18 Floors Above the Apocalypse novel Chapter 519

Stella was on the same page. Compared to the endless ice of the Arctic, solid ground was much more livable for most people.

"I wonder what's going on out there now," she mused.

Jasper, lost in thought, replied, "Do you want to check it out?"

Of course, Stella wanted to, but she was worried it wasn't the right time.

Jasper squeezed her hand. "We can start prepping and wait for the perfect moment."

They couldn't make a hasty exit like they did from Ocean Point Naval Station. The world was round, and with a couple thousand people in the Arctic, who knew when they'd cross paths again?

With nothing to their names, they needed to get ready if they planned to leave.

They didn't expect the opportunity to come so quickly.

Two months later, in the dead of night, a massive tremor jolted them awake, as if something had exploded.

Stella didn't have time to think. She and Jasper, along with their five furry friends, rushed into Arcadia.

They stayed there until dawn was almost upon them, then emerged in their escape pod. Their container home was intact, though furniture had shifted and some decorations had fallen.

When Stella opened the door, she heard distant shouts of joy. She couldn't make out the words, but the excitement was clear.

She climbed a snowdrift and saw several neighbors frolicking in the snow, rolling around, cheering.

With binoculars, she spotted something brown standing out against the snow about a kilometer away. The local bigwig, his fingers glittering with rare gems, was dancing around it joyously.

Stella watched for a while. It was indeed a brown rock formation. There were mountains in the Arctic, bursting through the ice.

Hearing about the mountain, Jasper and Rosie were equally moved. They dressed quickly, locked their mischievous dogs inside, and hurried to the rock formation.

They weren't alone; many survivors were heading there, faces glowing with excitement.

The stone that seemed small from afar was immense up close, towering five or six meters high and too wide for a dozen people to encircle.

The previous day's tremors were likely caused by extreme pressure from beneath the seabed, shattering meters of ice and thrusting the rock through.

The cracks in the ice around it were significant, and no one dared get too close for fear of falling in.

The Russians, hearing the news, sped over on their snowmobiles. First shocked, they then erupted into cheers.

"Land is rising! Land is rising!"

Worried about their five animals, the trio rushed back home.

Rosie hugged Cooper, laughing non-stop. "Cooper, the land is rising!"

Cooper squirmed in her arms, then excitedly leapt at Stella.

Jasper, now calm, asked, "Do you want to leave?"

Rosie didn't speak, instead, she looked at Stella. Stella smiled back. "Rosie, do you want to?"

Blushing slightly, Rosie nodded after a moment. "Yeah."

She was tired of growing vegetables in the Arctic.

Stella agreed. "We could go out and look around, maybe find a suitable place to live."

So, they began to plan.

Running away in a plane would surely alert others to their superpowers. The cruise ship was already with Ocean Point Naval Station. They had access to fishing boats and yachts, but that was no different from reaching out empty-handed for a plane, especially with two or three thousand survivors in the Arctic.

Stella pondered mischievously. "Should we fleece the Russians for another jet?"

Ivans left with a headache...

At the Russian base, Gleb nearly flipped the table in rage. "Ivans, you traitor!"

"Don't forget, she saved your life with her medicine," Ivans retorted, finally standing up to him. "Enough with the table flipping. If you're so tough, go smash their heads!"

Amidst the clamor, the captain was unusually calm. "How many aircraft do we have?"

With military and transport ships, there were five combat aircraft, two Black Hawks, and an Apache.

"Give them a Black Hawk, but they must teach us how to operate it," the captain decided firmly. "And, we want a share of all their vegetable seeds, especially the chili peppers."

Gleb disagreed. "Are you mad?"

"Who's the captain here?" The captain glared, asserting his authority. "I call the shots!"

They all were getting ahead of themselves, forgetting how Stella and Jasper had quietly dealt with Union Base's provocations.

Over the past six months, the exchanges had been pleasant, but the captain couldn't forget how Union Base met its end. They had already given away one fighter jet; what was one more helicopter?

Ivans recalled an old Australian saying—spend money to ward off disaster. Only when the two of them left would the Arctic truly be theirs!

The captain's decisiveness shocked even Ivans, but he quickly understood.

Personally, Ivans didn't want Stella and Jasper to leave. He considered them friends, but there were larger issues at stake. Heading out might just be a blessing in disguise, saving them from the hassle of dealing with people who turn their noses up at everything.

Ivans couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy; if only his own nation could boast the strength and prowess of Australia.

Ever since the Union Base, led by China, was wiped out, he could sense the shift in his comrades' attitudes, yet it was he who seemed like the odd one out now.

With the two of them gone, the future of the Arctic was as unclear as ever in his mind.