Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"What are we going to do with them?" asked Liu Yu Zeng, tilting his head in the direction of the cages with the girls in them.

"Leave them," replied Wang Chao. Something was off about this whole thing, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

"How can you just leave them?" demanded Yu Xue Yang forgetting that he was not in the position to be making demands on anyone. In fact, the only reason why he was even untied from the chair was only because it was a 3 on 1 situation and Wang Chao was not concerned about being on the losing end.

"It's cold outside. They aren't dressed for winter," explained Wang Chao as if that was the reason instead of the fact that he didn't want to bother with them until Li Dai Lu let him know one way or another what she wanted done.

"You could at least let them out of the cages," snapped Yu Xue Yang.

"Why?" asked Liu Yu Zeng, a slight smirk on his face. "Where would they go?"

"They can at least get a shower and a good night's sleep."

"If we let them out of the cages, then the standing order is to kill them. Are you trying to get them killed? Because there are a lot more humane ways of doing it than giving them false hope," the smile on Liu Yu Zeng's never wavered for a second. However, it was his words that stunned Yu Xue Yang. "What do you mean?"

"We are here for supplies, anyone found is to be considered a threat and is to be eliminated as such," answered Chen Zi Han, using his knife to clean dirt out from under his fingernails. He didn't even bother to look up when he spoke.

"And you consider them a threat?" scoffed Yu Xue Yang.

"If not right this moment then potentially in the future," replied Chen Zi Han with a shrug of his shoulders. He was here to support Li Dai Lu, nothing more, nothing less. As far as he was concerned, the fate of everyone in City J was hers to decide.

"You are crazy," exclaimed Yu Xue Yang turning to look at Wang Chao. "You know he is crazy right?!?"

"No, he is just really good at following orders," said Wang Chao, contradicting the other man.

"Whatever," sneered Yu Xue Yang as he tried to brush past Wang Chao and head to the stairs. He would let the Rear Admiral know what was going on and he could bring the General to heel. The sound of a safety unlatching stopped him dead in his tracks, his foot just hovering over the first step.

"There appears to be an empty cage, just for you," smiled Liu Yu Zeng as he pointed his 9mm at Yu Xue Yang. Chen Zi Han walked up to the man that thought he was free to leave and, grabbing his shoulder and his arm, led him to his…room… for the night.

"You are supposed to be better than this," sneered Yu Xue Yang as he was dragged away from the stairs. "You are supposed to be a hero, a legend in both the Navy and the Ground Forces, and yet… here you are... just another piece of scum."

Wang Chao held up his hand and Chen Zi Han stopped. Walking over to the man that was struggling in the grasp of his friend, Wang Chao leaned down until he was face to face with the other man. "Why on Earth would you think that I was the hero of this story?" he asked, using an expression that he had heard many times in Li Dai Lu's head.

The other man stared at him, shocked. "But—but," he started, his mind pulling a complete blank on what to say next.

"I am more than happy to watch the world burn," Wang Chao whispered softly in the ear of Yu Xue Yang. "And if that makes me the villain, then so be it."

----

I felt my world tip and turn, but then I took in a deep breath and smelled him. "Liu Wei," I groaned, not knowing if I was talking out loud on in my head. "Hush, Sweetheart," he murmured in my ear, his chest vibrating against my cheek. "We are just going to move you to a different house and then get you all tucked in for bed. Are you doing alright?"

I thought I might have answered, but my eyelids were too heavy to want to open and the darkness was calling for me to sleep more. "Alright, it is going to be cold for a few minutes, but then you'll be inside and all warmed up again," said Liu Wei as a cold gust of air hitting my face caused me to shiver. All of a sudden, the blowing wind stopped and I was encircled in a gentle breeze of warm air, courtesy of the man holding me.

'Come, there is much to do,' came a third voice inside my head. This one was soft and gentle, like a mother's embrace. Every word she spoke was like a lullaby, dragging me deeper and deeper into sleep.  Completely unable to resist, I relaxed into Liu Wei's arms and just let myself be taken, trusting him to always look after me.

----

"You can't trust them," hissed a voice in my ear causing me to sit up. Looking around, I had no idea where I was.

"Wang Chao! Chen Zi Han! Liu Wei! Liu Yu Zeng!" I yelled, looking around for my men, but they were nowhere to be found. Panicked, I stood up, not taking into account how tired and heavy my body was feeling.

"I told you, you can't trust them. They always leave. They never stay," hissed the voice that I had been hearing the longest. I frantically looked around, trying desperately to find where it was coming from, to find anything even remotely familiar.

Everything was dark with only different shades of black and grey breaking up the landscape. I saw a river of red off in the distance with a small boat of some kind tied up to a dock. But nothing was familiar, and my men weren't here.I think you should take a look at

I gripped my chest, gasping for air.

"Don't listen to her," came the soft, gentle voice.

"Yeah, she is a bitch," added the cold voice, refusing to be left out.

"What do you even want?" I asked, desperate for something, anything.

"I want you to take a deep breath," said the gentle voice. I think I liked her the best. "If you look inside, you can see two of the men."

Completely forgetting about the bond that I shared with Chen Zi Han and Liu Yu Zeng, I plunged into myself, looking for their flames. Seeing them burning just as brightly as before, I managed to calm down. I wasn't alone. They might not be here, but I wasn't alone.

Forcing myself to breathe slowly and steadily, I cracked my neck. Feeling more like myself, I said, "Okay, so what do you want? Why am I here?"

"You are here because this is where you belong," hissed the first voice.

"You are here because you have forgotten," said the second voice, the ice in her tone causing a shiver to go up my spine.

"You are here because the apocalypse is going to come much faster than you think, and you are not prepared," said the third voice.

"I hate to break it to you, but the apocalypse is already here," I snapped, not at all impressed with their answers. I wish for once the voices in my head would just spell out what they wanted and not speak in riddles.

The gentle voice simply laughed like a warm breeze brushing past me. "We all know that what is going on out there, while bad, is nothing like what is to come. It is going to get much worse before it gets better."

"Is it going to get better?" I asked with a sarcastic chuckle. "Because I am pretty sure that it just keeps getting worse and worse."

"That was then," said the cold voice.

"This is now," continued the warm one.

"Awe, does this make me the female main character? I am going to go out and save the world, protect the humans, and sing songs by the campfire?" I asked, my temper starting to rise.

"There's the bitch," hissed the first voice.

"Why would you want to sing songs by the campfire?" asked the second.

"No," said the third. "In no way have you ever been the hero."

"Then what do you want?" I demanded. They kept going around in circles and my temper was getting the better of me.

But I think it was more than that. I think I was crushed knowing that I wasn't even the hero of my own story.

"You will stop the apocalypse, fade off into the background and let the hero and heroine win the day and claim all the credit," said the third voice like it was the most obvious thing to do.

"And who is the hero?" I asked, a smirk on my face. I was standing here, completely alone and talking to voices that only I could hear. I was about to snap and I didn't think that it was going to be pretty.

"That depends," said the third. The first two voices were surprisingly silent.

"On what?"

"On whose story this is."