Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Ok… so maybe I went a bit overboard with trying to teach the guys that the post-apocalyptic situation that we have found ourselves in was full of things trying to kill us because as soon as we got within 100 feet of the mall, they had spread out, their guns drawn and looking for their next target.

Too bad the entire area around us was empty, but you know… better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

As covertly as I could, I weaved around the soldiers using overturned cars as cover as they brought their AK-15s up to their line of sight. Walking up the three steps to the main entrance of the mall, I looked through the glass door.

I will fully admit that the lack of people, zombies, and animals had started to take their toll on my nerves, but there was a mall in front of me with probably more supplies than I could store in my space (not really, but you get the idea) and no one to compete for them.

I opened the door; the groaning hinge was the only sound for miles around.  Stepping foot into the mall, I felt the four guys and their men quickly follow in after me.  Taking out Hades and putting him on my shoulder, I was relieved to see him look around before trying to find a comfortable spot to sleep.

Walking up to the map of the mall (complete with the 'You are here' dot) I got my first understanding of why most people would not be looking for supplies in this place, no matter how big it was.

"Whelp, this is useless," I complained as I took a quick look at the shops offered here. Turning my attention to the bottom right corner, I saw a phoenix symbol.  "Are you kidding me?!? This one is yours too?" I screeched, turning around to glare at Wang Chao. He shrugged and looked at Liu Wei as if to confirm or deny my statement.

Liu Wei adjusted his glasses in a very reminiscent way and nodded his head. "You took this over a year and a half ago," he confirmed. "But we didn't pay much attention to it as it always had a decent profit and there were other things on our mind."

"You couldn't have at least useful stuff in this place? I mean, it's not like I can take out a zombie with a red-soled stiletto heel," I grumbled as I continued to look through the long list of stores for one that would possibly be beneficial. 

"Okay," I said, making up my mind.  Even if they were brand names, it didn't mean that they didn't sell winter clothing, especially in November. "We are going to split into groups of 5 and each one of us will take an area. Take what you can, or that will be beneficial. I see that there is one pharmacy here so maybe they will have band-aids and other first-aid supplies," I continued, pointing to the lone pharmacy on the first floor.

I roughly figured out in my head that it would take several hours before we could go through everything here and would probably end up making this place our base camp for the night. Heck, if we weren't in a hurry to save that guy, I would have insisted that we remain here for a whole week or more.

I might disparage the designer clothes and the brand names that were so popular before the end of the world, but in all honesty, at the end of the day, they were still clothes and could be used.  And let's face it, I would not let anything of use slip through my fingers.

Each one of the boys took their own group and dispersed through the mall. For me and mine? Our first stop was the food court. I knew the majority of it would have gone bad or on its way to going bad, but there still should be some canned goods that I could take.

Unfortunately for me, the food court was on the very top floor (5th floor) and I had to walk every step of the way (stupid EMP) while trying my best not to disturb His Royal Hades from his perch. With my team following behind me, I quickly made my way up the stairs and onto the fifth floor. 

Wanna know the worst thing about having a very clear picture in your head about what you need to survive? Most people had the same idea.

I was quickly running down the hall to the food court when I pulled myself up short, almost falling on my ass in the process. Thankfully, the men behind me were able to stop and catch me in time before any of us were injured, but unfortunately for me, a hissing cat made his displeasure known as his claws dug into my back as he frantically tried to hold on. 

Why would we be injured running down an empty hall?

That would be because of the extremely thin wire strung from one side of the hallway to the other, right at throat level for the men behind me.  Personally, I was thanking myself for being vertically challenged and the wire was right at my eye line, allowing me to see it fairly easily. 'Wang Chao, be careful, ambush set up at the food court. I don't know if it will be elsewhere. Please tell the others,' I thought. Who needed cell phones when you had someone that can read minds?

'Done,' came the quick reply. 'Be safe.'

'Always,' I said with a small smirk as I studied the wire in front of me.  Deciding that since my head had almost come off, it would be best for me to put Hades back into my space where he would be safer.

Hades taken care of, I turned my attention back to the wire. It didn't look like something that had been set up by an inexperienced person. In fact, the perfect way that it was made me think of someone that I would rather not have.

Taking out a pair of wire cutters from my space, I hesitated. If this was an ambush set up by those two, then I was in for a nasty surprise if I simply cut the wire.  Deciding to not take the chance, I followed the wire to the right where it was embedded into the wall.  Seeing a small package of thumbtacks, I was happy to have followed my gut.  I had seen one of these traps explode and the guy looked like a pin cushion afterward. 

If I remembered correctly though, right behind the pressure-sensitive trap was the release mechanism to disengage it. But… because those two were my best friends and a complete pain in my ass, there would be another trigger that needed to be dealt with first. 

Sighing, I cracked my neck and pulled out a paper-thin surgical scalpel, and got to work. Luckily for me, the men in my team were complete professionals and while I was lost in my head, they made sure to guard my back. "If you see someone approach, don't do anything," I said, worried that they might try and kill the two that set up the ambush.

Hearing their grunt of ascent, I quickly used the scalpel to peel away the wall all around the wire's anchor. They had one explained how to set one of these things up and how to take it down, but that was so many years ago and I was a bit rusty on the actual details.

That was a polite way of saying that I was winging it.

I could have just let the wire stay here, but I hand more than 300 men crawling around this mall and I was not going to leave a trap for them to find the hard way.

It took me almost 30 minutes to try and figure out how to disarm the thing in front of me and I spent the whole time cursing them out. Why couldn't they just make life easy and have a simple trap set up?

They had explained that when they were going through military university, this was one of the things that they learned how to do. Apparently, there was a whole class dedicated to ambushing and guerrilla warfare and the two of them simply fell in love with the idea. 

I used to tease them that they found their true love by learning how to take someone out without their knowledge. Like typical university students, the late-night study sessions quickly lead to something more.

I couldn't help the smile that bloomed on my face as I began to remember more and more about them. And then I remembered how they died. The pain and loss that I felt that day swept all over me again, almost causing me to lose my breath. 'You ok?' came the voice inside my head.

'Yeah,' I replied as I carefully removed the bundle of tacks and then proceeded to cut the wire. 'Just some memories,' I continued, giving Wang Chao an explanation even though he didn't ask.

'Let me know if you need me and I'll be there,' he said, and I could almost feel the physical comfort of his presence beside me.

'I'm good. You go get me my supplies,' I said with a chuckle.

Hey, a girl had to have her priorities in order… and mine were supplies.

"How did you know how to do that?" I spun around when the sweetest voice in the world called out from down the hall. My team raised their guns in the direction of the voice, but they couldn't see a target.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Hua Chan Juan."