Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 186: Abandoned

Chapter 186: Abandoned

"Huh," grunted Bai Long Qiang as the soldiers went through their exercises. They were more in sync than a lot of the troops he saw in the military before shit had hit the fan. "Impressive."

"Sure, if you go for that," shrugged the man as he sighed.

"I take it you don’t?" asked Cheng Bo Jing, taking a moment to study the man. He was older than them, probably in his forties or so. His black hair had streaks of grey around his temples, and there were laugh lines in the corners of his eyes.

He also had the look and demeaner of someone who had seen a lot.

"They might look pretty, but pretty might not be enough to keep us all safe if the barriers fall and zombies manage to get in," said the man, his eyes losing focus as he got lost in his memories.

"I take it you’ve seen that before?" murmured Si Dong quietly.

"Yeah," grunted the man. "Managed to get away from a horde only to watch from the sidelines as City D fell to a tide."

"You were there for that?" asked Bai Long Qiang surprised as he turned his attention away from the troops and to the man beside them.

"Any earlier, and I would have been caught in it; any later, and I wouldn’t be reliving it every night in my dreams," he admitted, looking down at his feet. "But enough of that. Why are you four here? Decked out so fancy, you must be wanting to join the troops."

"No," answered Ye Yao Zu with a shake of his head. "We had enough military before the end of the world. We are looking to join a guild."

The man looked around at the four of them. "Only you guys?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes and no. Only four of us now; the other three are at home," shrugged Si Dong.

"Not interested in joining then?" smirked the man. He had seen it too many times where people got too comfortable in this utopia and never wanted to leave again for the dangers of the real world.

"No. We just managed to rescue my—our woman from the encampment she was being held in. The three are at home looking after her," explained Bai Long Qiang, only somewhat choking on the idea of sharing Wang Tian Mu. Seeing her face go pale when they were getting ready was enough to make him want to stay home with her. But they needed the information and supplies, so he went.

He did have to admit that it made him feel a bit more confident being out here, knowing that she was still being looked after at home.

The stranger nodded his head. "Impressive. I would have done the same. But you need at least ten people to form a guild. So, even if your woman joins after she recovers, you are still missing a person."

"Fuck, it didn’t mention that in the brochure," grunted Ye Yao Zu. He wasn’t interested in joining an already-formed group that was just asking for trouble. You needed to be able to trust all members of your team to have your back, and that wasn’t a guarantee with a group of men who had already gone through hell together. Their loyalties would be to each other. Not like that was a bad thing; it was the same with their team. They didn’t readily accept newcomers either.

"No, it’s a new rule. The smaller groups were losing too many people to Reavers and zombies, so they had to make a new rule. Ten people or more per team. That way, even if 90% of them die, you should still have someone left to run the supplies back to Sanctuary."

"You don’t sound impressed," chuckled Si Dong as yet another troop passed by. He looked down the street. There was only one more troop after this one.

"They care less about human life than they do about the supplies. And that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth," replied the man with a shrug.

Cheng Bo Jing nodded his head. "Yeah, we had the pleasure of meeting Zhou Jun Jie and Wu Bai Hee yesterday," he admitted.

"Ah, the Princess of City A," smirked the man, his eyes constantly scanning the people around them. "We are so lucky to have someone like that looking after the citizens."

Neither man spoke a bad word against Wu Bai Hee, but no matter, something just didn’t seem right with their words. They shared a look, knowing that they were both on the same page.

"Come on, this shit show is almost done. I’ll take you to the Retribution Guild. They aren’t the most regarded guilds here in City A, but at the end of the day, they’ll have your back," grunted the man. As soon as the last line of soldiers marched past, the stranger bolted across the street, not caring if the guys followed or not.

"And why aren’t they the most regarded?" asked Si Dong, not having any trouble weaving around the people and following the stranger.

"Because they aren’t associated only with City A. There is a branch of the guild in almost every major city in the country right now. That means that if someone messes with one of us, they mess with all of us. That makes us feared. And we don’t need to bow down so far that we end up breaking our backs."

"Is there one in City D?" asked Bai Long Qiang, curious. Although he had spent over a year here in City A, he didn’t know anything about the guilds. He stayed in the 5th circle with the other refugees. He didn’t have the documents needed to pass through to the 4th circle, but that didn’t matter. The 5th circle was where all the fights happened anyway.

The stranger stopped suddenly and turned around. "City D has been completely abandoned. After the tide, no one wanted to take the chance that the zombies would still be there."

The four men froze at his words. They still remembered when City D was considered to be one of the most important military bases for the South. They might not have been on the same page as City A, City B, or City H, but they weren’t that far down the list.

And it was just... abandoned.