Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

"Pretty much," replied Liu Wei lazily, looking at the schedule on his phone. "And do you know what that means for us?"

"An indestructible army of both zombies and power users. Not many would be able to stand against us," said Wang Chao, not as worried anymore about the possible outcomes.

"As long as we have made sure that deep down in their subconscious, they are completely loyal to us and each other."

Wang Chao hummed in agreement and sat forward to look at his schedule on the computer. "I will get my assistant to move things around so that we can start the process tomorrow. How long did she say it would take?"

"Two to four days, depending if we go under at the same time or one after another," said Liu Wei, already making preparations on who will head the meetings and internal reviews. He was thinking of giving Wang Zi Mo some additional work, but with how Li Dai Lu was reacting to him, he didn't think that that was a good idea.

"Let's plan for a week, make things easy. Just tell everyone that we are going to check out sites in Country S for possible expansion."

"Done. I'll send Lu a message letting her know to expect us tomorrow morning."

Wang Chao grunted in reply. "Just don't get too close to her," he warned.

Liu Wei smirked at that warning. "And if I do?" he asked.

"Don't." replied Wang Chao.

"Why? Are you declaring sovereignty?"

Silence was his only reply.

"If you are, you should be warned. Li Dai Lu is not someone that you can declare sovereignty over. She is the sovereign. If you are not prepared to bow down, make sure you at least bow out. I would hate to see the great Wang Chao; Prince of City A being defeated by a little slip of a girl."

"And would the Prince of the Liu family of City H be willing to bow down?"

The smile on Liu Wei's face was his only answer.

-----

I got Liu Wei's text in the early evening saying that they planned to be at the ranch by 10 am. While I had bitched before about his lack of advance notice, this time he gave me too much.

Yes, I will admit it... I am never happy, no matter how much notice I do or do not get.

Spending the night pacing and stressing did not leave me in a good mood in the morning. Even my morning offering of coffee did not put me in a good enough, or awake enough mood. I waited on the deck after opening the gate for the guys, trying to figure out if I was actually ok with this or not.

If I hadn't had some practice killing zombies in my past life, I didn't think that I would be so calm right now. I wonder what option they chose about the vaccine. Besides when they would arrive, Liu Wei was not forthcoming with the other information.

I had expected a long convoy of SUVs filled to the brim with bodyguards, so when a lone grey Corvette parked in front of my garage, I thought that maybe Liu Wei had arrived first, and we would have to wait on His Royal Highness. Imagine my surprise when Wang Chao opened his own door and stepped out of the passenger side of the car. Liu Wei was not long after him, getting out of the driver's side, the typical smile on his face.

"You look like crap," he said as he approached me on the deck. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

I glared at him in response. Ignoring his sickening cheerfulness this early in the morning, and yes, 10 am was early when you didn't sleep the night before, I turned around and went into the house. I knew they would follow, but I wasn't waiting around for them.

"So, how are we going to do this?" I asked before I held up my hand, stopping Liu Wei from saying whatever it was on his mind. His smirk was enough to let me know that my brain was too much in a fog to put up with whatever came out of his mouth next.

"You know, no matter what I say, it's going to come out wrong," chuckled Liu Wei. Seriously, this man looked like he could take out someone that looked at him side-eyed, but his brain reverted to a 13-year-old boy when in a good mood. Just my luck.

"Not putting up with this. You two decide, send Wang Chao to tell me, I'm going to my room to watch something and hopefully fall asleep," I said, rolling my eyes and leaving the two men to help themselves to my basement.

I had it all set up for them. Two rooms, both with a bolt on the outside of the door so I could control who went in and out, a rec room so that if they decided to go one at a time, the other would have something to do while he waited, and a fully functional mini kitchen. I even stocked it with food.

See, I could be nice.

I hadn't even made it to the stairs when Wang Chao slid in front of me, effectively causing me to crash into him. My head on his chest, I let out a deep sigh and took a step back. Looking up at him, I rubbed my eyebrow and waited for whatever His Royal Highness would say next. At least it would be more to the point than the court jester, Liu Wei.

"We will be going one at a time, and I will go in first," he said, his voice vibrating from his chest. I stared at his chest, trying to see the actual vibrations. I guess it was out of it for too long because I could see the next rumble. "You ok?"

See, straight and to the point. I looked over my shoulder at Liu Wei, who was standing there watching us, the smirk somehow absent from his face. I raised my hand to indicate Wang Chao and said, "See? Right to the point. Small words and short sentences are going to be key to communicating with me today."

The smirk quickly returned to his face. "Small words, short sentences. Got it," he replied. I nodded my head and looked back at Wang Chao.

Now it was Wang Chao's turn to smirk at me. Was I missing something? I shook my head. I was probably missing a lot, but I didn't care. "Do you have the vaccines?" I asked.

Liu Wei held up a small temperature-controlled box that I could only assume held the aforementioned vaccines. I nodded my head and then looked back at Wang Chao. "Do you need me to administer it or can you guys handle that yourselves?"

"Liu Wei can do mine," said Wang Chao, looking down at me. "Is there anything that I can expect?"

"Besides potentially turning into a zombie and me experimenting on you?" I asked. I blamed my tiredness on my brain's inability to control my mouth. Thinking before I spoke would have been beneficial if I could, in fact, think.

Wang Chao just raised an eyebrow, not commenting on my lack of filter.

"Do I even want to know?" asked Liu Wei. I turned around to look at him and let out a very embarrassing squeak when I realized that I hadn't heard him come up behind me.

"I am going to put a fucking bell on you, boyo," I grumbled. Looking back at Wang Chao I realized that I was caught in the middle of the two men. My brain would sort that thought out later.

"What were you saying?" I asked.

"What. Can. I. Expect?" He said slowing, stopping at every word to give me a chance. "And no experimenting," he added.

"Then no turning into a zombie," I snapped back at him. "For the first 48 hours after exposure to the vaccine, you will experience fever, vomiting, and extreme shaking. After the 48 hours are up, you will wake up, hopefully with a power. If not, it would be better for you to die."