Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 171: Heading Home

Chapter 171: Heading Home

"Nothing," I said, trying to smile. I didn’t think humans should be saved. In fact, I had first-hand experience that the majority of them needed to die a brutal death before burning in the pits of hell forever.

However, I had no idea how to express my thoughts without sounding like a heartless bitch, so all I could say was... nothing. I didn’t want her to lift a single finger to save those who didn’t deserve it, and by the look on her face, she didn’t want that either.

But she was willing to do it to make me happy, and that meant everything to me.

Pissed off that there wouldn’t be an easier solution to the outside world, Bai Long Qiang burst off of the couch and started pacing back and forth.

Jumping at his sudden movements, I curled even deeper into Rip’s embrace, not wanting to deal with the potential fallout that would happen if he opened his mouth.

I prayed that he would keep his mouth shut since he had always suffered from foot-in-mouth disease, even when we were a kid and we were just about to get rid of the other.

Instead of replying, Li Dai Lu walked over to me and crouched down until we were eye to eye.

"Look at me," she said and waited until she had my undivided attention. If it meant that we would get this over with faster, I was all for it.

"Everyone puts things in boxes. It makes things easier and more organized to deal with when everything has its own box and labels. But we are people. Humans, zombies, whatever we are, we don’t belong in a single box. We can’t live that way. However, it would be worse to try to divide ourselves up into even smaller boxes to try and fit in better."

I nodded my head. I didn’t know what she was trying to tell me, but I got the gist. I could be whatever I wanted and do whatever I wanted, and if anyone didn’t like that, then they could go fuck themselves.

And in all honesty, I could get behind that.

"You are you, and however you are is perfect," she continued, a soft look on her face spoke volumes. I really wish that I remembered a time when we had been best friends. I think that she was one of those ones you wanted to have in your corner.

Something told me that she would be willing to go to the end of the world for those she loved, and I considered myself to be fortunate to be one of them.

"Don’t let anyone put you in a box," she finished, coming to her feet. Looking at Bai Long Qiang, it was easy to see that she didn’t like him. But he was one of those things that was an acquired taste, like blue cheese or kimchi.

Feeling tired again, I rested my head against Rip and just waited to see what would happen next.

The feeling that I was nothing more than a spectator in my life was coming back stronger than ever, and I was hoping a nap would fix that.

"We’re heading home. We’ll see you in a bit," she smiled as she made her way over to the door. Her men quickly followed her, just as eager to get going as I was to have them gone.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to meet her, and I wanted to hang out with her in the future, but I was one of those individuals who could only handle people in small quantities.

"Hopefully, not too soon," growled Bai Long Qiang. Ah, if there was anyone who hated people more than I did, it was him. It was one of the reasons why we were a perfect couple; we hated all of the same things.

It also didn’t help that he always needed the last word, either.

The door slammed shut, leaving me with the guys, Rip and the doctor.

Speaking of the devil, he came around the kitchen island and strolled toward me. He was wearing dress pants with a black button-down shirt that was opened at the collar. Its sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt on him.

It made me even more self-conscious about my state, seeing as I haven’t had a shower in God knows long. And washing my one outfit in a lake was not exactly the best way to clean it.

In fact, given my smell, I was surprised that anyone could stand being in the same building as me, let alone the same room.

"Well, that was more stressful than necessary, huh, Firefly?" he smiled at me as he adjusted the black frames of his glasses. Crouching in front of me, he slowly reached forward to grab my wrist.

"TCM?" I asked softly. I knew he was a doctor, but I wasn’t sure what type of medicine he practiced. Most doctors used the pulse at the wrist to gauge the patient’s heart rate, but TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine used it as a diagnostic tool.

"I practice both," he said, knowing what I was getting at. "But my focus before the EMP hit was in cancer therapy."

My eyes widened as I looked around the room. "You’re Bin An Sha," I gasped, practically vibrating in Rip’s lap. Okay, so I was fangirling but cut me some slack.

"I am," he smiled. He seemed to be looking at Rip for an explanation, but Rip could only shrug his shoulders.

"I’m sorry," I said with a shake of my head. "My name is Doctor Wang Tian Mu; I stumbled across your study on the impact of shark genetics when it came to treating cancer patients when I was working in City D. Your conclusions were absolutely fascinating, and I started reading all of the journals you published."

The smile on his face brightened as he took his hand off of my pulse and used it to hold mine instead. "Yes, I was trying to find a way to use the shark’s natural ability to heal itself and manipulate it to work the same in a human body. The hope was that once someone was diagnosed with cancer, instead of going through painful chemotherapy or some of the more advanced treatments, a simple injection would work. It would be quick, painless, and hopefully would have a 90-100% success rate."