Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Wang Chao let out a low chuckle, "Then the person you need  just got sent out to collect supplies. May I suggest that you wait for them to come back before starting the training?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Zhou Gang Jia as he looked at Wang Chao in confusion. "You guys have powers; you should be able to train us in them too."

"We don't all have the same powers," pointed out Liu Wei from where he stood just behind Wang Chao. "You first have to determine why type of power user you are before you can figure out how to use them. In fact, given how many people are here today, it will take a while to sort people out let alone teach them how to access their power on demand."

"See, you know what you are doing, there is no problem with you training us," said the Rear Admiral looking happy that things worked out according to plan.  Liu Wei just rolled his eyes from behind Wang Chao's back. If Zhou Gang Jia really wanted the best of the best to train his men then he should not have sent Li Dai Lu and the others out for a bullshit reason.

Not that he thought supplies were bullshit, he would never say that or even think it around Li Dai Lu. He was pretty sure that that was the quickest way to die was to insult supplies.  A small smile appeared on his face as he thought about Li Dai Lu, but the screeching sound of nails on a chalkboard snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Wang Chao! You're here!" said Zhao Jia Li as she came trotting up to where the three men stood.  "I'll get you to train my team first!"

Wang Chao turned to Zhou Gang Jia, "She is the one that runs things here?" he asked in a sarcastic manner. Since when did a mere captain have that much authority?

"Her father," said Zhou Gang Jia cringing. Everyone knew or at least heard of Zhao Jun De, the current head of the Zhao family from City A.  Wang Chao and Liu Wei could not dismiss the amount of power that the man held, but like Li Dai Lu was quick to point out, the end of the world changed a lot of power structures.

"Her father is hundreds of miles always, back in City A, which would be more than a month of traveling to get to. And there are no phones available either. Just how much power do you think that man has to be able to protect his daughter all the way out here?" asked Wang Chao as he ignored Zhao Jia Li's gasp.

"He has done a lot for the military of Country K," said Zhou Gang Jia, somewhat insulted by what Wang Chao was saying.

"And there is no longer a military in Country K," pointed out Liu Wei. He truly respected Zhou Gang Jia and thought that he was a great leader and soldier, but now…

"You are acting like it is the end of the world. Like we are in the middle of an apocalypse or something. As soon as the power is turned back on, everything will go back to normal… and people have long memories," said Zhou Gang Jia tilting his head towards Zhao Jia Li to indicate that she is the one with the long memory.

Wang Chao snorted. "I thought that when Li Dai Lu talked about the Normalcy Bias, it was a short-term thing," he said to Liu Wei over his shoulder. Liu Wei just smirked in return.  It was hard to believe that such a practical man like the Rear Admiral would think that things would go back to normal as soon as the power was restored.

"And the zombies that you fought yesterday?" asked Wang Chao, wondering how he was going to explain that one away.

"I doubt they were zombies," he denied, "Probably just people hyped up on drugs or something like that. I had read that some drugs gives the users the feeling of immunity or immortality and that getting shot doesn't hurt them."

Wang Chao and Liu Wei turned to look at each other. There was no way that someone could actually believe that… right?

"Then if everything is normal, why do you want to be trained as a power user?" asked Wang Chao genuinely confused.

"Because having people with superpowers in K's miliary would make us one of the most powerful countries in the world. And if you two could have it, then so could others," said Zhou Gang Jia.  Wang Chao simply sighed, wishing he was out with the others to collect supplies.

"Fine," he said, defeated. "Let's get this over and done with."

----

The gates shut behind us with such a sound of finality that it caused my heart to beat for a second in pure panic. I didn't like the idea of us splitting up. It was like a feeling of impending doom descending on me when we were missing one of the boys. To have two missing, was just….

"It will be okay," said Chen Zi Han as he came up beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist.  Well, at least tried to. The snow suit was too bulky for him to get all the way around, but it still made me smile.

"I know," I replied. And I did. I had faith and confidence in Wang Chao and Liu Wei, and I knew that they would come looking for us if we didn't make it back tonight. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down and look around.  All we could see was a white landscape with both red and blue blood staining the pristine color of the snow. In the distance we could make out some larger buildings, but I didn't know what was in them.

"Any idea what way we should go?" I asked with a helpless smile on my face. Wang Chao and Liu Wei were our guides in this city as they had lived here for a few years while they were still in the Navy.

"When it doubt, go straight," said Liu Yu Zeng as he came around to my other side and put his hand on the small of my back. Pushing me forward, we left the base and started our search for supplies.

"Isn't it always turn right?" I asked, somewhat confused. I had always thought that as long as your turned right, you would eventually find your way back again. Meh, straight works just as well.

"But there should be a grocery store of some kind around here? Right?" asked Chen Zi Han stealing the thought from my head. I mean, there was a base right here, plus what looked like a park, homes and a few other buildings that could be stores, but they were all too buried in the snow for us to tell.

"Ah crap," I groaned at that idea.

"What?" asked the guys as they turned to look at me.

"Just wondering if we are going to have to shovel our way into any stores for supplies," I grumbled, stretching my neck. My back was already hurting just imagining the amount of snow it had to move.

Liu Yu Zeng just chuckled and pushed me forward. "Are supplies really that big of a deal?" he asked and I gasped in outrage. Smacking him a few time on his chest (not like it hurt between my mitten and his parka) I glared at the man in front of me. "Supplies are always a big deal," I grumbled, wondering where I went wrong with this man.

"Yes, I understand that. I was talking about getting a lay of the land first and then grab whatever supplies we need. If we are staying here for a while, we need to know more than just the base."

Well, he wasn't wrong. "Okay, fearless leader, lead us away," I said as I started forward.

"I hate to break it to you, but you would be the fearless leader of our group," chuckled Liu Yu Zeng and he and Chen Zi Han followed me. I scoffed at the thought. While I loved the idea of being the leader of the group, I don't think any of these men would really be willing to give up that much control. But then again, they always listened to me and tried their best to accommodate what I said, so I do have to give them credit for that. They always treated me with respect and as a equal.

Although I don't think I would mind if they were a bit more commanding in certain situations… I quickly shook that thought out of my head and turned my attention back to the path leading towards the city in front of me.

Trudging through the snow, I was kind of grateful for the zombies yesterday creating such a nice, flat surface to walk on. If we had to break our own paths through the snow we would be too tried to function after and hour or so.  Now… all I needed was to get supplies, figure out my way around City J, and hopefully not run into any hordes.

Should be easy, right?