Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

It was amazing. Every single person but the commanding officer chose to live, and I can't say that I was surprised. Now I just had to hope the boat we brought with us was big enough for all 133 people, plus us.

I thought about it for a second and then decided that once we got rid of the Sea Dragon commander and his men, there would be more than enough room for everyone.

"Here is the plan," I said, completely surrounded by all of the men and women from Country M. I supposed that I should have wondered/ asked what they were doing here, but at the same time, I don't really think that it applied anymore. They were people that needed to live. "You guys are all going for a swim."

They looked at me with a confused look on their faces, and I turned to look at Liu Wei for a general translation of what I had said wrong. How else were they going to get out of here if they didn't swim? Or had Country M developed teleportation that I didn't know about?

"We have oxygen tanks," said Liu Wei sending me a smirk before coming to stand up beside me. "There are around 70 tanks which means that you will all be doubling up on them. We also have 70 wet suits if you need them. Get only what you can carry and get changed if you have your own wet suit. If you don't have your own, come see me, and I will provide you with one. Are there any questions?" 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝒐𝒎

One man in the center of the pack raised his hand and took a step forward. "How are we going to be able to fight whatever those things are in the water?" he asked. I nodded my head in approval. Maybe Crazy had something going with the SEALs; they seemed to be very intelligent. If this guy was even a SEAL, that is.

"You aren't," replied Liu Wei. "They are friendlies. They will be there acting as a barrier between you and anything else that wants to eat you. If you decide to disregard my words, you will be eaten by them."

"I don't understand," said a woman coming to stand beside the other man. She was short, almost my height, with long blonde hair that hung down to the small of her back and blue eyes. She was absolutely stunning.

"The weird-looking shark/human/zombie things outside belong to me. As long as I don't give the order, they will not attack you. However, they have been tasked to keep out the not-so-friendly zombies as well as any sharks that might be a bit too interested in us," I said, answering before Liu Wei could. I guess my possessiveness extended to talking to attractive women. Huh.

"And once we get to the surface? We are a long way from dry land," she pressed, looking at me. I raised my eyebrow at her question.

"I don't understand," I parroted with a slight smirk. "I mean, common sense would be that we had a boat waiting for us at the surface, but then again, common sense isn't so common. Right?"

She let out a snort of laughter and raised her eyebrow back at me. Apparently, we were now communicating in eyebrow language. I didn't know that was even a thing, but I guess if guys had nods, we could have eyebrows.

"You could start an argument in an empty house, now, couldn't you?" she asked, her southern accent becoming more pronounced.

"Awe, bless your heart, and here was me thinking that the porch light's on, but no one's home," I shot back. I would fully admit to loving 'Sweet Home Alabama' in my first life and desperately studied all the hilarious Southern sayings.

No one seemed to understand them in my last life, but maybe, in this life, I could have someone to exchange insults with.

"I think you and I are about to have a come to Jesus meetin'," said the blonde as she took a step closer. I could see the smirk on her face as she said it, enjoying the exchange of insults as much as I was. But the man standing beside her clearly couldn't.

"Lonnie," he warned in a low voice. "This is not the time to get started."

"He is as nervous as a cat in a room full of rockers," I chuckled and raised my brow. She rolled her eyes.

"Mmm," she hummed in agreement. "But we will go get everything we need."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at her. Making a quick decision, I strolled towards her and took her arm in mine. "Why don't you show me what you want brought?" I asked with a smile. It was no skin off my back to toss her stuff in my space for a few minutes.

-----

It took almost an hour before everyone was ready and back at the hatch. After tossing Lonnie's stuff into my space, I returned to the conning tower and the commanding officer, who stood all by himself.

"Are you sure I can't change your mind?" I asked him one last time. He gave me a small smile and shook his head. "No, the captain always goes down with his ship," he said softly as his hand brushed over the instruments in front of him.

"The ship has already sunk, so technically, you already went down with it. And no one would know," I persisted. It always seemed to bug me when the loyal ones died first. I felt that there were enough pieces of shit in the world that killing a decent human left a bad taste in my mouth.

But it wasn't my call to make.

"How would you like to die?" I asked. Letting him choose his end was the last bit of mercy that I could give him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, cocking his head to the side and looking at me. "Death is death. It doesn't matter how you die; the end result is always the same."

"If one of us does it, I can promise that it will be painless," I said, leaning against the entrance of the room.

"I have my own plans but thank you. The device is where you think it is. The code is X952057D2Z to unlock the case around it."

"May your journey to the underworld be peaceful and your next life be everything you deserve," I said with a smile. Turning around, I didn't flinch when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the room. I guess I shouldn't have given him back his gun after all.