Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



The man in front of us scoffed at Chen Zi Han's statement, not realizing just how close to death he was coming. "As far as I know, no one here outranks the General," he said, the confidence in his voice coming through loud and clear.

I just nodded my head, waiting to see where Wang Chao was going to go with this. He had already said that What's His Face's team could stay with us, but I didn't know the exact logistics of it all.  "Our next step is to clear out all the homes on this floor," said Wang Chao looking at the man in front of him.

"And if they are occupied?"

"Kill them or drive them out," said Liu Yu Zeng as if only made sense to go in one of those two directions. Mind you, as far as I was concerned, those were the only two directions we could take this. Li Yi Ming (that was his fricking name!) looked at him with disgust.

"You would kick them out of their homes?!" he demanded, like the very idea of it was completely asinine.

"Yes," replied Liu Yu Zeng. "Because I am certainly not going to be supporting them and protecting them for the rest of their lives."

Li Yi Ming scoffed at that, "It will be more like the other way around. The majority of people in this place are military of some kind or another."

Great, we traded one base for another. I watched as the smile widened on Liu Yu Zeng's face, but it was not a… happy smile by any stretch of the imagination.  "Sure, let's go with that. So, fearless leader, what is your final say?" he asked looking at Wang Chao. I was glad that he was the one to ask that question because I was also really interested in his answer.

"We will allow them to stay if they want to," said Wang Chao, changing his stance, as he looked at Li Yi Ming. The other man smirked at me and Chen Zi Han and I was done.

Turning around, I left the apartment of Li Yi Ming and his team, pushing those in my way to the side. I would officially have to regroup and plan my next step. With my mind whirling, I didn't see or care who followed me out or stayed behind.

I slammed open the door to the stairwell and started to go up to our apartment. Or maybe I should have called it Wang Chao's penthouse since he had just made it perfectly clear where he stood. I honestly thought that he had understood that there was no more government, no more loyalty to what didn't exist anymore. But I guess he just didn't understand.

That was fine, he would learn the hard way… and without me.

'Wait before you do something rash,' he said, his voice still giving me goosebumps without even trying. I scoffed under my breath as I opened the door to the place that I had thought would be my home for the next few months.  Looking around, I brought all of my stuff back into my space, returning the things that were originally here.

'Just calm down,' he tried again. My head snapped up at his words and my eyes narrowed even though he was nowhere near me. When, in the history of the world, had telling someone to calm down actually had the desired effect. Because I can tell you that it had never worked on me.

In fact, I am pretty sure that it had the opposite effect.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, completely making my mind blank.  I pictured building a wall, brick by brick between my core and the outside world. I had once read about this technique in an online novel, but I had never bothered to really try it before now.

Now, I was going to create an impenetrable wall between me and the outside world. I would not let anyone pass, not even a hotter-than-hell man that apparently couldn't stop playing hero long enough to save those he cared about.

It reminded me of a quote I had once read. It went; "It is better to love a villain rather than a hero. A hero would sacrifice you to save the world, but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you."

I wanted the men by my side willing to watch the world burn if it meant keeping me safe and happy, just like I was willing to do for them. And if they weren't willing to do that? Well, at least I would know where I stood. 

As soon as I felt the last brick fall into place, I felt a warm arm wrap itself around me, cradling me in its embrace. "You and me against the world," whispered Chen Zi Han as he slowly guided me closer to his body.

I heard a scoff as Liu Yu Zeng walked around the two of us to go sit down on the couch.  His arms spread out and resting against the back cushion, he lazily crossed his legs. "You need to learn how to share, brother," he said, looking at Chen Zi Han. "And that was one of the reasons why Liu Wei went into the military instead of me. Can't stand their holier than thou attitude."

"I don't think it is a matter of being holier than thou, more like the longer they are in it, the more of a hero complex they develop," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"I resent that," said a third voice as Liu Wei closed the penthouse door and went to sit in a chair across from his brother. "I don't think I have a hero complex, not to mention the only damsel in distress I want to rescue is Li Dai Lu."

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help the feeling of warmth and happiness that spread through my body at the fact that these men had followed me out of that place.

"But you would think that Wang Chao would have been able to remove the stick up his ass now that the zombie apocalypse has happened," said Liu Yu Zeng, shooting his brother a smirk. "After all, big brother over here managed to."

Liu Wei simply raised his eyebrow as he ignored his brother. Sitting in the exact opposite position as Liu Yu Zeng; his back straight, his legs crossed in front of him with his clasped hands resting loosely on his knees, Liu Wei seemed posed and ready to take on the world.

"So, what is the plan?" he asked, looking directly at me.

"I don't know," I replied, not really knowing which direction I was going to go in.

"I don't believe that for a second," smiled Liu Wei, his tone was reprimanding, but his eyes were sparkling with humor.

"It's true," I said, tapping Chen Zi Han's hand. As soon as he let me go, I went to sit in the chair beside Liu Wei and across from Liu Yu Zeng. Instead of stilling beside Liu Yu Zeng like I thought he would, Chen Zi Han came to stand right behind my chair.

"There are a few possibilities, but I don't know what step I want to take."

"Okay, then talk them through with us," suggested Liu Wei. "We can make the decision together." Together, I liked that idea. Letting out a smile of happiness I started to try and unravel everything in my mind.

"I am worried that if we stay here, we will become too compliant," I said looking at the Liu brothers in front of me. I could feel Chen Zi Han behind me like a strong, sturdy tree. I knew he would protect me from even the most violent of storms. I closed my eyes and marveled at his black flame burning within my heart.

"What do you mean?" asked Liu Wei as he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward to look at me.

"I mean, I think that I sheltered you too much from the realities of what is to come," I said, trying to grasp the right words to express my thoughts without offending them.

"Just spit it out, Sweetness. We are big boys, we can handle it," smiled Liu Yu Zeng, the easy-going smile on his face still there, but I could see the slightest tightening of the corners of his eyes.

"Do you know how most people learn to use their powers?" asked, looking at the men around me.

"Isn't it the way that we learned it?" asked Liu Wei, tilting his head to get a better look at me. I scoffed at that very idea.

"Fuck no," I said. "It took humans almost a year into the apocalypse before they found out that they had any type of power."

"Why did it take them so long?" asked Liu Yu Zeng, copying his brother's position, his gaze intent.

"Because the only way that humans learned what they were made of, deep down, was to be pushed to the very brink of extinction," I said as I closed my eyes, remembering what it was like three years after all this had happened. Technically, things had kind of smoothed out by the time I had arrived in this body, and it was still a constant fight for survival.

"Extinction?" said Liu Wei, his eyes widened with alarm.

I hummed in reply. "This apocalypse… it is like stepping in quicksand," I said, trying to explain. I was not overly good with words and I came out offensive more often than not, so many people didn't take me seriously.

"The zombies had been around for months before November 1st. Even if they weren't in County K until October, countries like M and S had been experimenting with genetic manipulation for years before this vaccine was even created."

"So what you are saying is that this didn't start with the creation of the zombies," said Liu Yu Zeng as he leaned back against the couch.

"Exactly."