Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Do you think she is pissed?" Asked Liu Wei as he and Wang Chao picked the room to the right of hers to spend the night.  Although they were not overly happy with the two queen-sized beds, at least they were close to Li Dai Lu in case of an emergency.

"I think to say that she is pissed is a bit of an understatement. She created four zombies just to shut us up and then proceeded to kill four of them in front of us without help.  That is in addition to the two that she killed when we first got in here. That is a total of 7 zombies that she dealt with one on one," said Wang Chao, going to the bathroom. Noticing that the temperature was ice cold, he got undressed and went into the shower, trying to get rid of the grime from the day.

This day seemed to have gone on forever. It was hard to believe everything that happened in just 24 hours, and honestly, they were the liability that she said they would be.

She didn't want to be here, but they dragged her into their mess, and then Liu Wei and their men disregarded what she had said in order to be able to see things with their own eyes. And not one of them was able to fight against the zombies in the lobby of the hotel.

He tried… God knows how hard he tried. Closing his eyes, he let the water wash over him as if washing the sins of his failure down the drain with the rest of the dirt.  He was just as guilty as Liu Wei, hell, he could see in her mind and he still didn't get the full picture of what would happen when that EMP went off.

He shuttered to think of the dreams that he had where he was not prepared for that EMP and the consequences of that. Turning off the tap, he quickly dried off and wrapped a towel around his waist. Leaving the bathroom, he passed Liu Wei who was also wanting a shower before bed, and went to the closest bed to the door. The fact that it was also against the same wall that Li Dai Lu's bed was was simply a coincidence.

At least he still had to comfort of being able to read her mind from this distance.  But maybe that was the problem.  He had assumed that using his powers would be as simple as breathing.  Li Dai Lu certainly made it look that way. But he also remembered her saying that the powers were like a muscle… and you couldn't expect a muscle that had never been used before to be strong.

He had tried to grab the elevator doors like she projected in her mind when she was fighting, but all that he succeeded in doing was shaking them. It was the same for the metal in the walls.  He called, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do anything.

He had to get stronger if he wanted to survive, he needed to get stronger if he wanted to protect Li Dai Lu.  As novel of a feeling as it was, being the one to be protected for a change, he could feel what it was costing him… he could hear her doubts about them in her head.

Not bothering to get dressed, he closed his eyes and thought about the feeling of the metal around him. He was able to manipulate the smaller pieces of it… paperclips, staples, nails… but large pieces… the beams and the doors, he could not move. 

Yet. 

He would start small and work his way up.  He had seen the damage that a cluster of nails did when it exploded, so maybe he was thinking about powers in a completely wrong way. He needed to learn how to manipulate the small and build up to the big, like starting off with the 2lbs weight and moving up to the 150lbs ones.

With a solid gameplay in place and the contented thoughts of his little girl sleeping, he was in a much better mood when Liu Wei came out of the shower.

"What do we do?" Liu Wei asked, his own towel wrapped around his waist and another one drying his hair.

"We?" Asked a smug Wang Chao.  "There is no we in this mess. The blame is placed firmly on you and the men for this shit show," he continued, looking at his best friend, an arm behind his head, his 8 pack on full display. "And after all this? I don't think I need to consider you that much of a competition anymore." The smirk on his face let Liu Wei know exactly what he was thinking.

"A minor setback," said Liu Wei, worried, but pretending not to be. "We will fall in line like the good soldiers we are, and everything will be fine again."

Wang Chao hummed non-committedly. "The Queen is not happy. How are you planning on changing that?"

"I figured I'd start by kissing her feet and working my way up," said Liu Wei with a smirk of his own.

"Good luck with that," chuckled Wang Chao. "She'd sooner kick you in the head than let you kiss her feet."

Liu Wei shrugged and got into his own bed, not worrying about getting dressed. His clothes were dirty and all of his extras were in Li Dai Lu's space, he would put on his old clothes tomorrow and not a moment sooner. "I'm playing the long game," he confessed as the last rays of the sun set and the room was plunged into darkness. "I can wait for her forgiveness."

"One problem in your plan, Wei," said Wang Chao, not bothering to move or to take his eyes off the ceiling of the room. "You are not the only one playing a long game…and I don't plan on losing."

Liu Wei grunted in acknowledgment and closed his eyes. That was another worry for tomorrow.

With the challenge sent out and accepted the men had a restful night's sleep.

----

I woke up naturally, something that would be rare in the coming days, but I needed the sleep and it would take less than an hour for us to get to Liu Wei's place from here...hopefully. I figured I would also need as much sleep as possible if I was going to deal with both him and his family.

I got changed into clean clothes, not wanting to take a cold shower this early in the morning.  I would disappear into my space and take a shower there when I had time, but it was on the low end of my priorities. I needed to be in a safe place for that to happen, and I wasn't there.

But then again, the RV did have a shower with hot water… maybe I would just take one of those out and enjoy a shower there. The men could stand guard, after all, from what I had seen yesterday, they would have to get a lot of training in if they wanted to keep their pretty heads attached to their bodies. 

I boiled some water in my space and made myself a giant travel mug full of coffee and sat down at the desk of my room to enjoy some music and coffee until the guys were ready. After being smart and plugging in my cellphone in my space overnight, I managed to get a full battery, perfect for games and music.

It was maybe 15 minutes later when I heard a knocking at my door.  Raising my eyebrows, and taking out the single earbud from my ear, I went over to the door and looked through the peephole.  Hey, it was the end of the world! A girl couldn't be too careful.

Seeing the guys on the other side of the door, I opened it wide to invite them in... but when the rest of their men filed in behind them, I wondered how everyone was going to fit in the room. Then I realized that that was a them problem so I smiled and took my seat as everyone tried to fit into the single room.

"Any deaths or injuries from yesterday?" I asked taking a sip of my coffee.

"No deaths, but a few injuries… mostly bruises and broken bones," said Liu Wei as he took a seat on my bed.  Seeing that he was somewhat back to normal, I rolled my eyes. I would write yesterday off as a bad day, but this would be the only time he got that pass.

Like I said, this was the first time they had ever experienced an apocalypse so I needed to be a bit understanding about the whole thing.

"No bleeding or any other transfer of fluids?" When most people heard that, their thoughts immediately when to sex, but technically, you could become a zombie simply by having one spit on you and the saliva getting into your mouth, nose, or eyes. And if you just pictured a zombie standing back and spitting on people, congratulations... that is exactly how humans found out about the method of transfer.

"No, we are all good." Confirmed Liu Wei leaning forward. "Did you have a good sleep?"

Raising my eyebrows, I took a sip to hide my smile. "Not a horrid sleep, but I don't know if I had enough to put up with your family," I chuckled.

"That's fine," he reassured me, "You protect me from the zombies and I'll protect you from my family."

Thinking that statement over, I figured I got the better end of that deal. I was beginning to understand that Zombies were a lot less scary than the wealthy citizens of Country K.