Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Wei ground his teeth as a tic developed on his right cheek. He knew that his brother was keeping secrets from him, and he didn't like it.

If he was being more precise, it was not that he cared about his brother having secrets, it was that his brother had secrets about their woman and he was keeping him in the dark. If this relationship was to ever work, that shit could not be happening.

The tic became more pronounced the more that he thought about it and Liu Wei took a calming breath, trying to get his temper under control.  He had volunteered to guard the supplies on the off chance that someone would try and take what was not theirs.

Not like it was theirs anymore that it was someone else's, but finders keepers, and all that.

Liu Wei took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose, his headache growing more and more. 'You are lagging behind,' came a growling voice from deep inside of him. Looking into the darkness from where the voice came, Liu Wei could only see two glowing orbs of silver light staring back at him. 'She was always ours, ours first. But you are letting them take her away!'  There was a howl of agony deep inside of him at the idea that Li Dai Lu would belong to someone else, that she would not want him.

'Then what do I need to do?' he asked the voice. The last time the two of them spoke the bastard was cryptic as fuck, hopefully, it wouldn't happen again. There was a pregnant silence and Liu Wei felt like he was being judged by the monster with silver eyes. 'Pin her down and claim her,' came the voice, a note of seduction and temptation echoing in every word that he spoke.

'I refuse,' snapped Liu Wei. As much as he wouldn't mind pining her down and claiming her, he would not do it without her consent. She ruled him, mind, body, and soul and he would rather cut off his own head than force her to do something that she didn't want.

'Pussy,' scoffed the voice in complete disgust. 'And that is why you will lose her to the others. Alone… always alone.' The crushing sadness completely engulfed Liu Wei to the point where he unconsciously grabbed his parka over top of his heart and squeezed.

"Liu Wei, you okay?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he approached his brother with another three boxes of supplies in his arms. A concerned look flashed over his face as he saw the pain and anguish in the other man. Startled, Liu Wei straightened his back and adjusted his glasses. Smoothing out the wrinkles on his parka, he turned to look at his brother.

"Just fine," he said, a layer of ice and cold coming down creating a wall between the two men.

"You don't seem it," replied Liu Yu Zeng eyeing Liu Wei warily. 

"But I am. Now please get back to work. Li Dai Lu will want all the supplies in one area by the time she gets here." Pulling up his sleeve, he checked the time on his watch. Li Dai Lu had a bunch of them stored in her space before the EMP hit, not to mention the personal ones that his men had stored with her. Each team leader had one for the entire team so that they could keep track of the time.

Of course, her men each had one of their own.

Her men… was Liu Wei really one of her men? If he was, why was he lagging behind? He saw her first. He met her first, he knew everything about her… first. Straightening his back, he looked down at his brother and let out a sound so low and ferocious that it didn't seem to be possible to have come out of a human. "I don't know what you and Chen Zi Han are keeping from me, frankly, I want to kill you two for it. But I will find out, make no mistake. She is mine, first and foremost mine. If it wasn't for me, none of you fuckers would even know about her."

Liu Wei was never closer to attacking his brother than he was at that point. He could feel the rage and the darkness start rising inside of him, practically gleeful at the idea of ripping someone, anyone to shreds. His poor brother was just the person he was focused on at that moment. "Do you understand me?"

He felt something trying to stretch out of him, but he fought back the impulse. He would not hurt his brother simply because Li Dai Lu would be upset, and he would do nothing to upset her.  I think you should take a look at

Liu Yu Zeng refused to answer his brother. He was no longer a child, and what happened between him and her in that dream was too precious, too… life-changing. He would not tell his brother because not only did he not want to rub it in that he had a piece of Li Dai Lu inside of himself right now, but the whole experience itself was private. Even he and Chen Zi Han didn't discuss what happened, only that it did.

Laying down the boxes in his arms, he stepped closer to Liu Wei and looked at him. "She might have been yours first, but now she belongs to all of us, don't make her choose, it won't go well for any of us."

Liu Wei reared back at the very idea of making Li Dai Lu choose between them. "Never," he said before spinning around and going into one of the houses that were on his side of the street to clear out. He would find out what was going on before his darker impulses started to take over.

Walking into the house, he nodded at Chung Guang Ting. "What are we going to do?" asked the second man as Liu Wei pushed open the kitchen door.

"About what?" asked Liu Wei confused. He knew that he had other things on his mind, but there was nothing so important happening that it required a question like that.

"The four men in the basement," came the reply. His answer caused Liu Wei's eyebrows to rise in surprise. "You're not here for them? I thought I had asked Feng Dong Yang to talk to you about it." Liu Wei racked his mind, remembering a brief glimpse of Feng Dong Yang standing on the outside of the confrontation between him and his brother before he turned around and stormed off here. Maybe he didn't think that he needed to tell him anymore.

"What is going on with them? Why are they still alive?" asked Liu Wei. The standing order was to kill them all, so why were these men in the basement? "I can only assume that they are tied up?"

Cheung Guang Ting nodded his head. "They are tied up, some of them might even be waking up by now," he assured the other man. "But you will need to go down into the basement to see for yourself why they are still alive," he continued before turning around to start packing up the kitchen. He didn't bother with anything that was electronic, assuming that they would be useless, but there were still pans, woks, and muffin pans that could be used back home.

Liu Wei raised his eyebrow at Cheung Guang Ting's response. It was bordering on being disrespectful, but not close enough to demand instant correction.  "Where is the basement?" he asked, looking at the man who would no longer meet his eyes.  The other man tilted his head to a white door off in a different section of the kitchen. Liu Wei had noticed it simply because of the five locks but had assumed that it might have been a pantry or something.

Slowly and meticulously, Liu Wei took over his parka and laid it down on the chair beside him. Taking off the white snow pants and black winter boots that Li Dai Lu had insisted that they all wear, he adjusted the black vest he had on over top of his white dress shirt and black tie. He put back on the combat winter boots since they were the only shoes that he had on hand and curled up his lip when his dress pants didn't hang correctly over top of them. Combing his hair back with his fingers after the toque messed up his hair, he then adjusted his leather gloves before walking over to the basement door.

With great precision, he unlocked one deadbolt at a time and then turned the final lock right above the handle. He opened the door and immediately noticed the wooden stairs and rickety handrail to the right.  He stared into the darkness for a few minutes, taking mental note of the wearing on the stairs. It was clear that they saw a lot more traffic than any other basement in this multimillionaire gated community.  Not hearing anything, he stepped onto the first step.

There was not a single sound. No creaking because of his weight on the wood, not a single squeak. Hell, even the door didn't squeak open. The only explanation he could think of was that the door and stairs were well-maintained to ensure a lack of noise. But who would care that much about something so… benign?

'Eleven steps down, twelve to the basement floor, and thirteen to the gallows,' thought Liu Wei to himself as he counted each and every step that he took. Seeing a light switch to his left at the bottom of the stairs he turned it on and looked around.

It was a good thing that Li Dai Lu was coming. He would leave this to her discretion.  Turning back off the light, he mounted the stairs and as he walked through the door, he turned around and locked it all over again.