Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



The look of adoring frustration that Wang Chao was giving me made me smile.  Wondering if that was his way of saying yes, I started to think about how we would kill them. I voted for death by fire… but since they were Liu Wei's 'family' it would probably be better to cut off their heads first. You know… a more humane death.

"No." Wang Chao's voice cut through the arguing around us. I pouted but understood that if I really wanted to be humane, then a bullet to the back of the head when they were least expecting it was a much better way to go.

"No," said Wang Chao again, this time rubbing his forehead. Trying to think about what he could be objecting to, I turned to Liu Wei.

"Any idea what he's talking about?" I asked him, pointing to Wang Chao. The poor man seemed to be developing quite a headache. Liu Wei simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

Wang Chao let out a tired sigh and looked me in the eyes.  Making sure he had my undivided attention he spoke very, very slowly. "No," I watch his lips form the word, but I still was not clued in. "You will not kill them using fire, you will not kill them by taking their head and you will not kill them by putting a bullet in their brain."

I was stunned.  That was the stupidest Dr. Seuss rhyme that I had ever heard! He should have gone:

'You should not kill them very dead; you should not shoot them in the head. You should not burn them to a fine ash; you should not go and take all their stash.'

That would have been a much better rhyme. I mean, it would need a bit of work… leave it with me and I'll try to come up with something better.

Wait! Now I get what he was saying… He didn't want me to kill the Old Master and Wu Bai Hee!  Why didn't he just say that? Agh! Men! So complicated.

"No sugar and no caffeine for you for a week," Wang Chao grumbled. He seemed calm and collected, but I could see his mounting frustration clearly.  Whoever said that you shouldn't poke the bear was wrong.  Sometimes poking the bear was a great thing!

I chuckled, "Noted. Now, can we please get down to business? This is not a place that we are going to want to be in a few days." This was only day 2 of the Great Zombie Uprising, and so the friggers hadn't had the time to truly come together in an organized manner. Trust me when I say that the scariest zombie was one that was organized. I had no idea how the original owner of this body stayed alive for the first three years before I took over.

I racked my brain trying to think about what I knew about City B in my past life, but honestly, I don't remember much.

Before the apocalypse hit, City B was practically the epicenter of Country K. It controlled almost everything from food, finance, business, research, scient and tech… transportation… tourism.  It was surrounded on three sides by the water and was considered to be one of the most important ports in the world…

It's official, we were fucked, and not in the fun way.

The fact that they were a key player in the country's research and science meant that they were probably up to their eyeballs with the zombie vaccine, and when all the locks opened two days ago… all those zombies were freed. Combined with the fact that they were a really big tourist attraction, we had everything that zombies need to survive and do well. 

I could feel the wave of anxiety wash over me and I knew I was helpless against it.  The reason why I never really heard of City B three years after the start of the apocalypse was because… there was no City B to hear about.

And if that was the case, then we needed to get out of here fast.  I quickly jumped to my feet and looked around in a panic.  Pulling out my cell phone, I realized that even if I had power, I didn't have any internet to access the information that was crucial to our survival.

"Calm down, Little Girl," said Wang Chao as he too stood up and walked slowly towards me, his hands outstretched like I was a wild animal and he was worried that I would attack him. "Your brain is going too fast for me to process, Sweet Thing," he continued, his voice in that low purr that normally helped when I was in this mood… but it was doing Jack all right now.

I frantically looked around, ignoring the look on the Octopus' face, and zeroed in on Chen Zi Han. He was here before… Liu Wei said that this was an important city for them… he would have the answers and not be a dick about it.  I rushed over to him and grabbed his shirt, pulling him down to meet my eyes.

"I need to know everything about City B and I needed to know it three days ago before I started on this Hell bound trip!" I tried to calm down, I really did… but when I realized that this was going to be a zombie-run city in the future, I just couldn't.

Liu Wei stood up this time and tried to pull my arm away from Chen Zi Han but I guess I was part octopus myself because I was not letting go.  "Sweetheart, whatever it is, we can deal with it… just talk to us," crooned Liu Wei, taking on the low soothing voice the Wang Chao normally used on me. 

Chen Zi Han just continued to stare into my eyes. I didn't know what he saw, but he started nodding his head. "Alright," he said in a deep baritone voice. "What do you need?"

Have I mentioned how nice it was to deal with professionals?

As soon as I heard that I was going to get the information, I managed to calm down a fraction. Just a fraction mind you, because shit was still coming and I didn't want anything to do with it. But I had to stop and take a breath, Chen Zi Han would not be able to get me the information I needed if I didn't ask him the right questions.

Wang Chao and Liu Wei lead me back to the couch and pushed me down. The three of us were ignoring the 'higher-ups' in the room, but I didn't care. Thanks to their pigheadedness, we were stuck in a place that we really didn't want to be and yes, I put the blame firmly on them.

"How many medical facilities here administered the vaccine in October?" I asked as Chen Zi Han came to sit on the coffee table in front of me.  Even Liu Yu Zeng was interested in this conversation and stood beside Liu Wei, studying my face.

"City B had officially 530 medical centers that housed people after they received the vaccine. There have been rumors that there are at least another 200 unofficial medical centers that also administered the vaccines."

Well… shit… I was not prepared for those types of numbers.  I closed my eyes… the second most important question: "What was the population of City B at the beginning of the year?"

"City B is the largest city in the country and had a population of over 25 million official inhabitants, but also has a tourism trade that sees over 300 million tourists in a year."

Did I mention we were fucked?  Yes? Good… I was standing by my previous statement.

"You mean to tell me that we might have 325 million people here right now?" I asked, trying to remain calm, but really not succeeding.

"No, you idiot. He said 300 million in a year, and this isn't even prime tourist season. We might only have 10 million in the city right now," snapped the Octopus.  I flung out my arm and a strong layer of ice froze her mouth shut.  I was not really caring if I had hurt her… frankly, I wish that I did.

I closed my eyes… That was a lot of people added to the lunch menu and had the potential to become a zombie. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.

"How far away is the nearest vaccination center?" Please, please, please tell me thousands of kilometers away. Please! I was not above begging if it would change the answer.

"I think there was one 5 blocks away if I remember correctly. The people in this neighborhood wanted a center for themselves," interjected Liu Yu Zeng.

"Of course, they did," I whined. Damn rich people. At least I know why there was such a huge zombie horde so close by. They were probably the ones from the closest facility. They weren't organized per se, just all from the same place.