Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"Why not?" I pushed, maintaining the smile on my face. 

"Because he is not the leader," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it was. No one other than the leader had the right to decide what was going on within a group. 

"Exactly," I said, my smile never wavering. "And the commander is not the leader of this group. I am."

"That is not possible," she chuckled, shaking her head. "He is the commander of a military team. Of course he is in charge of the team."

"His team, yes," I said with a definitive nod. "But not the whole team. I am the one that he had to turn to for help when he needed it. That means that he cannot make the decision for the team as a whole. That lies firmly on my shoulders."

She scoffed at that remark and shrugged her shoulders. "That's fine," she quickly agreed with a smile of her own. "We will not be part of your team."

"Ah, let me guess… the road is a public space. You can follow along behind us, and we can't say a word because you are not technically part of our team. Right?" I said with a smirk. "But since we all have cars, can you really keep up with us? Or are you going to take your time because you think that we will clear the road of any dangers for you?"

There were many problems with my brain. I will fully admit that. But one of the top five was definitely overanalyzing every outcome for any situation that I could possibly think of. All within a matter of minutes. 

I had come up with at least ten possible outcomes for this scenario. And eight of them ended up with her and her group being zombie food. I was actually impressed that only two of them involved me throwing them to mine.

I didn't bother waiting for her to answer but instead turned and walked back to where the commander and my men were standing.

"You have two choices," I said, not bothering with any sort of politeness. "You can either take them with you, and we go ahead and meet you wherever you decide, or you leave them here to fend for themselves and travel with us. The choice is yours."

"When I first went into the military, I made a vow to protect the citizens of Country K for as long as there was breath in my body. I will not turn my back on people that need me," said Commander Huang Nian Zu, crossing his arms in front of his chest. I nodded my head in understanding.

"I understand vows, and they are something to take extremely seriously, just like promises," I assured him with a smile. "But I made a promise to myself that I would let them all die, people, that is," I tilted my head to the side and looked at him. "Which means that one of us will have to break their promise."

I smiled at the commander. "Now, I have been breaking my promise left, right, and center," I said with a nod. "But that needs to end. So, I will not kill them, but I will not save them. You want to? That is your decision, but I will have no part of it."

"And are you okay with that?" demanded Huang Nian Zu, turning to look at Wang Chao.

"Completely," replied Wang Chao with a shrug.

"And what about your vows?" sneered Huang Nian Zu.I think you should take a look at

"What about them? No one else seems to care unless it helps them get what they want, so why can't I change my vow of protecting the citizens of my country to protecting only my family?" demanded Wang Chao, not caring if the newcomers could hear him or not.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first, there was General Yang Bo Wen," said Liu Wei ticking the names off on his fingers. I would have to admit, though, I didn't remember a General Yang Bo Wen. Maybe it was something from before the men started traveling with me. 

Wang Chao looked at me with a smirk on his face. "Not quite, but I think you referred to him as General Fuck Face. Liu Wei just said his given name for Huang Nian Zu's sake."

Ah yes, General Fuck Face…. Wait, wasn't he eaten by zombies sometime after we met Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han?

"After General Yang Bo Wen took in a bunch of citizens, he put the lives of his men and us on the line. He was eaten by zombies. But not before he told us that it was our responsibility to help Rear Admiral Zhou Gang Jia. We met up with the Rear Admiral, and that decision blew up in our faces as well when he tried to force us to teach his units but was willing to kill Li Dai Lu because she was a citizen."

"Don't forget Deng Jun Hie," interjected Liu Yu Zeng, getting into the spirit of things. "Wasn't he in the military too?"

"He was," nodded Chen Zi Han, "If I remember correctly, he was a Major General."

"And what happened to him?" asked Liu Yu Zeng, trying to think, his index finger slowly tapping on his chin.

"He tried to kidnap Li Dai Lu so that we would be under his command for the rest of our lives and protect his safety zone," answered Wang Chao with a smile on his face. I couldn't miss the brief flash of anger on his face as he said that though.

Mind you, I didn't know that everyone that tried to fuck us over were all military. In fact, the only people we have really been in contact with were the military, bikers, and Reavers. Zombies didn't count. They weren't exactly people. Then again, maybe I should take Reavers off that list, too, since they were technically zombies, to begin with... 

"And I think we can all agree that after this mission where the lovely commander tries to fuck us over, we will be avoiding the military for the rest of our lives, right?" I asked, looking around at all the guys.

"Yeah," said Wang Chao with a definitive nod of his head. 

"So, like we said. You can go do whatever you want with those civilians. The choice is yours. But we want nothing to do with them," I said, recapping our entire conversation.

"Follow whatever leader you want," said Liu Yu Zeng. "But don't come crying to us afterward."