Crossdressing To Survive An Apocalypse

Warm sunlight gleamed inside the glass window. Precipitation from his breath fogged it a bit.

Zou Wei wiped the window down, sighed even loudly. "Fourth morning without him..." he leaned his head on the cold glass with his eyes tightly closed.

A sudden sound startled him. "Nui...." he ran to the kitchen. His wife stood by the sink with a burned pot of gravy.

"oh honey... looks like I kind of overcooked this..." he hurriedly scrubbed the pot but the black grime stuck on hard. "What is this dish washer? It's not getting this off...." she scrubbed vigorously.

He peered at her. His wife's face had shrunken, making her high cheekbones prominent. The most noticeable was her dark circles.

He gently touched her under eyes.

Nui flinched back. "Zou baba don't touch me when I'm working," she awkwardly smiled.

"Nui, here ill wash it," he took the metal scrub from her and cleaned the pot up. "Why don't you take a nap? I'll make us some hit soup,"

"no, I want to make braised pork. It's his favourite. I want it to be ready and hot when he comes back." she took out another pot but her trembling hands could not hold it well.

The pot clattered down loudly.

"He.... he will come back, right?" her small voice came out hesitantly.

"of course he will! He is our son! He cans survive anything!" Zou Wei whispered, picking the pot up. "Don't ever lose hope! Even if it takes days or months or years, we will wait for him with hope. Got it..."

Zou Nui sobbed loudly, hugging her face. "it's my fault.. I ever should have told him about Tian. Husband, it's my fault our son is not here."

He swiftly pulled her into a tight embrace, patting her stiff back. "Shh... it's not your fault. It's not. You know how stubborn Yue is," he gently rocked her side to side trying to sooth her sobs.

Nui rubbed her face against his collar. "I just want him back... I just want my child back,"

"Yes, he will. He will come back.."

Zou Wei gently rocked her until she fell asleep in his arms.

Hary walked into the kitchen carrying a huge bag of rice.

Zou Wei gestured of him to be silent and picked his wife up gingerly.

He placed her on the soft bed and covered her up with the sheet. Like a little baby, she slept soundly.

  "How is she, mister Zou?" Hary whispered softly.

"Barely holding it together," he closed the door silently. "how is everything looking?"

"Two of the five refrigerators have stopped working. I tried fixing it but I don't have much knowledge in that area. The glass above the garden area I tried my best to fix it." he shrugged.

Zou Wei walked to the small garden area and glanced up. The grill area was secure, but the temper glass surface had a small hole from the meteor. Hary had somehow fixed it with tape.

"I don't think tape will hold it together..." he still patted the man's back for his efforts. "You don't have to do so much, Hary. Just take a rest."

"Sir, I was hired by Yue to take care of you. There is not much to do around here. At least I could be of help," Hary said with a soft smile.

"Good kid," he squatted down and grabbed a fist full of soil. It was loose and slightly moist. "I think we can start planting some green. How about snap peas? We can eat their leaves as well as their pods. Maybe sweet potatoes near the corners. What do you think?"

"Hmm, they taste good in soups and hot pot," Hary squatted down with difficulty. His prosthetic leg could not fully bend while doing a squat, so he kept in an awkward angle. "We still have the harvested lettuce. If we cut off their leaves, we can still pant the stalks. That way we can reduce the harvesting time,"

"That will do good," Zou Wei stood up, patting his hands clean. "I'll get the tools and seeds,"

They both sat down and started to cut the cabbages down. They had harvested at least thirty lettuce plants from their small garden. This does not include the spinach and other green they had to store in the refrigerator above.

"We can make pickled lettuce. It will last a few months." Zou Wei whispered, chopping the stumps cleanly.

Hary took the stumps and planted them into the soil. "Yes, with a little ginger and garlic. It will taste spicy and juicy, just like how my grandma at the orphanage used to do.. oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it." 

"Hary.... is there anyone waiting for you?" Zou Wei suddenly uttered.

The young man paused. "I don't have anyone. But I have a lot of friends from my orphanage. We get along well."

"What about mister Cai? He took you in, right?"

"Yes he did. But we are not that close," Hary mumbled, planting all the thirty stumps in the ground. "I'll go soak the peas. We can plant them tomorrow or day after, when they sprout,"

Zou Wei watched the young man hobble away with a small sigh. 'Poor kid.....'

He placed all the lettuce in a huge barrel and went to prepare the spice mix.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Zou Wei froze. His heart started to race faster with anticipation. 'It's 30th he is here.. He kept his promise!!'

"I'll go check it out, sir. Wait right here." Hary picked up a rake and walked close.

But Zou Wei ran past him to the door and hurriedly looked through the peephole. "w-who is it? Yue... is that you?"

"Wei, open the door," an old, tired voice came from the other side.

All the anticipation melted away, leaving only disappointment.

Zou Wei sighed even loudly. "Lil Wen?..."

"Don't say my full name. I'm just Wen."

He opened the door. "You are still grumpy about your first name..." outside stood Wen and three military officers.

"This is a routine checkup. How is everyone here?" Wen walked in glancing to each side.

The military officers, on the other hand, held their guns.

"Everyone is good. My wife is asleep so keep it down," he went back to the garden area, picking the barrel up.

Harry rushed to him and helped lift the heavy thing.

"Who is this?" Wen peered at the younger blond haired man with a scrutinising eye.

"Hary" Zou Wei did not reply.

"Where is Yue?" Wen expectantly glanced around, but he could not find a trace of that kid. Even Zou Wei did not mention him when he was talking about his wife. "Don't tell me... is he..."

"He is not dead! He.... is just... out. Nothing happened to him, I'm sure,"

Wen sighed, hugging his head tightly. "I forgot. He was in H city."

"hmm... he will come back. It will take a while for everything to calm down. He will come....." Zou Wei sat down next to him.

Hary accompanied the military officers in the routine checkups. They checked Zou Nui's temperature and okayed her.

Then they checked the premise, looking for any signs of other non humans.

"Everything is clear, sir," they came back and reported to Wen.

Wen nodded.

"how is the situation here?"

"The military barrack was not that badly hit. Some went down like our late commander..." he closed his eyes tightly. "Many leading officers turned. They had to be put down. I took control of it. The roads are cleaned up. But I barricaded the entry ways. A wall is being built. So we need people and supplies to take care of that,"

Zou Wei peered at him intently. He could notice the tired eyes and black circles under his eyes as well. "how is Qian Wen?"

"..."

"Wen...." he touched his stiff shoulders. "How is he?"

"D-don't know...." he leaned down, sighing. "I only got a missed call and a message that he was on the way before..... Before all this happened."

Zou Wei stiffened. "You have control of this place. Send reinforcements."

"I—I have planned to. I have planned to. Some soldiers are exhibiting some weird abilities. They will be assigned to this rescue mission." Wen glanced up at him tiredly. "I'll tell them to keep an eye out for Yue."

"t-thank you...." Zou Wei held his hands. "Let... let me know when, if you find him,"

"I will...."

Wen stood up, ready to leave.

"Wait, have you heard from Fan Xui? His house has been empty for a long time..." he glanced at the neighbouring house.

"Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"Fan Xui fell unconscious and is in coma."

"What!" Zou Wei stood up in shock. "How... was this virus the reason why.."

"No, no one knows. Fifteen days ago, he just collapsed and lost consciousness. He did not wake up after."

Zou Wei panted softly. "Yue said he will be the most powerful. He said...."

"I'm not sure if Fan Xui is even alive right now,"