18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 604

The camp was down to just over 600 people, and the thought of getting the transport ship to come back for them was a pipe dream. How do you explain to 600 pairs of desperate eyes that winching up the Kindle Chest was a priority, especially when the long journey back on the transport ship was just too risky? It was a puzzle the special salvage team couldn’t afford to solve.

Cole’s nuclear submarine could carry passengers—normally rated for 160 but could be squeezed to fit over 600 in a pinch.

Now it was Stella and her group's turn to figure things out. The wastelands were too far from Griffith for multiple trips, and taking the transport ship was out of the question—it couldn’t be done discreetly, and the journey was just too dangerous. The only other option was to hijack a nuclear submarine from a Chinese military port, but that was like signing their own death warrants.

In the end, they decided to risk it with the submarine. Stella didn't object. If they ran into an insurmountable storm, they could always hide out in Arcadia, but they had to keep the camp survivors in the dark. All observation windows needed to be sealed ahead of time.

With the return plan sorted, they turned to the rescue operation. The Chinese military stationed at the oil field had over fifty soldiers, armed with pistols, submachine guns, grenades, bombs, an armored vehicle, and several trucks. They were well-armed, to say the least.

A frontal assault was too risky. If the defenders set the oil storage ablaze, it would be a disaster for everyone.

Stella pondered, “Do they have our kind of armored vehicle?”

Angela nodded. “Something similar, likely standard issue from the Chinese headquarters. They’ve been to the oil field, but theirs aren’t as fresh off the line as yours.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have mistaken Stella and her team for Chinese.

A full-on attack was out. They decided to send a small squad to take out key sentries first, then follow up with coordinated strikes. Cody and Lukas were out of commission due to injuries and couldn’t join the fray.

Jasper instructed Angela to pick a hundred of the best fighters, split into ten teams for the assault, while the rest stood by as backup. The remaining survivors would evacuate along two routes: one group to the submarine at the bay, ready to head to Griffith, and the other to the nuclear submarine’s location, to leave with Cole and company.

Angela and her team hashed out the details for the split evacuation and started organizing the survivors for departure. Moving several hundred people, some of whom were out scavenging for supplies, wasn’t something that could be done at the drop of a hat.

It took a full day of hustle and bustle before the sun set, and all the survivors were evacuated, leaving behind about a hundred. Cody and Lukas had to evacuate too, whether they liked it or not. Since the catastrophe, the trio had stuck together without fail, and with Kitty still in the camp, they weren’t about to split up now.

Lukas said with determination, “Lily, I’d rather die than be separated from you.” It was no joke. It took a strong will to survive the apocalypse, and Lukas often questioned his reasons for holding on. He had no family, no clue who his parents were, and few friends who truly cared for him.

He lived for Angela. Despite her brash and fiery temperament, she was pure-hearted and feared loneliness, always treating him with heartfelt kindness. What would she do if he were gone?

They’d been together for over a decade, and though they’d never made it official with a marriage certificate, they considered each other family. He feared separation, the abyss between life and death.

Cody refused to leave as well, insisting on waiting for Kitty. In the end, Angela capitulated, “Fine, if we die, we’ll die together.”

The trio stood on a desolate hill, watching the dwindling evacuation team until it vanished from sight, their hearts heavy with emotion.

The sentries hadn’t been informed of any reinforcements from HQ, but the newcomers’ Western appearance and their brash demeanor matched that of past visitors. Still, they dutifully asked them to disembark for inspection.

“Inspect what?” The soldiers erupted at the request, “You wanna see what weapons we brought?”

Cussing and grumbling, they all got out of the vehicles. Despite their smoking and drinking, the special ops were armed to the teeth: combat knives embedded in their boots, pistols, submachine guns, grenades… Even the trunk was an arsenal, with explosives and flamethrowers – all unmistakably American gear.

“Hey, man…”

Two sentries were roughly pushed aside, bombarded with an array of colorful expletives. Jake flashed a badge and a sheaf of papers in their faces, barely giving them a glance as he interspersed his speech with profanity, his demeanor irritable and impatient.

The officer had more stripes on his uniform than they did, an arsenal at his fingertips, and a mouth that could unleash a tirade of expletives that made you think your head might be blown off at any moment.

In the end, the sentry, with a stiff upper lip, waved them through. Folks from headquarters sure had a swagger about them. The ones that came down before had that untouchable aura—you didn’t want to cross them!

The two armored vehicles continued on their way. Sentry Post No. 2 had a clear line of sight to Post No. 1, but the pair of armored behemoths hogged all the attention, captivating the guards’ gaze for the entire time.

Moments later, the sentry’s binoculars drifted back to Sentry Post No. 1, spotting nothing amiss, and so his eyes returned to the armored convoy. Little did he know, the four guards at Post No. 1 were lying in pools of their own blood...