Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 196: Conducting An Experiment

Chapter 196: Conducting An Experiment

"Bin An Sha, can you join us in the medical room?" I asked as Rip, and I moved out of the living room and toward the room containing three Reavers.

"Sure," he replied, wiping his hands on a towel before heading out of the kitchen area.

"Do you need help?" asked Fan Teng Fei, rising up from the couch.

"No, we got this. If you could just keep our guest entertained?" I replied with a wave of my hand. As blasé as I was being, I still wasn’t willing to put any of the guys at risk, just in case.

He nodded and sat back down, his eyes never leaving Chang Guo Zi.

Turning my attention back to what was happening in front of me, I watched as Bin An Sha opened the door, using the solid piece of wood as a shield between him and the Reavers. But before my brain could even process what was going on, Rip was in front of me, snapping the necks of the two Reavers who rushed out of the medical room.

The third one hung back in the darkness, watching.

"What do you want?" he asked, looking down at the other two lying on the ground.

Stepping forward, I smiled at him. "We’re just having a family reunion," I repeated my earlier excuse.

"I’m not going to tell you anything," grunted the man as he continued to focus his attention on Rip like he was the true threat in this room. Silly man.

My Reaver grabbed the two bodies and threw them back inside as Bin An Sha followed us into the room, closing the door behind him.

"I don’t want information from you," I replied, the smile on my face never leaving. It was like my body could feel a source of food close by, and I instinctively wanted to pounce on it.

But I had a few things to do first.

I turned to look at Bin An Sha, not sure how to proceed. I wanted to do this to help him, but I didn’t want to look at me like a monster either.

"Don’t worry," he assured me, taking my hand in his. "I don’t know what is going on, but I do know that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone."

See, that was where he was wrong. I would hurt someone. I was planning on killing a Reaver in an excruciatingly painful way.

And I didn’t feel the least bit bad about it.

"There was an incident in Camp Hell where a Reaver came into the cabin I was sharing with Rip and tried to attack me," I started, taking in a deep breath. "When I put my hands on him, I didn’t heal him. In fact, I did the exact opposite. I drew out his health and vitality until he had none left. He turned into a pile of ashes on the floor only to be swept up by Rip."

As the words flowed out of my mouth, I got to witness a transformation on the side of the Reaver. While he looked assured and confident when we first walked in, only a bit wary of Rip, he now looked terrified.

Like I was the Boogeyman, his mama always warned him about.

Talk about a heady feeling.

"It strengthened you," murmured Bin An Sha, his eyes widening as he realized why these three creatures were in his medical room. "That is why it is taking you so long to heal; you didn’t have your food, for lack of a better word."

"I am sure that it is just one of the reasons. Even with an unlimited supply of Reavers at the camp, I wasn’t able to heal my body. It just increased my powers."

"Okay," nodded Bin An Sha.

"And I want to see if it will help you, too," I continued, my eyes never leaving his.

Instead of looking horrified, Bin An Sha smiled. "Then let’s conduct an experiment, shall we?"

Rip glided behind the Reaver when he was staring at me in horror and pulled him into his embrace.

"You first," murmured Bin An Sha. "Show me how it is done." I smiled at him, knowing that he just wanted me to go first so that I could get what I needed from the creature before he took his turn.

I placed my bare hand on the Reaver’s face as he thrashed back and forth, screams of pain and terror leaving his mouth as I felt his life force leaving him. I practically moaned as it rushed inside of me, filling up the empty holes as it circled around my heart.

The Reaver started to turn pale, his body no longer thrashing around, and I stepped back.

Bin An Sha placed his hand on me, and I could feel his energy scanning my body. A small part of me, one that was still dying of hunger, knew that I could take that energy as my own as well, but I refused.

"Amazing," breathed Bin An Sha, looking at me like I had just hung the moon. "I can feel how much just that little bit helped. And I can feel that you are still missing a lot. You are still hungry for more."

I shrugged. "There are three of them here," I chuckled. "And seeing as I’ve only ever had one a week before, I should be more than satisfied. Do you want to try it? He should still have plenty of life inside of him. See, even now, he is managing to heal himself."

And it was true. The Reaver’s color was improving, and I could see him starting to fill in, the gaunt, skeletal look reverting back to his normal state.

But the look of fear in his eyes intensified as he stared at me.

Bin An Sha nodded his head and stepped forward, placing his hand on the Reaver’s face, just like I did.

It was only a matter of seconds, but Bin An Sha’s eyebrows furrowed as if something was wrong.