18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 485

As night enveloped everything in an inky blackness, Jasper and his loyal companion, Cooper, were on their patrol rounds. Meanwhile, Stella trudged through the snow, collecting the dense white blanket and storing it in Arcadia.

She had cleared out a two-story section of Arcadia, tirelessly shoveling the icy snow into it. And don't underestimate a two-story space—it can hold a lot.

Once she was done, she strategically placed a few spike strips at key locations around Union Base. By morning, they'd be hidden beneath a fresh layer of snowflakes.

The next day at noon, Stella and Cooper were out on patrol when the distant echo of gunfire reached their ears. Pulling out her binoculars, Stella spotted a group of ragged individuals being herded like livestock by a ragtag bunch, undoubtedly from Union Base.

The prisoners, a mix of men and women, around seventy in total, were dressed in rags, shivering uncontrollably as their breath fogged the air. They all had Eastern features, but their language didn't sound like Chinese.

Curious about the commotion, Jasper emerged and after a brief look, commented, “That’s Belarusian.”

So, they were Belarusians.

Suddenly, chaos erupted. A few Belarusians tried to make a break for it but were quickly subdued by their captors, who grabbed them by the hair and started beating them mercilessly. Slaps across the face, kicks to the stomach—the whole nine yards. The captors’ faces twisted with rage as they cursed and beat the prisoners as if driven by some deep-seated vendetta.

Interestingly, those delivering the beatings were also of Eastern descent. It seemed like the more brutally they beat, the greater their perceived merit. Meanwhile, the tall, blonde, blue-eyed captors stood by with arms folded, grinning. Their smiles were warm and friendly, like the benevolent smile of a god, full of mercy and pity.

Stella’s gaze grew colder by the second, her grip on the binoculars tightening.

One of the blue-eyed men turned and looked in Stella’s direction. He pulled off his mask and greeted her with a smile, “Honey.”

If they weren’t so far apart, Stella might have given him a piece of her mind in a more physical manner. This whole display was a show of force meant for her.

They had done their homework on her group and weren’t in any rush to make a move. Bored with the mundane, their leader needed an entertaining game to pass the time. And this family, with their medical skills, weapons, and animals, provided just that. There was no need for immediate brute force.

After the greeting, the blue-eyed man finally stepped in to halt the brutality, and the Belarusians stopped their assault and led the “sheep” back to the base. As they left, the blue-eyed man waved at Stella, blowing her a kiss through the cold air.

Stella remained unfazed, but Jasper, standing right beside her, narrowed his eyes.

Back inside, warming up by the fire, Stella couldn’t help but laugh at their pathetic attempt to intimidate her. It was laughable, really. Russia had decimated them from over twenty thousand down to a mere three thousand, and yet they still had the audacity to threaten others?

They were bursting with overconfidence.

The day after the “sheep-herding” spectacle, Union Base came knocking, armed to the teeth. Ten blue-eyed men with submachine guns, followed by fifty others of various ethnicities, approached with an air of arrogance.

Dillyn again, his smile as polite as ever, asked, “Have you considered our offer?”

Stella nodded, “We’ve given it some thought.”

“Back in Australia, we’ve got a saying—‘A wise man adapts himself to circumstances.’ Looks like you all are pretty smart.”

One day as vicious as a storm, the next as meek as a lamb. Stella’s compliance delighted Dillyn, who found both satisfaction and scorn in her response. Satisfied that he had completed the task set by their leader, he scorned the hypocrisy of Australian civility. They were nothing but craven cowards. All talk and no action. What a performance.

Next, Dillyn instructed Stella and her group to pack up and head back to Union Base with them. As punishment for her defiance the day before, all their supplies were to be surrendered, and they were to obey the base’s commands unconditionally. Otherwise, the blue-eyed men’s raised submachine guns could turn them into Swiss cheese in seconds.

Stella lifted a megaphone, “You’re too far away; I can’t hear a word you’re saying. Come closer and let’s talk.”

She glanced at Jasper, receiving an affirmative nod before standing up. To show her sincerity, she laid down her weapon and advanced towards the trench with determined steps, standing right before the spike strips. Stella beckoned them with a come-hither smile, “Come on over, why don’t you?”