Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Chen Zi Han as the five of them sped down the empty streets of their home.

"Come on, what is the worst that can happen?" returned Liu Yu Zeng with a smirk. "Or are you just mad that you might be the last one to the house and will need to sleep by yourself tonight?"

"All I mean is that Li Dai Lu is nowhere to be seen. What happens if we lost her?" continued Chen Zi Han. He had a bad feeling in his gut but no idea of the source. The best thing he could come up with was that his princess had been out of his eyesight since they had first met back in November.

"I am with Chen Zi Han," said Wang Chao as he slowed down to join the pack. "There is something not right here."

"Like you are one to talk," scoffed Liu Yu Zeng. "How many times have you led us into disaster because the military had asked you for help?"

"Enough times not to let you do something stupid instead," replied Wang Chao, the accusation of the other man rolling off his back. It wasn't like he was wrong. He had some making up to do, but he would need to stay alive for that to happen.

"Hold on!" screamed Liu Wei as Reaper came to a dead stop. The other four bikes quickly followed suit, lining up in front of what looked like a spiked belt lying across the road. It was almost completely camouflaged amongst all of the broken-down cars and garbage, to the point where none of them had seen it coming.

"Hand over your bikes and supplies if you want to live," growled a male voice, and all of a sudden, a bunch of men poured out from all sides of the street, effectively blocking the five men in.

"I am thinking that this was the bad feeling I was getting," grumbled Chen Zi Han as he straightened up on his bike and stretched out his back.

"Probably," answered Wang Chao, turning to Liu Yu Zeng with a smirk of his own, he continued. "But it has been a while since we managed to have some fun."

"Very true," said Liu Wei with a smile of his own. He took off his helmet and looked at the men in front of them. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"Give us the bikes and your supplies, or die," repeated the leader. He looked between the five men, studying them all.

"How about we keep our supplies, and you die?" suggested Liu Yu Zeng as he, too, took off his helmet.

"Sir?" said the bandit leader confused. He lowered his gun.

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to know who you are?" sneered Liu Yu Zeng, not recognizing the man in front of him. There was no way he was a member of the Red Dragon syndicate, but then again, this was City H; everyone knew who he was, even if they didn't know him.

"No, of course not. I am a member of the Black Mountain syndicate," said the man, making a gesture. Two men rushed out and dragged the spiked belt out of the way. "I am sorry about that. There are very few humans here; we need to get our supplies however we can before the zombies come."

"I can only assume that there are a lot of zombies in the city?" asked Liu Wei as he adjusted his glasses.

"Yes," replied the other man, "In fact, I think our group is the only group of humans left here."

"How many of you are there?" asked Chen Zi Han, looking around, taking in the gaunt, haggard appearance of the men. It was clear that they had not eaten in quite a while.

"There are about 100 of us left. The woman, children, sick, and elderly are back at the Black Mountain mansion while we went out for supplies. We heard you coming and decided to see if you had any," explained the man, and the rest of the people around them slowly lowered their guns.

"And you have no food?" surmised Bin An Sha as he, too, took in the appearance of the other humans. This was the first time he had ever seen a situation like this. He quickly realized that his experiences in City A were nothing compared to the rest of the country.

"Some people tried to go out fishing, but when no one came back, we assumed that something had happened to them on the water and didn't dare try to fish after that," said one of the men behind Wang Chao and the guys.

"I see," said Liu Wei. He had a pretty good idea of what happened to the fishermen, but he wasn't going to confirm anything one way or another.

'Can any of you guys hear me?' came a tentative voice inside of Liu Wei's mind. Looking around, he could see Wang Chao, Liu Yu Zeng, and Chen Zi Han straighten up and look around.

'We can hear you, Sweetheart,' confirmed Liu Wei, looking around.

'I don't know what you have gotten yourself into, but you do know you are completely surrounded by zombies, right?' continued Li Dai Lu, and the four men that were linked to her stiffened up even more.

'No, we didn't," said Wang Chao. 'Thank you for the heads up, little one,'

'Do you want me to see if I can control them? I am just a little far away right now.'

'You just stay safe,' assured Chen Zi Han. 'We can handle these ones.'

'Are you sure? There are almost a thousand of them, if not more,' she hedged. 'How about we do a 50/50? You guys kill as many as you can, and then I can keep the rest to send to the mainland?'

'Sure, that will do,' replied Wang Chao with a smile. 'You stay there and watch your men play.'

There was a brief silence before Li Dai Lu came back onto the link. 'If you are up for it… Maybe we can play more later.'

As soon as she finished speaking, the link was cut off, causing all four men to chuckle.

"Care to let the rest of the class know what is going on?" asked Bin An Sha with a huff of frustration.

"Oh, nothing much. Just surrounded by a bunch of zombies," replied Liu Yu Zeng, completely unconcerned.

However, his feelings were not shared by everyone.