18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 494

The folks living in these houses had to be Union Base members. The idea of them launching a survival-of-the-fittest plan just to handle a couple of intruders, disregarding their own members' lives, was beyond twisted. Union Base... what a joke!

If this is how they treated their own, invaders didn't stand a chance. With heightened senses, the duo ventured deeper into the labyrinth. Jasper pushed open a door and, to his surprise, found a two-way corridor leading to another passage. One scouted ahead while the other watched their six.

Stella noticed faint seam lines on the floor. Jasper was right; the base was multi-layered. This was just the first level. They twisted and turned through several corridors but still couldn't find an exit. Were they trying to trap them here until they died?

The idea of mazes wasn't new. It dated back to ancient divination practices, over 4600 years old, almost as old as Australia's recorded history. Now, they were pawns in someone else's twisted game.

As they wandered, Stella faintly heard some grating, sharp sounds that came and went. Jasper, however, heard nothing, maybe because of his bulky bio-suit. There was no room for complacency.

A few minutes later, a dead-end door suddenly flung open, and something dark and ominous poured out. Despite the darkness, they saw a swarm of dark creatures with round heads, large ears, sharp fangs, and impressive wingspans through their night-vision goggles. Bats! Bio-engineered bats!

These were far larger than any Stella had seen before, carriers of countless lethal pathogens, often the subject of biological studies, linked to numerous disease outbreaks throughout human history. Now, Stella faced these bio-engineered bats, their danger magnified a thousandfold. It wasn't just the threat of physical attack; the pathogens they carried were deadly.

And they were swooping down on them.

Without hesitation, Stella pulled out a flamethrower from their Arcadia gear and unleashed a torrent of fire. A dragon of flame roared to life in the darkness, the bats screeching in agony as they fell from the sky. The intense heat sealed their fate.

flamethrower was powerful but short-lived, and the swarm seemed endless. After a dozen or so blasts, the fuel was depleted. While many bats were forced back, they were far from eradicated. This bought Stella a precious moment to breathe. She quickly

didn't aim at the nest; instead, he cranked the flamethrower to max and scorched the ground,

followed up with two grenades and a frag, tossing them into the mix. They couldn't stay trapped on this level, dealing with gas and bio-bats, while Union Base's people watched from above. If they couldn't escape the maze, who knew

share the

thunderous explosion echoed behind them, and he shielded her in his embrace. Both were disheveled,

explosion had torn a gaping hole in the floor, and from below, panicked screams and light seeped through. Remembering their own ordeal, Stella showed no mercy. Another bomb down

Boom!

fuel-air explosive for

Boom!

bottle of ether to seal

reigned from below.

by the blast, they swarmed out. Stella and Jasper ducked back into Arcadia, using the cover of darkness. The bio-bats, drawn to

emerged from Arcadia. No more bats in sight Peering down the hole, they saw a large room littered with bloodied corpses. Concerned for safety, they

The rooms

spotted subtle differences

patterns and doorknobs.