Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I was struggling to maintain my wall of fire, the one thing that was keeping the zombies away from me and mine. Every hit they made; every scratch, weakened me that much more. They did not care about the flames that burnt them, they simply continued their assault as their flesh regenerated as fast as my fire could burn it away.

I could feel the sweat dripping down my back, and my arms shook from the effort to keep them up, but still, I persisted.

I needed to make sure that everyone had made it to a safe spot, and given the extra 200 some-odd men from Liu Yu Zeng's side, that meant that I had to buy a lot more time. 

All of a sudden I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt collar and I flinched, worried that a zombie might have found the exit that I had left for the men.  "Shhh, little girl," came the harsh voice beside my ear as Wang Chao wrapped his other arm around my waist. "It's just me," he continued as he slowly started to guide me back, one step at a time.

But as I retreated, so too did my flames, unable to keep up the energy they needed if they were too far from my body.  And as my flames retreated, the zombies advanced, pushing their advantage one step at a time.

Wang Chao guided my body to where it needed to go, not allowing me to trip or stumble. Trusting him completely at this moment, I concentrated on pushing the flames out… but still holding back a bit, just in case the safe house was further away.

"It's not," he whispered into my ear. I could feel us taking a step up, knowing that it had to be the curb of the sidewalk. "Just a few more steps," he said in encouragement as the zombies, seemingly knowing that we were going to get away, increased their attacks on the wall.

My vision was nothing but a blue wall of flames, I couldn't even see whatever zombies were in front of me or even if there were any on my sides, I just continued to step back until there was no place left to go.

"We are here, little girl. Push them back if you can to give us a chance to close the gates and make it inside."

I did as he suggested, pulling up every last bit of strength and energy inside of me and letting it go out, picturing it encasing the zombies and burning them to ashes. 

Hey, if you are going to visualize success, you might as well go all out.

I heard the banging of steel gates before everything turned black and I collapsed, not caring about what came next.

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Liu Wei watched as Wang Chao swept Li Dai Lu into his arms and brought her into the house.  "Is she ok?" He asked, concern apparent on his face.

"Burnt out," Wang Chao replied as he put her on the couch. Grabbing a blanket and tucking her in, he looked around at the men.  "Any casualties?" He asked.

"No," replied Liu Wei adjusting his glasses. "A lot more injuries than yesterday, but no casualties. You, Yu Zeng?"  The man looked over his shoulder at his second-in-command behind him.  Raising his eyebrows in question, he waited for the man to give him a report.

"Two dead, several wounded," came the gruff reply from Chen Zi Han, Liu Yu Zeng's second in command and enforcer for the Red Dragon Syndicate. Liu Yu Zeng nodded his head in understanding and turned to look at his older brother.

"You going to explain who that is now?" He asked, pointing to the unconscious girl laying on the couch.

"Your savior," came Liu Wei's sarcastic response.

Liu Yu Zeng rolled his eyes. "Wu Bai Hee won't be happy," he said, a small smirk on his face.

"And I care?" Replied Liu Wei as he went to the front window of the mansion that they had commandeered. He could not see anything, but that didn't mean a thing. Like Li Dai Lu pointed out, the zombies were predators, they would not give away their location until they were sure of a successful hunt. Looking up, he could not see any birds or animals, so he could only assume that they were still out there. "What were you doing out there?"

"Grandfather told me to go out and see what was going on," replied Lu Yu Zeng as he moved to sit in one of the chairs in the living room.  Since there was a woman taking up the couch, the seating options were limited.

Liu Wei raised his eyebrow and turned to look at his younger brother. "And me telling you to keep your asses at home until after November 1st?"

Liu Yu Zeng shrugged his shoulders. "Grandfather said differently."

And that was the catch. As much as Liu Wei was the head in name… he was not in City H full-time, so everyone still listened to their grandfather's orders.  "And how did that go?"

Liu Yu Zeng scoffed. "Peachy… until we lost power and the Princess went into a panic about not being able to dry her hair or take a hot shower. You know, if you knew this was coming, a bit of a heads-up would have been nice."

Liu Wei pursed his lips and nodded his head. "You are right… I should have come out and said, 'On November 1st the entire world is going to pot and a zombie apocalypse is going to come.' You would have believed me… right?" He asked, maintaining eye contact with Liu Yu Zeng.

Liu Yu Zeng never broke his gaze but chose to remain silent. If Liu Wei had told him that, he would have assumed that he had gone crazy. No one could have seen this coming.  "So, how did you know it was going to happen?" He asked the question that had been burning inside him ever since the power went out.

Liu Wei cocked his head, indicating the woman on the couch.  Wang Chao had made his way over to her side and had her head on his lap.

"Wang Chao's girlfriend?" Asked Liu Yu Zeng somewhat surprised. He didn't realize that Wang Chao was interested in the opposite sex, let alone had a girlfriend.

"No," snarled Liu Wei as he made his way over to the couch and picked up Li Dai Lu's feet and put them on his lap, making sure that the blanket still covered her.

Wang Chao smirked at Liu Wei, "Not yet," was his only reply.

Liu Wei simply rolled his eyes and refused to continue on with the conversation. "She told us." He said, trying to bring the conversation back to the topic at hand. "She was preparing for it and bought one of our properties."

"And you just believed her?" Asked Liu Yu Zeng, his surprise apparent in his voice.  Even Chen Zi Han was stunned. Never in a million years did he think that Liu Wei would believe that the world was coming to an end.

"Not at first, but she is very convincing," admitted Liu Wei, looking down at Li Dai Lu. He slowly started rubbing her feet in an unconscious manner.  "Anyways. How many men are here and what are your plans?"

"I left about 50 men with Grandfather and Wu Bai Hee has another 25 from her father. They should be safe enough. Neither one was too interested in leaving the house until someone came to rescue them."

"Good luck with that," scoffed Wang Chao, his fingers running through Li Dai Lu's black locks. "No one is coming to save anyone."

He didn't realize until just that moment what Li Dai Lu was saying. People would spend the first few days waiting for someone to come and save them, only leaving their house once the food ran out.

Liu Yu Zeng frowned, the look on his face would be intimidating to any normal person… too bad those in this room were not normal.  "What about the government?"

"There is none. Chances are, the bases where the military was would be the safest place for people, but the higher-ups would not risk their soldiers, now their own personal army, to go out and protect the citizens.  Li Dai Lu said that there would be a mass scramble to establish safe zones, but it was not like anyone was bothering to enforce the laws outside of them."

Liu Yu Zeng leaned back in his chair, folded his hands in his lap, and went silent.  Chen Zi Han, who was just standing behind and off to the right of Liu Yu Zeng was in a comfortable stance, his legs shoulder width apart, his hands behind his back.

"What is our next step?" Asked Liu Yu Zeng.

"We wait for her to wake up and tell us," smiled Liu Wei and he looked down at the woman that was becoming more and more important to him every day.

"Then I guess we wait," said Liu Yu Zeng as he too looked at the girl laying on the couch, apparently in deep sleep.