Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I raised an eyebrow at their conviction. "Not ever your lovers, friends, or family?" I demanded. I mean, I was sure that they had top-secret clearance before the end of the world, but that didn't really account for anything.

"No," they said, once again in creepy unison.  I looked at Wang Chao for confirmation. I would rather believe what he saw in their heads than what they spoke out of their mouths.  At his curt nod, I smiled.

"Perfect," I said with as much of a smile as I could manage at the time. "The plan is to set up a working cell tower here and at a few other key locations around the city. It is up to you two to figure out where those key locations are," I started, picking up my coffee and taking another sip. Letting the taste of the sweet, creamy, and bitter flavors fill my body, I sunk back even further into my chair.

"Not possible," said Jiang Ming Tao with a bit of a snort. Jin Si Cong looked at the man before turning his attention back to me.

"Something to say?" I asked him.

"I can build the tower," he said slowly, "But I don't have any of the tools or materials to do it. Plus with all of the electronic equipment being fried, there is no way to make it work."

"Not to mention, no one has cell phones that they can use, so what is the point?" said Jiang Ming Tao as if I had a screw loose and didn't understand the current state of the world.

I sighed and took another sip of my coffee to perk myself up for what comes next. "You have an entire empty city at your disposal. And even if it isn't completely empty, there are still many ways that you can get your hands on the tools and materials you need. I am sure that given your expertise, you could MacGyver something up," I said, looking at Jin Si Cong.

"MacGyver?" he asked confused.

"Just an expression meaning to use random pieces to create something useful to you," I said, completely forgetting that they probably didn't have the same tv shows that I had growing up.

Jin Si Cong nodded his head in understanding. "I could probably MacGyver something up," he said hesitantly.

"Good," I replied taking a piece of carrot cake out of my space and digging in. I would fully admit that it was not a Breakfast of Champions, but at least it was tasty.

"But that still doesn't mean that we have the electrical components needed to complete that task," pointed out Jiang Ming Tao. I didn't take his questions or statements as a confrontation, I completely understood where he was coming from.

What he didn't understand was the magic of 'moi'.

"And that is where you come in," I said looking at the man beside me. "I will give you every single working electrical component that I have, and I have a good amount, and you are going to see what you can do with them."

"So you expect me to MacGyver too," he said with a slight smirk on his face. "But without power, how would we even know if I was able to get something up and working?"

"I have about 150 solar panels that can join the ones upstairs that the guys were supposed to install," I stared, allowing myself a smirk of my own as I watched his eyes widen at my statement. "You can check them over to make sure that everything is in working order. I think there should be around 300 batteries available to store backup power. Is that enough?" I asked, tilting my head.

"150 solar panels?" Wang Chao asked, a look of confusion on his face. "I think we might have only brought up about 20 of them," he admitted. I hummed.

"I will go upstairs in a bit and deposit the remaining 150. I just didn't see the point of overloading you with them all," I said with a shrug. "Can you work with that?"

Jiang Ming Tao simply stared at me, a serious look crossing his face for the first time since we had met. "Am I allowed to ask what your end goal is?"

"Didn't you just?" I asked with a smile as I took the last sip of coffee and allowed it to drown the sweetness from the carrot cake inside my mouth. He continued to stare at me and I could see how he became part of one of the best navy Speciality Teams in K Country.

"My end goal is to turn this whole building and any other areas around it into a working city just for us. But since we will need to go out into hostile territory, we need a way to communicate with each other from other ends of the city," I replied.

"This is City J, it is not a hostile territory," said Jiang Ming Tao. He refused to back down from my gaze, but if he thought that he could win this staring contest, he had another thing coming.

"Yet," I said. "It is not a hostile territory yet. Wait for the snow to melt and then come talk to me." That statement earned me a scoff from the man in front and I briefly wondered how much I really needed a communications technician in this base. Well… I suppose he isn't the only communications technician in the whole country or maybe even in this city... I should be able to find a replacement if he suddenly died due to unexplained circumstances.

"I don't think you understand how this is going to work," I said, changing my direction of attack. I slowly closed my eyes, showing that I was not scared of the man, but that I considered it beneath me to continue to engage in the staring contest.  "You are going to do what I ask, or you are not. Either way, I will not be heartbroken. But this base is going to be set up in the remaining four months, give or take, that we have. However, this is your last chance to back out. So, what is your decision?"

I never said that I would kill him for backing out at this point, but I am pretty sure that we all knew where that was where this was headed.

Jiang Ming Tao snorted again. "I am going to stay just to be able to say that I told you so at the end of it."

I nodded my head in understanding. "And until you submit, you will not be dealing with anything more complicated than building my communications tower. Once you have proven yourself, we can get to the brass tacks," I said as I stood up. "You are done until this afternoon." Walking into the kitchen, I tried to hunt down something else sugary to drink.  It seemed like it was going to be a long day and a cherry sparkling water would go a long way to making me happy. 

I hadn't even had the chance to open the fridge door when Chen Zi Han came up behind me and pulled me flush to his front.

"Are those little green aliens on your pajamas?" he asked looking down at my loose-fitting black pajama bottoms with neon green aliens and flying saucers all over them.

"Yes it is," I said nodding my head, I absolutely loved the pajamas and he was going to have to learn to like them too.

"And is that my black hoodie?" he asked again, pulling it out at the waist as if to double-check.

"Yes, it is," I confirmed again, not really caring. I had four men to steal hoodies from and as far as I was concerned, all items of clothing were fair game.

"Looks good on you," he hummed in my ear as he gave the outer shell a gentle nibble. I melted into his arms and closed my eyes.

"I know," I smirked, not the least bit modest. He chuckled at my response before working his way from my ear down to my neck. I tilted my head to the left, trying to give him as much room as possible to work with as his lips made a leisurely path down to my shoulder.

"Is a Li Dai Lu sandwich on the menu for breakfast?" asked a low, husky voice as a shiver of pure pleasure engulfed me.  I didn't know if it was because of Chen Zi Han's administrations or Liu Yu Zeng's question, but either way, my head was in the clouds and I never wanted to come back down.

I felt the vibrations in Chen Zi Han's chest as he chuckled at Liu Yu Zeng's question. But since neither one of us openly objected to his idea, he smirked and strolled towards me like a panther that just spotted its prey.

Don't get me wrong, I was more than willing to be eaten alive by those two.

Liu Yu Zeng stopped right in front of me, squeezing between me and the fridge.  I had never managed to get my drink, but this was much more pleasant than some cherry water. 

"Good morning, Sweetness," he purred right before he kissed me. But to say that it was simply a kiss was way too tame of a word for what it was doing to my body and my head. I felt completely engulfed by the fire growing inside of me.

The juxtaposition between Liu Yu Zeng's demanding kiss and Chen Zi Han's slow methodical ones left my senses reeling and a low whimper escaped me. Unable to control myself, I grabbed Liu Yu Zeng's neck and held on for dear life as two sets of hands played with my body until I could think of nothing but them.