387: I Choose Life

I Choose Life

"So, what did I miss?" I asked as I returned to the conning tower. My three men, as well as the commanding officer, turned to look at me.1

"They've decided to die here," said Liu Wei with a shrug, not overly concerned about the possibility of all those deaths. In fact, he looked almost happy about it. However, whether people lived or died, it was not my call to make.

"How many men are on board right now?" I asked, looking at the commanding officer. I didn't think that he would be willing to let his men die, but what did I know?

"134 souls," confirmed the commanding officer.

"And you are okay with everything dying? Don't you think that it should come down to a vote or something? I mean, I would be pissed if I had a chance to live, but because you had an inflated ego or were too prideful, you decided that I needed to die," I said as I started to bob my head to a song that only I could hear.

Thank you, Crazy.

"We cannot in good conscious hand over the ASAT device to you," replied the commanding officer.

"And you know that whether you live or die, I am still getting my hands on it, right? And if your deaths wouldn't mean anything, would you still be willing to fall on your sword?" I pressed, making sure that the commanding officer had all of the information before making an irreversible decision.

"What do you mean?" he demanded, and I could see the men trying to hide in the background looking at each other. Huh, maybe there will be another mutiny on the Bounty. Only this one was 500 feet under the sea.

"I mean. If you chose death, then that is fine. We will kill everyone here and be able to go down two levels and three rooms to the right," I said, testing the waters to see if Crazy was actually right about the location of the device. It wasn't like I could trust Crazy 100% after all.

"And you really think you can kill us all?" smirked the commander as he took out his handgun. Was it smart to start shooting inside a tin can? Better take that away before he did something stupid. I flicked my wrist, and his gun disappeared.

"Look, the world on top has changed. I have been told that I am very abrasive with the whole 'my way or the highway' attitude, so I am going to try something else on you. Are you paying attention? Good. People have been divided into a few different camps. Some of them have been zombified, to put it nicely, while others have superpowers. I mean, there is a third group of Asymptomatic, but we don't talk about them. We happen to be firmly in the second camp. So, yes, I think that we can very easily kill you," I said with a sigh.

This whole explaining thing was for the birds. I was going back to demanding. It was much more my style.

"The funny thing with subs is that the air you all breathe is recycled. This means that if I introduce a virus or bacteria into the vents, it will become airborne within minutes, coming out on every floor for every person to breathe in. How long do you think your men will last?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he called on his black mists.

The commanding officer took a fearful step back. "What the fuck?" he asked, looking to me for an explanation. However, I was pretty sure that I had already told him about that.

"Superpowers, remember?" I replied before looking at the men over his shoulder. "I already said that, right?"

One of the men nodded his head, and I smiled. I knew that I wasn't losing my mind that badly. A girl could never be too sure.

"If you were in his place, what would you choose?" I asked, looking at the man that nodded at me.

"Live," replied the man with a shrug. "The device is pretty much useless unless you are willing to blow yourself up at the same time."

"No, I have it on good authority that if the world is going to come to a more permanent end, it will not be because someone pressed the wrong button," I assured him. Hell, I was going to throw it in my 'everything else drawer' at the farm in my space. Chances were, I wouldn't ever be able to find it in that black hole of a drawer, no matter how many times I looked.

"Then I choose life," repeated the sailor.

"You have just restored my faith in the intelligence of the military. Thank you so much for that!" I said with a brilliant smile. It was the first smart thing I have ever heard of one of them doing. "Does anyone else in the room want to live?"

The men looked around at each other and tentatively raised their hands until only the commanding officer seemed to be choosing death.

"Maybe you should put it to a vote," I suggested. "Or I can just kill you. I guess that would work." I turned to Liu Wei to see if that would be possible.

He nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, new option. Those that want to live can go to the hatch I came in. If you don't know it, you can ask the SEAL," I said as I pointed to the guy who had done the majority of the talking. "If you would prefer death, that can be arranged."

"And you can get us past whatever those things are in the water?" asked a second sailor as he pointed out the window to where Beta and a few zombies seemed to be suspended in the water.

"Yeah," I promised him. "In fact, they are there to ensure that no other zombies try anything and to keep the sharks away."

"Done," chuckled the man as he stood up. He walked over to the commanding officer and gave him a proper military salute. "It has been a pleasure, Sir. But I choose life."

The rest of the men in the conning tower quickly rose to their feet, and all offered the commanding officer a salute. "It has been a pleasure, Sir. But I choose life." Their combined voices created an echo in the room.

The SEAL looked at the commanding officer with a smirk on his face. "You aren't my commanding officer and, as such, cannot command me to live or die. I choose life."

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