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.

Cooper and Snowflake squared off, fierce

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

noise only intensified

exasperated; these two were making

gators' ferocity, and she didn't

can't beat

entire shipping container

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

no danger in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans and

lights out, Stella and Jasper discussed how

nature, quick on land, and their skulls were incredibly tough. Darting through the snow made them hard to target, a much tougher fight than dealing with Union Base's troops. After much thought, with no

the next day, well-rested and fed by 8 AM, they armed themselves to the teeth. Even Cooper and Snowflake had

weapons loaded and even flamethrowers at the ready,

was

outside, it was

lookout, but saw no sign of

to the sea at

finding nothing, she finally

the place was littered

They resembled pig dung.

vented their frustration with

cleaned up the gator droppings around

we

idea

plenty of fuel stored in the Arcadia, with

felt off to Stella. Considering the level of the gators' vengeance, it couldn't just be a fleeting encounter in the food

in the sea with ease, so

it out, she checked around the

eggs were buried in

a brain could tell it was Snowflake and Cooper's

it was no wonder the red-eyed

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

you

of rubbish, see how

matter how many times she said it, it went in one ear and out

not even a bone spared, turning the

to defend his mate, pushing Stella's

No scolding, no hitting.

Cooper by the ear.

away. This time, instead of tossing them into the ice hole, she placed them not far

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