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

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

only intensified the pounding

these two were

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

can't beat

retracted the entire shipping container into

could

was no danger in the Arcadia, and everyone,

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

fight

the next day, well-rested and fed by 8 AM, they armed themselves to

even flamethrowers at the

or lose, this was the

outside, it was

opened the lookout, but saw no sign

they returned to the sea

triple-checking and finding nothing, she

the place was littered

They resembled pig dung.

vented their

up the gator droppings

"Should we dry

the idea repulsive. "No

the Arcadia, with no need

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

with ease, so why bother coming ashore

to figure it out, she

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

could tell it was Snowflake and

the predators' offspring, it was no wonder

She called over Snowflake and pointed at her nose, scolding, "Don't think just because you're the new bride in this house, I won't teach

you won't

you keep stashing all sorts of rubbish, see how I deal

how many times she said it, it went in one ear

everything, not even a bone spared, turning

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

No scolding, no hitting.

the ear.

two had stashed away. This time, instead

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