Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



I looked at Guo Bi Ming blankly when he said that we needed the signal lights changed out because the old ones weren't working after the EMP.

"Why do we need those?" I asked, not sure why we needed them when we didn't even have a working tower yet.  Getting red, blue, and white lights for the top of the cell tower seemed like a weird request. But, then again, it was not like I was working with numbers right now, so bring on the weird requests.

And I would like to point out that there is a huge difference between needing to count from 1-100 in my head in stressful times and figuring the amount of x that is used in a year per person and then multiplying that by the number of people on base. It is almost as big of a difference between kindergarten and high school math.  But I digress, back to flashing lights and towers. 

"We need the lights at the top of the tower to let any aircrafts around know that it is there in the darkness," replied Guo Bi Ming as he looked between me and Chen Zi Han who was writing the list of things Guo Bi Ming needed. I mean, I was happy that I was not dealing with Jiang Ming Tao anymore and his negative Nancy attitude. But still…

I simply blinked at the man standing in front of me. I didn't know what type of look I had on my face, but I was pretty sure confusion was going to be a big part of it.

"Aircrafts...As in airplanes... As in the things that fly in the sky and go really long distances in a short amount of time? Those airplanes?" I asked, wanting to make sure that I had heard him correctly. 

"Yes," he answered. "Legally we are required to have the lights on and in working order during the evening and overnight hours," he continued as he looked back and forth between me and Chen Zi Han like the other man would nod and take his side.

"Legally?" I parroted.  Pretty sure I was going crazy. He had to be pulling my leg, right?!?! I mean, when Wang Chao told me that Jiang Ming Tao was dead but he had a backup, I was happy. When he said that the new guy was a genius that had a degree from some university in communications technology, I was over the moon. But now, sitting here, I really had to question his genius status.

Still staring at the man, neither one of us talking, I didn't even know how to describe what I was feeling.

  "Yes," he said again in such a tone that it seemed that he was questioning my intelligence. 

"What airplanes are you talking about?" I asked, looking him in the eyes.

"The ones in the sky," he said snarkily just before his eyes went wide. "Oh."

"Yeah," I said nodding my head sagely. There was that brain kicking in. "I think we should put off worrying about the lights until we actually get airplanes back."

He simply grunted in response before he turned around and walked to where Jin Si Cong was standing. I looked over at the quiet man and raised an eyebrow. "No requests from you?" I asked and he shook his head.

Before I could open my mouth to say something else, a voice called to me inside of my head. 'Sweetness, we have a problem.'

------

Ren Ruo Xuan was waiting for Liu Yu Zeng when he came out of the fifth house. His arms were laden with heavy boxes of canned goods, but he showed no signs of fatigue. He knew how much all this stuff meant to Li Dai Lu and if he could ease her burden in even the smallest way, then he was more than happy to do that.

"Boss," said Ren Ruo Xuan, a worried look passing over his face. Liu Yu Zeng stopped at Chen Zi Han's second-in-command and waited for whatever he had to say next.  "We have a problem," said the man, standing straight but refusing to meet Liu Yu Zeng's gaze.

"I have already said, if there are people in the house that don't want to leave, just kill them," said Liu Yu Zeng, not really considering that others would have an issue with killing people. Was that why he said they had a problem?

It couldn't be. Ren Ruo Xuan had been working with their organization for years, and his meticulous nature played a very crucial part when it came to getting information from people. There was no reason why killing would be a problem now.

"No, Sir," he said, shaking his head.

"Zombies?"

"No, Sir."

"Then what the fuck is the problem?!" growled Liu Yu Zeng, not in the mood to play 20 questions. If it wasn't humans or zombies then it wasn't a problem as far as he was concerned. Hell, even humans and zombies didn't really count as a problem for long.

"We have too many supplies," said Ren Ruo Xuan slowly, like he was worried that Liu Yu Zeng was going to shoot the messenger.

"No such thing," replied Liu Yu Zeng shaking his head. There would never be such a thing as too many supplies.

"Then maybe you should come and see for yourself?" asked Ren Ruo Xuan.  Liu Yu Zeng just stared at the other man. He was heading to the entrance himself to drop off these boxes. There was no way he wouldn't be able to see for himself.

-----I think you should take a look at

There were too many supplies. Liu Yu Zeng put down his boxes of food and walked over to where his brother was standing, his arms crossed, looking at the growing piles of boxes, bags, and even some furniture that was just sitting outside of the SUVs.

"We didn't have this problem with Li Dai Lu," said Liu Wei as he reached up to readjust his glasses. Liu Yu Zeng could only grunt as the remaining eight men continued to empty the houses one at a time, bringing their goods to the entrance like ants returning to the ant hill with food.

"Is the Shaman filled up?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he tilted his head towards the tank-like ATV. That thing could easily seat 10 men inside and still have room for a party. There was no way that it would be filled up that early.

"Yup," confirmed Liu Wei with a nod.

"And the SUVs?"

"Yup," came the confirmation.

"Guess we really do have too many supplies," grumbled Liu Yu Zeng as he watched the piles grow bigger and bigger, not stopping his men from their mission.  He told them he wanted all of the supplies and that was what he was going to get.

"Wish we have some way to contact Li Dai Lu and asked her what she wants done. I mean, we could always make a few trips, but that runs the risk of someone coming along and stealing our stuff," grumbled Liu Wei as he looked around the area to see if there was anything that they could use to transport everything with.

"Let me see what I can do," said Liu Yu Zeng, slapping his older brother on the shoulder before walking away.

He had his own way of contacting Sweetness and hopefully, she would be able to come up with a way to get everything back.

'Sweetness, we have a problem,' he said, hoping that the link between them was open and that she was not busy with something else.

'Are you ok?!? Is it a horde?!?!' Hearing the sheer panic in her voice made Liu Yu Zeng content. He could feel her fear and worry for him.

'No,' he assured her. 'Nothing like that.'

'Is it humans? Because you know you can just kill them, right?'  Liu Yu Zeng had to smile when her answers were so clearly along the same lines as his.

'Nope,' he said trying to restrain his laughter.

'Then what is the problem?' she demanded and he could almost picture her stomping her feet in frustration.

'Too many supplies,' he said as he turned his attention back over to the growing piles. His men continued to collect things even after it had been determined that they had no more room for them.

'Bite your tongue, there is no such thing,' she said with a gasp, like the very thought of having too much stuff was simply inconceivable. Liu Yu Zeng couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing at her indignant tone.

'There is when you have piles of food and supplies sitting in the snow because all of the vehicles are filled to the brim,' he said, rubbing his lips to try and suppress his smile.

'Really?' she asked hesitantly, but he could feel her glee through their link.

'Yes,' he confirmed. 'Did you want me to send out the vehicles in batches?'

'No, we run the risk of someone trying to take them,' she grumbled. 'You guys are what, 45 minutes away from the base? In that subdivision that we talked about?'

Liu Yu Zeng hummed in agreement before he quickly cut himself off. 'You will not be coming out here in the snow. It is fine, I will find a way to get all the supplies back to you.'

He both felt and heard her chuckle. 'I will be fine,' she assured him. 'Just make sure that you weren't joking about the amount of supplies waiting for me to arrive.' 

Liu Yu Zeng waited for a moment to make sure that she didn't have anything else to say and then turned around and went back to his brother. "She'll be here in about an hour," he said as he stared at his men gathering supplies. "But she also said that we needed to make it worth her while to come all the way out here. We'll have to pick up the pace and completely clean out all of these houses."

Liu Wei turned to look at his brother. "And how exactly were you able to get a hold of her?" he asked as he readjusted his leather gloves and raise an eyebrow.

"That would be telling," answered Liu Yu Zeng with a smile on his face before he too turned around and got back to work.