suggested, "Should we dry it out and use it

idea repulsive. "No

fuel stored in the Arcadia, with no need to

level of the gators' vengeance, it couldn't

sea with ease, so why

it out, she checked

eggs were buried in the snow, and

with half a brain could tell it was Snowflake and Cooper's

no wonder the red-eyed gators

danger, Stella was furious. She called over Snowflake and pointed at her nose, scolding, "Don't think just because you're

this family, you won't go

you keep stashing all sorts of rubbish, see how

said it, it went in

everything, not even a bone spared, turning the area around the house into a

Cooper came to defend his mate, pushing Stella's hand away with

No scolding, no hitting.

by the ear.

eggs that the two had stashed away. This time, instead of tossing them into the ice hole, she placed them

weren't afraid of heat, and a simple flame probably wouldn't scare