Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

Wang Chao maintained eye contact with me as he reached out behind him and placed his hand on the wall. All of a sudden there was a rumbling sound as a section of the wall lifted up. My forehead scrunched in confusion. How was this possible? Was it electronic? Where did it lead? Why the fucking Hell did they even have this in place here?

"There is a lever," said Wang Chao as he pointed to the section in the wall that, upon closer inspection, had a small switch in it that was barely noticeable to the naked eye.

"Well, that's useful," I said impressed. That answered the first two questions, but I still had no idea where it lead to.

After a few moments, the door was completely opened. Chen Zi Han walked up to the stretchy entrance/exit and peered inside. "It leads to the woods," he said sounding as confused as the rest of us were. Well, maybe Wang Chao wasn't confused since he should know exactly where we were going, but the rest of us were definitely in the dark.

Chen Zi Han stepped across the threshold first and studied the surrounding woods. Peeking through the door, I saw a small path leading towards a dense forest filled with mostly evergreen trees. Something that I hadn't seen a lot of since I came here.

I mean, it didn't look like the spruce, balsam, or cedar trees from Canada, but they were definitely evergreen trees. Some looked like fir trees with their spiky needles that grew upwards while others looked like redwood with its reddish-brown needles. Hell, there even appeared to be some cypress trees in these woods.

I took in a deep breath and smelled home. Unable to contain my smile, I waited for Chen Zi Han to give me the all-clear before sprinting to the tree line.

I mean, I love trees. I really did. However, there was a huge difference between being in the forest because it was a matter of life and death and being relaxed enough to truly enjoy the nature around you. However, there was something about the particular forest that just reminded me of my first life in Canada. There was nothing more iconic than the smell of an evergreen tree in your living room at Christmas time. Even those that chose to purchase artificial trees could still buy sticks to put in them that smelled like Balsam fir or Spruce.

I closed my eyes and took in another big breath of the air. Opening my eyes, I turned to Wang Chao with a smile. "Where to next?" I asked him. As far as I was concerned, this place was fantastic and I never wanted to leave it. Maybe this was the treasure that Deng Jun Hie was hiding out here, but I really doubted it.

Wang Chao pointed at a small path on the forest floor that looked more like a game trail than something that humans used often. But maybe that was the point. There was nothing there that screamed "Treasure here!" and that was the best way of keeping it for yourself.

Wang Chao went first, followed by Chen Zi Han while I was smack dab in the middle with the Liu brothers bringing up the rear. We weaved along the path, ducking under low-hung branches and stepping over fallen logs and large rocks. The feather-like leaves of the redwoods tickled my face and neck as I walked too close to them. I was not going to be thinking about any spiders, ticks, or other insects that made their home in the woods.

The herbivores would stay away from us and even the carnivores would avoid us as they could sense that we were stronger than they were. Leave it to the animals to be smarter than the humans.

We had been walking for a while when we came to a random building literally in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by trees and there were numerous bushes and rocks around the base that the building itself seemed to be helping it camouflage. In fact, if Wang Chao didn't know what he was looking for, we might have walked right past it without a second thought.

Coming up to the door, I tried the handle. It was bolted shut and I had no idea how we were going to get in. But clearly, there was something interesting in this building if someone went to so much trouble to hide it.

"There is still power here," said Wang Chao as he imputed a code into the security panel that was hidden behind a bush at the bottom of the building. It was the first time that I had ever seen a security panel that low to the ground.

Wait—"There is still power here? How could it not be impacted by the EMP?!?" I demanded, my eyes turning into round circles on my face. I had never heard about that in my past life.

"In this case, the military specifically planned this building and many more around the country to be able to withstand an EMP," said Wang Chao as the door slid open. The five of us each went to one side or the other just in case there was something… unpleasant… on the other side of the door.

When nothing came out or tried to shoot us, we figured that we were safe. And when I say we… I don't mean we, we, I mean the guys. The guys decided that it was safe for us to enter a fully functioning building almost 7 months after the EMP. I was strictly in the Hell No category, but I was more than a little interested in what could possibly be in there. After all, it wasn't like the government ensured that everything was EMP-proof, so what would be in here that they would require it?

Part of me wanted to say, 'fuck that' and go back to City Y, while another part, a bigger part was curious about what was in there. Unfortunately, my common sense took a back seat this time and I followed the boyos through the door.

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