Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

I woke up the next morning to my cell phone ringing. I groaned as my body gave me a long list of reasons why falling asleep in front of the patio doors was not a good idea.

I blindly stuck my hand out along the ground and tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. I was not going to move more than I had to before I was absolutely ready.

I found the phone on the last ring and picked it up and saw a missed call from the real estate agent. I raised my eyebrows trying to think about what she could possibly want. I practically had her in tears yesterday when I left.

The phone started to ring again.

Huh, must be important.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the phone. I put it on my shoulder as I got up and walked toward the kitchen. I couldn't stop the jaw-breaking yawn that came out of me if I tried.

"Ms. Li? Hi! It's Jenny Wang from Urban Paradise Real Estate. Is now a good time?" Came the cheerful voice from the other side of the phone. I looked at the time on my coffee maker and saw that it was 7:30 in the morning. Who the heck was that cheerful at 7:30 am?!?

"Yes, of course. What can I do for you, Jenny?" I asked as I stared at the machine. If will alone could make it work faster, I would have been sipping on my cup of freshly brewed coffee two hours ago.

Yes, I am aware that two hours ago I was still sleeping, I was trying to make a point that I wanted this thing to go faster.

"It's not what you can do for me, it's what I can do for you." I was startled out of my thoughts when I heard Jenny's answer.

What she could do for me? Wouldn't that be letting me sleep for a few more hours or bringing me a cup of coffee from the caf?? down the street? I was pretty sure that I was persona non grata there so I would have to find a source of coffee elsewhere.

Better add coffee to the things to stock up on. Although the plants did not mutate, the supply chain was completely cut off. Let me tell you, people without coffee were not people. They were mindless, wide-eyed monsters that were willing to bite your head off without a second thought. Seriously, the zombies had nothing on people without coffee.

"Then, what can you do for me?" I asked Jenny as the last bit of coffee dripped into the pot.

I poured myself a cup, added all the milk and sugar that could fit, and took the beverage to the mini bistro set that I had taken out. I sat down and looked out the windows while I waited for Jenny to tell me why she felt the need to wake me up so bloody early.

"The perfect homestead for you has just come on the market an hour ago. I will send you the pictures, but the listing has not been approved for the public so only agents from my office have the information. Anyways, the property backs onto the bottom of a mountain, it has three good-sized ponds and plenty of fields for both plants and livestock. It is about 100 miles from here, which will be a little over an hour and a half drive."

My body froze. From what she was saying, although it was a bit closer to the city than I wanted, it seemed perfect.

"I know you wanted something a bit further away, but I think that it would be worth a look. What do you think?" Came the voice from the phone.

"When can you pick me up?" I returned with a grin.

"I'm waiting for you downstairs now. And I have coffee." 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

"Be right there."

And just like that, Jenny redeemed herself for waking me up this morning. If everything worked out, that place would be more than worth a little less sleep.

--------------

The place was well worth waking up early.

After about an hour of highway driving, we turned off onto a small path through the woods that just had two tire tracks in the grass.

As we bumped along, the woods all of a sudden cleared and it was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing that I had seen in three lifetimes.

As the landscape opened up, all I could see were green fields, wood fences, and a large red barn off to one side. As we got closer, the tire tracks morphed into a dirt road. After opening the gate, Jenny got back in the car and looked at me.

"What do you think?" She asked. The excitement in her voice told me that she knew exactly what I thought.

"You said it hasn't been made public yet?" I asked, looking around.

This place might be less than two hours outside of the city, but when you were on the property itself, you felt like you were in a different world completely.

"Nope," she reassured me. "Urban Paradise is a subsidiary of Wang Enterprises, which is a subsidiary of Phoenix Conglomerate. That is a really roundabout way of saying that it is our parent company that is looking to sell the land, so they gave it to us first. Keep the money in the family and all that."

"I'll buy it," I said, not even bothering to look at the rest. I needed this place and this place needed to be mine.

"You're not going to ask how much?" Jenny laughed. "Or even see the rest of the property?"

"I'm going to go look around, you will figure out the price, and I will, fingers crossed, own this house within the next two hours. Deal?" I asked, getting out of the car on the other side of the gate.

"I'll see what I can do," replied Jenny as she yelled at me with her head sticking out the window.

I laughed and waved my hand, ready to start on an adventure around the land.

So, it turned out that what I thought was paradise on earth at the entrance to the ranch was not, in fact, paradise.

Paradise came with 3,000 acres of land that went all the way from the highway to the bottom of the mountain range. It had at least three ponds in various fields and a river that supplied the water.

Paradise came with the 13,000 square foot home that boasted 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, two entertainment areas, a wrap-around deck, a stone fireplace, and a chef's kitchen with four, count them, four pantries.

There were so many buildings and land that there was no way possible for me to see everything in a year! Good thing I have the apocalypse coming that would give me the time to explore.

With that much land, I could set up my own safe zone and protect all the people that come to me for help.

Or I can live my own life, away from people and zombies.

Let's go with option two.

I saw Jenny walking up the hill to greet me and I waved at her.

"What's the damage?" I asked, laughing. I would be willing to buy it no matter the price. Even if I got a loan from the bank, I'd only have to pay it off for a year.

"$5,000,000," she said, looking at me.

Five million? On Earth, something like this would have cost at least 20 million if not more.

"Sold!" I laughed. I could afford the entire amount, but I was not going to.

An EMP hit the city, and most of Country K, at the beginning of November, just when news of the zombies got out. All the information anywhere was lost. There was no more internet, no more cell phones, no cars, or anything that relied on electronics. That included the banks that contained, your money, your loans, all of that, were wiped out when that happened. Even after ten years, that information was never retrieved.

But enough about what was going to come. Now that I thought about the EMP, there was more to add to the list at home.