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 pounding

exasperated; these two were making

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

can't beat

the entire shipping container into the

see who could last longer, and deal with

in the Arcadia, and

shower and lights out, Stella

incredibly tough. Darting through the snow made them hard to target, a much tougher fight than

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

even flamethrowers at the ready, it was time to face the gator

was the

outside, it was eerily

but saw no sign of the

to the sea

finding nothing, she finally opened the

was littered

They resembled pig dung.

unable to catch their prey, had vented their frustration with

trio cleaned up the gator droppings

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

the idea

fuel stored in the Arcadia, with no need to

level of the gators' vengeance, it couldn't just be a fleeting encounter

with ease, so why bother coming ashore

to figure it out, she checked around the

and behold, dozens of gator eggs were buried in

tell it was

wonder the

last night's danger, Stella was furious. She called over Snowflake and pointed at her nose, scolding, "Don't

this family, you

of rubbish, see

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

not even a bone spared, turning

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

No scolding, no hitting.

by the ear. "And you, you

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

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