Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



We waited until the screaming died down before I let the guys leave the safety of the trees and approach the highway where the General and the others were.  I knew that they didn't like the whole idea of hiding when people were getting killed, at least Wang Chao didn't like it. The military mentality had a firm grip on his psyche and was unwilling to let go so quickly.

Me? I prescribed to the mentality of 'let them all die'.

A high-pitched whistle and the rest of the men were climbing down their own trees and regrouped on the sides of the highway.  I heard a lot of grumbling as I came up to our group of men, but it was mostly from Wang Chao and Liu Wei's side than Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han. Ignoring their looks, as if it made a difference to me, I climbed the edge of the ditch and stepped on the highway. 

To say that it looked like a massacre was an understatement. A serial killer with a chainsaw would have made less of a mess than this.  Limbs were ripped off and hanging off of cars or just laying on the ground. Pools of blood formed under the bodies of the people who looked to the General for guidance and protection, the looks of horror permanently frozen on their faces.  Seeing the desecrated bodies of the people, their stomachs ripped open, their intestines hanging out like sausages at a meat market, I cracked my neck.

This was definitely a case of better them than me, and I was thankful that the boys were smart enough to realize that the General was just going to lead them to their deaths.

Case in point….

However, as I watched some of the zombies continue to eat from the corpses in front of them, I realized one important fact: they had evolved sooner this time than they had in my past life.  It was well into my 4th year in this body before the zombies understood that by imparting more fear at the time of death, they could make the meat taste better.

But based on what I saw just now? They fully understood how to hunt and kill while making the most of a person's fear.  They did not have to rip off limbs to be fed, nor did they have to rip out the intestines of a person before killing them. They did this to have the most effect on the remaining humans, to produce as much fear as they possibly could on those that they determined would become their meals.

As I walked through the path of destruction left by the zombie horde, I could hear the blood bubbling in some of the humans as they lay on the highway, desperately trying to draw in a breath. Looking down at the man by my feet I watched as his blood bubbled in his neck as he tried to take in much needed air.  Taking out my sword, I swiftly cut off his head, granting him a swift death. The zombies around me looked up from their meals to hiss at me, but quickly went back to gorging on the body in front of them.  Zombie survival tip number 137: no need to fear the zombie already eating, they aren't concerned about you.

Chen Zi Han came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist, being careful to avoid my sword. "What is this?" he asked in a mixture of awe and disgust.

"This is why I would never fear you," I said with a chuckle as I patted his arm with my left hand. "But this is what it looks like when a horde is experimenting with flavor."

"Flavor?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he approached me, looking between myself and Chen Zi Han.

I hummed in agreement. "From what we could figure out, human flesh takes on a different flavor based on our moods, and fear is the best flavor possible as far as the zombies are concerned. But the amount of fear is also critical. So if someone is only a little afraid, they would not taste as good as if they were terrified. And, a dead or unconscious body would not taste very good at all."

The two men stared at me like I was the one that enjoyed the taste of fear in human flesh and I have to admit to being a bit offended by that. "What?" I asked looking back and forth between them.

"How do you know all this stuff?" asked Liu Yu Zeng like I had all the answers in the world. I mean, I had most of them, but I wasn't Google.

"A scientist was kicked out of the main safe zone of City A for disagreeing too many times with the leader, and he ended up at my compound," I said, grossly over simplifying what actually happened. "He was the one that first noticed a direct correlation between the actions of the zombies and the intended consequences. Or did you really think they need to rip off limbs or leave survivors?"

"Survivors?" asked Liu Wei coming up to us.

"Yeah, I mean, there is always at least one survivor. But that might not happen until later, once the initial hunger has been satisfied," I explained while looking around.  I couldn't see any survivors, but then again, the zombies were still freshly freed so they might be more hungry now and not worried about things like that.

"You mean, the zombies are playing head games with us?" asked Liu Yu Zeng incredulously.  I nodded my head, "Basically. I mean, without survivors, how do the horror stories about what they did to humans spread? And the more it spread, the more fear people felt towards them to the point they didn't even need to be around for the fear to catch hold. Just the simple whisper of the word 'zombie' caused some people to freeze."

"Are we going to kill these ones?" asked Wang Chao as he approached our small group, his men at his back.

"Up to you," I said, not caring one way or another.  Now that I knew that my purple flame could easily kill them, they were not that much of a challenge. Not to mention I was slowly overcoming my own fear of them.  Who knows, maybe in the future, I would be their predator instead of the other way around.

"Kill them," came a groaning voice a little distance away. Looking in the direction of the sound, I found General Fuck Face on the ground slowly trying to crawl towards us, the lower half of his body missing. Watching the blood and internal organs spilling out of the man with every inch he managed to gain, I was impressed. Most would just hurry up and die, but not the bane of my existence I guess.

"Hello General," I said as I walked over to the man and crouched down in front of his head. "How does it feel to be the savior of humanity?" I asked while looking around, making my point that he brought this all on himself.

"You –" he started, before erupting in a cough.

"Me?" I asked, a faint smile on my face.  What can I say? I loved watching karma work.

"You fucking bitch," he gasped causing me to laugh out loud.  The sound of my voice startled the zombies enough that they looked up from their feast to look at me. Deeming me not that important, they returned their attention back to their meal.

"Oh, General. Hopefully, in your next life you learn a bit more humility," I whispered into his ear just as he took his last few shallow breaths. "May the ferryman guide you to your rightful place," I said, not knowing where the words came from, but knowing that they fit the present situation. The man was dead, not able to cause any more harm through his sheer ignorance and stupidity. Pressing firmly onto his eyelids, I closed them, allowing him a peaceful death.

Standing up, I saw the four men behind me in a straight line. Raising my eyebrow, I asked, "Are you going to kill them or are we going to be on our way before we need to make camp? They say lightning never strikes twice, but I want to be far away from this place before we need to stop for the night."

Wang Chao nodded his head, silently agreeing with my assessment. These zombies were not a current threat, but there was nothing to say that the amount of blood and death would not attract another horde that was willing to settle for less-than-tasty meat.

---

The days passed into weeks and we were approaching our target's location. We stayed off the highway, preferring to run parallel to it and hide in the canopies to the side. This meant that we were slower than if we used the RVs, but I didn't know if there was enough room for Liu Yu Zeng, Chen Zi Han, and their men so I decided against using them.

Supply runs were still vastly important and we made the time to hit up every village, town, and city in easy reach while still keeping to a good schedule. Thanks to Hades, we managed to avoid most, if not all of the hordes that were roaming the highways looking for easy prey, and the men were good about ignoring the civilians' requests for assistance.

Once again, they learned their lesson about helping others from the General and refused any and all cries to take people with them. But our luck was bound to leave us, especially as we approached such as big City like City J.