Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



An elderly gentleman (see… I could be nice) stepped out of the doorway, his arm linked to the woman beside him and his other hand was gently tapping hers where it rested on his forearm.  He was dressed to the nines with a navy blue pin-stripe suit with a white dress shirt beneath it and a navy blue tie. His white hair was combed in the typical elderly style and he was sporting a very stylish goatee. The amount of care that he showed the woman beside him was incredibly heartwarming. I wanted that type of look directed at me someday.

How sweet… I have to admit that I was a sucker for age-gap romances and this one looked like at least a 50-year gap or so… and no, I was not one to kink shame. Good for them for finding the love of their lives.  I wished them all the best in the future. Looking at the couple and thinking about how cute they looked together, it took me a few minutes to hear Wang Chao breaking the silence with his bark of laughter.

When everyone's attention turned to him, the Prince of City A simply waved his hand in the air, not at all embarrassed by being caught laughing.  If it was me, I would have wanted the ground to swallow me whole. Freezing with that thought, I closed my eyes, hoping that I didn't get an earth power that I was unaware of.

I had actually seen an earth power user get swallowed by the ground one time when she was embarrassed. That was not the way that I wanted to go. We had seriously tried to dig her out for hours and never found her.

Wang Chao let out another bark of laughter as I could only assume that he saw the images in my mind of a giant hole opening underneath a woman and her dropping into it only to close back up as soon as she disappeared.  When you were a power user, you had to be careful what thoughts were running around in your head.

"Is there something funny Wang Chao?" asked the elderly gentleman, his eyes trained on Wang Chao as if he was offering up the greatest insult possible.  Once again, Wang Chao simply waved his hand in dismissal.

"Nothing that I am sure you would find amusing," he said in answer. "How are you, Master Liu?"

Master Liu? Liu Wei and Liu Yu Zeng's grandfather… huh… I really couldn't see a family resemblance. Well, except for the black hair… but then again, in Country K, black hair was the signature of like 80% of the population, so I really didn't think that would count.

Liu Hao Yu, otherwise known as Liu Wei's grandfather, ignored Wang Chao and instead turned his attention to Liu Wei.  "Finally decided to grace us with your presence?" he snipped.  I could feel my hackles start to rise and Hades was similarly unimpressed with my reaction.

"I hardly think that it was Liu Wei's problem that you decided to leave your house in the middle of the zombie apocalypse," I snapped, more than willing to be done with all this and get back to my ranch.

"And you are?" the Old Master snapped back, turning his head to look at me.  The way I saw him gripping the woman beside him, I think I might have pissed him off.

"Your savior," I returned with a smile, giving him the same answer that I gave Liu Yu Zeng. I paused… if Liu Yu Zeng was going to be with us for a while I would have to find a way to shorten his name… Liu Yu Zeng was a mouthful… or was it a mindful?

Whatever it was… clearly the caffeine was still in high gear. That was my excuse and I was going with it.

"Nonsense!" came the old man's reply as he raised his arm.  The 20 or so men that had filed out of the door after him like ants from an anthill raised their weapons and pointed them at me. "You are being melodramatic. It is a simple power outage; it will be restored in a matter of hours."

I was really not impressed when I saw the guns pointed at my head. In fact, I was getting downright cranky. But then, when I heard the sound of guns raising behind me, I felt a lot more content.  Liu Wei and Wang Chao did not have to move a muscle and their men were still willing to protect me. 

Mind you, I didn't want to be smack dab in the middle of a firefight, but the idea was really sweet.

"Yup," I said and I started nodding like a bobblehead. "And that's why the power has been out for two days now and still no one has come around to fix it."

The woman beside the old man scoffed as she looked down her nose at me. I studied her, my head tilted. Her long black hair hung down her back like a roll of the purest silk. Her makeup was on point, done in pink tones to make herself seem more innocent, with only the slightest bit of black eyeliner and her lashes, she drew attention to her eyes.

She was dressed impeccably, with a pink pencil skirt, white silk blouse, and a pink cardigan over top.  Her white heels looked like they had never seen a speck of dirt in their lives and the diamonds on her wrist, neck, and ears sparkled in the sunlight. It was clearly s subtle attempt to do a couples style with the Old Master. All in all, though, she looked like shark food.

I smirked at her, not worrying about her opinion. If her backing was an old man that might be able to shoot his way out of a wet paper bag but was in no way, shape, or form able to take on a zombie, then she could scoff at me as much as she wanted.

I pulled out another cup of coffee, willing to keep this staring contest between the two of us going for as long as possible.  This time it was Liu Wei that took it from me before I could even get a sip. I snarled at him, breaking contact with the witch to look at the dead man that had taken my coffee from me.

"You've had enough," he said as he took a sip.  Narrowing my eyes on him, I ignored everything to solely focus on the man keeping me from my coffee.  I didn't care about the guns still pointing at me, or the screech coming from the woman in front of me… my undivided attention was in the coffee mug that was being held over Liu Wei's head.  Even if I jumped, I would not be able to reach it.

With a sigh, Chen Zi Han came to my rescue.  Stepping out of line, he grabbed the mug from Liu Wei and handed it to me. He was definitely my new favorite… Liu Wei was slipping.

Once again, Wang Chao laughed out loud as I took a sip of the heavenly nectar. "Leave her alone," Chen Zi Han growled and went back to his place.

Coffee in one hand my other petting Hades on my shoulder, I felt like I was a queen. And as queen… I was not going to put up with any more shit. But then it hit me like a fucking freight train… we got to Liu Wei's family… but what were we going to do with them next?  That was something that I never considered when the boys talked me into the rescue mission. They were damn well not going to step foot on my property. And I was not willing to stay here.

"Liu Wei," I said with as much calm as I could. "What are we going to do with them now that we've found them?"

He turned to look at me and shrugged his shoulders… "Bring them home," he said like it was the most obvious answer in the world.  And it was… but…

"Whose home?" I asked, giving him a side-eye. Saying that we were just going to take them home left a lot of wiggle room. Home could be City H. Home could be Elysian Fields (over my dead body). Home could be any place anywhere in the entire Country K or neighboring countries.  Home, in my opinion, was a really, really broad concept.

Feeling the beginning of a panic attack coming on, I struggled to breathe. Wang Chao came up behind me and started rubbing my back. "Breathe, Little Girl," he said, his voice low, almost a purr. He plucked Hades from my shoulder and passed him to the team leader behind him. Pulling me deeper into his arms, my brain thankfully when blank. "Liu Wei will explain what he means, but let's go inside and figure things out before we start to get upset… ok?" he asked, his voice continuing the gentle purr.

I felt myself relaxing in his embrace.  "Ok," I said. "But the ranch is completely out of the question."

I felt Wang Chao nod. "Agreed."