Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I woke up from a fantastic sleep, only to find myself alone in the bed.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate waking up alone now? I mean, I really, really hate it. In fact, the last time it happened, I shot the cause in the head. Yeah. Not impressed.

I rolled out of bed (because how else are you supposed to get to the edge of a bed this big without rolling?) and threw on new clothes. My face, hair, and teeth would have to wait until I hunted down one of my men and found out who I had to kill.

And before there are any sarcastic comments from the voices in my head. Yes, I woke up and chose violence. Whether it would be outright murder or just a few stab wounds depended entirely on the men's reasons.

And Liu Yu Zeng had a free pass, seeing as he was on the last watch and therefore had a justifiable reason for being out of bed. The other three? Nope.

I walked down the two steps of the cabana and curled my toes into the sand. Apparently, I forgot to put on my shoes too. Fucking great.

I looked to my left. No one was there.

I turned my head to the right, and it was a fucking party. Yee-fricking-haw.

I started to walk toward where my four men were accompanied by Commander Huang Nian Zu and the remaining nine members of his team. Funny. I didn't see any civilians around them. I wonder what happened.

"Looks like someone is finally up," said a female voice from within the crowd of the commander's man. She did that bitchy mood where she 'pretended' to say it under her breath, only to realize that she said it out loud. "Oops, did I say that?" she smirked at me.

I cocked my head to the side and looked at her. Her military rifle was slung across her chest, the muzzle pointed down, and her right arm rested on the butt. I walked slowly towards her, my eyes never leaving her face.

I think I saw Wang Chao start to come towards me. Whether it was to stop me from what I was going to do next or to simply say 'good morning,' I didn't know, but Chen Zi Han stopped him. Smart man.

I glided right up to her. Of course, the bitch has to be taller than me, but given how pissed I was, it really didn't give her an advantage.

"Were you always this stupid, or is it a new thing?" I asked as I stared at her.

She looked around at her companions nervously before calming down and looking at me. "Excuse me?" she demanded, like that sentence was enough to have me scurrying off in fear.

I snorted with laughter. "Dropped on your head as a baby? I understand now. Maybe keeping your mouth shut will have you living longer. I mean, you could only hope, right?"

"Excuse me?" she screeched in outrage. I only bared my teeth in an answering grin. "You said that already. Try something new."

"You were the one the decided that sleeping was more important than getting on with the mission, and the guys won't move until you woke up," she said, her chin up in the air. Looking up at it, I wondered what it would look like slit.

Apparently, I was a bit murderous before coffee. One of the guys should make a note of it. "Done!" shouted Wang Chao from where he was standing. I smiled an actual smile at that answer.

"Did you ever wonder why my men chose to let me sleep until I am good and ready to wake up?" I asked, my eyebrow raised in question.

"Because you are a bitch?" she sneered.

"That is exactly why," I said with a smile. She was not the first person to call me a bitch and she wouldn't be the last one either. Maybe I should start killing them, might make people learn faster. "In fact, the last person who made my men leave me alone in bed is currently in a shallow grave with a bullet to his brain. I really don't appreciate that. They know not to do it, so it must have been one of you to make them."

"You go too far," growled the commander as he stormed over to the woman and gently shouldered her out of the way so he could protect her behind him.

"Awe, look at the chivalrous knight. What? You need to protect her because you know she can't protect herself?" I asked as I looked at the man in front of me. Every aspect of him was making me want to throw him into the water and watch my zombies feast on his flesh. "I mean, you didn't see my men running over, now did you?"

He scoffed at that statement and I watched as the woman behind him stiffened at my insult. The one thing that a woman in a man's field couldn't stand was someone implying that they couldn't keep up with the big boys. Now, in most cases, they completely kicked the men's asses, but the last thing they wanted or needed was anyone that played into the stereotype that they couldn't.

"They are coming over here now," he said, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

"Just to make sure that she doesn't kill you too early," assured Wang Chao. "This is more for your protection than hers."

"Excuse me?" the command growled.

"Apparently, they have all been dropped on their heads as babies," I explained to Wang Chao seriously.

"That explains a lot," he replied with a smile before he laid his hand on the small of my back and leaned in to give me a kiss on the temple. "Sorry, we weren't there when you woke up. They were being unreasonably loud trying to get our attention."

"You do realize that your apology won't change the course of anything, right?"

"Nor is it meant to," he assured me with a smile as Chen Zi Han came up on the other side of me and gave me my morning kiss.