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.

by the door, Cooper and

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

noise only intensified the

was exasperated; these two

the gators' ferocity, and she didn't feel confident about facing

can't beat 'em,

entire shipping container into

see who could last longer, and deal with

in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans and dogs alike,

after a shower and lights out, Stella and Jasper discussed how to handle the

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

to the teeth. Even Cooper and Snowflake had bulletproof

weapons loaded and even flamethrowers at the

or lose, this was the

outside, it was

lookout, but saw

to

triple-checking and finding nothing, she finally

the place was

They resembled pig dung.

their prey, had vented their frustration with excrement. Talk about holding

up the gator droppings

suggested, "Should we dry it out and use it

found the idea repulsive. "No

the Arcadia, with no need

to Stella. Considering the level of the gators' vengeance, it couldn't

the sea with ease, so why bother

to figure it out, she checked around

eggs were buried in the snow, and

brain could tell it was Snowflake and

it was no wonder the

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

you won't go

of rubbish, see how I deal

how many times she said it, it

bone spared, turning the area around the house into a

reprimanded Snowflake when Cooper came to defend his mate, pushing

No scolding, no hitting.

the ear. "And you, you spineless

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

and a