Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



The three miles that it took us to get to the gas station went by fairly uneventfully. Then again, I think that we had enough issues between City B and here that we were due for some smooth sailing at this point. 

Pulling up to the gas station, we lined up in front of the door, still on or in our vehicles, and waited to see if something was going to come out and attack us. It was the very typical bright yellow building that seemed to glow in the darkness, even without the help of lights. However, inside the building, it was completely dark. I didn't know if it was because there were people inside that were purposefully trying to block out their light or if the building itself was empty, but either way, I knew I was going to try and find the answer.

I looked over to my left and saw all of the pumps standing guard in the darkness, hopefully with more than enough gas inside of them to make me happy.

With a wave of my hand, I managed to take the storage tanks of gas out of the ground and put them into my space without anyone being the wiser. I debated not bothering to even enter the building now that we got the things that we were looking for but knowing that there was the potential for supplies just feet in front of me make me want to risk venturing into the unknown.

"Ready?" I asked as I looked at the men around me. 

"Sure," replied Liu Yu Zeng with a shrug of his shoulders. Leave it up to my joker to be willing to jump into the unknown with both feet.

"Might as well," added Chen Zi Han with a shrug of his shoulders.

The two men got off of their motorcycles but kept their helmets on. Walking towards the front door, Chen Zi Han raised his hand to knock on the door. "Hello?" he shouted. "We are coming in. If there is anyone in there, know that you can open the door, or we can kick it down. If you chose option two, you won't be able to replace the thing any time soon."

There was a brief shuffling on the other side of the door, and we could hear the echoing of a lock being opened from where we stood. "Good plan," said Liu Yu Zeng with a smirk on his face. My two syndicate men looked like they were having a very fun time with what was going on. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would go as far as to say that they were in their element.

The door swung open, and the boys were greeted with what looked to be a sawed-off shotgun. I couldn't make out the person holding the gun, as only the muzzle and barrel were visible. However, there was light coming through the door which made me believe that there was more than one person staying there. "What do you want?" demanded a very feminine voice, the owner of which was nowhere to be seen.

"Just looking for some supplies," said Liu Yu Zeng with a smile, looking so relaxed that you wouldn't believe that he was being held at gunpoint. Then again, I wouldn't put it past him to use the cover of night to seep some of his poisonous mist into the building, ready to take a few hostages of his own.

"We have none," snapped the woman, clearly not willing to share whatever she found. Not like I blamed her. I wasn't willing to share any of my stuff either.

There was a scream behind us, and one of the bikes revved his engine before taking off down the road. I didn't bother turning around to look at what was going on. That was something for the bikes to deal with.  I think you should take a look at

"What did you do?" demanded the woman as she pumped her shotgun and rose it up higher.

"I think it is more of a question of what did you do?" I said, coming to stand in between my men and right in front of the gun. "And did you really think that it would work?"

"I did nothing," she replied, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Sure," I sighed as I closed my eyes. I was at my limit dealing with people. "Let's go with that. Then I will let Lin know that you don't know the guy on the bike, and it is okay to kill him."

"You can't kill him!" she yelled.

"Sure I can. It is really simple," I said with a smile. "And the longer that you hold that shotgun at me and my men, the messier his death is going to be." 

'Tsk,' came a voice inside of my head, and I could only sigh in frustration. I was so sure that I had managed to get two voices to shut up (the icy one had a mind of her own), and now out pops a fourth one. 'Still so weak. I had thought that you had been cured of that. Just kill them and take what you want. You are stronger anyways. You would actually be doing both them and the world a service.'

I was not in any position to deal with a new personality, nor did I really want to waste the energy arguing with a voice that was essentially myself at the end of the day. 

"Fine," said the woman on the other side of the door. I wasn't paying much attention, but the boys ushered me into the building as soon as they deemed it safe to do so. I was still dealing with the headache of a new voice. I mean, I knew there was a joke that all women had multiple personalities, but this was getting a bit ridiculous.

"You can take whatever you see," continued the woman. Putting aside the voice, I studied the woman in front of me. She was wearing a Country K military uniform, and I couldn't hold back my groan.

There were some days that made you wonder if it was even worth waking up that morning. This was a whole decade like that… and we were only into the first year.

"Have a problem with me?" the stranger snarled as if I was the problem in this situation.