18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Stella was behind the wheel of her eighteen-wheeler, and Jasper was tearing up the road in his rugged SUV. They hadn't even left the base when they realized someone was tailing them. But they played it cool. Grabbing their walkie-talkies, they coordinated a plan and split in different directions.

Duke, the ringleader, was flabbergasted. "Split up! Chase 'em down! They can't get away," he barked.

Don't let the mud and grime fool you; those vehicles were beasts under the hood.

Stella, now decked out in a bulletproof vest and a steel helmet, floored it. She handled the big rig like a pro, quickly leaving their pursuers in the dust.

Taking a hidden detour through a ravine, she slipped her truck into the safety of Arcadia.

The ragtag pursuers, pushing their beat-up jalopies to the limit, arrived only to be left scratching their heads.

Where'd the trucks go?

Before they knew it, a loud bang echoed, sending them diving for cover.

Turned out, one of their tires had blown out.

"Damnation!" they cursed, scared out of their wits.

With no trace of their quarry, they had to slink back to base, tails between their legs.

Stella arrived at the base of Mount Murray to find Jasper and their canine companions already waiting. "Everything good?" he asked.

"Just a bunch of riff-raff," she replied.

Those who made it into the Kindle Society were usually tough, but this lot? They were smooth-talking slackers. Any edge they had was dulled by life's grind, reduced to conning newcomers into doing their dirty work. If real trouble came knocking, they'd probably run faster than anyone.

"And you?" Stella shot back at Jasper. "Any close calls?"

"None. Lost 'em easy," Jasper replied. His SUV was a beast and had left the pursuers in the dust.

But Jasper frowned, "These guys will be tough to shake. They might set ambushes on the way back. We need to stay sharp."

Stella nodded, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

She wasn't one to stir up trouble, but if trouble came knocking, she wouldn't hold back.

The trio and their four-legged friend didn't wander aimlessly. They broke out the RV, taking care of all their needs onboard.

Rosie kept Cooper entertained with cartoons, Jasper kept watch, and Stella seemed to be napping in her room, but in reality, she was loading rare metals into the truck in Arcadia.

They had enough to fill two big rigs, but Stella left some behind for emergencies.

Once loaded, she covered everything with a tarp.

They were trading for a submarine and couldn't afford any mishaps. If they ran into highway robbers, the tarp would give them a chance to pull everything back into Arcadia.

After camping out at Mount Murray for two days, they judged the timing right and prepared to haul their cargo back to base.

They didn't take the ragtag crew seriously, but couldn't afford to let their guard down either. They'd take a roundabout route just to be safe.

Disguised so well even their own parents wouldn't recognize them, they drove their clunkers back towards base, only to spot something suspicious. The ambush was there, just as they'd predicted.

But decked out in disguise and driving vehicles that looked ready to fall apart at any moment, they slipped by the ambushers unnoticed. The ambushers even thought the dilapidated vehicles were an eyesore.

The ambushers, about a dozen strong, were spread out on both sides of the road, hunkered down in a no man's land just outside Kindle Society's patrol zone.

Stella knew they couldn't risk an open confrontation, so they had to deal with these goons discreetly.

Their old beater of a truck stopped out of sight in a dip by the road.

Jasper quietly attached a silencer to his gun.

Rosie could have helped, but Stella wanted to make it clean, and having Rosie around complicated things.

They split up, Rosie and Cooper taking a detour to bring the previously hidden trucks to the rendezvous point when the time was right.

As for Stella, she crept back to flank the ambushers, finding cover without a sound.

When the time came, Rosie drove one of the trucks into view from the opposite end of the road.

As expected, the ambushers were instantly on high alert. "Boss, that's the truck. They're back."

The truck crawled forward, bulging with cargo that promised a hefty score.

Just one successful heist and they'd have enough supplies to last for months.

With their stomachs aching from hunger and morale low, the thought of imminent spoils had them chomping at the bit.

They readied to strike, all eyes glued to the approaching vehicle, completely oblivious to the imminent danger from behind.

The moment of truth arrived, and both Jasper and Stella made their move.

"Thwip! Thwip!"

The silencers swallowed the sound of gunfire.

Once Stella decided to act, she didn't hold back. One by one, the backs of heads blossomed with crimson.

One lookout, realizing something was amiss, started to warn his boss, "Boss, the driver's a young woman with a mask, and there's a dog too. Something's not "

But before he could finish, his boss slumped over lifelessly, his body warm with spilling blood.

"Boss... Damn, it's an ambush-"

He fell mid-sentence, joining his comrades in their sudden downfall.

In seconds, half of them were down, and the rest were in shock before scrambling to make sense of the situation. One turned to shoot back, but his gun clattered to the ground. Stella smoothly reloaded and dispatched him to the afterlife.

The remaining few tried to flee, but Stella's steady aim ensured they didn't get far.

With the slope as cover, she whisked the bodies away into Arcadia and erased any traces of the encounter.

After handling the clean-up, she met Jasper on the other side of the road where he had neatly stacked the bodies he'd taken care of.

One kept watch while the other disposed of the dead.

Rosie caught up with her brother and sister-in-law, and the truck turned towards a secluded spot.

With no more obstacles, Stella brought out the trucks loaded with rare metals from Arcadia.

She also dumped the bodies, stripped them of any identifying belongings, and doused them with acid rain she had collected from a previous storm. The potent acid took little time to render the corpses unrecognizable. The stench was foul, necessitating gas masks.

Wanting to spare Stella any discomfort, Jasper took on the grisly task himself, leaving her to wait at a distance.

Once everything was taken care of, they drove the trucks away, picking up Rosie and Cooper en route.

With the way clear, they proceeded without incident but remained vigilant until they were safely within Kindle Society's monitored area.

Despite their low profile, the scavengers at the base were numerous, and when two trucks, heavy with loot, rolled into the trading hub, they drew the attention of many. Eyes watched, both openly and from the shadows.

Envy, jealousy, and resentment might bubble beneath the surface, but who would dare cause a ruckus in the Kindle Society's territory?

They were known to be ruthless, not shying away from pulling the trigger on those who crossed them. It was common knowledge that they had done so more than once; it was precisely this iron-fisted approach that maintained the fragile peace of the day.