Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I was a bit distracted as I finished off the rest of my turkey and bacon sandwich. I didn't know how or why I started finding the flames of the other boys inside of me, and the fact that I could read their thoughts and emotions was somewhat unsettling.

Don't get me wrong, I loved having a piece of them inside of me. I felt like two puzzle pieces had just clicked into place, removing part of the weight that was stilling on my chest every time I thought of my men. It left me feeling more whole as a result.  I just didn't like the fact that I had no idea how it was happening.

And why was Chen Zi Han and Liu Yu Zeng? I was falling in love with them just as I was with the other two, so it was not a matter of favorites or anything like that, but I was simply curious about why those two.  I finished off my last bite, and, finally managing to get my cherry sparkling water, I took my final sip just as there was a knock on the front door.

Taking my time because I knew that one of my men would open the door, I took the extra few seconds to get myself in order. I wanted this meeting to go better than this morning's, I just had no idea how to make that happen. 

I looked up just in time to see Wang Chao escort the men of the special forces team, or whatever they were called, into the living room and showed them where they could sit. Even Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han had come out of the bedroom to find their spots in the living room. 

Closing my eyes, I briefly took a peek at the two flames circling around mine. Stroking the white one, the one I knew was Liu Yu Zeng, I was relieved to feel that he was no longer as angry as he had been before. Although he wasn't what I considered to be happy, he was definitely back to normal. A quick check on Chen Zi Han showed that he too was neutral. And with strangers in our territory, I knew that neutral was the best that I was going to get out of the man.

'I can feel you,' said the man, not looking over at me hiding in the kitchen but keeping his eyes on the eight men taking a seat.

I chuckled, 'I can feel you too,' I replied, throwing him a kiss.

'No, I can feel you touching my flame. It sets me off as if you are touching my body,' he said with a smirk in my head. His physical body didn't so much as twitch. I raised my eyebrows at the idea that my stroking his flame was the same as my stroking him. Oh, the world of possibilities that had just opened up…

'Yes, yes, now get that cute ass over here and deal with these people so we can go back to doing what it was that we were doing in the kitchen,' said Liu Yu Zeng as I watched him licking his thumb and then running it over his lip. Even thinking about his lips left me hot and bothered.

I narrowed my eyes on him, disgruntled that he could so easily work me up.  Reaching inside, I stroked the white flame and watched as the man on the couch simply turned around to look at me. But I could see it in his eyes that he was just as affected as I was.

"Little girl," growled Wang Chao as everyone made themselves comfortable, effectively knocking me out of mine… and the boys… heads. I walked into the living room and took my seat. I waited as Chen Zi Han tucked me into the black blanket, knowing that I hated being without a blanket on before I opened my mouth.

"I am sure that you guys are considered to be the best of the best, but I am afraid that that means less than nothing right now," I said as I studied the men in front of me whom Wang Chao thought were some of the most impressive men that he ever worked with.  I watched as they stiffened, darting a questioning look between themselves.

I didn't even need to be a spirit user to know what they were thinking. But I couldn't stand a cocky person even before the end of the world. And now, well… being cocky was a good way to get killed.

"I am going to give you two days to train and prepare and then I am going to send you out on a mission," I continued, completely ignoring their looks. "You are to use only cold weapons on this mission, no guns or anything with ammo. We cannot replace what you fire, so you will not be firing anything."

"We are well trained and don't need any additional time to train," said Cao Mu Chen, puffing his chest up in confidence. I pursed my lips and nodded. Well, I didn't really want to give them that much time before sending them out to collect supplies anyways.

"Fine, then you will leave tomorrow morning at 0600," I said looking around the room. "Your mission will be to gather as many supplies as possible before the sun sets and you return to base."

"That's it?" said one of the ones whose name I forgot.

"That's it," I confirmed. I watched as the eight men all turned to Wang Chao to see if he was going to protest or something, but Wang Chao simply sat there with his legs crossed in as relaxed a posture as was possible for him.

"But we are trained to take out people. Not collect supplies. Surely there are others in the building that would be more suited for that job," said a third person. I turned to look at Feng Dong Yang, to see if he had any objections. He returned my gaze, simply giving me a frown and a shrug of his giant shoulders. Not sure what he meant, I turned to Wang Chao.

'He doesn't care what he does, he is just wanting to get out of the building and do something,' explained the man inside of my head. I nodded in understanding.

"The only use that I have for five of you is to collect supplies," I said without remorse. I needed to keep the mechanic and communications specialists in order for them to do their job, and I liked Feng Dong Yang as a team leader. But the rest could live or die based on their own strength.

"Now, you have two options," I started. I liked giving options because then everything is the choice of the other person, they couldn't come back and bitch to me about what they chose. I mean, they did, but at the end of the day, they had to take responsibility for their own choices. Even if they were choosing between a shitty option and a shittier option.

"The first one is that you are ready at 0600 to go out and collect supplies, and the second one is you go out and don't collect supplies."

"And if we don't?" asked Jiang Ming Tao.

"Then you don't come back," I said simply. I could understand pushing when it came to a new authority figure, but I was not one to budge.

Two or three men raised their eyebrows when they heard my statement and turned back to Wang Chao to see if he could contradict me. When he didn't, they turned to look at me.

"Make your choice, gentlemen," I said as I stood up and took Chen Zi Han's arm. "Hopefully you make the right one." But whether they chose to gather supplies or to leave and never come back, I refused to be upset. I would find those that I wanted to be part of my kingdom and those that didn't… well… the zombies needed to eat too.

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I woke up the next morning at 5:30 and watched as Wang Chao and Liu Wei got dressed in their winter combat gear. One of the best things about the winter, as far as I was concerned, was that because of how many layers a person wore, zombies weren't able to penetrate the skin or even rip off limbs as easily as they could in the warmer weather.

The men took their sword and their 9mms as protection against both the zombies and the humans, and I closed my eyes, whispering a soft prayer for their protection. I understood that this was the safest time of the year, and it was made even more so by the fact that the zombies were spending all their energy creating their own social structures. But I was sending two of my men out, those without flames connecting us together, and as such, I was stressed beyond all belief.

Making our way to the front doors, we saw the rest of the team assembled. They were wearing the same combat gear as my boys, but on their backs, attached to their backpacks were their guns. The ones I specifically told them to leave here. Rolling my eyes, I vanished them into my space and replaced them with a sword.

"I said no guns."