Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

I stared at the two men standing before me, not sure what to do or say. The look on their faces spoke louder than words that they thought they knew what they were asking me… but I don't think that they actually did.

I closed my eyes and tried to take a step forward, to head to my room and just be alone to process everything, but the steel beam around my waist stopped me. I looked over my shoulder to Wang Chao and then down to the arm that was wrapped around me. "Let me go," I said in a very calm voice. I needed to think and I couldn't do it with them around.

I needed to break down… and I couldn't do that with them around.

"Talk to us, little girl," came the gruff baritone voice of the man behind me. I took a breath and pasted a big smile on my face.

"It's all good," I said in my normal voice, my normal answer when anyone asked me if I was okay in my previous lives. "I just need some time to think."

Wang Chao's arm let me go just in time for Liu Wei to step forward and pull me into his arms from the front. "You are not fooling anyone, Sweetheart. Talk to us," he said as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

I could feel my calm starting to slip at the way the two of them were acting. They had time to think about everything, time to plan… to figure out how to make things work…

And yet, when they decided to inform me of their 'decision' they just expected me to… what… comply? Obey? I froze at that though as another one screamed through my head. Did I just change one Colin for two? Was that what was happening? No! I couldn't go through something like that again. I couldn't.

"Let go," I said, my voice taking on a frosty tone. It was so frosty that I could almost see the condensation coming out of my mouth as the words formed. I felt cold starting to encase me, turning my body to ice. Liu Wei quickly dropped his arms as both men looked at me in confusion and concern.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" Asked Liu Wei as he moved to step beside Wang Chao, giving me free access to the front door. I didn't bother to reply to him as I walked into the house, putting one foot in front of another. Getting to my room, I locked the door behind me and just stood there, looking around. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.ｏｒｇ

This was my paradise… MINE… the one place that I could truly call my own… it… was… mine! How dare they think that I would just get up and leave like all my hard work for the past year meant nothing, that the life that I was trying to build for myself meant nothing!

I could feel the anger rising in me, I could feel the blinding rage as my thoughts started to spin and the memories of three lifetimes whipped through my head. Never had I ever felt like I had a home, a place just for me.

My vision turned white and I collapsed to my knees and hung my head as I started to cry and scream and just let out all the emotions that I could feel. Tilting my head back, I closed my eyes and screamed again.

I could hear the pounding on the door behind me, but I ignored it. No one cared about me, so why should I bother with them? They just wanted to use me, to have me hunt down humans for sport, they would kill anyone and everyone just for fun…they were…they would…

'They are not Colin,' a small voice inside my head said, and a breath of warmth touched my cheek, warming up my frozen body.

'But they could be,' I argued back, not caring if I was going crazy talking to myself.

'But they are not,' the voice said again, and this time I could feel more warmth surrounding me as if I was embraced by someone or something. 'You need to trust them. Don't lock yourself away, don't do that to yourself. Be strong… take a step out into this new world and see just how strong you can be.'

Still on my knees, my head hung, a small part of me wanted to listen to the voice. I knew it wouldn't be healthy to lock myself away from everyone and everything. That I was making myself a prisoner in my own paradise. But at least I would be safe.

'But what is the point of being safe if you are not happy?' Asked another small voice from inside. The longer that I listened to the two voices, the warmer I felt.

'We can keep you safe,' said a third voice… this one seemed colder than the other two, strong and determined. 'Go out there on your own terms. You want to be a badass, you want to own who you are? Go out and do it.'

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to look around my room. I gasped in surprise when I saw the whole room completely encased in snow and ice… icicles hung from my four-poster bed, the sheets covered with snow so that only brief glimpses of color could be seen. I was standing in the middle of an ice castle and I had not idea how that happened.

I was brought out of my wonder as the door behind me started to shake with the force that the men were pounding on it.

Taking a deep breath and looking around my room one more time, I stood up and opened the door. Looking at the two men on the other side with a rare look of panic on their faces like their world might have collapsed, I gestured to them.

"I think I got a new power," I shyly smiled, like my whole meltdown didn't just happen.

I was not happy to be leaving my paradise, but there was nothing to say that I couldn't come back here once we got Liu Wei's family. They did say that they were only taking some of the men. There would be others here to protect this place.

But if I wanted a life on my own terms, I could not be the one to lock myself away. Part of wanting to be free was having actual freedom.

I straightened my back as I waved my hand and the pink flames shot around the room, melting the ice and snow and drying everything. Once my room was back in order, I looked that the guys.

"I will need some time to make lists and figure out what we need," I said as I brushed past the two men and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

Ready or not, world, here I come… I hope you are prepared.