Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 154: Standing Between Them And Her

Chapter 154: Standing Between Them And Her

"What do you want to do?" asked Rip as he looked down at me. His arms tightened around me, completely taking all of my weight.

"I can take you wherever you want. We can do whatever you want. You don’t have to be scared anymore. No one will get through me to get to you, I promise," he continued, his eyes never leaving mine as he spoke.

After having all of my decisions taken away from me, the very idea that I could make my own was something else.

Something... uncomfortable.

All I had ever wanted to be since I could remember was a doctor, and both of my lifetimes had been geared around that idea.

But now, the idea of healing anyone made me sick to my stomach.

I could cheerfully watch someone dying in front of me right now and not move a muscle to help them.

I get that I might not always feel that way, but if I was planning my life right this minute? I wouldn’t want to heal anyone.

But if I wasn’t a doctor, who was I?

Could I be someone else?

My chest went tight, and I started to struggle to take a breath.

Fucking fantastic. I had fewer panic attacks locked away than I had being free, and I had only been free for 10 minutes if that.

But it led me to one very important conclusion. Surviving was easy; you just did it. And if you didn’t, then there was even less to worry about. Life, though, life was hard. It needed to come with a manual or something about making decisions and what you were supposed to do.

My body started to tremble, and I knew I was just one thing away from completely crashing. I couldn’t do this. I really couldn’t.

I could be a badass bitch in my head. I could live the life I thought about in my head, but doing it in real life took a lot more courage than I had.

Was it possible to turn back time and go back to last winter when I was in Rip’s cabin?

When I knew what every day entailed?

Where I didn’t have to worry?

Where I wasn’t terrified?

A loud voice broke through the silence, startling me yet again.

"You can get your fucking hands off of my wife!" yelled a familiar voice, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember where I had heard it before. And wife? I wasn’t married to anyone.

I turned my head to watch as a group of seven men strolled toward us.

"What?" I gasped, looking at each one of the men. They had changed a lot since the last time I had seen them. Their hair was longer, they had scruff or full beards on their faces, and almost all of them had visible tattoos peeking out from under their clothing.

But as unfamiliar as they were, the connection I had to them was as strong as ever.

"Bai Long Qiang?" I whispered. But he was dead. Was I right about this being another dimension? Was I in Hell, and I didn’t know it? Was this my punishment?

I frantically shook my head.

No, that wasn’t possible. I was very much alive, or I couldn’t be in this much pain.

And if I was alive, the guys were alive too.

Which meant that they didn’t come for me...

It was too much. I couldn’t—

I embraced the darkness and passed out, hoping that the next time I woke up, I would be back in my cage.

Just how fucked up was I?

----

Cheng Bo Jing watched as the love of his life collapsed in the arms of another man.

And yet, there was almost no part of what he remembered left.

To be fair, he no longer looked the same. His hair had grown a lot longer to the point where it was brushing his shoulders, and he now sported a 5 o’clock shadow all day long. But those changes were minor compared to her.

She was dwarfed in the arms of the massive man who held her. There was not much to her, only a body of skin and bones, her knee joints a large round ball compared to the rest of her legs.

Her hair hadn’t been combed in forever, and he could hardly make out the color of her skin under all the dirt.

But as much as she didn’t look like his Wang Tian Mu, she felt like her, and that was more than enough for him.

He would just have to work harder to make sure she put back on the weight she had lost.

"Really, Bai Long Qiang? That was how you were going to win her over? By yelling at her as soon as you saw her? If you are incapable of looking after her and protecting her the way she deserves, then I have no problem taking her from you."

Cheng Bo Jing recognized the woman from the meeting in City Y, and while she was crucial in finding Wang Tian Mu, she had crossed a line.

He could feel the men around him stiffen at her words. She wouldn’t just be taking Wang Tian Mu away from Bai Long Qiang; she would be taking her away from everyone.

And he was not going to sit back and accept that.

"You think you can take her from me?" demanded Bai Long Qiang, about to go toe to toe with the woman, and Cheng Bo Jing wanted to knock him out. He wasn’t doing anyone any favors by losing his temper right now.

In fact, he was almost guaranteeing that none of them would ever be able to see Wang Tian Mu again if he didn’t shut his mouth.

"I would take a step away from my woman," sneered a man as he appeared beside Wang Chao’s woman. He wrapped an arm around he waist and pulled her closer to him.

Cheng Bo Jing felt Si Dong shuffling nervously beside him, and even Fan Teng Fei looked a bit sick when it came to the newcomer.

’He was one of the ones who took out the camp without even lifting a finger,’ grunted the other man in his head. His gaze never left the threat in front of them, but Bai Long Qiang seemed to be too far gone to even realize what was going on around him.

’I don’t think we can take him.’

Cheng Bo Jing nodded his head, not bothering to answer him. Besides, what could he really say?

The only thing in their favor was that they didn’t want to hurt Wang Tian Mu. Even if they couldn’t save Bai Long Qiang, the rest of them should be fine.

Hell, even Bai Long Qiang might survive if he holds his tongue.

But their woman is passed out in the arms of a stranger. Someone needed to go check on her, make sure that she didn’t need immediate medical attention, not yell and scream.

Wang Tian Mu needed them, and he needed to get to her.

But how? The monsters were standing between them and her.