Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Was I always into world domination?" I asked slyly, trying to see if he would let something slip.

"No, the exact opposite actually," admitted Cerberus. "And don't think that I don't know exactly what you are up to."

"Me? Up to something? Never," I gasped in mock outrage. "But seriously, could you tell me?"

"You always felt that trying to control the world was nothing but a headache waiting to happen. However, at the same time, you also felt that people needed justice."

"So, you are saying that I controlled my own world?" I asked, even more in the dark than ever as to what or who I could be. 

"I am saying that you aren't going to get any further information from me, so stop trying," chucked Cerberus as we continued down the highway. It must have been close to noon now, but no one seemed to be stopping for lunch. I wonder how they were doing when it came to their supplies.

"Everything good with the guys?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee. Even if they didn't stop for lunch, there was no reason for me not to enjoy mine.  I took out a peanut butter and banana sandwich with bacon and started to dig in. Elvis would have been so proud of me. 

"They are fine," said Cerberus reassuring me. "Just giving Wang Chao a hard time about agreeing to help without fully knowing what was going on."

"Well, not much we can do now, especially after we made a promise. Besides, everyone should have seen this coming since it involved the military." Cerberus only hummed in agreement, but the way that he did it made him seem that he knew something that none of us did.

"You know, keeping secrets could shorten your life span exponentially," I said with a smile as I bit into my sandwich. 

"Why do you say that?" asked Cerberus with a chuckle. 

"Because I have no problems killing people to get their secrets," I explained after a moment.

"Yes, well, you like me too much," replied Cerberus and I couldn't help but grumble under my breath. The frigger was right, I did like him too much. Fine, let him keep his secrets.

Concentrating more on my sandwich than the outside world, I smeared peanut butter all over my face when Cerberus slammed on his brakes.

"We really have to stop doing that," I grumbled, taking out a wet wipe and wiping my hands and face. 

"Sorry about that," said Cerberus apologetically. 

"Hardly your fault," I replied with a shrug before getting out of the truck and going to see what was going on out front.

As I approached, I could hear an argument between Commander Huang Nian Zu and Wang Chao.

"You are not taking them with us," said Wang Chao with a growl. "Weren't you the one that said we were on an important mission? They will only slow us down."

"What is going on?" I asked as I approached the two men. On the other side of them, I saw a group of about 30 people standing in the middle of the road. They definitely looked the worst for wear but seeing as the world had ended over six months ago, that wasn't a surprise. 

"They are asking for help and Huang Nian Zu has decided to take them with us to City N," said Wang Chao as he turned to look at me.

"Oh? Is it annoying when people offer their services to help others?" I asked, tilting my head. I smiled to let him know that I wasn't mad, but it was definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black. 

"Point taken," sighed Wang Chao.

"Good, they can follow between our two groups," nodded the commander. I didn't know if it was a lack of sleep or a lack of food that was screwing with his head, but he would have to fix that soon.

"They won't be following us anywhere," I said with a shrug before skirting around the commander and up to the group. I didn't know if they were Asymptomatic or not, but they were not following us anywhere.

Unless of course, I wanted to use them to piss off the Commander and teach him a lesson about being too kind for his own good. However, on the downside, since we were traveling together, it would literally be cutting off my nose to spite my face. And I wasn't into self-masochism. 

"Who is your leader?" I asked, sounding more like a sci-fi character than I wanted to.

"I am," said a woman pushing her way through the crowd. "What do you want?"

I could only smile at her response. I didn't want anything but peace and quiet, and seeing as I wasn't getting that, she could deal with me pissed off and cranky.

"I only want to inform you that you will not be traveling with us," I answered with a shrug of my shoulders like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"That's too bad, the military commander already gave us his blessing," she smiled in return.

"Why doesn't a man lead your group?" I asked, throwing her off balance.

"Because I do," she threw back.

"And if one of the men in your group made a decision that you did not agree with, would you sit back and just allow it to happen?" I continued, cocking my head at her with a smile. She was a bit taller than me at 5'8" I was guessing, but I refused to tilt my head back to look up at her. Instead, I only moved my eyes.

One thing that I had learned through dealing with zombies was how your head went unconsciously decided whether or not you were submitting to another. If I tilted my head back (my chin up) to look at her, I was exposing my throat. A sign of submission. And there was no way that I was willing to submit to her.

"Of course not," scoffed the woman in front of me. Her jeans were ripped in several places, and I couldn't tell if they were designed that way, or if it was something done through natural wear and tear. She wore a form-fitting pink turtleneck and her hair was up in a messy bun. All in all, she could have passed for a supermodel back in my first life.

I wondered which head the commander was thinking with when he allowed her to join our little band of merry men.