Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Wei nodded in understanding as he adjusted his gloves. Then he turned around and punched Chen Zi Han in the face. "Willing to commit myself?" he said softly as he swung another fist at Chen Zi Han's head. This time, the other man blocked it with his forearm. "Willing to commit myself?" snarled Liu Wei as a primal feeling welled up inside of him.

"I was the first one committed. I was the first to see her, the first to kiss her, the first to hold her. I am all her firsts, and you questioned whether I was willing to commit myself to her?" This time, Liu Wei attempted to land a roundhouse to Chen Zi Han's temple, and when Chen Zi Han ducked, narrowly avoiding the kick, Liu Wei followed it up with an uppercut to the jaw.

The second hit landed firmly, causing Chen Zi Han to stumble back a bit and hit the RV behind him. "You know, she can feel us all inside of her, right? She knows when we are hurt." Chen Zi Han smiled as he rubbed his jaw. Using his fingers he counted down. 3… 2… 1…

"Chen Zi Han!" came a yell as Li Dai Lu rushed out of the RV and looked around for the man.

"Right here, Princess," said Chen Zi Han, his gaze never leaving Liu Wei's as he smirked.  "And I am fine. Liu Wei just got in a decent hit."

"Why were you two fighting?" she asked looking between the men. Liu Wei was as composed as ever and without being able to feel the hit, she never would have guessed that Chen Zi Han was hurt.

"Past issues," shrugged Chen Zi Han as he lowered his hand and cracked his neck. "But it's been dealt with now," he reassured her as he drew her into his arms for a hug. "I promise."

Li Dai Lu hummed, still looking between the two men suspiciously before she left Chen Zi Han's arms and went back inside the RV. 'I wasn't born yesterday,' came a voice inside of Liu Wei's and Chen Zi Han's heads. 'No more fighting. You want to beat something? There are zombies coming. Kill them instead.'

Liu Wei and Chen Zi Han looked at each other before the two smirked. "Welcome brother," said Chen Zi Han as he nodded to Liu Wei.

Liu Wei hummed in response and the two of them stayed outside of the RV, waiting for Li Dai Lu to come out and gather the supplies.

-----

I had no idea why Liu Wei and Chen Zi Han were fighting, but at this particular moment, I didn't care. 

The pain was excruciating and it was all I could do to block it from the boys so they couldn't see it or feel it. But it felt like my insides were being shredded by a zombie claw only to be put back together, and then shredded again.

This cycle went on and on until I lay on the floor of the RV, curled up in a ball, tears running down my face. Just when I thought that I couldn't take another moment of it… it stopped.

It stopped so suddenly that I couldn't process anything for a second. Taking in a shallow breath I tensed, waiting for the pain to hit me again. When it didn't, I waited another second before I took a second breath, filling up my lungs a bit more. When the pain didn't come that time either, I rolled over onto my back and stared out of the sunroof above me.

Closing my eyes, I centered myself and looked at my core flame, trying to see the flames of my three men. Except, there weren't three flames dancing around a single blue flame at all. In fact, there weren't any flames at all inside of me. I panicked for a quick second, worried that because I shut out the boys from feeling my pain, I somehow pushed their flames out of me at the same time.

After all, I had no idea how those flames got inside of me in the first place. Even the link was a little fuzzy, although if I concentrated, I could feel my men. There was Chen Zi Han, Liu Yu Zeng, and Wang Chao, but there was also a fourth link… Liu Wei? How did I become connected to Liu Wei?

Just as I was thinking about him. The pain came back, setting my body on fire and burning me down to nothing but ashes. I opened my mouth to scream, to call the boys, but nothing came out. There was nothing but darkness.

----

"You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?" came the hissing voice. I groaned both in pain and denial. I was just here.

"That is the biggest load of bull I have ever heard," I replied as I continued to lay on my back, looking up at the midnight-black sky.

The hissing voice just chuckled. "I am proud of you," it said and from the corner of my eye, I could see the bottom of a red lace skirt. I was too tired and too sore to want to really look at the person standing beside me. Besides, if my guess was right, they would look just like me.

"Thanks?" I said, more of a question than a statement.

"You know that they will still hate you, right?"

"Meh," I said with a slight shrug of my shoulders. "I really don't give a fuck."

"There she is," hissed the voice as it couched down beside me. All I could see was that the red lace over a flesh-coved underlay hugged every curve of the woman beside me. "Keep that fire. Now, go out and burn down the world."  There was a burst of maniacal laughter that floated off into the darkness, and I had to smirk.

"They want and need a villain?" I asked out loud, continuing to stare at the sky. "I can do that."

I forced myself to sit up and catch my breath. Who knew that burning to ashes could be that painful? Now I feel slightly bad for the zombies. Never mind, I really didn't. I closed my eyes, trying to get back to my boys when I felt a tug along our links. Looking inside of myself, I gasped.

Where my blue flame once was, there was now a lavender crystal shining in the darkness. It was shaped like a diamond and it spun slowly in a circle. Inside the crystal were four individual segments, each one with a different color. There was one black, Chen Zi Han. There was one red, Wang Chao. One white, Liu Yu Zeng, and finally, one silver, Liu Wei.

Each of the sections shone brightly, its colors mixing in with the light purple of my own, but protected inside of the crystal, no longer vulnerable to outside forces.

I smiled as I continued to study the crystal. Now, more than ever, the men were buried so far into me that they would never be able to break out of that crystal, and that was more than fine with me.

I looked around at the barren landscape. "Anyone know how to get out of here?" I asked as I tilted my head back to the sky.

----

"We really got to stop meeting like this," I groaned as I brought a hand up to my head and tried to rub the pain away.

"And you have to stop fainting every few minutes," grumbled Liu Wei, readjusting me in his grip as he and I were sitting on the couch. Liu Yu Zeng was beside us while Chen Zi Han and Wang Chao were leaning against the built-in shelves on either side of the tv.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Not enough cake," I smirked, feeling better than I ever had before, even when I started sleeping with all the guys around me.

Liu Yu Zeng rolled his eyes. "Well, we can't offer any cakes, but there are a few chocolate bars in the pile of supplies that the men managed to grab. I think someone even found some flour that was not infested with bugs."

"Even if the flour has been infested with weevils, make sure to take it. It is still usable." The look that the four men gave me made me chuckle. "$20.00 for a piece of moldy bread, remember? The flour is still good and won't make you sick. The weevils are edible, but baking the flour either first or after will kill them in every stage of life."

"You know, every so often I look at the outside world and think that this is as bad as it could be. And then we have discussions about moldy bread and eating bugs in flour and I realize that I am really that ignorant," grumbled Liu Yu Zeng as he rubbed his eyes.

"So now isn't the time to tell you that ants have an incredibly high protein content?"