Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



It happened in less than a minute. Assuming that we were the only ones around, none of us were paying particular attention to our surroundings. Luckily for me, Hades was able to warn me that something coming our way, but it was only a general warning and nothing specific.

As soon as the General passed some type of barrier or monument or even a piece of garbage on the road, he was swarmed on all sides by at least 30 men, all carrying automatic rifles of some kind or other. These were not trained military men by any stretch of the imagination, but I knew that they could be a lot more deadly if necessary.

"Welcome to The New World, there is an official toll to pass this point and continue on your way. If you don't want to pay or can't pay, that is fine. You will just leave your life as forfeit," came the muffled voice of the man that stepped out in front of General Yang Bo Wen, his own gun up and ready to kill.

And that, my friends, is the reason why you always send a guinea pig out ahead of you.

Hanging back even further, I whisked away all of the supplies that the boys and I were carrying.  Not too worried about the soldiers behind us, I knew that they could handle themselves, but the leader would be looking at me and mine as soon as his attention was off of the General.

Seeing people sneak out of the forests on both sides of us, I stretched out my arms to the side to show that we didn't have any weapons on us. Even the men behind us had all of their guns hidden away just in case this happened.

"Hello boys," I said as the one in charge of this group came up to me, his gun raised and aimed at my head. "Awe, do you really consider little old me that much of a threat?" I laughed. I mean, he was well trained to not disregard any type of threat and we all knew that I could be a major one at that.

"You heard what he said," said the second in command as he nodded to where the one in charge was dealing with the General and his men. "You two part of the same group?"

"I really wish I could say no," I admitted, "but I am not that lucky.  He is forcing us to go with him," I continued with a nod of my own to the General.

The man grunted in sympathy but never once lowered his gun.

"Now, you and I are going to have an issue," I said as I stared down at the man in front of me. "There is absolutely no way in Hell am I going to hand over any supplies and you have bitten off much more than you can chew if you think you can kill us before we killed you."  Calling on my blue flame, I allowed it to consume my hands and showed the man in front. "What is your decision?"

The second in command looked around nervously but never dropped his gun.  I could hear the mumbles of the men around me but I didn't bother to look at them. I knew they would not like this situation, but it was going to be a very common sight in the future. Especially for those that traveled by highway.

Let's face it, at the end of the day, people were just trying to do whatever they could to stay alive. However, they would not live long if they were eyeing my supplies or my men.

The second in command made a hand motion and his men that originally had us surrounded faded back into the woods to wait for the next unsuspecting traveler.  Nodding my thanks, I threw him a few pounds of ground beef. "Here, for you and yours," I said, as I allowed the meat to appear on the road between us. Putting aside his gun, he looked at me wide-eyed. "There is always going to be someone more powerful than you. If you are smart, you will be able to keep your head."

With a nod of my head as thanks, the men and I passed the second ambush and approached where the General was arguing with the head of this group.  "You can leave her too," said the leader as he looked me up and down.  With a scoff, I took a good look at the man in front of me.

"Your second in command has more brains than your do. Should I make him the one in command of your group?" I asked, my head tilted to the side. I had not lied when I said that you had to be smart to keep your head, and this man was not being very smart.

However, when he heard what I said, he quickly straightened up and looked around.  Letting out a high-pitched whistle, he called his men to his side. The original group of 30 quickly became a group of 50 as the second group that ambushed us appeared beside their boss.

I rolled my neck a few times before my eyes snapped open. "What is your name?" I asked, looking at the leader of the group in front of me.

"None of your business," he grumbled back.  I could feel Chen Zi Han twitch beside me when the leader spoke to me like that, but I ignored it.

"That's fine. Then I guess there will be nothing to write on your headstone," I said nodding. "Liu Yu Zeng, would you like to do the honors or would you be more comfortable if I was the one to kill him?" I asked.

I could feel Liu Yu Zeng chomping at the bit for some reason or another, and I understood that like me, his power was probably shimmering under his skin, begging to be released. But then again, the man in front of us, still holding a gun to the General, was human and I didn't know if it would upset Liu Yu Zeng to kill a human.

There was always that fine distinction between a human and a zombie that most people ignored, seeing it as okay to kill a zombie, but not a human, and I didn't know where he stood on the whole issue.  When I heard him snort, I had to smile.  "This would not be the first person I killed," he admitted as he took a step up beside me. "Does that bother you?" he asked, a rare serious look on his face.

"Clearly you are not aware of Step One," I chuckled trying to put him at ease. "Kill them all."

The look on his face showed that he was still concerned about my reaction, but I let it go for now. He and I would hash things out later.  "What is your decision?" I asked the leader, "Let us leave or leave your life in forfeit," I continued, paraphrasing his declaration when we first arrived.

"Let them go, Guo Yan," said the second in command as he looked at me and Liu Yu Zeng. "We will not win this."

The leader, Guo Yan, looked at his second in command and put down his gun.

Maybe the man was smarter than I originally gave him credit for.  Thinking along those lines and knowing the reason why men like him were on the highway, I turned to the General.  "One food item per person in your team needs to be donated to Guo Yan. I will make sure it happens," I said earning looks from everyone around me.

As hard as I tried, there was still a part of me that wanted to save everyone that I could, just not at the expense of me or my supplies.  The perfect way to get everything that I wanted was to make the General donate the supplies.

"You bitch," he growled, wanting to lunge at me, but Wang Chao place a hand on his shoulder preventing him from moving.

"Your point?" I asked, already tired of his go-to response every time I made a decision. He needed me and mine around to keep him and his alive.  As far as I was concerned, that made him a parasite as he had nothing to offer this relationship. If he didn't want to donate the supplies, he could stay here with Guo Yan until an agreement between them could be reached. Saying as much to the man, I watched as his face went white… then blue… and finally purple.

"What is your choice? Leave some supplies or have us leave you?" asked Chen Zi Han, knowing that he was one of the few people that could actually put out that question. After all, Wang Chao and Liu Wei felt that they needed some level of civility between them and the General.

The General grumbled when Chen Zi Han stepped forward but quickly started to give the supplies he and his team collected to Guo Yan and his second in command.  After he 'donated' the necessary food, he quickly hightailed it out of there before we could demand anything more from him.

Watching him and his unit leave, I waited until they were completely out of hearing range before I turned to the two men in front of me.  "You will be killed doing this sooner or later," I warned them. "There is always someone stronger than you, and they might not be completely human."

"You mean those zombies I've heard about?" asked Guo Yan as he looked at me. Nodding my head, I gave him the best piece of advice that I could. 

"Go as far into the country as you possibly can with your families and set up a safe haven for yourself. The world has come to an end, it is time to focus on your and yours."

With those parting words, my men and I continued on our journey, letting the General get as far ahead of us as he could. I guess he did have a purpose after all.