[1] Apocalypse: Third Rebirth

Chapter 139: Options

"Everyone expects the apocalypse to be this big, sudden change from everything that they knew. And technically, that was what happened when the EMP went off and we lost all of the electricity that we had come to depend on for our very survival. But that was the first step." I said, willing the guys to understand what I was trying to say.

"The EMP was our first step into the quicksand," said Liu Wei, looking at me intently. "But because the apocalypse didn't happen overnight, people just stood still."

Ah, it was so nice for someone to speak Li Dai Lu. I chucked. "Exactly. People still expected the government to come around and save them, they still expected everything to go back to normal quickly and easily, and that the grocery stores would miraculously have food in them again. So what was the point of stressing or preparing?"

I saw the men nodding their heads and I tried to really drive home my point. "How many times have we really encountered the zombies?" I asked, watching as the men froze. "Not that often, right? Especially not if we are considering this to be a zombie apocalypse."

"So, what exactly is happening right now?" asked Liu Yu Zeng.

"Humans are frozen, completely unaware of any dangers coming their way."

"And the zombies?" asked Chen Zi Han. I looked over my shoulder to see the man staring down at me from where I sat.

"The zombies are taking their time discovering a whole new world," I said. "They are fighting amongst themselves for positions of power, and getting their ranks in order. They are learning about all the new and fantastic changes that their bodies have undergone and they are slowly learning how to successfully hunt their prey."

"Not to mention that they are stuck in all this snow too," pointed out Liu Yu Zeng.

Once again humming in agreement, I leaned against the back of my hair and felt Chen Zi Han's hand on my shoulder.

"If we are lucky, we have five months to gather as many supplies as we can and set up a safe haven for us to be able to withstand the initial onslaught. But it is more than that, we have to find a place where we can have enough room to grow our own food, we have to make sure that we don't have anyone around that would betray us, and we need to hone our powers to be even more efficient at killing."

"Killing zombies or killing humans?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he stared at me, wondering just how grey my own lines were.

"Both," I said, slowly, surely. He raised his eyebrow as if asking if I was sure, but there was still one thing that he didn't quite understand. I had no lines to cross. Any shackles of morality, humanity, or even common courtesy were shattered when I was ripped limb from limb in my previous life.

Liu Yu Zeng simply nodded his head. "So essentially we are starting our own syndicate and we have five months to be up and running." Thinking about his statement for a second, I realized that he was exactly right.

"Oh, and one more thing." I said with a deep sigh. The three men stared me down as if their very lives were dependent on what was going to come out of my mouth next. And in a way, they were. "The zombie hordes that we have been dealing with? Those were child's play in front of the tide that is coming."

"Tide?" asked Liu Wei. He had planned to stand up, but at my words, he sunk back down into his chair.

"What else would you call an endless surge of zombies that as soon as the first line falls there is an unending number of them to take their place. Some tides went non- stop for weeks, even months. Most places couldn't deal with the sheer numbers and were annihilated."

"Fuck," whispered Liu Yu Zeng as he tried to wrap his head around that idea.

"Yeah, the only good thing to come from it was that people discovered that they had powers that they could use against the zombies with more success than just bullets."