Chapter 74 House defense I

Chapter 74: Chapter 74 House defense I

Kai noticed the looks on everyone’s faces and immediately wondered if he had said something wrong. He genuinely didn’t know what a dungeon was, which was why he was confused. "Can someone please explain this to me?" he demanded. "Are we still talking about dungeons as in places where criminals are locked up? Is that what you mean?"

Luna groaned. She had just been about to explain when a terrifying growl echoed from above. Everyone froze. Their heads snapped toward the window. Something was moving through the sky. Then another shadow passed over the building, and another. Their expressions changed immediately as they recognized the flying monsters—the same terrifying creatures they had encountered at the government safe zone, the ones that had nearly killed them.

"What the..." Adrian moved closer to the window, peering through it. "Wait. Something isn’t right." His eyes narrowed. "Are the dungeons openings or something? Because where the hell did those things come from?" He stared harder, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. They weren’t. The creature was real, and it looked even more terrifying than before.

Rowan’s mouth fell open. "Wasn’t that thing smaller before?" Everyone looked at the monster. It was enormous—its body almost as large as a plane, but it appeared rounder now, its massive wings producing violent gusts of wind every time they moved. The sheer size of it made the surrounding helicopters look tiny. "What the hell is that?" Rowan whispered.

Kai stepped backward. "That shit is terrifying." His voice trembled. "How are we supposed to handle something like that?"

Luna looked at them, then toward the house. At least most of the safety systems had already been installed. There were only a few remaining devices that hadn’t been completed before the apocalypse hit. The workers responsible for them were dead now anyway. Still, the house was heavily fortified with reinforced walls, active electric barriers, and defensive systems in place. As long as the creatures didn’t realize survivors were hiding inside, they should be safe.

"Keep your voices down," Luna said, her voice calm. "As long as you don’t make noise and alert them that there are survivors here, they won’t know we’re inside." She glanced toward the helicopters moving through the sky. "The military is already parading around up there. We don’t need to give either them or those monsters a reason to investigate this building." Everyone nodded as she instructed them to calm down and keep their shit together.

If Luna’s words were meant to reassure them, they somehow managed to do the opposite. She turned away from the window, wanting to return to the couch and continue thinking about the plan for their journey into the ruined city. She had calculations to make, supplies to consider, routes to determine. The supermarket raid was already dangerous enough without another problem.

Then another monstrous growl echoed above them, much closer this time, followed by a deafening roar. Everyone rushed back toward the window and saw one of the helicopters suddenly lurch sideways as a gigantic creature struck it. The helicopter spun violently through the air before losing control.

"Shit!" Ethan’s eyes widened. Another monster attacked, then another. "What the hell?" It wasn’t just one creature anymore—there were four enormous flying beasts tearing through the sky, attacking the helicopters with terrifying speed. Their claws ripped through metal as if it were paper. One helicopter exploded, another was thrown sideways, and a third began spinning uncontrollably.

"Oh fuck!" Kai stumbled backward. "More are coming!" Nobody laughed at him this time—they were all too terrified. The monsters were attacking the helicopters one after another. The military had come looking for something, but now they had found something far worse. The survivors inside the helicopters were desperately trying to escape.

Two of the damaged helicopters suddenly veered toward the island, toward their building. Ethan’s face changed. "Fuck!" He pointed toward the window. "Those two are coming this way!" Luna immediately looked up. The helicopters were falling, not flying, and their trajectory was directly toward the house.

"Shit." The sound of people screaming could be heard from the distance. One of the helicopter pilots was shouting through the radio: "The engine has failed!" Another voice answered: "We’re losing control!" "Pull up!" "I can’t!" The pilots desperately fought with the controls, trying to stabilize the machines, but the damage was too severe. The helicopters continued descending.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. "All of you!" Everyone turned toward her. "To the panic room. Now!" Nobody argued. The panic room was one of the structures Luna had made sure was completed before the apocalypse. She had specifically ordered the workers to finish it before everything went to hell. At the time, some of them had probably thought she was paranoid—now she was grateful she had been.

Ethan ran toward the corridor but suddenly looked back through the window. His expression changed. The creatures were following the helicopters. They weren’t satisfied with destroying the machines—they wanted to finish them. From the enormous shadow moving across the building, Ethan could tell one of the creatures was getting closer. His jaw dropped. "We don’t have a chance against that thing!" He looked at Luna. "It’s coming straight here!"

Luna glared at him. "Do you know that you’re not in charge here?" Ethan froze. "Do you?" She stepped closer. "Then why can’t you follow one simple order?" Her voice hardened. "I’m doing my best to keep your pathetic ass alive. Don’t make this harder than it already is." Ethan opened his mouth to protest, but Luna pointed toward the hallway and ordered him to get to the safe room. He hesitated, but finally moved.

Luna turned back toward the window. "The helicopter is going to crash." Everyone looked outside. "The impact won’t destroy the house." She gestured toward the reinforced walls. "The building is fortified. The shield and electric barrier can handle the helicopters." Her eyes narrowed as she watched the massive creature descending. "But that thing is different. That creature can’t be contained."

Nobody spoke. "I’ve never seen anything that massive," Luna continued, her expression becoming increasingly serious. "Not even a leviathan was this enormous." The others stared at her. "If it crashes into this building, its body alone could destroy everything around here." She shook her head. "There’s nothing we can do against something like that."

Luna wasn’t exaggerating. In her previous life, there had been mutated beasts and terrifying monsters, but there had never been anything like this. There had been no dungeons, no dimensional openings, and certainly no flying abomination large enough to crush buildings. This was something entirely new.

"Stop staring and move," she commanded, and everyone rushed toward the panic room.

Then the first helicopter struck the roof with a tremendous boom. The impact shook the entire building as the machine slammed into the reinforced structure before the electric barrier caught it. Sparks exploded across the roof, and the helicopter shattered before exploding. The entire house trembled, dust falling from the ceiling as Kai stumbled against the wall. "What the hell was that?!" he shouted. "The helicopter," Rowan answered.

Another impact followed as the second helicopter crashed into the building, and the house shook again. Windows rattled, lights flickered, and for a moment, everyone thought the entire structure would collapse—then the defensive systems stabilized.

Ethan looked around frantically. "Where’s the panic room?" He spotted the concealed entrance—a thick metal panel built into the wall—and rushed toward it, grabbing the iron bar attached to the mechanism. He turned it once, twice, three times—nothing. "Come on!" He turned it a fourth time, and finally the mechanism chimed, the wall shifted, and a metallic opening slowly widened. Ethan looked back at everyone. "At last!" He stepped aside. "Luna, go in first."

Luna immediately shook her head. "No." "What?" "You go." She pointed toward the opening. "And stop trying to play the hero." Ethan stared at her. "But—" "Go." He sighed and finally obeyed, jumping through the metal opening.

Kai followed immediately without even looking back. Luna rolled her eyes—at least one of them had enough sense to listen. Rowan and Adrian, however, remained where they were, neither moving. They looked at Luna, then at the opening, then back at her.

"Go," Luna ordered. Rowan frowned. "What about you?" "I’m right behind you." "You should come with us." "I will." Luna walked toward the wall. "But first, I need to activate the remaining traps." Adrian’s expression tightened. "Why?" "Because that creature isn’t the only problem." She looked toward the broken window. "The government is still searching the area." Rowan’s eyes widened. "They could find us." "Exactly." Luna’s expression became cold. "No one can know about this house yet." She glanced toward the panic room. "If the government discovers that there’s a fortified building here with working defenses, supplies, and a safe shelter, they’ll come." Adrian understood immediately. "And once they come, we won’t be able to keep this place hidden." "Exactly." Luna turned toward the remaining controls. "So I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen." Rowan hesitated. "Luna..." She looked over her shoulder. "I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m telling you to stay alive."

Another monstrous roar shook the building, and the three of them instinctively looked upward as the creature got closer. Luna’s expression hardened. "Now go." This time, Rowan obeyed. He and Adrian rushed into the panic room while Luna remained outside, the metal door beginning to close behind them. "Luna!" Rowan called, but she didn’t turn. "Don’t worry," she said, her fingers moving across the control panel. "I’ve survived worse."

The door finally sealed shut. Luna stood alone inside the trembling house. Above her, the monsters roared. Outside, the helicopters continued burning.

Luna stared at the control panel, then smiled faintly. "Let’s see which idiot comes here first." Her fingers pressed down, and the house’s defensive systems activated. Hidden mechanisms beneath the floor began to hum, the electric barrier intensified, and around the property, traps that had been designed long before the apocalypse began coming alive.

Luna wasn’t about to let the monsters destroy her home. And she certainly wasn’t going to let the government take it from her.