18 Floors Above the Apocalypse
Chapter 11

They didn't have keys to room 1803. Stella considered prying the door open with a tool. However, Lukas surprised her by pulling a strangely shaped pick out of his pocket. A few minutes of fiddling with the lock and - voila - the door was open. Stella was taken aback. Suddenly, she felt that the two doors to her home were not safe at all.

Angela chuckled, "He has been messing around with this for a couple of days."

1803 was a spacious three-bedroom, two-bath apartment. The furniture was covered with cloths, under which were some top-notch pieces. It seemed like the owners were quite well-off, hence not renting it out.

Intruding into someone else's home is illegal, and Angela felt uneasy. She suggested to Lukas, "We're only staying temporarily, so let's try not to touch their belongings and restore everything to its original state when we leave."

They selected a room with less furniture and started cleaning up. Stella pitched in. The apartment was nice, except for the balcony, which was not enclosed by glass but cordoned off with invisible steel wires, causing water to spread everywhere. Stella noticed there was about a sack and a half of rice left, enough to last until the storm ended. So she dismissed the idea of giving them more food.

She prepared a batch for Lukas and another for Cody. To avoid suspicion, she only gave them the necessary essentials. How far they could go depended on them.

After cleaning up, seeing that the two were exhausted, Stella bid them goodnight. Being neighbors, they were bound to visit each other. Stella hid everything that should not be seen and had a hearty lunch. Chicken soup, BBQ ribs, stir-fried spinach, and a slice of watermelon.

When she woke up from her nap, the internet was down. With the internet out, she felt completely cut off from the world, a wave of loneliness hitting her.

Feeling gloomy, Stella started to exercise. She was physically fit, having joined several clubs in college - taekwondo, self-defense, and boxing, which she learned from Angela. She wasn't an expert in any of them, but she had a good understanding of them all. After two hours of vigorous training, she was dripping sweat but felt a sense of satisfaction she couldn't describe. If she wanted to survive, and survive well, she had to keep improving herself.

Stella made a plan to spend two hours every day exercising, three hours studying medicine, and another two hours learning basic surgical knowledge.

Arcadia had hundreds of books, all stolen from the school library. Over the years, she could slowly study them.

She also had psychology books that she planned to start studying soon. Besides natural disasters and deaths, those who survived till the end of the world were not normal - some committed suicide, some harmed themselves, and some took revenge on society. Stella was no exception. She was irritable, anxious, and depressed. So she had stocked up on plenty of anti-depressants, hoping she would never have to use them.

The glass was tightly sealed, but the room was still damp. Stella had bought many large compression bags to store unused clothes and quilts, and hung wet clothes on Arcadia's balcony to dry.

The black soil was mysterious. Even though it was synchronized with the outside world, the vegetables grew much better than those outside. The potato tubers in the planting pots had sprouted, and the grapevines showed signs of budding.

After exiting Arcadia, Stella found several thick plastic boards to cover the drains and then placed stones on top. During rainy days, roaches were rampant, especially in the later stages when they were endless and could easily crawl up from the drains.

During floods, flushing toilets was extremely laborious. Those living on the upper floors were relatively better off. Those living on the second and third floors had already begun to complain in the chat group before the internet was cut off, asking those above to have some decency and stop flushing things down.

However, even those living on the upper floors were not comfortable. Although they could manage to flush, the disgusting smell kept wafting up, making it unbearable.

Just in case, Stella had prepared many black plastic bags for physiological needs. However, thinking about throwing them downstairs, she held back and planned to take care of them in Arcadia.

Just as she was about to cook, Angela knocked on the door from outside. The two had slept all day and were much more energetic.

Angela came over with a block of alcohol, surprised to see Stella's well-stocked home, complete with a vegetable garden and rabbits on the balcony. "Stella, no wonder Lukas said you could survive even if thrown into a desert alone."

She had always loved hoarding and gardening, and there was nothing to hide about it. But many things needed an explanation.

"I was just lucky. A few days before the storm, I was running errands for Cody. He had a customer who's a rich kid obsessed with end-of-the-world games. He asked me to prepare a lot of medicine for him and gave me a survival package when I delivered the goods." She listed several items, including a rubber boat and an earthquake emergency kit.

Angela and Lukas were stunned. "Now that you mention it, it feels like the end of the world is really coming."

Not only them, but many people felt the same way when the storm first hit, and the posts on the internet exploded. Living for almost twenty years, they had never experienced such a huge disaster. Moreover, not only the southern coastal areas were affected, but there was also no rescue news to date. Who wouldn't be scared?

Lukas wondered if the rich kid had received news in advance, otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? In his building, there was a single young man who suffered from depression. A few days after running out of food, he had a mental breakdown, jumped from the building, and drowned.

What was the difference between the current situation and the end of the world?

Lukas suddenly asked, "Have you been in contact with Cody?"

Stella shook her head. She had converted her commission from buying medicine into supplies, ordered anonymously online, and had them delivered. As for what happened next, it was up to him. Cody was quite generous, spending money generously when hanging out. As a friend, there was nothing to complain about. But he was too deprived of love, always dating older women. No one could persuade him. Later, Stella gave up on him.

"He has a new girlfriend." Lukas forced a smile, "She's more than a decade older than him, divorced with two kids, a ten-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son. She's obviously from the slums, just looking for a meal ticket."

Stella was speechless, "Is he looking for a girlfriend or a mother?"

"Who knows." Lukas looked tired and sighed softly, "Coming out of an orphanage, who doesn't have some issues?"

He was no exception, often mocked for being a gigolo living off a woman.

This wasn't the first time Cody had made a mistake, but he was always uncomplaining and determined. Stella didn't feel qualified to judge. After all, hadn't she also been foolishly adoring Hector? Everyone had a choice. As long as they were happy, that was what mattered. In her previous life, Stella never saw Cody again. She didn't know if he had survived the harsh end of the world.

As the two were chatting in the living room, Angela suddenly shouted from the balcony, "Quick, quick, quick, a tornado."

Stella walked out to see Angela looking shocked and panicked, her eyes as wide as saucers, even forgetting to breathe. Following her pointing finger, Stella saw a huge tornado in the gloomy sky.

No, it was two tornadoes.