Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"What the ever-loving fuck happened to you?!?" I demanded, taking the time to finally look over my boys from head to toe and seeing where their winter jackets were ripped to shreds, the white polka dotted with splashes of blue and purple blood.

"We may or may not have run into a small horde of zombies," admitted Liu Wei as he gently escorted me to one of the many couches in the lobby. Pushing me down into the seat, he quickly took his own spot beside me. I guess we were having our debriefing here.

"May or may not? By the looks of you, I would say that you definitely did run into a horde! But where?!?"

"In the basement of the mall," admitted Wang Chao. A look of confusion crossed my face. "Not possible, the zombies never bothered with shopping malls unless they were specifically hunting someone or something."

"Could they have been hunting us then?" asked Feng Dong Yang. "I can't help but notice that it was only our team members to be taken."

I narrowed my eyes, thinking about why zombies would be interested in my group. After all, there was a lot easier prey in the homes around here. Biting my thumbnail, I ran through all of the possible scenarios in my head. "The guys that got kicked out of here, what's his name? Li Yi Ming. Li Yi Ming and his men, are you sure they are dead?" I asked, turning to Liu Wei. When the other man nodded his head, I went back to gnawing on my thumb. I didn't doubt the man, if he said that they were dead, then they were dead… maybe…

"What did you do with the bodies?" I asked, tilting my head. The only people with a big enough grudge against Feng Dong Yang and his team would be his old Captain. It took a lot of hatred and energy to have a grudge survive being turned into a zombie, but it was entirely possible for it to happen. However, if he was dead dead, not just zombie dead, then there had to be something that I was missing.

"I got Chen Zi Han to burn them later that night after you had gone to sleep," said Liu Wei, this time pulling me onto his lap.

"So they are dead dead," I clarified, my poor thumbnail absolutely abused as my teeth continued to work their way back and forth across the surface.

"I would like to say that dead is dead, but apparently that is not the case anymore," admitted Wang Chao as he stood up and walked over to me. Pulling my thumb out of my mouth, he replaced it with a lollypop. I groaned as the black licorice flavor danced across my tongue. Yes, I will completely admit that I was one of those freaks that liked black licorice. Unfortunately for me, it was next to impossible to find them any more, but I guess Wang Chao was a miracle worker like that.

As the flavor and sugar entered my system, I relaxed further into the arms of my man. "But Liu Wei is the best at his craft," Wang Chao continued as he saw the magic effect that the lollypop had on me. "It's not them."

"Okay, so tell me what happened," I said, cuddling deeper into Liu Wei as I licked my sucker. "Don't leave out any details."

  -----

"Any idea what is going on?" asked Guo Bi Ming once the boys finished telling me what had happened. I was more than a little stressed knowing how close to death they came, but I refused to let myself dwell on it. Brushes with death would soon become an everyday occurrence, and at least this way, the boys got a taste of what was to come.

"Yeah," I said, surprised that they hadn't figured it out.  "It is similar to that Wu Bai Hee chick did with Liu Wei's and Liu Yu Zeng's grandfather."

"You mean, manipulation?" asked Wang Chao sitting up and staring at me.

"More like commanding," I said, trying to find the right words. "Manipulation is more subtle and it takes a longer time to take effect. Like whispering in someone's ear.  What you did was to command the zombies, not giving them any way to interpret your words. 'If you want to fight, fight, if you want to eat the flesh of your brethren, eat the flesh.' You told the zombies exactly what you wanted them to do and they obeyed you."

"So it is part of my spirit powers?" Wang Chao asked, looking for confirmation.

"Yes. I told you, most people only bother using one aspect of their power, you have the strength and ability to use more," I shrugged. They were able to get out of the situation thanks to his powers, so I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I just wondered if the zombies would multiply as a result, seeing as they were literally ripping each other apart according to the boys.

I had never heard of zombies turning on each other like that in my past life, after all, humans were their prey of choice and there was more than enough around to keep them full and satisfied. Not to mention they wouldn't be as tasty without the fear seasoning added to the meat.

"We need to train," said Liu Wei as he gently turned my chin to look at him. "We can't stand still and wait for them to hunt us down.  So how do we go about doing it?"

I looked at the man that felt like a crucial part of me in a different body. Closing my eyes, I said the words that I really didn't want to say. "The only way to truly train is to hunt them down and kill them. The situation in the basement allowed Wang Chao to unlock a section of his power that he never used before simply because he was so desperate to live. So the only way to get stronger is to put yourself in life or death situations and fight like it is your last breath."

I didn't want the boys to have to learn this way, that was why I was slowly introducing them to their powers and how to kill zombies. But Liu Wei was right, we were simply standing here out of fear, but that had to change. "Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han will go out tomorrow with a team of men to gather more supplies. Take it as a training opportunity," I said as I stood up. The words that I just spoke left a lump in my throat. I walked over to the stairwell and opened the doors.

"You guys figure it out and I will send Chen Zi Han down," I said, trying to swallow my tears. They would get stronger or die trying. I put one foot in front of the other and walked up the 13 flights of stairs and into our penthouse.

Opening the door, I walked over to where Chen Zi Han stood in the kitchen, washing the carrots and potatoes that would be used for our dinner tonight. Wrapping my arms around him and resting my forehead against his back, I took in a deep breath. "The guys need you downstairs," I said with my eyes closed, not bothering to let the man go.

Turning around in my arms, he gently tilted my head up with a finger under my chin. Searching my face for a clue of some kind or another, he slowly lowered his lips to mine, tasting me ever so leisurely, like he had all the time in the world to savor me. "I will be back in a bit," he said as he stood up. "Don't worry about dinner. I will finish it when I get back." With one last kiss, he extracted himself from my arms and left the penthouse.

Staring at the closed door I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moment of weakness where no one would be able to see me. I could feel a tear sliding down my cheek as I wondered who would survive the coming year. The very thought of one of my men dying at the hands of a zombie left me weak.

At the same time, I understood that I was the one that was holding them back by letting my fears for their safety overtake everything. They needed to become stronger in order to make sure that they would always come home to me at the end of the day.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, I wiped the tear from my face and straightened my back. I had a lot of work to do in order to make this place a fortress like the ranch was.  I narrowed my eyes at the very thought of my ranch.  I was hoping that the men left behind were enjoying the spoils of my labor. Stupid men stupidly bringing me across the whole stupid country the night before a fucking apocalypse.

Shaking my head, I went over to Chen Zi Han's old room and sat down at the desk inside. We had decided to turn each room that was not being used into something more useful. Poor Chen Zi Han's space was designated as the office while Liu Wei's room (the second biggest) got turned into a working pantry.  Even Liu Yu Zeng was not spared and his space became a storage area for all of the other supplies. I would eventually have to convert an apartment on another floor into the supply room, but I was not in the emotional state right now to be able to have the supplies out of my eyesight.

Taking out my colored markers and paper, I started to concentrate and plan out what my next steps would be.  If the men were going to risk their lives to become stronger, I would turn this building into an impenetrable fortress so that they could come home to a safe place.

'How to Survive the Apocalypse version 2.0', I wrote onto a blank piece of paper in a bright purple marker. Step One…