"Why does it look like you are actually planning to leave the house?" Lingyun asked, his eyes going wide when I came downstairs.

Yuche, who was following right behind me chuckled and shook his head like he wanted to say "I told you so."

I rolled my eyes as I looked down at my outfit.

And make no mistake, this outfit was completely mine. Not the original Rouxi’s that I used sparingly. This one was something that I had picked and put into my space for a time where I felt like I could finally be myself.

The moment Yuche validated my feelings? The second that he said I didn’t have to save the world? Yeah, it was like the chains that I had wrapped around myself since waking up in silk sheets were crumbling.

Instead of the hundred shades of pinks and whites and blues, I was wearing dark pants that actually fit and boots that didn’t look like they belonged to a decorative doll. They were actual combat boots and not the emo wannabes.

I had a fitted black top that was hidden under a black jacket that had enough pockets to be useful without making me look like I was auditioning for the military’s apocalypse fashion show.

I had even tied my hair back in a low ponytail, which should have earned me at least some appreciation considering the number of times these men had seen me shuffle around in oversized hoodies and slippers like comfort was the only thing keeping me attached to this planet.

I looked down at myself, then back up at him. "I figured I hadn’t been out since we went to Home Depot. That Wei guy had mentioned taking me shopping, so I want to go. I think that after putting up with the idiots in my pool house, some retail therapy is exactly what I need."

No one said anything for a second, they just stared at me like I had grown a second head.

Joke’s on them, I didn’t need to take them with me.

Lingyun slowly lowered his controller. "Shopping? You look like you’re going to rob someone or start a fight. I have seen a lot of girls that try to pull off that look and they don’t managed to do it nearly as well as you do. If you step out of this house looking like that, there is going to be a fight... or four."

"I said that I was going shopping," I replied with a smirk on my face. "I didn’t say that I was going to start a second apocalypse."

"That isn’t comforting," murmured Zhenlan, looking me up and down.

"I’m sorry," I answered him, my eyes going big and innocent. "It wasn’t supposed to be."

Chenghai looked me over from the kitchen doorway, his coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth. He didn’t ask if I was serious, which meant he had already accepted that I was. His eyes dropped briefly to my boots, then to my jacket, then back to my face, and whatever he saw there made him take another sip instead of trying to stop me.

Smart man.

Zhenlan was standing near the table with one hand resting on the back of a chair. He looked calm, but that didn’t mean much when he looked calm during almost everything. His gaze lingered on my clothes longer than Lingyun’s had, and I couldn’t help but remember what Yuche had said about him being happy I didn’t think of him like an uncle.

"You aren’t going alone," he sighed, coming closer so that he was standing beside me. "I’ll grab the car and meet you out front."

"Where are we going?" Lingyun asked, already at the door. I really wouldn’t be surprised if he had a hidden tail wagging behind him at this moment. He was like a puppy that had been told they were going out for a walk.

"Shopping," I repeated.

"You keep saying that."

"And you keep asking like the answer is going to change."

He opened his mouth, closed it again. "Fine. But if shopping means that we end up fighting a horde, I’m blaming you."

"You know, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to," I replied with a shrug.

He must have understood that I really was willing to go without him because before I had finished my sentence, the doorknob was already in his hand.

Not bothering to beg for them to come with me, I stepped outside without waiting to see who followed. They would.

Chenghai would because he didn’t trust the military outside. Lingyun would because he wanted to know what was happening even when he pretended he didn’t. Zhenlan would because he had already decide that I needed backup while pretending it was only practical. And Yuche would because he had already given me the only answer I needed.

I wasn’t anyone’s savior.

Which was probably for the best.

Who knew when a new episode would come out and I needed to watch it? I really didn’t think that the would would be willing to be on hold so that I could watch the next episode of a drama I already knew the ending to.

But, without my consent, the universe decided to test me. They put the scientists in my home and practically demanded that I make a choice.

Well. I think I failed its test.

I wasn’t planned on sitting still while the same idiots made the same mistakes and dragged everything toward the same ending. If the future wanted to crawl toward my house wearing a lab coat and carrying a bucket of stupid, then I could at least make sure I had enough teeth waiting for it.

The only thing that this apocalypse cared about was strength. So I needed to get stronger.

I stroked my chest where my vine was lying in my sports bra. It was vibrating in happiness knowing what was going to come next.

The funny part was that Lingyun was right. You see, the only thing I was in the mood for were the beautiful crystals that now could be found inside the zombies. My vine ate those like it was candy and I could use them to boost my powers, to.

And depending on just how many I could get my hands on, I would give them to the guys to upgrade their powers.

It really was a catch 22, but zombies were a crap ton easier to kill than the trees and grass that was coming.

I thought I had been prepared, now I know that I hadn’t even scratched the surface.