Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

Chapter 487 The Carrot

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Trigger Warning: Violence, sexual assault (memories of a past life).

I tried hard not to let my guys know how terrified I truly was. I knew it was a fruitless effort; their connection to me was so strong that they could easily feel exactly what I was going through. This… man, Reaver, monster in front of me, was the one that took the most pleasure in hearing my screams.

I could still feel his hand pinning both of mine above my head, holding me in place while he did whatever he wanted to do. His rough voice beside my ear telling me in detail about his plans for me. His thoughts on whether or not that would be the night I died. 

But I needed to play my part. This was my plan, my mission, and I would see it through to the end.

So, I did exactly the same thing that I did to him the first time I ever saw him. Standing up straight, I pulled back my shoulders and sneered at him. "I promise you, there is nothing that you can do to break me. But by all means, give it your best shot,' I said, repeating word for word my promise in my last life. 

I foolishly regretted that every moment I was here, but things would not be the same. Before, I had to run away like a coward, sacrificing the life of a woman who meant everything to me to ensure my own survival. But that would not be the case this time. Oh no. This time, I will pull his intestines out of his stomach while he was pinned down by my men and watch every minute of it.

I would destroy him, body, mind, and soul before returning him to Hell. 

And I would smile while I was at it. 

But first, I needed to get to the cages and make sure that the Healer was still there. 

The beast of a Reaver in front of me simply smiled at my words, not at all concerned about my bravado. Reaching down, he threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, my stomach landing hard against his muscles. 

My men tried to get to me but were held back by four more Reavers who had come up from behind. A swift kick to the back of their knees, and they were on the gravel stones, forced to watch the Alpha carry me away. 

'I'm good,' I assured them through our bonds. The Recruiter simply watched while I was being carried away, the satisfied smirk on his face irritating me more than anything else. Calling on my pink flame, the only one that I had in my second life, I sent out a small portion of it. 

It clung to the Recruiter's pant leg, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. It wouldn't do to let the Reavers here know that we were stronger than we let on, but I was not going to let my chance of retribution walk away. No, whatever the black mist would do to that pathetic excuse of a human was too easy for him. I wanted him to burn from the inside out. 

The pink flame, knowing my intention, flickered for a second before seeming to have died off. 

Both my blue flame and my purple flame were too strong, putting him out of his misery too fast, but my pink flame was going to be just perfect. 

Wang Chao let out a roar as I was once again bounced on the shoulder of the Reaver. I grunted in pain but refused to give him the pleasure of actually knowing how badly he hurt me. With him, it was always a delicate balance between not giving him a reaction and giving him too much of one. The first made him want to work harder at causing me pain, while the second would lead to more pain as he tried to get me to shut up.

As I said, it was a delicate balance. 

He strolled through the encampment, and I looked up from where I was hanging. This was the first time I have ever been in the right headspace to truly study it. There were a few log cabins lining one side of the path, their upkeep almost impeccable. 

That was where the VIPs stayed if they wanted to. I was pretty sure that they were fully furnished with everything that a VIP could ever possibly want, from food to women. I was inside one of them once. 

A feral grin appeared on my face, the screams of the VIP still ringing in my head as he pulled me away from him so hard that his tiny dick was removed at the same time. I spat out the useless piece of flesh just as he hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious.

I had woken up beaten and bruised in my cage, but the pain had been more than worth it to spare another woman that indignity. 

Trees lined the other side of the path and continued, surrounding the entire camp. Once upon a time, it was probably an actual summer camp for kids. But that would have been a long time ago. Now, it was a year-round place of death and debauchery. 

Soon, though, it will be nothing but a pile of ashes. And I, for one, couldn't wait. 

The Alpha continued past the cabins and through a chain link fence. It was opened and closed behind him as soon as he stepped through. There was always a Reaver or two guarding it. More if there was a large number of VIPS around. It was there to both keep us in and keep us safe. The Alpha couldn't take the chance of someone getting their greedy hands on one of the products without paying for it, now could he?

The first set of cages were the giant ones. There were easily a hundred of them, and they stood maybe seven feet tall and at least ten feet wide. Each one contained a single fighter. They were the ones who had proven themselves worthy by winning the greatest number of fights. However, the Alpha couldn't take the chance of putting them in the same cages.

I had heard a rumor that he had done that only once, and the result was that both fighters killed each other. He had assumed it was because they couldn't contain their rage and their need to fight. But most of us knew better. We knew that they killed each other because it was the only way to escape the Hell that we were in. 

But I digress. Each one of the fighter's cages was big enough for a bed, a mattress, a table, and a chair. They were meant to improvise on how to train, but most of the men didn't bother. I guess there used to be weights until the Alpha's best fighter bludgeoned himself to death with them. But once again, that was attributed to his inability to control his rage and not how many men he had killed in the ring.

That was the trick to these fights. They were promised money, freedom, and anything else that they wanted as long as they won a certain number of fights. However, they quickly learned that that number kept getting higher and higher the more fights they won. Freedom was the carrot held out in front of our noses, but we all quickly learned that it was nothing more than an illusion. 

Striding past the top fighter's cages, we reached the newcomer's cages. These ones were much smaller, only giving the man inside enough room to stand and maybe move a few feet to either side. However, there was no way that they could lie down to sleep—that was just wishful thinking. 

But the Alpha wasn't dumb. No, he was far from that. By putting the smaller cages beside the much larger ones, he was showing the men what they could get if they won—a carrot of a different kind. 

But even those cages were preferable to the ones coming up next. The ones that the women were housed in. 

Passing yet another guarded chain link fence, I entered the women's area. 

I didn't know if it was the fact that I had been bouncing up and down on his shoulder for so long that was making me want to puke or the fact that I was once again brought back here. I swallowed back the need to expel my stomach, knowing that I would have to clean it up afterward. The Alpha did not deal well with bodily fluids. A surprised considering that he was a fucking zombie. But I was not going to clean up my own vomit with my tongue. Once was more than enough for me. 

"We're here," he grunted, throwing me down to the ground. I yelped out in pain, unable to control myself. He snorted, pleased to finally be getting the reaction of me that he wanted. "Get in," he continued, pointing to the open cage beside me.

The same one that was my home for so long in my last life.