Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I was back in Chen Zi Han's room, the place that I was now affectionately calling my cave, trying to figure out the numbers of everything that I needed. At the very minimum, I was hoping to gather enough supplies to last us all for a year, but ideally, it should be enough for the next 5 to 10 years. And let's face it, that was a lot of stuff.

But it was not the sheer quantities that was giving me the headache, but the math. For example; ideally, a single person needs six tubes of toothpaste per year and four toothbrushes. That means for the 310 people currently living here, I would need them to gather 1,860 tubes of toothpaste and 1,240 toothbrushes… for a single year. And don't forget, no one would be producing these things either in the future so it's not like we can go out and get more when we run out.

As of right now, there are only two women among the 310 people here, which means that between the two of us, we would use approximately 572 feminine hygiene products in a year. And that was just for the two of us. Each box contained about 36 items so we would need at least 15 boxes. Not to mention I was not expecting the men to remain single for the rest of their lives, which meant that I needed to take into account any spouses or partners that might be coming through my gate.

Like I said, the math was the worst part.

I stretched my neck and closed my eyes as I leaned back into my chair. Taking in a deep breath, I continued to try and work out all the small details. Shampoos (4,015 bottles), conditioners (4,015 bottles), laundry soap (2,790 containers) … the list just kept going on and on the more that I thought about it.

It was so much easier when I just had to think about what to get for myself on the ranch.

Groaning, I took out an entire chocolate cake and put it on the desk beside me. Realizing that it was my last premade chocolate cake, I wanted to cry.

Back to the math... The average person uses 150 pounds of flour in a year… times that by 310 and I need 46,500 pounds of flour for everyone in the compound. Ugh… was it too late to turn tail and go back to the ranch? I mean, I could deal with the crippling fear of driving in the snow if it meant that I didn't need to figure out the amount of sugar a person needs per year.

I really, really hated math!

Banging my forehead on the desk, I didn't hear anyone come in until a hand slipped between my skin and the desk, preventing me from hitting the solid surface.  Sitting up, I looked down at Chen Zi Han from where he was crouched beside my chair.  "Why don't you get Wang Chao to do all the math? From what I heard, he is good at that stuff and is used to trying to figure out the resources needed for the members of his teams."

Wang Chao! Why the hell didn't I think about that before?!?  "Wang Chao!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, my wide, crazy eyes staring at the door like it would make him appear all that much faster. He came running into the room, looking around for the threat. Huh, guess he wasn't reading my mind then.

Getting up from my chair, I pointed to it. "Sit!" I said, not really caring if my manners were not the greatest. I was about to be able to leave the 8th level of hell that was reserved for those that failed math and I didn't care about anything else. When he sat down and stared I me, I realized that I might have become a bit unhinged. Raising his eyebrow, he looked up at me. "A bit?" he questioned before I pointed to all of the papers scattered across the desk. Ignoring his comment I said, "This is your job now, have fun!"  Quickly picking up my chocolate cake, I was about to bolt out of the room.

"Any color preference?" asked the greatest man in the world. A tiny piece of my heart melted that he was willing to go through the hassle of changing the colors depending on the category and numbers. "None," I breathed. "As long as I am not doing it or have to look at it, you don't need to worry about colors. And I am never going to look at that list again." I shuddered when I thought about it.

Don't get me wrong. I love supplies. I need supplies in my life and if I could go out every day to get them, I would be a very happy camper. Supplies were my thing. Numbers were not. "Give the list of what is needed to the person that is going to be in charge of the supplies," I said, not knowing who this fictional person would be. All I knew was that I was not going to be me.

Wang Chao nodded his head. Now that I knew he wasn't going to drag me back to the desk kicking and screaming, I took out a fork and broke off a bite-sized piece of cake. Putting it in my mouth, I moaned at the chocolatey, rich, goodness of it. I walked out of the cave and was about to make my way over to the couch in the family room and turn on the television when movement in the living room took me off guard.

There should only be three of us in here, and I knew I was not the one in the living room. I felt Chen Zi Han behind me and I lifted my head back all the way to look at him. "Guo Bi Ming and Jin Si Cong are here and want to talk to you," he said gently, wiping off a small cake crumb from the corner of my mouth. Sticking his thumb into his mouth, he smiled down at me. "You are right, it is delicious," he purred softly as he started pushing me toward the living room.

----

"We can use the towers that are currently around the city," said Guo Bi Ming from where he sat across from me. He and Jin Si Cong wanted to discuss the situation with the communication towers. "And depending on what working electronics we can get our hands on, there shouldn't be a problem having some of them up and running by the end of the month."

Considering that today should be December 15th, I was very happy with that idea. "What do you need for that to happen?" I asked, not at all familiar with what it took to build what I wanted. All that I knew was that those bases that had the ability to communicate were some of the strongest ones in the country.

"So, besides the tower itself, there are a lot of components that we need to get it up and working like how it was before the EMP went off," started Guo Bi Ming, taking a deep breath. That alone made me realize that this was not going to be a short list. Maybe I should have Wang Chao in here to write everything down.

"I got it, Princess," said Chen Zi Han, pulling out a clipboard, paper, and pen from God knows where.

Looking back and forth between me and Chen Zi Han, Gup Bi Ming got started. "First we are going to need both heating and air conditioning installed so that the components don't freeze in the winter or overheat in the summer. Then we will need the antennas, a source of power, telephone lines, wiring, radio equipment, antenna support, lightning protection, and fire protection in case the whole thing catches fire."

As the man was listing off what he wanted and needed as if he was listing off a grocery list pre-apocalypse, I could only stare at him. When he stopped for a breath, I lifted my hand. "What is the bare minimum that you would need?" I asked. I got almost everything electronic that I could before the end of the world, but even I didn't know if I would have what he needed. I was pretty sure that the computer stores I went shopping in did not sell telephone lines.

"Power source, and radio equipment," he said. "At the bare minimum."

"Ok," I said nodding. "I assume the solar panels and batteries would be okay for the power source?"

Guo Bi Ming nodded his head. "I just don't know about the radio equipment."  With a wave of my hand, I took out all of the stuff that I 'borrowed' from the computer stores around City A. There were piles of boxes upon boxes all over the room to the point that we couldn't even move. Oops.

There was a pregnant pause as Guo Bi Ming and Jin Si Cong looked around the penthouse and then back at me. I grinned shyly. "Would that be enough?" I asked, honestly not sure if I even got them what they would need. When I was 'borrowing' from their warehouses I didn't really bother to open up any of the boxes, thus the countless piles of them.

"Should be," said Guo Bi Ming. "But it will take us more than a few days to go through everything and make sure." I nodded my head in understanding. But better him than me.

"We will also need white, red, and blue working lights for the top of the towers. The ones that are there right now are destroyed."