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

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

only intensified the

was exasperated; these two were making things

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

you can't beat 'em,

shipping container into

could last

in the Arcadia,

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

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 best plan in mind, they decided

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

the Arcadia, weapons loaded and even flamethrowers at the ready, it

lose, this was the round

outside, it

saw

to

triple-checking and finding nothing, she

the place was littered with

They resembled pig dung.

had vented

the trio cleaned up the gator droppings around

thrifty and handy, suggested, "Should we dry it out and use it as

found the idea repulsive. "No

stored in the Arcadia, with no need to burn

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

hunted fish in the sea with ease, so why bother coming ashore for

figure it out, she checked

of gator eggs were buried in the snow, and quite

tell it was

was no wonder the red-eyed

her nose, scolding, "Don't think just

this family, you

you keep stashing all sorts of

times she said it, it went in one ear and

even a bone spared, turning the area

to defend his mate, pushing Stella's hand

No scolding, no hitting.

grabbed Cooper by the ear. "And

the gator eggs that the two had stashed away. This time, instead

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