Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Yu Zeng and his teams only drove about 45 minutes away from the apartment building that they were now considering to be their home base. This subdivision was for the wealthier population of City J and, after much discussion, it was decided it would be most productive to try there first. Not only should they have more supplies, but because the houses were bigger and further apart, it meant that there should be fewer zombies.

Getting out of the SUV, Liu Yu Zeng slammed the door shut and looked at the scene in front of him. They had deliberately parked in front of the only entrance and exit to the community so as to block anyone and everything in. Liu Yu Zzeng also wanted to make sure that there was no way someone else could block them in if something went wrong. There were footsteps in the snow, letting them know that there were people around, but besides that, it was a complete mystery as to what they were walking into.

"Human," said Feng Dong Yang as he walked back to Liu Wei after going to take a look at the footprints. "Unless of course zombies have taken to wearing boots? Do they wear boots?" he continued, clearly no longer as sure that the prints were human. But the most important part was that none of the footsteps had left the community and, unlike theirs, this place had not been plowed since the huge blizzard a few weeks ago.

"Alright, no point sitting here with our thumbs up our asses," said Liu Yu Zeng as he pulled out another cigarette. He refused to smoke around Li Dai Lu, but while he was out, he could more than makeup for what he had been lacking for the past month or so. "Team A, we are going to take the left side of the street, Team B, you got the right. Get what you need. Kill who you need and get back here fast." 

Putting out the smoke in the ankle-high snow, Liu Yu Zeng cracked his neck and started to walk over to the left side. 'See if you can lay a trap of some kind on the cars,' came the soft voice inside of his head. 'And stop smoking so much. I refuse to lose you to lung cancer.'  Liu Yu Zeng chuckled at Li Dai Lu's words. Maybe having her inside of him all the time was not the best thing in the world. 'You take that back,' she snapped and he could practically see her sticking out her tongue.

'Having you with me always is the greatest thing to ever happen to me,' he reassured her as he walked back over to where they had left the vehicles. 'Any suggestions on how I can lay the traps?' he asked as he looked around the SUVs.

She did have a good point. If there was anyone watching them from one of the many homes, they might try to take one of the working vehicles and get away from here. It was what he would have done if the situation was reversed. 'See if you can leave part of your power on the handles. Not so much that it will drain you, but enough to kill whoever tries to steal from us.'

'Great idea and all,' he replied in his mind as he stared at the driver's side handle. 'But how do I actually do that?'

'Put your hand on the handle and picture a very small part of your mist anchoring to it. It doesn't have to be a lot, even the smallest hint of poison will have the desired effects.' Copying what she had said, he gently put two gloved fingers onto the white SUV handle and pictured a small, black snake coiling itself around it.

When he managed to do it to the first one, he continued on all four door handles and even added a small snake to the trunk handle so no one would be able to get in through there. He didn't feel the least bit drained, so he continued to do it to the remaining SUV and ATV, ensuring that everything would be secured enough that they didn't have to leave a guard behind to protect their stuff.

'Thanks, Sweetness,' he said once he finished the last ones.

'You are getting my supplies, of course I am not going to let you lose them to someone else,' she said with a smirk in her voice. 'I have to protect those things after all. But you might want to warn Liu Wei and the others so there are no accidents.'

Liu Yu Zeng simply chuckled at her statement but was willing to admit that it had not really occurred to him to warn the others. "Don't touch anything until I get back. You won't like the consequences," he said looking at the men that had been watching him. As soon as he got their nods of understanding, he then started to walk away for the second time.

'Liu Yu Zeng?' came the voice again in his head. 'Yeah?' he asked, not sure what she was going to tell him to do next. 'Be safe and come home to me.'

He ducked his head and allowed the smile to break out on his face. 'Always am, always do,' he promised her. Once he managed to get his emotions back under control, he lifted up his head and looked at the nine men in front of him, including his big brother. "I'm sorry, was I supposed to send out a gold-lined invitations? Get a move on!"  His men jumped at his words and divided themselves up into their teams and started to rush to the assigned houses.

Liu Wei simply stared at his brother. He knew that something was going on, he had the same look on his face as Wang Chao did when he was talking to someone in his head, but Liu Yu Zeng was not a spirit user so that had to be impossible. Deep in thought, Liu Wei started to walk behind the men of Team B, putting on his leather gloves as he went. 

Realizing that no matter how hard he thought about it, he just didn't have the information to make an informed guess, he shook the thoughts out of his head and walked up to the first door. Looking at the four men on his team and seeing that each one of them had a knife or a sword, he nodded in approval. Raising his hand, he knocked on the door.

-----

After the boys had left for their mission, I quickly went back upstairs with Chen Zi Han to get ready for my day. Honestly, I was not looking forward to what needed to be done, but I was hoping that with Wang Chao and Chen Zi Han here, there wouldn't be too much disagreement.

Rushing into Chen Zi Han's room, I grabbed my clipboard and color-coded file folders from the desk before closing the door behind me. Wang Chao walked out of our bedroom dressed as he would for a board meeting. Confused, I looked at him. "You do know that that is not the most appropriate attire, right?" I asked him. I mean, he was smoking hot with the black dress pants, black dress shoes, and a white dress shirt that had the top three buttons undone, but his outfit would not help him in a fight. But that didn't stop my eyes from zeroing in on his chest and I couldn't seem to look away.

Men had lingerie; women had business suits. Who was I to argue?

Laughing softly at where my thoughts had gone, Wang Chao walked up to me and slowly adjusted his cufflinks. "I never found lingerie all that sexy, but I guess that seeing you in it would definitely change my mind on the matter. Besides, we are spending the day at home. Might as well be comfortable."

I looked at the man, not sure which statement I should address first. But that didn't stop my brain from going to the first part of his sentence. Lingerie. Heck, I didn't even know if I had any lingerie in my space. It was definitely not in the top 100 supplies to have on hand list. Mildly freaking out, I began to think about what I needed to do next. I mean, it was not like I could send one of the boys out to go get those types of things. But, it was not like they would disappear quickly off the store shelves either.

Wang Chao gently tilted my head back to be able to look at me. "Don't you worry about that. And I will be more than happy to wear my suits any time you want me to. Now, the men are waiting for us downstairs. Shall we go?"  he asked, giving me a kiss on the forehead.

I hummed in agreement and forced my mind out of the gutter and back into what needed to happen today instead. I had to make sure that this place was safe enough to withstand the coming tide and lingerie was not going to help with that.

----

"Alright," I said as I walked into the lobby area and surveyed the people waiting for me. There was no way that this place could hold almost 300 people comfortably, but the men had packed themselves in without complaint. "This is going to be our home, and that means that we are going to have to get our asses in gear to make sure that this is the most secure place in the entire country.  To do that, I am going to be splitting everyone up into new teams. You have a complaint, take it to them," I said pointing to Wang Chao and Chen Zi Han who were both standing to my right and left sides.