Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

Time seemed to pass by both too quickly and not quickly enough. It was that feeling of impending doom where you have waited for it for so long that you just wanted it to hurry up and get here, but at the same time, you wanted more time before it did. I compared it to exam time. You wanted it to just be over with so you could move on from it, but you wanted more time to study.

April turned into May and May into June, and soon enough, it was time for me to harvest from the fields, process my meat, and get ready for the next step of my life.

All of my ATVs arrived in the middle of July and I had a barn prepared especially for them. I drove them around the ranch as much as I could just so I could become accustomed to the handling. Nothing was worse than being caught in the middle of a horde and not knowing how to drive the escape vehicle. I saw that happen a few times and it wasn't a pretty sight.

My night car also showed up a few weeks later, and I was extremely happy to see that in addition to matting all of the metal details on it, they also matted the paint. Now the light seemed to sink into the black paint instead of reflecting off of it. Maybe I should have done that to the day car as well, but I needed a vehicle at the time.

August was winding to a close and I took an evening to just sit on my deck swing with a cup of coffee and check off my list of things to do. I have organized and stocked my pantry, although I still had a lot of crops in the field that weren't ready for harvest yet. As long as I had that all done before the end of November it would be fine. I got the old-school DVDs, Blu-rays, and their players stored away in my space until after the EMP. There would be enough for me to worry about collecting on October 31st that I didn't want to add to my pile of worries.

I continued to go through my list when I heard the buzz from my front gate, letting me know that someone was there. I opened the camera app on my phone and saw a convoy of military-grade vehicles waiting for me on the other side of the fence. I could easily recognize the Corvette in front, but I was happy to see that the silver color had become more of a matted grey. Apparently, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Chuckling to myself, I opened the gate and waited for the thirty minutes it would take for them to get to my house.

"I haven't seen you in a while, WeiWei," I laughed as Liu Wei got out of his car. Ten military supply trucks stopped behind his car and fanned out in a semicircle.

"Well, I've been preparing for the end of the world... you know how it is," he laughed as two men from each of the trucks came down and walked up to me. I stiffened. I trusted Liu Wei, but the people around him were debatable.

"They are my men, here to add to your supplies," he said, watching my every move.

I nodded in return and waited for them to grab the first batch of weapons before leading them deep into my house, into the basement, and through the hidden door. "Everything can go in there," I said, pointing to the massive warehouse-sized room built under my house. I guess I should thank the Blood Moon mercenaries for thinking about it. I didn't feel comfortable with the bulk of my weapons being in a barn far away from where I might need them. ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

"I have one last surprise for you," Liu Wei said as he put his hand on the small of my back and guided me back through the house and out the front door. There was one more supply truck that hadn't been touched. Standing beside it, I saw Liu Hong Tao and Liu Ming Jie from Dragon Fencing.

"These two are also mine," he continued as we walked around to the back of the truck. "I have been trying to think of a way for those gates to be secured, but not require electricity. This is the best solution I could come up with."

In the back were three giant beams that looked like they would weigh a hundred pounds each. He motioned to each man and they got back into the car and drove to the gates to install the drawbar on each one.

Then, Liu Wei turned to me, his voice serious. "I am going to send everyone back, but then you and I need to talk."

I nodded curious about what he was thinking and went back inside to the kitchen to wait for him. Making two cups of coffee, I automatically started thinking about the coffee ground supply and if it would be enough. I bought coffee bushes to grow my own coffee, so I was hoping that it would be enough.

In less than five minutes, Liu Wei was back and sipping from his mug of coffee. The silence stretched on until I couldn't take it anymore. "Whatever you did, just spit it out. I'll help if I can," I said, putting my giant mug beside the sink and looking at him.

"Wang Chao and I got our hands on the vaccine from Country M," he started, looking at me and trying to figure out my reaction.

"Are you trying to have all your men exposed first? Or are you trying to put the whole timeline forward to see if I was telling the truth?" I asked, looking at him.

"Neither," he responded. "We have two doses, one for me and one for Wang Chao. But we want to take them here at the ranch. We thought that it would be safest for everyone that way. And we would know what to expect before giving it to our men."

I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. Technically, it was the most logical thing to do. But it didn't mean that I approved.

"And what are you expecting from me?" I asked.

He looked startled like he didn't expect that answer or understood where it was coming from.

"75% of the people who take the vaccine, on average, become a zombie. Of the remaining 25%, 15% become a power user, and 10% become asymptomatic. Or at least that is what the scientists could best figure out. So, what are you expecting from me?" I asked again, picking up my cup of coffee and for the first time in a while, wished it was stronger. I had a lot of alcohol on hand, but I was saving that to use for bartering with the other humans. Even when it all goes to pot, people still had their vices.

I looked at the expression on his face and had to laugh. "You didn't take into account that you would be anything other than power users. I expected better of you, boyo," I said, my Canadian coming out.

"Kill us," he said after some pause. "If we are not a power user in the end, then kill us."

"Ahh," I said nodding, "so you have no problem putting the burden on me for killing a friend."

Liu Wei got up from the table and walked towards me. Crowding me between the counter and his body, he put both hands on the counter on each side of me and leaned in. "Does that mean you consider me a friend?" He asked, his voice taking on a husky tone to it.

I raised my eyebrow. The culture that I was originally born into was a lot different than the one that I was in now, and truth be told, it sometimes caught me off guard the differences. Whereas to someone born and raised here, being in this type of position would cause them to maybe panic or assume that he was flirting. To me, this was simply a sign of a close friend. I took the index finger of my right hand and poked him in the head, pushing him back.

"If you weren't a friend, you wouldn't be here right now," I said, creating distance and escaping from his hold. "And if you were trying to flirt, you need to work on it more," I continued as I walked out of the kitchen.

If Liu Wei and Wang Chao wanted to take the vaccine here, then I would have to figure out the best rooms to put them in. As much as I wasn't that close to Wang Chao, I knew that he was Liu Wei's best friend, so I had to look after him to the best of my ability. Otherwise, I would not be able to look Liu Wei in the eyes if I had to kill Wang Chao.