Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

380  Fuck Me

Have you ever felt like you were swimming to your death? I have. Right now. And I really didn't recommend it. Especially with people you knew were going to actively try and kill you at any point in time.

My instruments, a round gage-y thing, told me that I was approaching 500 feet, which hopefully meant that we were getting close to the bottom and whatever fresh nightmare waited for us there. We swam for a few more minutes when the dark shape came out of nowhere, surprising the crap out of me.

The submarine looked almost black where it rested on the sandy bottom. There were schools of fish swimming around it, and I even think I saw an octopus. They seemed to be extremely surprised to see us and quickly disappeared from our sight.

Want to guess who wasn't surprised to see a submarine at the bottom of the East Sea? The three Sea Dragons, that's who.

They swam to the top of the sub, where a round wheel was sitting on top of a tube. One of the Dragons started to spin the hatch opening with a lot more ease than I thought would be possible, given the pressure of the water and the fact that the wheel should have been practically soldered shut to prevent water from getting in.

But what did I know? I was smart enough not to get in a death tube and then go to the bottom of the ocean. Clearly, not everyone was.

It took all three of them to be able to open the hatch underwater, with me and mine just sitting back, not doing anything. One of them motioned for us to come closer and then pointed inside the chamber just on the other side of the door.

Now, I am not sure how dumb they thought I was, but if they were expecting me to go into that chamber willingly without one of them leading the way, then they had another thing coming.

I slowly shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. Liu Wei gestured for one of them to go in first, and, low and behold, one of them did. Maybe this wasn't a trap. Still, I wasn't willing to take any chances. Well, any more than what I currently was.

There was a bit of a stand-off for a while, but eventually, all seven of us were squeezed into the small tube, and one of the Sea Dragons was closing the hatch on top of us. I watched as the one to screw the hatch shut raised his thumb in a very universal gesture, and a second one pulled a leaver against one of the walls.

Very quickly, the water drained out of the chamber, and we were able to take off our oxygen masks. "What the fuck was that?" asked the dipshit whose name I forgot. Not the one that tried to fight Liu Wei, but the woman that called us all chum.

"What was what?" I asked tiredly. So far, today had been filled with surprises, and not a single one had been pleasant. I was due for a meltdown or a temper tantrum, and neither one would prove to be good for anyone around me, including my own guys.

"What took you so long to get into the chamber?" she demanded. I cocked my head to the side, trying to remember the totally amazing nickname I had for her… Fucktrumpet? Was that it?

"Intelligence," I said with a smile. "Now, how long have you known that the device was in a submarine filled with Navy members and decided not to tell us?"

"What do you mean?" asked the male dipshit.

"You don't know that most people are alive in here?" I replied with a question of my own.

"They should all be dead, according to our intel," said the sweet one.

"Then your intel sucks," muttered Liu Yu Zeng. "But we might as well get this over and done with. Something tells me that it is going to be a race to the top. And if the men here aren't already dead, they will be when you leave the hatch open and drown them all."

The three Sea Dragons exchanged a look before the man in charge opened a hatch at our feet with a ladder down to the next level.

I paused for a second. I was pretty sure that I had made a promise to myself not to ignore my common sense and go into dark tunnels that I didn't know anything about. Yeah, pretty sure that happened.

"Ladies first," said the asshole with a smile.

"I couldn't agree with you more," I answered with a smile of my own before I pushed Fucktrumpet down the hole. A scream and a bang let me know she got down safely. "Now, age before beauty."

Dipshit glared at me and gripped the ladder with both hands before sliding down. I heard some murmurings between him and the other woman, but they were cut off quickly when Chen Zi Han simply jumped down, not bothering with the ladder at all.

Guo De Lun looked at me wide-eyed, and I shrugged my shoulders. "Safe!" came the shout from my man, and I took a page from his own book and simply jumped down. I knew that he would be there to catch me.

I had to laugh at Fucktrumpet from Chen Zi Han's arms. "I am really sorry. I thought when your teammate said, 'Ladies first,' he was talking about you. No one would ever mistake me for a lady," I said with a smile on my face as I patted Chen Zi Han to put me down.

We got out of the way for the last two of my men to have room to drop down. Guo De Lun was the last one to come down, taking the ladder like how his comrade did. "Okay, now what?" I asked as the three Sea Dragons took out their guns and started to unwrap them. Huh, I didn't see that.

"Now we split up and grab the device," said Dipshit as he knelt down at the entrance of the room we were currently in and brought the gun up to his shoulder. I exchanged a look with Liu Wei, not liking what I was seeing at all.

If it were our, sorry, their, men in here, then why would they be so cautious?

Fuck me.