Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Traveling with Fuck Face was like traveling with a mother-in-law that hated you. I mean, the boys tried their best to keep him away from me, but as the only girl in the group of Wang Chao's men, I stood out like a sore thumb.

And then there were the female soldiers that were part of Fuck Face's group. I am sure that there were some lovely women, and I can't fault them with how many times they had invited me to travel with them, but me and socializing never went well. I politely turned them down, preferring to stay with my boys.

By the time Fuck Face was ready to call it a day, I was more than willing to comply. The sun was just starting to set and we were still on the main highway that would take us from City B all the way to City J. I didn't know exactly what he had in mind, after all, this was not the most secure location for a camp, but clearly, I was not the General.

Wang Chao, Liu Wei, and I stopped and watched the General's army begin to set up came in the middle of the highway. "I'm sorry, but does he have a screw loose or something? I am pretty sure that it would be safer to camp in the middle of a zombie horde than right here," I grumbled as Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Ha came up to where we were standing.

"Really?" Asked Liu Yu Zeng as he looked around. "Honestly, this place is in a flat, open area, with no unobstructed vision, and still on our route, what is wrong with it?"

"That it is in a flat, open area with an unobstructed view of all around us and on a major highway that will be taken by both zombies and humans alike," I said, not at all impressed. "Any fires we light will let people know our exact location, we have nowhere to actually run if it came down to it, and we could easily be surrounded on all sides in the dark."

"Then where would you suggest we camp?" Asked Chen Zi Han as he too looked around.

"There," I said as I pointed to the forest off of the shoulder of the road. "Frankly, if I was just me, I would be up a tree, but since I don't think that is possible, then the best place to be is on the ground in the forest. It is easy to get rid of any pursuers, there is no way that they could be quiet enough to sneak around us and the trees would be able to hide our fire," I continued, pointing out all of the benefits of being in the forest vs the trees.

In my past life, I preferred to stick to the forest for just that reason. Heck, I would have no problems being on the highway if we never left the vehicles. But we were sitting ducks for both man and monster and I didn't want to be on either menu.

"OK," said Wang Chao as he made a few hand motions. The men behind us quickly slipped into the forest and disappeared among the branches.

"What are you doing?" Demanded General Fuck Face as he came storming up to us.  This was the first time I had managed to lay eyes on the man and I was really, really unimpressed.  His military uniform was wrinkled, sweat-stained under his armpits and the poor top could barely cover his belly from where it rode over his pants. His muddy brown hair was in disarray and his yellow teeth had pieces of… something… stuck between them.

If the boys didn't know him, I would have assumed that he had stolen the uniform for some reason or another. I shuddered as he looked down at me and licked his lips like I was some type of delicacy that he couldn't wait to try.

I mean, I was… but he was never going to get a taste.  He would become the human torch before that ever happened.

"Well, hello there," he said in a slimy voice.  Not wanting to deal with him, or even acknowledge him in any way, I turned my back to him and rolled my eyes. Wang Chao nodded his head and I slipped between the four men and made my way to the edge of the forest to wait for them.

"Bitch," I heard him grumble under his breath, like calling me that would make me want to show him more attention. I was completely fine if he thought I was a bitch.

I watched the five men exchange some words before my men left the General standing alone on the highway and walked toward me.

"All good?" I asked, a smirk on my face.

"Just peachy," grumbled Liu Wei. "But let's just get our own camp set up."  I nodded in response and looked around the clearing, not able to see any of our men.

"They will find a spot to hide and will meet us back on the highway tomorrow morning," said Chen Zi Han. I nodded my understanding and then proceeded to trek a few meters into the forest to find a camp for the five of us.

I found a small circle of trees, the middle of them no more than 6 feet in length, and decided that this was going to be the best place I could find in the almost dark. Although it wasn't long enough for all of the men to stretch out, it did provide us with a lot of cover and a few trees for me to perch in overnight. 

Honestly, the idea of sleeping on the ground gave me the creeps and I didn't want to disappear into my space and leave the guys to fend for themselves. "It really stresses you out being on the ground, doesn't it?" Said Wang Chao, a trace of confusion on his face.

I nodded like it was no big deal. "I was caught on the ground a few times by the Reavers and I didn't want to… deal… with that again."

"What are Reavers?" Asked Chen Zi Han as he found a spot and leaned against a tree. Liu Yu Zeng was starting a small fire in the middle of the clearing and Liu Wei was out finding wood and kindling for it.

"Reavers is what I called them, I don't know what anyone else called them," I said, not sure how to describe them. "They are humans that just… aren't right. They are Asymptomatics, but instead of going into hiding when they were being hunted down, decided to do some hunting on their own. They can easily create zombies with just a simple exchange and reveled in the power that it gave them."

"How can they create zombies?" Asked Liu Wei, coming back with his arms full of wood.

"Do you really think that everyone went out and got the vaccine simply because the government required it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Approximately 30 percent of the population is human. Not zombie, power user, asymptomatic, or normal. Just pure human. They are the holy grail that everyone seems to want to find simply because of the fact that they are still pure." I shrugged my shoulders, not really caring one way or another.

But the Reavers liked to play zombie and would eat any people and or zombies that they came across. Or did other things… much, much worse things.

I shuddered as I remembered the feeling of being put in a cage, of the men with flesh hanging out of their mouths coming close to me and peering in like I was a piece of meat to be purchased for consumption… of some kind or another.

Never again would I sleep on the ground, unaware of what was going on around me.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, I took out 5 ready-made plates of spaghetti and meatballs. I wanted the lasagna, but I was worried that that smell would carry on the wind and attract people to our location. Handing one to each guy, I sat down at the base of one tree and quickly ate my meal.  "I'll take the first watch," I said as I vanished my plates and pulled out a steaming cup of coffee. "Anyone want a coffee?"

When I heard the four grunts, I quickly pulled out four travel mugs of coffee with milk and sugar waiting on the ground. The only smell more attractive than lasagna as far as I was concerned was that of coffee. At least the lid on the travel mug would stop the smell from traveling.

"You sure you're okay with the first watch?" Asked Chen Zi Han as he took his cup of coffee from me.

"Yeah," I replied nodding, "I got a good 10-hour nap a few hours ago. Combined with the coffee I'll be good for a while."

The boys grunted in assent and as soon as Liu Yu Zeng put out the fire, I turned around to climb up my tree. Once I was happily settled on my branch, I looked down to see if the guys were handling the ground ok. I was startled to see that not a single one of them was on the forest floor.

Looking around, I saw each man up in a tree, resting on branches of their own.

Smiling in approval, I got comfy and let the boys sleep as long as they could.