Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 148: One Word Answers

Chapter 148: One Word Answers

I was only somewhat prepared when the screams started in the fighter’s area. The sun was setting, and this was when the fights typically began. But what was unusual was the fact that I couldn’t hear the roar of the crowd over top of the screams.

Still holding the newcomer’s hand, I listened closely. Rip was out there with all of the screaming, and I needed to know that it was him causing the sound.

But the more I listened, the more I realized that these weren’t the typical sounds that I had heard every night, for god only knew how long.

No, these screams were of... terror...

I started to shake as I looked around for Rip. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if something had happened in the camp, he would be beside me as soon as he could. And the fact that he wasn’t was sending me into a tailspin.

Was this going to happen all over again? I warned someone that something was off, and they left me anyway?

Was he going to die just like the others?

"It’s okay," said the woman beside me. This time, it was her turn to offer me comfort, and I took it with both hands. "My husbands are just celebrating the good news."

I blinked a few times at her words... the screams were her husbands happy? Wait, that wasn’t the point. She had husbands? As in more than one?

"Husbands?" I asked. I couldn’t think about what was going on outside of my immediate vicinity, so I might have been more than a little fixated on the idea of husbands.

"Husbands," she nodded. "Four of them, to be exact."

Just as the words had left her mouth, a shadow fell over the two of us, blocking out what little light there was.

My heart jumped right before I heard the shadow speak. "Where is the cat?" it demanded, and I couldn’t hold back the laugh that ripped out of me.

Rip. He was here. He was safe.

"Rip, you’re safe," I breathed, letting go of the other woman’s hand to grip Rip’s.

Rip shrugged his massive shoulders as he sat down in front of my cage, taking up his usual position. "They won’t hurt me," he grunted, and I quickly gripped the back of his shirt. Despite the situation, I had to smile. It was nostalgic holding on to him like this.

"Where’s the cat?" he asked again, looking at the new woman. But the woman didn’t seem to be paying any attention to Rip as a look of panic crossed her face for a moment.

In the blink of an eye, a giant animal appeared in the cage with her, squishing her into the bars. The large back cat had to be at least 30 lbs, and he definitely didn’t look impressed with his new situation.

She must be a special space user. Most of them couldn’t have living beings in their space, or at least, that was what the rumors said.

I should know better than most not to believe rumors.

The screaming around us intensified as Rip stood up and walked over to the other cage.

I would fully admit to being upset over the fact that his movements meant that my hand was ripped from his shirt, but when he pulled the door off of the other cage to grab the cat, I was jealous.

Of a fucking cat.

Who belonged to someone else.

But as soon as he got the cat in his arms, he walked back to his original position and sat down, stroking the black furball.

When I didn’t immediately grip his shirt, he looked at me from over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

Slowly, tentatively, I reached out and took the cloth in my hand again.

"Nice to see you, too, Rip," said the new woman as she crawled out of the cage and went to sit on top of it. She looked so relaxed, even as the screams refused to die down, that I really questioned her sanity.

Maybe I should have checked that when I healed the rest of her body.

"Um... you two know each other?" I asked... my voice was more of a stammer. I shook my own head in disgust. Where was the confident woman from Rip’s cabin? He showed interest in another woman, and it was like a knife to the chest, and I could barely form a sentence.

I already knew that they had met before; she had said as much a few minutes ago. But now it was hitting differently. And I didn’t like it.

"She’s the one that sent me here to look after you."

Wow.... If there was ever a sentence to cut you down at the legs, it was that one. To hear someone you considered to be your ’boyfriend’ say that he was only here because some other woman had told him to look after you like you were some pet that couldn’t fend for yourself...

My stomach churned, threatening to come out.

Did he not feel the same things as me? Or was this only a favor for a friend?

I mean, yes, we did flirt... and there was some touching... but we never had sex. Maybe that was the reason?

My head was spinning with all the thoughts running through it, and I could feel myself sinking into depression.

I had given all my energy to this person, the one who felt like home... and now I was unable to protect myself.

Fuck. I should have known better. I should have seen it coming.

Everyone wanted something from me. Should she be any different?

I desperately tried to pull myself together, but I could feel myself unraveling at the seams.

"I told you about her," continued Rip. He turned around, his eyes narrowing on my face. "Remember? It was one night in the summer a while back?"

I nodded my head like I understood what he was saying, but honestly, I could barely remember yesterday, let alone something that happened months ago.

"She’s the one you talked about?" I said, the smile on my face feeling fake, but that didn’t matter. Rip’s eyes narrowed even more as he nodded his head.

"Yup," he grunted as he continued to pet the cat on his lap.

Great. My Rip had never once said ’yup’ to me... was this a sign of things to come?

It didn’t matter.

As soon as the screams stopped, I would get him to open my cage, and I would leave.

Without him.

"You’re better," gasped the woman as she took the time to study Rip.

"Yup," agreed Rip, sticking to his one-word answers. "She healed me."