Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

A knock sounded on the penthouse door.

The boys and I were discussing what needed to be done that day because according to what I could remember, the zombie tide would be hitting us in a little over one week.

"Enter," called out Wang Chao when I didn't bother to open my mouth. Chen Zi Han and Liu Wei went to their normal spots behind my chair since there would be an outsider in our house.

The door opened and in walked Ren Rou Xuan with a stranger behind him. Seeing the unidentified man, I could feel the tension in my men rise. "This is 2nd Lieutenant Xun Qian Guo from the City Y Sanctuary Base," said Ren Rou Xuan making the introduction.

With a wave of his hand, Wang Chao dismissed Ren Rou Xuan leaving only the newcomer at the door.

"General," he said, coming to attention and saluting. The rest of us turned out attention to Wang Chao and smirked. With how we were sitting, you would not think that this 2nd Lieutenant would pay more attention to the man seated to the right than the person in the head seat. But what did I know?

"Is there anyone in this province that doesn't know you?" I asked, both incredulously and with some curiosity.

"You know, if we were in City H it would be the same for us," said Liu Yu Zeng pointing between himself and Chen Zi Han. "Maybe we should plan a trip?"

"We are not taking a field trip to City H in the middle of a zombie uprising just so you can prove that you are just as popular as Wang Chao," I said as I raised my eyebrow.

Conversations you never really expected to have Part 1.

"More popular," replied Liu Yu Zeng, leaning back on his couch and crossing his arms. "And I guess we can wait until after the uprising for us to go."

This time I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Turning my attention back to the newcomer, I knew why he was here. Unfortunately for him, he never took his eyes off Wang Chao, like he was the most important person in the room.

"What do you want?" I asked, my arms resting on the blanket that Chen Zi Han had placed over my lap as soon as I had sat down. The 2nd Lieutenant looked at me and then back to Wang Chao, not knowing who to talk to. "Speak to her," said Wang Chao, breaking the stalemate in the room.

Turning to look at me, the messenger saluted. "Ma'am," he said, his eye still darting between me and Wang Chao. "Given the fact that this is now the end of the world, Major General Deng Jun Hie thinks that we, as humans, should band together in this time of need and work as one to protect mankind from certain death."

"That's cute," I said with a smile on my face. "You do know that the world ends like four more times, right? I mean, first was the EMP, then the zombies, then a lack of supplies, then fighting for the supplies, and finally, death. I mean, this is definitely not a one-and-done type of thing."

The man just stared at me like I had grown a second head. "She prefers things straight to the point," said Liu Wei as once again, there was silence in the room.

"Major General Deng Jun Hie—"

"Is worried that there is a zombie horde bearing down on him right this minute and wants people to go die for him," I interrupted, not wanting to waste any more time. I mean, we all knew why he was here, there was no point in beating around the bush.

'You need to help them,' said the calm voice from deep inside my head. I wanted to be stubborn and do the exact opposite of whatever it suggested, but I knew that it was not just me that needed to make this decision.

"You can go and rest in the lobby, I will let you know what we have decided," I said with a wave of my hand and Liu Wei step around the chair to show the messenger to the door.

Once it was just the five of us again, Chen Zi Han and Liu Wei took their seats. "Exactly one week," said Liu Yu Zeng, the smirk on his face was more sarcastic than it was humorous. I hummed in agreement. We knew that they were coming. They had no choice. The entire base would be wiped out in a matter of hours.

But the big question was if we were going to go help or not. And if we did go, who could we trust enough to keep our base from being taken over?

I leaned back in my chair and took out a steaming cup of hot chocolate from my space and just stared at the marshmallows floating at the top. Taking a small sip, I closed my eyes. The boys didn't rush me. This wasn't like the first time, when they practically demanded that I leave the ranch, this time it needed to be my decision.

And there was that nagging feeling that I needed to be there.

Like I was on the edge of a cliff and I needed to take that step off into the unknown.

The biggest issue was that I hated the unknown. And seeing as I have worked my ass off for a year and a half to stock up two different bases, I wasn't all too willing to leave this one in case I couldn't come back to it.

"We will be back," said Wang Chao as he looked at me. Leave it up to the mind reader to know my biggest hang-up.

"You don't know that," I replied as I took another sip of the hot chocolate. "In fact, I am pretty sure that you even went as far as to say that before when it came to the ranch."

"What is going through your head for those of us that aren't a mind reader," asked Liu Yu Zeng as he stretched his arms over the back of the couch.

"A lot of things," I answered honestly. "I don't want to leave this place. Not to mention all the supplies I have put into it, but we need a permanent base. I thought it was the ranch, but then that fell through. I wanted it to be this place, but now we might be leaving. I can't keep moving."

"Alright," said Liu Wei with a nod of his head. "What else."

"There is something at the base that is calling to me," I admitted. "But it feels like if I go there, then everything will be destroyed."

"And if we go to destroy it?" asked Chen Zi Han, his elbows on his knees, his fingers clasped together as he looked at me. Huh, didn't think about that.

'You can't kill her, you need her,' came the icy voice. Well, at least it wasn't the calm one, I guess. But now I was firmly in the kill her camp. Like seriously, if they wanted the heroines to live, they shouldn't be putting me on their path.

The only way they could take what was mine was to kill me. And I was getting harder and harder to kill every time I came back to life.

"So, we are going to help them?" asked Wang Chao looking around the room for confirmation. I let out a half-hearted snarl before answering him. "Who are we leaving in charge?"

"We will leave Ren Ruo Xuan and Hua Le Yang. One for logistics and one for military," suggested Liu Wei.

"How many men will we be taking?" I asked, wondering how much they had planned in the past week.

"We'll take only about 100," answered Liu Yu Zeng. "50 of my men and 50 of Wang Chao's."

"It seems like you guys thought about this a lot," I grumbled, my anger starting to rise. 'They aren't yours,' came the hissing voice. 'Of course they want to follow the path that they were supposed to. After all, their destiny is only a few hours away.'

"Were you guys planning on going no matter what I had said?" I asked, completely ignoring the hissing voice. I would have to find a pharmacy and see if I could get my hands on the drugs to make them go away.

"No," said Wang Chao his gaze completely locked on me. "We planned for either circumstance, just like you taught us." Okay, so the man knew what to say to keep me happy.

"Fine," I said closing my eyes. I would love to say that in the worst care scenario, I could bring everyone into my space, but that wouldn't work because as soon as we came out, we would be dealing with the exact same shit. "Tell Ren Rou Xuan to get the messenger and we'll give him our answer."

The end of the world was coming... again, and I felt fine.

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