Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Lucky? How?!" demanded Cao Mu Chen. "We lost two men before when we fought those things."

"Exactly. Lucky," replied Wang Chao. He was racking his brains trying to find a way out of this situation, a safe place for them to retreat and preferably one with plenty of light.

Light…

Electricity…

Lightning!

Thinking about how Li Dai Lu made those balls of fire that hung over everyone's head in the last few fights, Wang Chao tried to replicate that, but using his lightning instead. Concentrating, he managed to form a small ball of lightning between his two palms.

He could feel the energy draining out of him and he wondered how his little girl was able to do something like having 30 balls suspended in the air all at once. Putting more and more energy into the ball in his hands, he concentrated, trying to make the ball bigger so that it would light up more area.

But because he was concentrating on the energy in his hands, he completely missed the slight gust of wind that brushed past his cheek.

Another scream, another body gone. 

Finally building up a ball the size of his head, he released it into the air to act as a giant lightbulb over the remaining three men. And then promptly wished he didn't. He heard a gulp from one of the men behind him as his lightning illuminated no more than 10 feet around them. But it was enough.

It was enough to see that they were completely surrounded by zombies, their pale blue and purple faces the stuff of nightmares. Especially when you have little hope of killing them all. 'Liu, we are in trouble,' he said, sending the thought out to the man upstairs. 'There is a horde of zombies down here, I have no idea their numbers. If I don't make it out, tell our Queen that I am sorry for not being able to come home to her and I will find her in our next life.'

Shutting down the link between him and Liu Wei without waiting for a response, Wang Chao looked at the grinning faces of countless zombies.

Scanning the zombies in front of him, he tried desperately, one more time, to find the flame that he could use to kill them. Not holding out much hope, but willing to do whatever it took to make it home to Li Dai Lu that night.

There… just a faint flicker in the zombie in front of him, but it was enough. Reaching out his hand like he was physically trying to grab the flame in front of him, he closed his fist, picturing the flame going out at the same time. It worked! Thank all the Gods it worked! 

The zombie that he was concentrating on fell to the floor, dead. But before Wang Chao could take a single breath, another zombie stepped forward, taking the spot of its dead teammate. Realizing that he couldn't take them out one at a time, Wang Chao concentrated, trying to find the flames of more than just the zombie in front of him.

Seeing six flames dancing in the darkness, he pictured snuffing them out, and six zombies fell down dead. Only to be replaced by six more.

The only good thing about this whole thing was that with each flame that he extinguished, the more power he could feel coursing within his body. But he needed to be able to physically see the zombie in order to be able to see the flame inside of them.

As soon as he had that realization, the giant ball of lightning that he had created disappeared, leaving the three humans, completely surrounded by zombies in the dark.

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'Tell our Queen I am sorry for not being able to come home to her and I will find her in my next life.' The words that Wang Chao spoke echoed in his head as Liu Wei dropped everything and started to sprint out the door.

"Captain?" yelled Du Ya Ting as he looked around for a reason why his team captain would be willing to leave all of the supplies behind. He was absolutely insistent before that they get and keep everything.

"The General's team is surrounded by zombies in the basement," came the hurried reply and the remaining four men also put down their supplies to rush to Liu Wei's side. Except for Jin Si Cong. That man was frantically pulling things out of his backpack, searching for something.

Finding whatever it was that he was looking for, he quickly followed his teammates as they chose to slide down the banisters of the escalators instead of going down each step. Making it down six flights of stairs in record time, the five men came to a sudden stop as they opened the doors to the basement, flooding the area with a dim light.

The chaos that was relieved was enough to make even the strongest of men want to turn tail and run.

"I need more light!" shouted Wang Chao from somewhere in the middle of the mass of zombies. There had to be at least 200 of them circled around the man. The ones on the outside simply pacing back and forth, waiting for their turn in the center. Jin Si Cong quickly knelt down and pulled out eight camping lamps that he had managed to take from one of the high-end camping stores that they raided. Pulling them open, he threw them in different places around the horde, giving Wang Chao what he so desperately needed.

As soon as the light appeared, they turned to look at the source and the five new humans that had so nicely offered themselves up for a meal. Pulling out his sword, Liu Wei waited until the zombies came to him. As much as he would like to say that he ran into a horde of zombies, at the end of the day, that was just a really stupid idea.

The first zombie glided up to him like a shark through the water, the creepy grin on its face never changing. Liu Wei braced himself, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike when all of a sudden, there was a soft gasp beside him. Not willing to take his eyes off his first opponent, he clenched his fingers harder around the hilt of his sword.

He would make it through here alive and drag Wang Chao's sorry ass home so that he could explain to Li Dai Lu why they didn't have the supplies she asked for.

The zombie put on a burst of speed and just like a ball player up to bat, Liu Wei swung his sword taking off its head in one lucky stroke. Calling on a ball of flame to take care of the rest of the body, Liu Wei was stunned. The fire that they so desperately relied on was Li Dai Lu's. Without her, there was no way to burn the zombies to ashes.

'Use fighting,' came a brief command inside of his head. Well, at least that meant that Wang Chao was still alive, even if they couldn't see him. Looking around at his group to gauge how they were doing, he paused in confusion. "Where is Chu Chang Pu?" he asked, looking at the other men.

The remaining three men behind him quickly looked around. He was nowhere to be found. Shrugging his shoulders, Liu Wei put away his sword and quickly took out the leather gloves that his uncle had gifted him many years before. Carefully putting them on and taking the time to center himself, he gave his right first knuckle a little kiss and whispered a prayer. 

When the second zombie approached him, much in the same way as the first, Liu Wei quickly dodged out of the way of the attack and placed his right hand on the zombie's neck. As soon as his touch landed, the zombie fell to the floor, permanently dead. Although Liu Wei didn't like the idea of getting that close to a zombie, everyone else had a cool gift that they could kill from far away, he was at least thankful that he could snuff out their flame with a simple touch.

He quickly took out the 10 zombies that had decided that he and his team were on the lunch menu, and then started slowly stomping his foot like he had seen Li Dai Lu do in order to get their attention.  A few more turned their attention from whatever was going on in the center of the swarm to the four men standing just on the outside.

Jin Zi Cong, Du Ya Ting, and Han Xi Yang were desperately trying to fight them off when Du Ya Ting felt something gripping him around his ankle. Looking down, he stared directly into the pinprick eyes of a pale lavender zombie, its three rows of teeth gleaming in the light. Before he could utter a single word, the zombie pulled him by his ankle, causing his feet to give out from under him.

Dropping his sword, he used his forearms to cushion his fall, preventing his face from hitting the ground first. Face down on the ground, he didn't even have time to gather his thoughts before being dragged away by the zombie so fast his mind could only hope to keep up. His fingernails ripped off as they tried to find a hold on the smooth marble floor of the shopping center, leaving behind 10 lines of blood on the pristine white surface.

He blinked only a single time and he could no longer see his teammates or the basement of the shopping center.