18 Floors Above the Apocalypse



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.

Separated by the door, Cooper and Snowflake squared off, fierce and relentless.

"Bark! Bark! Bark!"

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Their noise only intensified the pounding outside.

Stella was exasperated; these two were making things worse.

Probably the scent of humans was inciting the gators' ferocity, and she didn't feel confident about facing them yet.

If you can't beat 'em, hide.

Stella retracted the entire shipping container into the Arcadia.

They'd sleep in the Arcadia tonight, see who could last longer, and deal with it at dawn.

There was no danger in the Arcadia, and everyone, humans and dogs alike, relaxed.

Upstairs in their room, after a shower and lights out, Stella and Jasper discussed how to handle the gators.

Gators were vicious by nature, quick on land, 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 to just get some sleep and figure it out later.

Waking up 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 altered Snowflake's overnight.

As they stepped out of the Arcadia, weapons loaded and even flamethrowers at the ready, it was time to face the gator babies.

Win or lose, this was the round that mattered.

But outside, it was eerily silent.

Stella opened the lookout, but saw no sign of the gators.

Had they returned to the sea at daybreak?

After triple-checking and finding nothing, she finally opened the door...

Yuck, the place was littered with droppings.

They resembled pig dung.

These damn creatures, unable to catch their prey, had vented their frustration with excrement. Talk about holding a grudge.

Grimacing, the trio cleaned up the gator droppings around the house.

Jasper, ever thrifty and handy, suggested, "Should we dry it out and use it as fuel?"

Stella found the idea repulsive. "No way."

They had plenty of fuel stored in the Arcadia, with no need to burn gator waste.

But something still felt off to Stella. Considering the level of the gators' vengeance, it couldn't just be a fleeting encounter in the food chain.

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

Unable to figure it out, she checked around the house repeatedly.

Lo and behold, dozens of gator eggs were buried in the snow, and quite deeply at that.

Anyone with half a brain could tell it was Snowflake and Cooper's handiwork.

Hiding the predators' offspring, it was no wonder the red-eyed gators had been so desperate.

Thinking back to last night's danger, Stella was furious. 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 lesson.

In this family, you won't go hungry.

If you keep stashing all sorts of rubbish, see how I deal with you!"

No matter how many times she said it, it went in one ear and out the other.

Hiding everything, not even a bone spared, turning the area around the house into a dump.

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

No scolding, no hitting.

Stella grabbed Cooper by the ear. "And you, you spineless thing."

After unleashing her tirade, she picked up the gator eggs that the two had stashed away. This time, instead of tossing them into the ice hole, she placed them not far from the shore.

The gators weren't afraid of heat, and a simple flame probably wouldn't scare them off.

That evening, Stella laid out spike strips around the house, hoping to deter the red-eyed gators' assaults.

The trio and their canine companions had an early dinner, and as darkness fell, no one rested. Weapons lay ready at hand.

Let's see if the red-eyed gators dare to show up tonight!

Around eight or nine, sudden screams pierced the night.

It sounded like human cries, followed by gunfire.

The two intertwined in a dense cacophony.

Jasper climbed to the top lookout,

using binoculars to assess the situation outside. "It's Union Base's

people. They've encountered the red-eyed gators. It's an all-out

battle."

Clearly, the Union Base folks had planned a night raid but had stumbled upon a deadly roadblock.

Without a word, they engaged in combat.

Stella didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Good job, red-eyed babies.

Unable to see clearly from the watchpoint, the pair stealthily moved to a nearby snowdrift, using night-vision binoculars to survey the battle by the ice

holes.

The fight was fierce: submachine guns, flamethrowers, grenades...

Union Base's firepower was fierce, but the red-eyed gators kept pouring out of the sea.

Fast and fearless, braving a hailstorm of bullets, they charged at the humans...

A bloody battle ensued, a fight to the death.

Faced with endless waves of red-eyed gators, the Union Base troops faltered, fighting as they retreated, and the gators kept relentlessly pursuing

them.

Only the brave prevail in a narrow encounter.

They likely never imagined that a simple raid would turn them into a feast for the gators.

The gunshots grew sparse and distant before fading away completely.

Who would claim victory remained a mystery.

The pair hastily retreated to their home, standing guard for over an hour. Yet, the anticipated arrival of the infamous "Red-Eyed Gator" never came to

pass.

"Let's call it a night," they finally conceded, weary from the wait. "A warm shower and some shut-eye might do us good."