Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 189: In My Sight

Chapter 189: In My Sight

After dropping the names of the newest members of Phoenix Rising at the desk, Chang Guo Zi led the guys up the stairs to the fourth floor.

"The head of the Guild had the entire tenth floor to himself," grunted Chang Gou Zi. "I don’t envy the bastard for having to walk up all these stairs every day, but it is what it is. I didn’t mind these huge buildings when the elevator worked, but now no one wants the top floors anymore."

He opened a door at one of the landings and let Bai Long Qiang and the others through first before following behind.

"We are learning that," chuckled Si Dong. "We are staying with Bin An Sha right now, and holy fuck do I not want to go up and down all those stairs every day."

"You live with him?" asked Chang Guo Zi, shocked. "I knew you were teammates, but it just hit me that you would actually be living with him."

"Yeah, he wasn’t impressed when we first moved in, but he has more than accepted it now," answered Si Dong, the smile on his face only getting bigger. "We’ll have you over after this so you can meet everyone."

"Well, now that I know how many stairs I need to go up, I might not want to anymore," joked Chang Guo Zi just as something called out his name.

"Hey! Boss, I found a mission for us," said a man as he approached the group. He was dressed all in black with nothing but a backpack on his back. There wasn’t even a bulletproof vest or anything along those lines on him.

Bai Long Qiang and Cheng Bo Jing shared a look. They knew that some things were hard to find. In fact, if it wasn’t for Li Dai Lu dropping off everything, they would have been without it, too. But it was a bit disheartening to see the other option in real life.

"What is it?" asked Chang Guo Zi as he made his way to the front.

"Simple snatch and grab," shrugged the man, looking over the others.

"Sorry, these are our latest team members. Bai Long Qiang, Cheng Bo Jing, Si Dong, and Ye Yao Zu," he introduced as he looked over the mission.

The new guy looked at them suspiciously but nodded his head. "Duan Zhao Hui, second in command of Phoenix Rising."

"Pleasure," smiled Ye Yao Zu as he held out his hand. The man took it for a quick shake before dropping it again.

"Yeah, I know we’d need to spend some time outside, but I figured that the reward was worth it... especially if we have four newbies."

"Technically seven, but we’ll deal with that later. Okay. Might as well grab the others and have them meet us by the south gate," nodded Chang Guo Zi as he signed the paper and put it in his pocket.

"Of course, Sir," nodded the man. He disappeared down the hall to get the rest of the team.

"I take it the nights are the worst?" asked Bai Long Qiang. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what had been going on, but living in Camp Hell was a lot like living in City A. They were sheltered from the outside and had no idea what life was like at night.

"You don’t know?" asked the head, surprised.

"We’ve been fighting in Camp Hell for a while, and then when we were traveling, we had enough people around that nothing bothered us," explained Cheng Bo Jing, not going into details.

"Yeah, I suppose with a Reaver on your team, not many were willing to mess with you," mused Chang Guo Zi as he started heading back toward the stairs.

----

"Why aren’t they back yet?" I asked as I paced back and forth in front of the window. It had been a day and a night since Bai Long Qiang and the others had left to go on a mission.

I would fully admit that I was expecting them back within a couple of hours, so to have a full day go by was playing on my nerves.

"What if they are hurt?" I demanded, spinning around and coming face to face with Bin An Sha.

"Then I heal them," shrugged the man like it wasn’t that big of a deal.

"But what if they are too injured to make it back here to heal? What if Reavers found them and killed them? Or found them and made them join another camp? Or if they came across a zombie horde and were turned into zombies?" I continued, the endless possibilities of why the guys weren’t already home spinning through my head.

I honestly felt like I was going insane with all the different scenarios.

"They will be fine. It’s not their first mission, and it won’t be their last. Everything will go just fine, and they will be back the second they can be," assured Fan Teng Fei as he stood off to the side. He was close enough that his presence gave me comfort but not so close that I felt trapped.

But maybe that was my problem.

Rip let out a long sigh and stormed over to where I was. Picking me up in his arms, he went over to the larger couch and sat down. Settling me on his lap, he wrapped both arms around me tightly.

I struggled for a second before I relaxed in his grip, the stress melting away.

"Better?" he asked, his head dipping down so he could whisper in my ear.

I nodded my head, not wanting to say anything.

"They will be here, and they will be fine. But, if it would make you feel better, I can go out and look for them," he continued, his arms never lessening the pressure. It was like being under a weighted blanket that was also a heating pad.

"No," I grumbled. I mean, I wanted him to go out and bring the others home, but that meant that he was out of my sight, too. "I’m going crazy."

"Hardly, this is all perfectly normal," smiled Fan Teng Fei as he sat down beside Rip. "You just have to tell us what you need."

"I need you all in my sight at all times," I replied, knowing that that wasn’t possible.

"Done."