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

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

"Howl... Woo..."

only intensified the

two

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

can't

shipping container into the

see who could last

danger in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans and

after a shower and lights out, Stella and Jasper

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

the next day, well-rested and fed by 8 AM, they armed themselves to the teeth. Even Cooper and Snowflake had bulletproof vests, Rosie having

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

this was the round that

it was

but saw no sign

they returned to the sea at

and finding nothing, she finally opened

place was littered

They resembled pig dung.

creatures, unable to catch their prey, had vented their

the gator droppings

"Should we dry it out

the idea repulsive. "No

of fuel stored in the Arcadia, with

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

hunted fish in the sea with ease, so why

out, she

and behold, dozens of gator eggs were buried

tell

was no wonder the red-eyed

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 a

you

all sorts of rubbish, see

times she said it, it

even a bone spared, turning the area around the

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

No scolding, no hitting.

ear. "And you, you spineless

This time, instead of tossing

weren't afraid of heat, and a