Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I stared at the button, debating to press it and see if it was the one that would cause a nuclear strike or tell me that that was easy. After a long internal debate, longer than it should have been, honestly, I decided not to take the chance and put it in its own jar and put it up on the top of my kitchen cupboards to make friends with the dust bunnies.

Hopefully, one of those bunnies wouldn't be pressing any buttons either. Then again, they were a bunch of assholes, so you could never be sure.

Feeling better about the devices, I flashed back into the real world and started down the long path back to the parking lot and Cerberus.

'You guys still doing okay?' I asked, following the link between me and my four men.

'Right as rain, Princess," said Chen Zi Han, and I could feel just how happy he was along our connection.

'Some of us are better than others,' chirped in Liu Yu Zeng, and I could practically see him smirking through our link.

'One of you isn't doing well? Which one? Do you want me to freeze more zombies? I thought you were doing okay?!" I asked frantically, not giving them a chance to answer my first question before following up with a hundred others. I picked up my pace, almost running down the uneven boardwalk.

'We are all fine,' said Wang Chao, his deep baritone voice causing my panic to recede. It was amazing what that man's voice could do to me. 'Bin An Sha is just experiencing some… growing pains,' he continued, and I could feel the laughter from the other men down our link.

'Don't scare me like that!' I breathed out, slowing down my pace. I was klutzy enough to trip over a branch and break my leg or something.

'Sorry,' answered Liu Wei. 'Do you want us to go save him?'

'Why would I care?' I asked, not sure why everyone was bringing him up all of a sudden. Even Violence was running hot and cold on the issue of Bin An Sha. 'Wang Chao was the one to bring him into our group. He is still firmly on the fence as far as I am concerned. He is trying to take away my coffee and sweets. He is lucky I haven't killed him yet for that offense.'

I could feel Chen Zi Han wanting to say something before thinking better about it. "You take care of me better than anyone has in my life. I don't need to live forever; I just need to live with you guys,' I told him with a smile on my face. And it was true. A life without sweets was not a life worth living as far as I was concerned.

'Understood. Was there anything you wanted for dinner tonight? We were thinking about steak with a potato salad, maybe a vegetable on the side or something,' said Chen Zi Han, changing the subject away from Bin An Sha.

That was one of those things I was going to have to sit down and think about. Part of me called to him like it did with the rest of the guys, but another part wanted nothing to do with him at all. I just wasn't sure which side would win.

'Steak and potatoes sound fantastic,' I said with a smile as I spotted Cerberus at the bottom of the trail.

What I was not as impressed with was the motorcycles that were surrounding them. And not a single one belonged to my men. 'Apparently, I have something to take care of here. 1,500 of the zombies are frozen; they won't give you any issues. If you need to practice more, just let me know.'

I thought about things for a second before I walked through the trees, allowing the 20 or so bikers to spot me. 'Liu Yu Zeng, is there anyone in this city that you want to keep alive?' I asked, not sure if these people were Liu Yu Zeng's or nothing more than cannon fodder.

'There is,' he assured me. 'You.'

'Understood. Be safe; come home,' I said before cutting off the connection between the five of us. It always seemed like no matter what I did, there were always stupid people getting in my way.

'Love you,' came Wang Chao's voice inside my head, letting me know that he was still within the recesses of my mind.

'I am starting to love you too,' I replied with a big smirk on my face. 'Have fun, but make sure that nothing happens to any of you.'

'Including Bin An Sha?' asked Wang Chao, clearly testing the waters.

'If he lives or dies depends on his own fate. But it would make my life a lot easier if I didn't have to decide the answer to that question.'

'Understood,' said Wang Chao.  Well, I was glad one of us did.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," I said as I came into speaking distance. "You seem to be lost."

------

Wang Chao looked at the zombies in front of him and the disheveled Bin An Sha, trying to decide the next step.

"Are you done?" he asked.

"Hardly," snorted Bin An Sha, wiping the blood from his split lip. "Just getting started," he continued, looking at the ten zombies he had managed to create himself. Internally, he was panicking more than a little, but he refused to show it to the other men.

"Fine. I'll let you play. Liu Yu Zeng, Chen Zi Han, do you two still want to practice?" Wang Chao continued, looking at the two men who called City H their home.

"Not if Sweetness needs us," said Liu Yu Zeng, quickly understanding what Wang Chao was planning. "We will head up to the hiking trails and hopefully find her quickly," he continued as Lin and Kronos appeared behind the guys.

"You might want to go fast," said Wang Chao, looking up at the cliffs he knew Li Dai Lu was watching them from. "Honestly, I don't know who I am more worried about, what she is going to do to them or what they might try to do to her."