While the two upstairs opted for a mid-morning nap, Wang Chao was not as relaxed. Gripped in a nightmare that he couldn't get out of, he could only wait and watch as scenes flooded his mind.
He dreamt that he had received a phone call on October 29th that a private militia in Country S was trying to take over the land the Phoenix Corporation had purchased for their multimedia expansion. Since neither Wang Zi Mo nor Wang Zi Hao was able to give commands to the Wang family army, it was up to Wang Chao to go and sort things out. He took the majority of his soldiers as well as Liu Wei and left that very night.
It took them a few days of going back and forth, but the Wang family army finally got rid of the militia and, after an agreement with the government for a percentage of Sunset Corps profits, they were getting ready to leave the country.
They had just boarded the private plane when a shock wave blasted through them. Shaken, Wang Chao realized that whatever that shock wave was, it had destroyed all the electronics, including the plane and sat phone.
The rest of the nightmare was them fighting their way through the zombies, of his men either turning into zombies or being taken by them.
He dreamt of a fear that he had never experienced in his 29 years, the fear of failure. For the first time ever, he experienced being hunted, of being prey. He experienced the anguish and heartache of not bringing his men home. And he experienced watching Liu Wie being turned by the zombies, knowing that they would turn him next.
In those nightmares, he experienced the constant hunger, and the need to find prey and eat. He fought the other zombies to become the leader of a Class 1 horde, one of the scariest types of hordes possible. He experienced never being able to die, no matter how much his brain called out to him to end it all. For endless years, all he felt was the need to feed and to fight, with Liu Wei by his side. But as much as he wanted nothing more than to die… even as a zombie, he understood that something was missing.
Forcing himself out of the nightmare, Wang Chao stagged off the bed and to his feet. Knowing that the door was locked from the outside, he went to the ensuite and got himself a glass of water.
Bracing his hands on either side of the sink, he hung his head as the nightmares came with him, the visions playing in a non-stop loop in his head. He looked at the mirror, expecting to see the light blue skin of a Class 1 zombie. Instead, he saw his own reflection, his sweat-dampened hair, the corner of his eyes red as the tears fell freely.
With a shaking hand, he raised it to his cheek, the reflection in the mirror doing the same. He was still him, still Wang Chao.
What the little girl had said was right, she was right about everything.
He sighed and dropped his hand back to the sink. Straightening up, he pushed himself away from the mirror and staggered back to the bed. His body needed rest, even if his mind refused to shut down.
He laid his head on the pillow and prayed for a dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, his prayers would not be answered.
This time, when he closed his eyes, he was back at the Wang family mansion. Seeing his grandfather sitting in front of him, he called out to the Old Master. But he couldn't make a sound. He realized that he would be forced to watch everything, not being able to interact with his family.
He watched as his grandfather seemed to age a decade overnight when he heard the news of Wang Chao's disappearance. He watched as his older sister took over as head of the family. A position that she fought so hard not to have.
He watched for two years as his family searched for him while trying to survive being unprepared for the end of the world. He watched as the cousin he swore would never hurt the family poisoned his own brother, then his cousin, and her husband. He watched as Wang Zi Mo, denied the position of head of the City A safe zone took matters into his own hand and joined forces with a Class 3 zombie horde. He watched as the man he had once called brother offered up humans to the zombies to save his own life. And he watched a familiar face being ripped apart by that same horde.
Wang Chao fought through the dreams and nightmares, he screamed and yelled and did everything he could to wake himself up, to not let this possibility be the future for him and those he considered family. He never stopped fighting, even though it was only in his mind, until, at last, he woke up in a familiar room.
No longer in the grips of the fever and the nightmares, he once again staggered to the ensuite, desperate for a shower to wash off all the things that he did and saw. Taking a quick glimpse in the mirror, he did a double-take and stared at his reflection. His skin was still the same color, not blue like a zombie, but the same color it had always been. Maybe a bit paler, but he still looked like himself.
Letting out a huge sigh of relief, he slumped to the ground and leaned back against the tub, allowing the cold from the ceramics to help soothe his hot skin. He was still a human.
Whether he was a power user or asymptomatic, he did not care. He was a human, and he owed the little girl an apology… and apparently, a bunch of guns…
But first, a shower, a long, hot shower.
And then food, a lot of food.
Then he would get her her weapons and whatever else she wanted. It was the least he could do.
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