Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"You bitch!" yelled He Hai Tao after taking a second to process what I had done. Unfortunately for him, it was a second too long. A bullet hole bloomed in the center of his forehead, the exit wound obscuring the murderous rage in his eyes.

"Now that we are done with that," said Chen Zi Han as he put his gun away in the holster attached to his belt behind his back. "What is the plan for the rest of them?"

"General! You can't let her get away with this! She is evil! How could she just kill someone locked in a cage like that?" screamed Yu Xue Yang as he rattled the bars on his cage. When my men just stared at him, he sat back and scoffed. "Some hero."

I walked up to him, the 9mm still in my hand, crouching down, I looked at him. "Do you think he is a hero?" I asked, apparently having issues with the word 'hero' right now. Just add that after 'problem' I guess. Yu Xue Yang scoffed again at my statement. "How could anyone standing next to you be a hero? He is a disgrace."

*Bang* Standing up, I looked at the military hero that had once looked up to Wang Chao only to be disparaging him now. Feeling a wet, chunky something sliding down my cheek, I brushed it away without a second thought. Not caring that my fingers turned bloody.

Moving to the next cage, I looked down at the girl in front of me. She was sitting down in the corner of her cage, right beside the bucket that could only be used for waste. Her knees were curled up to her chest and her dirty hair was acting like a curtain between her and the outside world.

There was no way that she was going to last out in the real world. The only mercy that I could show her was to put a bullet in her brain. I tilted my head to the side. Should she live, or die?

Did it really matter?

"I will give you a choice," I found myself saying. My spine straight, shoulders back, and my chin high, I addressed the girls in the room. "The world has changed and now humans are the prey," I started, looking between the cages and the eyes that were focused on me. "Your first option is that I unlock these cages and you go free. Free to do whatever it is that your little heart desires. But I will not be taking care of you, so don't even think about it. Your second option is death, here and now. It is survival of the fittest out there, so what are you going to choose?"

I turned around and walked back to the only chair without a dead body slumped over it. Seeing my intent, Chen Zi Han ran ahead of me and pick up the chair. Bring it over in front of the cages, he set it down and wiped off the seat.

Nodding to him, I sat down and crossed my legs, letting my arms drape over them. I still had the gun in my right hand, but I was not going to be losing that any time soon.

"Death," said one girl that I never noticed before. She was lying on the old mattress, so dirty that she practically blended in with the brown and yellow stains. She didn't move, didn't even look at me. She had clearly been here for longer than the few months since the EMP. They must have been doing this operation for a long time if that was the case.

"Final choice?" I asked, not changing my position.

"Yes," she hissed, moving her head just enough that she was looking into my eyes when she gave me her answer. I could see the scars littering her face and knew that those were probably the least of them. Raising my gun, I aimed carefully, wanting a clean kill. "Then go in peace," I said to her and I caught the smallest glimpse of a smile on her lips right before I pulled the trigger. "May your next life bring you the happiness you deserve."

*Bang* The other girls jumped when they heard the explosion coming out of the gun, the echoes of the last bullet still ringing around the room.

"Next?"

"Freedom," came a voice from the other side of the room, almost right beside where Han Li Mei was bleeding out.

I looked over to Wang Chao and with a flick of his wrist, he unlocked her cage. She crawled out of her cage and stood up on shaky legs. "Thank you," she said to me, but I just brushed aside her words.

"Don't thank me," I said shaking my head. "Whether you live or die will depend only on your own strength. Don't be too trusting," I continued, giving her the best advice that I could. She stared at me and nodded her head. "Still, thank you." Turning away from the cages, she ran upstairs.

"Let her go," yelled Liu Yu Zeng to anyone at the top of the stairs. There was a brief pause of silence and when there were no shots, I turned my gaze from the stairs and back to the cages.

"Next?"I think you should take a look at

"Death," said the next girl. Like the first one to request it, she could hardly move, her ankles broken and healed at odd angles preventing her from ever being able to walk again. Even before the end of the world will all of its medical advancement, she would still live a hard life full of pain.

"Go in peace," I said as she stared at me her eyes tracking my gun. A look of hope flashed through her eyes that this would be the end. "May your next life bring you the happiness you deserve."

*Bang*

----

It took me hours to go through each and every woman down in the basement of the serial killer's house, but I needed to do it.  My men stood by my side as the girls chose death or freedom, never wavering. I wanted to ask them if they were okay with what I was doing; if they would still look at me the same way, but each time, I held my tongue.

This was not the time or the place to worry about it. I had chosen this path and I would see it through to the end.

There was only one last girl left in the cages. She had been kneeling the whole time, never once taking her eyes off of me.

"Your decision?" I asked as I raised my eyebrow in her direction.

"You," she answered and it was so unexpected that it took my brain to process it. I chuckled low. "And why do you choose me?" I asked. I mean, it was a really interesting answer. Not a single girl other than her picked something other than death or freedom.

"Because you will need me," she replied, her straight back never wavering. She intrigued me, there was something about her that… didn't hate her. I could say that she called to me, that there was something about her that I didn't want to hurt, but that didn't seem right either.

"And why will I need you?" I asked, pretending like she did not set my world on an axis.

"I am a good fighter, have a degree in office management and I am the only daughter of the Violet Serpent Syndicate," she said, her face completely blank. I have to admit, I was fine up until she mentioned that she was the daughter of another syndicate leader. The last time I ran into one of those she tried to take Liu Wei from me.

An icy blanket began to cover me as I thought about the consequences of having her around my guys. Could she be another female lead? Which one would she try to take?

"And I am attracted to women," she said looking at me with a faint smile on her face like she knew where my thoughts were going. "Your men are completely safe when it comes to me."  I chuckled and looked at Wang Chao. After her cage was opened, she gracefully got out and stood in front of me. "Is that going to be a problem?" she asked, somewhat hesitant. I raised an eyebrow. Where did the confident woman go?

"Is it a problem that you like women or is it a problem that you aren't interested in my men? Because either way, I'm good." I always found it weird that when a man was completely possessive of his wife or girlfriend it was the best, most romantic thing possible. But when a woman was just as possessive, she was a horrible person.

Do the guys want me to be best friends with a bunch of other guys? Probably not. Do I want them to be friends with a bunch of other girls? Definitely not.

So having a girl around that was not interested in my guys was simply perfection. The fact that she could deal with all the logistics and numbers for running a base? Well, I'd marry her if I swung that way.

"Welcome to Elysian Fields, we are going to be throwing you into the deep end so I hope you can swim," I said as I turned around to walk up the stairs. I froze for a second before I turned around and looked at the girl following behind.

"What is your name?" I asked, realizing that I was going to be putting her in charge of my supplies without knowing who she was.

"Ruan Ruoxi," she said with a smile.