18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 542

The air was thick with the stench of blood as two figures moved with lethal precision. Muffled cracks echoed through the corridors as their silenced firearms spoke, and bodies dropped to the deck with an ominous finality.

Stella swiftly stowed the lifeless forms into the depths of Arcadia.

Something was off. The crew above called down into the silence, but their voices were swallowed by the void. Wariness crept into their hearts as they descended, weapons drawn, into the darkness.

Stella lay in wait beneath the stairwell, her breaths measured and silent.

Four men came down, their eyes catching sight of a bloody trail leading to an ajar door. They didn't see the shadow behind them until it was too late.

One by one, they fell to Stella's concealed gun.

With the deck cleared, Stella cautiously climbed onto the main level. Across the way, a massive cargo ship loomed, its crew waving torches and shouting, disturbed by the lack of response from their comrades.

Stella's heart ached for the luxury cruise liner she'd left at Ocean Point Naval Station, but a cargo ship was a gift she couldn't refuse. It was simply too good to pass up.

The pirates grew anxious with the continued silence and sent another party to investigate.

The cargo ship was crawling with life; over thirty souls on deck alone, many of them armed with a motley collection of firearms likely scavenged from their victims.

Stella and her companion retreated to the lower deck, lying in wait like spiders in a web.

could go south quickly. With the mainland beckoning and their prey dwindling, they had not had a

sent a second wave of men to board. This time, Stella didn't hide. She and Jasper lay flat on the bow, covered by the night, as the

but the two were already

from the shadows while Jasper hurled Molotov cocktails

but nothing could have prepared them for the sudden barrage of noise and fire. Explosions rocked the ship, flames engulfed the deck, and chaos

the acrid smoke from the tear gas. More and

off the remaining pirates with ease, then collected their bodies and the cargo ship

professionals but desperate survivors who had

the inferno, firing at the fishing vessel, but found nothing. The

ship!" they whispered in terror, their minds reeling as they scrambled to

gasoline is not

alive. The crew, leaderless and

turned tail and fled into the night, its surviving crew hastily disposing of their dead by tossing them into the unforgiving sea.

left to their own devices, each with their own agenda. Exhaustion set in, and the fear of the ghost ship loomed over

beneath the waves, a shadow followed at a

soared and latched onto

had expected danger, but the deck was

in a sheltered spot, supposed to be on watch but lulled into complacency by the absence of

made quick

scoured the deck to find it