Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"You fucking bitch! You killed them all!" Li Tai Shun screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled desperately against the metal scraps wrapped around him.

"Not my fault they made the decision for you," I said with a shrug of my shoulders as I crossed one leg over another and rested my forearms on them. Leaning forward I stared down at the man in front of me. "You tried to take what wasn't yours. And as much as I normally wouldn't care about something like that, you tried to take what was mine. That is a punishable offense."

I leaned back into the throne and studied the biker president. "I gave you a chance, I warned you, but you still didn't listen. And now you are blaming me for your choices. I don't see how that is fair," I said as I called my pink flame into my palm. It had been a while since I had used my pink flames and now I realized how much I missed it.

There was something so comforting about it that the other two didn't have. Like a campfire that was there to light your way and keep you warm. Not the hot, violent fire that comes with destruction.

I waved my hand and the pink flame shot to the biker's feet encasing the ground around him in fire. He started screaming as the flames heated up the metal prison. "Can you shut him up with spirit powers?" I asked Wang Chao. I didn't want to put him out of his misery too early. After all, a real brazen bull could last for days before the prisoner was killed.

Hell, most times they were released before they were killed, they were just maimed for the rest of their lives. This guy wasn't going to be that lucky, but I also didn't want to stick around for days until he actually died.

I heard Wang Chao take in a breath before the screams were cut off. "Thank you," I replied with a smile. It was hard to learn the nuances of any power, especially for something like the spirit users since it could control so much.

I increased the strength of the pink flames until the fire was licking at the metal surrounding Li Tai Shun's shoulders. His eyes widened in panic as his mouth continued to silently scream. And I watched every minute of it.

If I wanted to get used to killing people, to deal with the consequences so that I wasn't haunted by what I had done, I would need to get used to sights like this. Especially the bad ones like the makeshift brazen bull. I needed to become more heartless.

My attention span, on the other hand, also needed a lot of work. After 10 minutes I was bored out of my mind and just wanted to go back to bed. With a flick, I brought out the purple flame to help the pink one hurry things up. And hurry things up it did.

Within minutes a mound of cooling metal was fused to the roadway, a forever coffin for the human remains inside it. Standing up from my throne, I walked toward Cerberus. "Next time, kill them first," I suggested letting my jaw crack with my yawn. "By the way, where are we going?" I asked, turning to look at Chen Zi Han.

"Home," he smiled. I hummed in acknowledgment. I didn't know whose home he was talking about because technically there were more than a few places that could qualify, but a home of any kind would be nice right about now.

Climbing into the cab, I yawned again, my ears cracking. "Feeling better?" Cerberus asked as I wiped the tired tears out of my eyes.

"Not really, but I also wasn't feeling bad in the first place," I said with a shrug as I put on my seatbelt, got my pillow and blanket, and curled back up on the seat.

"That's good then. I was worried it might affect you," replied Cerberus. "You were always too compassionate."

I was about to close my eyes when I heard him say that. My eyes flew open and I sat up. "You know what I am?" I asked. So far, it was one of the biggest unanswered questions of this lifetime. Everyone but me seemed to know who or what I was.I think you should take a look at

"You don't?" he asked confused.

"No. I really don't, and no one will tell me."

"I'm sorry. If you don't know that means your journey isn't over yet. Until then I cannot tell you." In his defense, Cerberus really did sound heartbroken that he couldn't answer my question. But if this was part of my journey then I would stop stressing out over the unanswered questions and just go with the flow. I would find out what I was when it was time. Until then, I was still Li Dai Lu and that was enough.

"All right," I said, pretending to grumble. "You keep your secrets. I am going to sleep," I chuckled as I closed my eyes again. "And if there is any more people stirring the pot, make sure the boyos kill them quickly."

"Of course," replied Cerberus his voice a low purr. "You just sleep and everything will be better when you wake up."

Humming in agreement, I fell back asleep, praying that when I woke up, I would be less tired.

----

What I woke up to what the extreme pain from my insides twisting as a butter knife was not so gently inserted into me. Bolting upright, I felt the telltale gush. "Jesus fucking Christ, mother fucking ass…" I grumbled under my breath as the tiredness now made a crap ton of sense. "Cerberus," I groaned, not wanting to move.

"Yes?" came his gentle reply.

"I am going to disappear for a bit. Should reappear in only a few seconds, but I thought you should know just in case."

"Is everything ok?" he asked concerned. As much as I wanted to thank him for his sweetness, I also wanted to stab him numerous times… and he was a fucking truck.

"No, it really isn't," I replied with a sigh. Apparently, this was going to be a murderous time of the month.

Poor boys, I almost felt bad.

Almost.