18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 502

After a while, faint sounds began trickling from inside the house.

"Rosie, Cooper?" Jasper and Stella called out frantically, their voices echoing in the cold air.

Snowflake, their loyal dog, was just as anxious, whimpering pitifully.

The door creaked open, revealing a pale-faced Rosie clutching a gun. Her eyes lit up at the sight of her brother and sister-in-law. "Bro, Sis?"

The tension in her body melted away, and she crumpled to the floor. Jasper's quick reflexes caught her just in time. "Rosie, what's going on? Are you okay?"

Rosie was a mess of injuries, her clothes stained with blood. She forced a weak smile. "Bro, I kept the house safe. You finally made it back."

Fear had gnawed at her, worried they wouldn't return in time.

Too exhausted to keep talking, her heavy eyelids fluttered shut.

"Rosie," Jasper's voice cracked, his face ashen. "Rosie, stay with me. Don't sleep. I'm here now."

Stella, panicked, urged, "Let's get her inside. Quickly."

Jasper, hands shaking, felt for her breath and nearly collapsed in relief when he found it.

Inside, Stella wasted no time checking Rosie's wounds.

Rosie had taken bullets to her thigh and arm, and her body bore numerous other wounds, evidence of a brutal battle.

Though none of the injuries were fatal, the bleeding hadn't been stopped in time.

Exhausted from the fight, Stella couldn't rest yet. She prepped for surgery to remove the bullets.

It took over an hour to extract the bullets, disinfect, and bandage the wounds.

After giving Rosie antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, Stella turned her attention to Cooper.

The dog had also been injured, with a deep wound exposing bone. But Rosie had managed a makeshift bandage.

Cooper was a trooper, enduring the stitches with stoic patience while exchanging playful banter and tender moments with Snowflake.

Caring and scolding all at once.

her head. "Her blood loss isn't critical enough for that. Let's monitor her first. Transfusions between relatives can cause immune reactions. Rosie's unconscious mostly from delayed blood clotting

him before heading off for

swallowing more meds, she returned

stable now. Go clean up and get

finally agreed, returning

muttered, "Cooper and Snowflake are on guard. They'll alert us if anything

in Arcadia for too long, not with the constant threat

room warmed by a crackling fire, turning on both the

around Stella, and they both fell into a deep,

Stella forced herself up to clean the mess outside. Rosie and Cooper had taken down thirty

felt a pang of guilt and heartache, but this was the harsh

could protect Rosie now, but not forever. Rosie had to toughen up

Stella

armed with a shovel, helped clean up the bloodstains,

the time they finished, Rosie

details. Instead, she fed

drifted

world was tough, and everyone bore

with a hearty

and Jasper helped each other with medicated massages to ease

improving but had to stick to light meals due to her

no need to rehash the

Base had not only lured them into a trap

losses, they waited until dark to make

had sensed something was off during the day and planted bombs

in the

before it happened. But once the fight started, fear took a

the enemies, she trembled-not for her life, but

After that night, Rosieered

gaze steely and

up. don'Dneed to worry about me

In

breakfast, Jasper returned from patrol, joining Stella in Arcadia to dispose

the bodies.

corpses had been