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.

door, Cooper and Snowflake squared

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

noise only intensified the pounding

these two were making

the gators' ferocity,

can't beat

the entire shipping container

who could last longer,

in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans

out, Stella

and their skulls were incredibly tough. Darting through the snow made them hard to target, a much tougher fight than dealing

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 the ready, it was time to face

was the

it was eerily

lookout, but saw no sign of

returned to

triple-checking and finding nothing, she finally

place was littered

They resembled pig dung.

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

cleaned up the gator droppings around

handy, suggested, "Should we dry it

found the idea repulsive.

stored in the Arcadia, with

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

ease, so why bother coming ashore for

she checked around

and behold, dozens of gator eggs were buried in the snow, and quite deeply at

half a brain could tell it was Snowflake

was no wonder the red-eyed

nose, scolding, "Don't think just because you're the new bride

you won't go

stashing all sorts of rubbish,

it went in one ear

bone spared, turning the area

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

No scolding, no hitting.

Cooper by the ear. "And you, you spineless

tirade, she picked up the gator eggs that the two had stashed away. This time, instead of tossing them into the ice hole, she placed them not

a simple flame probably wouldn't scare