Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

I think that as much as I had steps to surviving the apocalypse, villains had steps on how to become bad guys. "Seriously?" I groaned as the hood was pulled from my head and I saw myself in an abandoned warehouse. "Is there some type of handbook that says all kidnapped victims had to be held in an abandoned warehouse? Can I vote for a five-star hotel? I think I would prefer that more."

The backhand that snapped my head to the left was probably a 'no'… but I had to try. Like my teachers always said... there was no harm in asking.

I couldn't decide if they were professionals, or not. They hadn't searched me for weapons and my cell phone was still in my pocket, hopefully with a connection to Liu Wei. I was pushed into a chair and my hands were roughly tied behind my back with a rope.

I was still on the fence about their professional credibility when it came to kidnapping.

And then, once they had determined me to be completely helpless, they opened the door and a figure in a three-piece suit walked into the open area. With the light shining behind him, I couldn't see who it was, but it was definitely a guy.

"You are a very interesting girl," came the smooth voice from the darkness. I stiffened and then forced myself to relax. I was not that girl that he once controlled. I still had the chance to kill him before the vaccine hits the shelves and he becomes invincible.

"Awe, all this for little old me? I'm touched Wang Zi Mo…or do you prefer Colin? I can't seem to remember," I said, looking at the man I once considered my best friend, the man that I was obsessed with. I wasn't able to connect that Colin could have a space and earth power while Zi Mo was toxic, but after seeing Wang Chao and Liu Wei with their three powers, I had to rethink a lot of things.

"Ah, you know me?" He asked as his men brought a chair out for him and put it in front of me.

"I do, your cousin speaks very highly of you," I said with a smile on my face. I could feel my body heating up as the twin flames inside me rose to the edge.

"Somehow, I doubt that. But enough about me, let's talk about you."

"By all means, I am an open book. But I have a question first; how did the name Colin come about?"

"Colin? It is easier to deal with Foreigners if you also have a foreign name. Colin Wang is much easier for them to remember and say than Wang Zi Mo."

I nodded my head in understanding. It was a common practice, not limited to business. "Thank you for answering my question," I said, my manners on full display. I worked very hard in my first life to perfect my manners and etiquette; I figured if I went back in time, they would be useful. Not so much in this timeline.

"You are very welcome," he responded, his manners also reflecting a third-generation heir. "Now, can you please explain to me exactly why Wang Chao and Liu Wei are so interested in you?" He asked. Such a polite tone for such a tasteless question.

"No idea, may I suggest that you kidnap them and ask them? It seems pointless asking me. After all, I'm not a mind reader."

Wang Zi Mo chuckled. "Ah, a sense of humor. Maybe that is why they keep you around and spend millions of dollars on you."

I threw my head back and laughed. "If you had done any research, you would have realized that, while they have more money than me, I have more than enough to buy whatever the fuck I want."

His eyes narrowed on my face. He always hated it when people laughed, especially at him. It was like nails on a chalkboard as far as he was concerned. Might as well have some fun with him before I set this place on fire. "But you were never that good at doing research, were you Colin?" I asked, fully knowing the answer. I didn't know him before the end of the world, but I could assume that he didn't regress after the gene enhancement. He always needed me to do the legwork. I remember tracking down groups of people, thinking that I was helping them, and he took the information and sent the zombies to kill them off.

The flames inside me continued to flicker restlessly just under my skin, and I could feel one burn through the ropes holding me to the chair. As they snapped and fell to the floor, I brought my hand around to my front and rubbed my wrists. "Next time you decide to kidnap someone, might I suggest a five-star hotel? Four stars at the very least? If we have to put up with you for any length of time, we should at least be compensated, don't you think?"

No one seemed to react to the fact that I was no longer tied up, they must think that they had the upper hand. Too bad for them…

Crossing my legs in front of me and putting my hands in my lap, I mimicked his posture. "What do you really want to know? Because I am pretty sure that you are not letting me out of this place, right?" I said, tilting my head.

This man had never kept anyone alive if he had the chance to kill them.

"Ah, a smart woman," he chuckled. The sound that I once did anything for, now turned my blood to ice. "What are they up to?"

Once again laughing at him, I looked him calmly in the eye. "Preparing for the coming apocalypse. What? They didn't tell you?"

Now it was his and his men's turn to laugh. "You might want to keep that smart mouth of yours closed unless you are going to tell the truth," Zi Mo said looking at me. "Do you really expect me to believe that they are going through the ranks and killing off people… my people… simply because they think that the end of the world is coming?"

I didn't respond, simply looked at Wang Zi Mo. If Wang Chao and Liu Wei were killing off people then maybe they too were following step one.

"What? Does it bother you that they are killing people? Should I tell you how they have done it? The cruel methods that they used to torture men until they begged for death?"

I chuckled over that thought. Did he expect me to be horrified at what they were doing? People were going to die, hundreds, thousands, millions, maybe even billions. A few less now, especially of his men, was not something that I was going to lose sleep over.

"Did they stand at the top of a hill looking down at a hundred men, women, and children just waking up for the day? Starting their morning routines? Did they force others to watch, holding them against themselves so they couldn't move, as a white mist, so fine it was hard to see, swept through the encampment killing all those people without a word? Is that what they did?"

The trauma from that day still hunted my dreams. I could feel his arm wrapped around my waist like a band of steel, his other hand holding my neck and chin so I couldn't look away. I watched as a mother, holding her infant in her arms fell down dead, the child not even letting out a cry as it too, died. The mist swept through everywhere, there was no safe place. And not a sound was made as those poor people just fell where they stood.

I swallowed back the bile as my stomach threatened to rebel. I closed my eyes for a moment before snapping them open again, looking at the man that I once thought I could fall in love with, and start a family with. "No matter how many of your men they have killed, it is nothing compared to your body count," I said as the man in front of me just looked at me like I was crazy or something.

Or something…