Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 119: Stay Away

Chapter 119: Stay Away

I stared at the offering as he held it just outside my bars.

"Contacts?" I whispered, looking up at him like he... like he was my world. "You got me contacts?"

He grunted as he pushed them forward, trying to get me to take them. I reached through the small slabs and gripped the box, pulling it back to my chest.

"Thank you," I breathed. I reached my dirty finger up to my left eye, not caring about the germs and crap on it. It’s not like I had the ability to wash my hands. But I needed this contact out. It was like a razor blade in my eye after so long.

"I can do it if you want," offered Rip, showing me his clean hands. He was a very light blue color, so light it could be considered a normal human color, but I loved it about him.

He wasn’t normal. He was my Rip, and that tint to his skin, his size meant that he could keep me safe.

I nodded my head, handed the box back to him, and pushed the side of my face against the bars as much as I could.

He breathed softly on my face, and I could smell the mint from his mouth. Gripping my chin gently, he tilted me up until he was able to get to the contact.

"I’ve never done this to someone else before," he grunted as he gently took out the old contact. It was so stiff that when Rip tried to bend it, it snapped instead.

"I’ve never had someone do this for me either," I breathed as I closed my eyes. It was amazing how something so small created so much pain.

I leaned back in my cage, furiously blinking moisture back in my eyes.

"Stunning," grunted Rip as he looked at me, his mouth open in what I could only describe as awe. "I have never seen anything so... stunning." He blushed as he looked down for a moment before turning back to me. "And clearly, my vocabulary isn’t back to what it was pre-vaccine," he continued, joking.

Before I could reply, he quickly shoved the box back into his pocket and turned his back to me.

I curled up in a ball, reaching out to grip his shirt again. His actions could only mean one thing: someone was coming, and it wasn’t a human.

"Bring her," grunted the Alpha as he approached my cage and kicked it.

"But it isn’t night yet," replied Rip, pointing out the obvious. I had no idea what time it was, but the sun was still out, so he was right. It was too early.

Alpha sneered at Rip, but I could see the tinge of fear in his eyes as he could do it. Interesting. He was scared of Rip, and yet we couldn’t even use it to our advantage. If we did escape, they would still come after us, knowing it meant their deaths...

And eventually ours.

The door by my feet opened as the Alpha leaned down to grab my ankle to drag me out.

"Out of my way," grunted Rip, coming to his feet. "You put me in charge of her. There is no need for you to touch."

Alpha stepped back with a look of disgust on his face like he couldn’t stand the idea of touching me anyway, but the three of us knew the truth.

I pushed myself forward until I was clear of the cage, and Rip helped me to my feet, holding me steady until I could use my legs.

Stupid being stuck in a small cell for hours on end. Even with daily exercise, it wasn’t enough for my legs to know what they needed to do at the beginning.

"Hurry up," growled Alpha as he turned around and stormed out of the women’s area.

Huh, we were going to the fighters’ cages. That was unusual.

Then again, not a single part of this was usual.

----

"Fuck this! I can still fight," grunted Yin Jie as he stood up in front of his bed as we approached his cage.

He was favoring his right foot, but I couldn’t see any signs of it being swollen from here. Mind you, that didn’t mean much, but it was clearly not broken if he could put that much weight on it.

"You are fighting last tonight. There is a lot of money resting on the fight. You will be in perfect condition for it," sneered Alpha as he unlocked the massive cage. Pulling me from Rip’s arm, he shoved me into the cage and closed it behind me.

"No!" screamed the man as he hurried away from me as if I were a serial killer or a plague carrier. In fact, I was pretty sure that if I were either one of them, he would be running toward me, arms outstretched.

I stood where I was, not moving a muscle.

The last time I was put in this condition, I was beaten, the bones in my arm and hands broken. I couldn’t even heal myself, not like I was given time to even try.

I shook my head, trying to get the memories of that time out. I didn’t need to listen to the sound of my own screams echoing though my head. I needed to go back to the detached state I was in before Rip gave me fresh contacts.

Shit. I quickly looked down, not wanting anyone to see my eyes.

I probably was worried about nothing. I wasn’t even human to any of these men, let alone a freak.

Still, some habits were hard to break.

"No! Stay away you freak!" screamed Yin Jie as he stumbled to the other end of the cage, toward his weights and table.

He pushed the table aside like I was Michael Myers or something and I was running after him.

Really? What was the point? We were both stuck in this cage until Alpha let us out. There was no point in wasting what little energy I had in running.

Alpha roared, causing Yin Jie to shudder and come to a stop in front of his weight bench.

"Hurry up and heal him," sneered the Reaver on the other side of the cage.

I tilted my head to either side, trying to get the kinks out. If I said it once, I said it a thousand times. The guys didn’t know how good they had it, getting a cage big enough that they could stand up in and run around.

Babies.

I watched, disjointed, as Yin Jie picked up one of his weights. It looked to be a 40 lb dumbbell, but I could be wrong. He held it forward as if it was a knife or something, his arm not even shaking with the weight of it.

"Stay away from me, you fucking bitch."