Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Just as Wang Chao promised, we had left Liu Wei's house about an hour after I woke up. I was sure there had been some drama, but I was completely ignorant of it as I chose to stay in the RV until the last possible moment. When I saw the boys and their men leaving the house, I quickly got out and flung the camper back into my space. 

Depending on the condition of the roads, I would probably take out all of the vehicles to make the trip back to my ranch a bit quicker. Maybe pick up some gas if I found any stations along our route.  No point saving it for the next guy, I was the only one left in the world with a working vehicle… probably…. I was pretty sure. Either way, I was not going to care about anyone else.

It took us about an hour just to make our way through the city on foot.

Day three of the apocalypse, and the humans were scrambling around outside creating more chaos than was warranted.  More than a few approached us, asking to be able to follow us, but the men, having learned a lot in two days, simply pushed them aside as we continued on our way.

My spidey senses were tingling as more and more people flooded the streets, completely unaware of what was going on. Many were crying when they saw the devastation, the smart ones were frantically trying to get to the stores to grab supplies before anyone else thought to do so, and the dumb ones were starting fights.

Welcome to Humanity where no monster can hold a candle to the darkness lurking within us.

But I digress. In amongst the chaos that was going on around us, not a single zombie had made an appearance, and that was what was setting me off. In nature, when there was this much bait fish in the water, the predators would be all around, waiting for their moment to strike. I think it was referred to as a feeding frenzy, but I couldn't be sure.

Anyways, the point was, there was a giant bait ball of humans just waiting to be eaten, so where were the predators?

"We need to hurry," I said to Wang Chao who was standing next to me. "This isn't right."

I cracked my neck a few times. I now had over 300 people in my group, and not enough 'safe' vehicles for all of us. It was going to be a life-or-death version of musical chairs if we did not get out of here.

But then we ran into another problem.  The reason why bait balls were balls was because anyone outside of it would be easy pickings for the sharks, dolphins, and whales to eat. So… do we stay with the rest of the people and prayed that we did not get eaten, do we strike out on our own, hoping that the zombies were interested more in the other group of humans or did we shelter in place and wait out the massacre?

Unknowingly, I started to pick up my pace until I was almost at an all-out run, the men following close behind. We would have to pick all three of the previous options if we wanted to survive. Reaching the same clearing where we had come across our first group of zombies, I quickly took out the RVs, placing them in a circle with enough room at one point for us to run in and create our own bait ball.

Although the men did not know what was going on, they quickly and quietly followed my lead and went into the clearing.  Finding another RV to plug up the hole, I took out a quarter of my weapons stockpile and put it into the very center.

"Ok, here is the plan," I said as the men went to the cornucopia of weapons and picked out what they were most comfortable with. "I don't see any zombies around, and with the number of humans that were wandering around downtown, there was no wildlife to warn us if they approached." 

I waved my hand around the clearing and pointed to the RVs. "We have now officially circled the wagons. We will wait here for about an hour and see what is going on. And if we don't hear any screaming, we will assume that it is safe to continue on our way.  If there is screaming, we will wait until it stops and then be on our way. We will not be traveling by foot but by vehicle from here on out. Any questions?"

One of the men that I did not know raised his hand. I raised my eyebrow to him and smirked, "Ah, a newbie.  Welcome… what is your question?" I said sarcastically. At least Liu Wei and Wang Chao's men knew better than to question me. That meant that this man was one of Liu Yu Zeng's men and had yet to experience the pleasure of what was to come.

  "Why are we listening to you?" Came the voice of the man I did not know. "Who are you?"

Before I could say a word, the man was hit by the person standing beside him, "She is the one going to get us out of this mess, so shut the fuck up," he hissed.

Huh, I could work with that.  "Any other questions?"

"What is going on?" Asked Chen ZI Han. Honestly, I couldn't fault him for asking. He had only known me for a matter of hours and only one zombie horde during that time. Plus, I figured he was asking to settle his men that didn't know what they were about to face.

"This is the beginning of the third day of the end of the world and the zombies have all managed to escape their prison and they are hungry. Downtown City B is currently swarmed with humans freaking out and trying to understand what is happening. They are hungry and scared… and fear lends a certain flavor to our meat that is completely irresistible to zombies," I said, trying my best to explain what was going to happen.  But, like everything else, they would have to witness it to truly know what I was talking about.

"For those that liked to watch nature documentaries, that is a feeding event where the bait fish are out in full force and the predators are outside where they can't be seen. I don't want to run that chance with us. It makes us too vulnerable. This should help protect us from all sides if we are attacked."

"But you said that guns are useless when it comes to zombies," said one of Liu Wei's captains that I recognized as Hua Le Yang.

"And for the most part, they are.  What I am hoping for is that we can cause them enough damage with the guns and grenades that I have a chance at burning them to ash before they can regenerate," I said. "We don't know how many might come and there could be too many of them to simply cut off their heads before burning them."

He nodded and went back to his team. "I am also hoping that once a few of them are taken out, they might decide that the humans in the city are an easier target and go there," I continued.  I know it wasn't the nicest way to go, throwing other humans under the bus like that, but I knew they wouldn't hesitate to do that to us either.

I took out my advance warning system (Hades) and put him on my shoulder.  When he refused to lay down in his regular spot, I lit a bunch of blue fireballs and had them float overhead, waiting to burn whatever they needed to.

"Get ready," said Liu Wei since he was the only person here that everyone had to listen to, whether they were Wang Chao's men or from the Red Dragon Syndicate. "And whatever you do, don't let them multiply."

The men quickly divided into three groups and rushed to the outer edge of the circle, using the RVs as cover. The first group took the middle ground as they held their guns in between the RVs and through the smallest holes that they could find. The second group laid down on their stomachs and rested their guns on the ground underneath the RVs and used that as their line of fire to the zombies.  The third group, much smaller in numbers, ran into each one of the RVs and poked their heads out through the roof vents and sky windows.

There was also about half of the men still in the middle of the circle.

Chen Zi Han had told me it was to prevent burnout. This way we would always have rested me in case things went on for a while. I have to admit, I was impressed. But then again, they probably got into a lot more 'wars' than I did before the apocalypse and would have a better handle on how to be successful at it.

I heard a low hiss in my ear as Hades let out a very cute growl to the east of us where we had originally come into the clearing.

Apparently, the zombies had arrived… now let's see if we could make it out alive.