Chef in the Apocalypse

"You sure took your time Leader." The man walked over and smiled brightly, quipping in a cheeky tone.

"I’d love to see you fly over thousands of miles of ocean in less than a few hours." Jayce snapped back, sending a sharp slap into the middle of Colin’s back.

Colin almost flew forward from the pressure of the hit, quickly trying to right himself.

"Leader! Be careful with your strength, if I hadn’t cultivated the Divine Body Arts you could have done some serious damage!" Colin complained, almost feeling a bruise where he was struck.

’Oh shit.’ Jayce suddenly realized. He had still not gotten accustomed to his recent breakthrough to the Core Formation realm, thus he was not able to fully control his strength.

He quickly cleared his throat and replied, "Ahem. Don’t be a baby, we did much worse during our Body training."

Colin’s face paled at the mention of Body training. Although he loved to train his body, that was when it came to training in a gym. The training they had undergone over the past 6 months was pure torture.

The only thing that had gotten him through it was the fact that Jayce and Heath were there to accompany him in his misery. Dion too had been willing to join, however he could not properly handle the pain and tapped out early.

Before Colin could answer, more and more people began to step through the portal, forcing the two to create some more room. Familiar faces appeared one after another. They spotted the two and came over, chatting casually while people continued to come out of the array.

Jackie, Lianna, Ben, Amber, Heath and Zane. The usual crew had all gathered so far apart from Macie who was back in Bastion with her son Rowan. While she had been doing her best to train, Heath would not allow her to go overboard.

Jayce could hardly refute Heath’s wishes, taking into account his previous life. He knew what kind of grief he had gone through after losing Macie, therefore he did not wish to see the same thing repeat itself.

Soon enough almost 1000 people appeared through the portal. A few people looked nervous, however there were others that had hardened looks on their faces, as if they were about to go to war.

Jayce’s eyes scanned everyone, finally seeing Zane within the crowd. He motioned him to come join him at the front with a move of his head, to which he obliged.

Once the teleportation array shut down, Jayce gathered everyone’s attention.

"Everyone. Today is the day that we wipe out the traitors of mankind." His voice was not loud yet it carried with it a firm confidence, breathing a fire into everyone’s hearts.

"If left unattended, these people will join up with the invaders in a years time and will drive us all into extinction. Therefore we have no choice but to extinguish them in order to survive."

"While we’ve done our very best to increase our strength, it is inevitable that we will have casualties. But just know that your bravery here on this day will never be forgotten. We will emerge victorious today, and our descendants will be able to look back proudly of what we accomplished on this day."

Jayce looked around at the solemn faces of those in front of him. Among the numbers was his original Hell’s Kitchen, plus another 800 or so people who had managed to reach his minimum standard of strength.

There were originally over 2000 people who had been conscripted into their training regimen which had been a surprise. This was two-thirds of the entire population of Bastion who had agreed to fight the traitors.

Therefore he was not upset when only 800 people had managed to meet his minimum strength requirement. In fact, even if there were more people, he would have decided to keep a sizable amount in Bastion just in case.

After a brief pause he continued. "We have already spoken about the attack plan so I won’t go over it again."

Jayce turned to his party members, "My Generals. Gather your units, we’ll be moving out in a few minutes."

"Yes Leader!"

Everyone said in unison.

"Zane, come with me."

Zane nodded, his stoic face not showing a hint of emotion. The two walked away from the group of people deeper into the forest.

"How are you feeling?" Jayce said, his back turned as he spoke.

"I’m good, Leader." Zane responded, his tone neutral.

Jayce let out a sigh. With his newfound strength, Jayce could pick up even the slightest change in someone’s body. The increase in heart rate and blood pressure, the tightening of muscles and of course much more.

He knew that Zane was filled with rage, despite doing his best to cover up his emotions. To anyone else, Zane appeared to be as he was in the beginning. Yet this was not the case.

"I know you’re angry, and that’s fine. Just remember, you are one of my generals. You hold the lives of your 50 members in your hands." Jayce said, finally turning around to face Zane.

"You may think its fine to throw away your own life for Claire, but just remember that if you die then your men will probably not long after." His words were serious yet they held an undertone of gentleness, as if he could see right into his heart.

Zane stiffened at those words, his heartbeat turning more erratic. The sound of grinding teeth and the tightening of gloves sounded out as he tried to control his emotions.

"I... Understand." He managed to spit out between his gritted teeth.

"Just promise me... Leave the scar face for me." Zane said, his voice sounding frostier than the ice caps themselves.

Jayce put his hand upon the man’s shoulder and patted it gently, being sure to dial back his strength. "Don’t worry, he’s all yours. Just keep a level head on your shoulders."

With that, Jayce walked back towards the others, but not before giving out another instruction.

"Go scout ahead with your team. We’ll follow in two minutes."

"Yes Leader."