Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 223: Fighting To Survive

Chapter 223: Fighting To Survive

Huang Xiao Wen raised his head as he heard the sound of shuffling footsteps coming toward him.

He had more than enough to do today, but instead, he was stuck dealing with an extra hundred people in his camp.

"Void," grunted a voice, and Huang Xiao Wen looked up to see Lai Jie standing in front of him.

The man was a moron, but it didn’t take a lot of intelligence to throw a punch or take one. Huang Xiao Wen put up with him simply because he was one of the original members of the Black Mountain Syndicate before everyone up and died off.

"What do you want, Lai Jie?" he sighed. Getting up from where he was sitting around a dying campfire, Huang Xiao Wen looked down at the other man.

"We found something interesting," smirked the other man, pulling something forward from behind his back. "I bet you weren’t expecting this."

He threw a woman onto the ground right at Huang Xiao Wen’s feet. The body hit the ground hard and had yet to move.

"And what are you expecting to do with... her?" asked Huang Xiao Wen with a sigh. He really didn’t need this complication on top of everything else.

He had no way of saving her without going against every last man in the camp. And, while he did have an advantage, it wasn’t enough to ensure a victory.

"I know your dick has probably fallen off by now, but there is only one thing that you do with a woman," continued the man, the smirk on his face getting bigger and bigger as the idiots behind him chuckled in agreement.

"I’m sorry I’m a bit more choosey than you," shrugged Huang Xiao Wen. The guys all bothered him about not fucking around, but in a camp of all guys, he wasn’t willing to change his preferences. His hand worked just fine if necessary.

Not that it was.

"Still pretending to be that much better than the rest of us. Or have you forgotten that your last name is Huang and not Wu?" hissed Lai Jie, taking a step forward.

"Oh no, I am well aware of my last name. And last I checked, yours isn’t Wu either. So either man up and challenge me, or fuck off," grunted Huang Xiao Wen. It wasn’t the first time the other man had challenged him, but he really should have killed him before now.

Sometimes, being compassionate to those who don’t deserve it is a lot like shooting yourself in the foot.

"And the chick?" asked Lai Jie, nodding his head to where the woman was stirring.

Huang Xiao Jie was about to give permission to Lai Jie to do whatever he wanted, but then the woman looked at him for the first time, and he saw her eyes.

----

The ground didn’t get any softer the number of times I had landed on it. You would think that I would become accustomed to the pain of the hard surface, but it hasn’t happened yet.

I could hear the man from before, Lai Jie, arguing with another man whose voice I recognized, but I was in too much pain to try and figure out the conversation.

It was a cruel twist of fate that healers could heal everyone but themselves.

"And the chick?" asked the scum, and I could only assume he was addressing me in that statement.

I looked up at the man who was going to decide my fate and froze.

How? What?

"She’ll stay with me. Like you said, I haven’t been fucked lately. Maybe she is just the person to change that," grunted the man as he looked down at me. But I had seen his eyes flashing in the same surprise that I was feeling.

I heard grumbling behind me, and then nothing.

"It’s okay, he’s gone," said the military man as he crouched down in front of me and offered his hand. I looked at him, really looked at him for a moment.

"It’s fine. You know I’ve never been scared of your touch," he chuckled, his voice low.

I nodded my head, realizing that it was true. He had never been like the others. Not once had he insulted me or threatened to kill me. In fact, at Camp Hell, he was the only one beside Rip that I could relax around.

Reaching up, I gripped him and let him pull me to my feet. However, instead of my power automatically rushing through his system, it didn’t so much as twitch. Huh, I guess he really was a void if my power didn’t work.

But....

"Come with me; I think we have a lot to talk about," he said, noticing my open mouth. Closing it, I nodded my head in agreement.

Yeah, I really didn’t see this coming.

----

He led us to a two-story house that looked like almost every other house before the end of the world. There were curtains on the windows, and the front yard was carefully taken care of.

Opening the front door, I saw a living room with a couch, a loveseat, and an oversized chair around a coffee table with a big, fluffy white rug under it. The wood-burning fireplace was unlit, but there was a massive number of logs beside it, waiting.

"I see you’ve upgraded," I joked as he helped me sit down on the light grey couch. I cringed, not wanting to think about the dirt I was covered with.

"Well, I learned that anything could be considered an upgrade from Camp Hell. But some things don’t change," he murmured, taking the smaller couch across from me, giving me plenty of space.

"Yeah," I sighed, looking around. "Every day is still a fight to make it out alive."

"I knew you would understand," nodded Huang Xiao Wen, The Void—otherwise known as the Military Man. "You might not have fought in the pit, but that didn’t mean your life was any less hard than ours."

"You were the only one to think that way," I admitted, a sad smile on my face. Everyone was so focused on themselves that they always assumed that anyone else had an easier life than them.

"Where’s Rip? I expected him to still be attached to you," laughed Huang Xiao Wen.

"He is in the fighter’s cages," I shrugged. "Along with the rest of the guys."

Huang Xiao Wen nodded his head and there was silence for a few minutes.

"I am just going to assume that you didn’t save me simply to reminisce about Camp Hell," I said after a few moments.

Everyone wanted something. Hopefully I could give him what he wanted so I could get me and the guys out of here.