Meanwhile, Lily was busy playing with the direwolf puppies. She didn’t understand why the puppies didn’t follow her around or why mommy had told her not to feed gummies to them. Gummies were good for everyone, but since mommy had told her not to, Lily decided not to give them any.

She just sat beside them, watching them as they made whining noises while rolling on the blanket. The brown one with the blue eyes was her favorite, though she changed her mind about this every other minute, and the white one with one floppy ear could only wait for its turn to be coddled.

"Don’t be scared," she said, picking one of them up and patting its head, just like Alisha did to her. "Lily is here to play with you!"

She stopped abruptly as if she remembered something.

"Lily is a big girl now," she mumbled, recalling Alisha’s words. "Big enough to take care of the puppies all by herself. Mommy does not need to worry."

Those were the words Alisha had told her before leaving. She was supposed to stay back and take care of the puppies like a good older sister.

"Oh, Lily forgot about food!"

She got up, dusting off her dress before bringing two small feeding bottles. The bottles contained milk. Alisha had used the powdered milk sachets in MRE packs to make them. As for the bottles, she had made them by hand.

It was a small plastic bottle with a clean cotton strip from a first aid kit attached to the drilled cap. The milk from the bottle would flow into the cotton strip, which the puppies could suckle on like nipples.

Lily picked up the brown puppy in her lap and brought the bottle close to its mouth. The puppies were still weak, but their sense of smell was strong, and they immediately turned their heads towards the bottle, sucking on the milk.

"Ohh..." Lily’s eyes widened as a sense of accomplishment filled her.

Just as she was enjoying it, a sudden gust of wind hit her cute face. She looked up, only to see that the door to the unit was ajar. Alisha had forgotten to close it all the way.

"Ah, the door is open. Silly mommy," Lily mumbled, shaking her head.

After putting the puppy down, she got up to close the door, but then a naughty idea hit her. Since mommy had told her she was big, then didn’t that mean she could leave the house by herself?

But she didn’t want to go alone. Instead, she rushed back to the litter and picked up one puppy in either arm. She looked down at the puppy and then back at the door.

"Mommy said only adults can leave the floor," Lily told the puppies. "Since Lily is eight, she counts as an adult in dog years."

Aiden left the floor on his own. Karina also often traveled outside the apartment, and even her mommy had started leaving the floor, so why couldn’t she?

"Do not worry, puppies. Lily will protect you. We will just go see the outside for a little bit and come back."

Keeping both puppies pressed against her chest, she walked to the door, kicking it with her feet to push it open. She looked left and right to make sure the coast was clear.

Even though she was an adult in her mind, she knew if anyone saw her, they would stop her from having her little adventure. She walked out, enjoying the thrill of having the corridor all to herself.

At least until she noticed the elevator. She had seen Alisha using it before, but she hadn’t operated it herself before. As an adult, Lily felt it was shameful and immediately decided to correct it.

Lily stood on her toes and pressed the button as she had seen the grown-ups do many times, and the doors opened.

"Lily is just going to step in and step out," she informed the puppies. "Lily will show you how it works and return, okay?"

The puppies didn’t object to her life goal. Since her team was in agreement, she stepped inside the elevator.

But before she could step out, someone on another floor had called the elevator. The doors started to close. Lily tried to exit, but her small feet couldn’t make it in time, and the doors shut.

"Wait! Lily is still inside!"

As if sensing her distress, the puppies began whining as well. Lily hugged them tightly to comfort them.

"It’s okay," she whispered. "The doors will open, and Lily will step out, press the button, and go back up. That’s all."

The elevator stopped on the third floor, and Lily smiled in relief. However, her smile disappeared when the doors opened because two tall men were looking at her.

They were not the kind of people Lily was used to being around. One of them had a long knife on his belt, and the other person was holding a riot shield.

They were planning to head out to hunt monsters as per Aiden’s task, but after seeing Lily, the two stopped. Well, it wasn’t Lily, but the puppies in her arms that stopped them in their tracks.

In the apocalypse, animals such as dogs were the first ones to be hunted by the monsters for food once humans began to fight back.

The two men couldn’t even remember the last time they had seen one. Hence, they knew the puppies had to belong to a monster species. Suddenly, their eyes shone with excitement.

Aiden had just mentioned that they had to hunt monsters. There wasn’t any mention of what kind of monster they had to hunt. If they could just kill the puppies before them, won’t they get a head start over the others?

With that thought, the man with the knife took a step forward and reached out toward the brown puppy in her arms. However, Lily immediately turned away, protecting her fur-friends.

"Tsk, this kid," the man grumbled, already annoyed. "Just give them to me." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"No!" Lily yelled back.