Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

It had been two days and I was more than ready for the zombies to come. We had agreed that instead of getting interrupted in the middle of anything, it would be better just to wait until we were back on the road. But that also meant that I was ready to climb up the wall by the end of the first day.

We played board games, card games, and anything else that we could think of that would kill time. Chen Zi Han spent a lot of time in the kitchen preparing meals. Some I put in my space so that we could have them on hand for later while others we ate. But no matter what we did, the time seemed to crawl by.

"You are sure that you put the time back to how it was supposed to be, right?" asked Liu Yu Zeng for the hundredth time as he looked at Wang Chao.

"I am sure," said the man, not at all impressed by being constantly accused of messing up.

"You are sure you're sure?" he asked again as if in the milliseconds between then and when Wang Chao had answered, his response might have changed.

"I am very sure," sighed the other man as he rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"It's probably like the saying 'a watched pot never boils'," I said as I walked over to the stool that Liu Yu Zeng was perched on. I started rubbing his shoulders to ease some of the tension, but at this point, nothing was working.

"That is the stupidest saying that I have ever heard. Of course a watched pot boils. It has nothing to do with it being watched and everything to do with the heat under it. It's not like a pot of water has performance anxiety," scoffed Liu Yu Zeng causing the rest of us to roll our eyes.

The worst part was it wasn't just me and my men that were like cats on a hot tin roof, everyone in the base was waiting for the axe to fall. It would have been much easier if the zombies had sent us a notice of some kind or other of when to expect them, but of course, they seem to be lacking in the whole manner thing.

"It doesn't matter," said Chen Zi Han as he put a plate filled with an 8-inch beef pot pie in front of me. "Eat. They will come when they come. There is no need to be so stressed."

Liu Yu Zeng scoffed when he heard Chen Zi Han's words. "Like you are much better. How much food have you made so far? We are lucky that Sweetness has enough to keep you occupied."

Chen Zi Han nodded his head. "At least I have been productive," he smirked. Liu Yu Zeng might have been his boss before, but now they were on equal footing and the man couldn't help but press a few buttons here and there.

Liu Yu Zeng was about to open his mouth when Deng Jun Hie opened the door to the RV and just walked inside.

"Not even bothering to knock?" snarked Liu Yu Zeng as he looked at the other man.

"Is there a point?" asked Deng Jun Hie with a smile. He walked over to the table and sat down beside Liu Wei. Nodding his head in greeting, Deng Jun Hie watched Liu Wei polishing every component of the gun in front of him. Liu Wei briefly looked up before turning his attention back to the task in front of him.

I had learned that this was the way Liu Wei dealt with stress. He spent the first day sharpening all of our swords, knives, and any other blades that I had found in my space before he got started on the guns. I guess I was lucky that I had his entire collection in my space before we left the ranch. Otherwise, this man might have gotten a bit cranky.

Who was I kidding? We were all cranky.

Chen Zi Han set a plate in front of both Liu Wei and Deng Jun Hie before turning to the Major General. "Any word?" he asked as he handed the last plate to Wang Chao before returning to the little kitchen.

"Nothing," grumbled the Major General. "And this waiting is causing my men to lose their minds. Any suggestions?"

I let out a bark of laughter at that. "If we knew, do you think that we would be climbing the walls right now? I mean, we can always go on the offensive. Attack them before they can attack us, but that would put us at a disadvantage."

Deng Jun Hie nodded at my words as he shoveled the pot pie into his mouth as fast as he could. I swore he came here specifically when he knew that we were eating just go he could mooch off us. "That's what I was thinking too. Not to mention we need those traps to cut down the numbers a bit."

Wang Chao grunted in agreement. And because of that, we were stuck on base waiting for them to come to us.

All of a sudden there was a frantic pounding on our door. "Major General! Major General!" came the voice from the outside. Clearly, everyone on base knew that he came here during lunch and dinner for food.

"I think that's for you," said Liu Yu Zeng tilting his head towards the door. Deng Jun Hie rolled his eyes and went to open it.

"What?" he asked the soldier outside. The man was drenched in sweat and was having a hard time catching his breath.

"They are here."

"Finally," I said as we all stood up and left the RV. With a flick of my wrist, it disappeared into thin air. I didn't know if we would be back here or not so it was better just to bring it with us.

-----

The men and I stood up on top of the wall in the main watch tower. We had the perfect birds eye view of the scene in front of us, and it was… interesting… to say the least.

I heard the Major General gulping beside me as he stared out into the distance. "Need the binoculars?" I asked as I held out a pair to him. He shook his head and I put them back into my space. If you couldn't see the tide then you had to be blind.

I would have to fully admit that it was worse than anything I had ever seen in my previous life and I could easily understand how we could have lost the entirety of the south to these things.

It was hard to count how many there were, but I was willing to concede that it was easily closer to 3,000 than 300. The first wave to approach the base was at least 50 zombies deep and 20 zombies across. So, if my math worked, that would make at least 1,000 zombies descending on us in what could only be called a tidal wave.

The entire group was zigzagging back and forth in their signature pacing manner, but if the first row went right, the second row went left and vice versa until all of them were creating an almost unconscious wave.

Their round heads and small eyes never left the wall in front of them, no matter how their body moved. They had determined their prey, and they would not lose that focus until it was ripped apart under them.

Hearing low swearing around us, I looked at the men. "You guys ok?" I asked them, noticing the subtle wide eyes as they gazed forward. There was some terse nodding, but no one really spoke. "Is now a good time to remind you that your men are on the other side of this wall, ready to lay down their lives for yours?"

The four men turned to look at me with a questioning look on their faces. I sighed. Sometimes I said the wrong thing without meaning to. "We are looking down and the view is enough to scare the shit out of most of us. How do you think the men on the ground are feeling?"

The guys widened their eyes slightly and nodded their heads. Turning around, the four of them descended the stairs and waited for the gate to open just wide enough to let them out.

"Was that smart? Sending them out like that?" asked Deng Jun Hie as he turned to look at me. Right now there were only the two of us in the small room with another two soldiers acting as our bodyguards in case the zombies managed to get inside. Not like they would be much help, but that was neither here nor there.

"A true leader should be willing and able to fight side by side with their men, facing the same hardships as them. That is how you earn their loyalty and respect," I said as I looked out at the mass of wriggling zombies. If I forced my eyes to unfocus so that I could easily see the purple and blue flames inside of each and every one of them.

I smiled, my confidence now soaring. Me and the boyos could harvest the flames without breaking a sweat. I took a deep breath and yelled out the words that I always wanted to say:

"It has begun!"

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