Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 244: Don’t Do Anything Stupid

Chapter 244: Don’t Do Anything Stupid

My men raised their guns to the lone man, only to discover he was no longer by himself.

At least ten men were waiting for us on the second floor, and every last one of them held a gun.

Realizing that that avenue was blocked, Rip turned around, only to see the same sight on the third floor.

We were trapped on the broken escalator, suspended between two floors.

"We came here looking for supplies, but this is definitely a pleasant surprise," smirked the leader, lowering his own gun now that all of his men were in position.

I closed my eyes, trying to connect to their life force, only to be blocked. It was like they didn’t even exist.

Bai Long Qiang looked at me, and I shook my head. I had no way of taking them out right now. For fuck’s sake, my powers couldn’t even see them. How was that possible?!?

"What do you want?" asked Bai Long Qiang, weaving around the other guys until he stood in front of Bin An Sha, staring directly at the stranger.

"Her," nodded the man, pointing his chin at me. "It’s been a while since we’ve seen a woman, and I have to say, she is a looker."

I rolled my eyes. I tried to move forward, but Cheng Bo Jing laid a hand on my shoulder, preventing me from going forward.

"Wait," he whispered into my ear. "If we are lucky, they’ll take us to their leader."

"I hate to break it to you, but you are really not going to be that lucky," chuckled one of the guys up on the third floor. I looked over to see him hanging halfway over the glass barrier, waving at me.

"How?" I whispered back at Cheng Bo Jing, confused.

"I’m a fighting power," answered the man as if I had shouted my question. "Enhanced hearing and strength. I heard you coming from miles away," he continued, laughing at his own joke.

I ignored him and started to think of an exit strategy. Cheng Bo Jing could melt their guns, but then we were still outnumbered more than two to one, and I wasn’t going to be much good in a physical fight.

Even if Fan Teng Fei took their guns into his space, we were still looking at a physical fight.

We were sitting ducks here, and I couldn’t think of how to get through this with all of us walking away.

We needed to get out of this building.

I wondered for a split second if I could get them to bring me to a forest so I could take all of their energy, but I doubted that would work.

"Unfortunately, you aren’t getting her," shrugged Bai Long Qiang as if he wasn’t vibrating in anger over the question.

"It’s cute how you think that you have a say in the matter," chuckled the leader, looking more than a little unhinged.

"Ah, but I could fling myself off of this escalator. I think I would be lucky enough to die after falling only two floors. Especially if I made sure I landed on my head," I said, my voice coming out loud and strong, as if I wasn’t thinking about how to easily kill myself.

"Or one of you could put a bullet in me or snap my neck," I continued, listing off all the ways I could die.

"You have put way too much thought into this," grunted the leader, looking at me as if I was the crazy one.

"You’d be surprised," I admitted. My brain tended to go in that direction if I didn’t have anything else to think about.

The number of ways I had come up with to hurt myself on the walk to City B managed to impress even me. I didn’t want to actively kill myself, but that didn’t seem to stop the thoughts from forming.

"I’m a healer," interrupted Bin An Sha, steering the conversation away from my death. "I can help you if any of you have any injuries."

The leader tilted his head back and laughed at that comment. "In exchange for your freedom, right?" he mused, a knowing smile on his face. "But whether you do it willingly or not, we still have you. I am sure after taking your little muse, you would be more than willing to help us just to get her back."

"Wan Ying," called out one of the men on the third floor, looking out of the window. "Darkness is coming. We need to leave now if we are going to make it back in time."

The leader, Wang Ying, grunted and nodded his head. "I guess we’ll have to continue this conversation at another time." Spinning around, he quickly jumped down from the second floor and onto the first.

"You might not want to come," said the man now standing in front of Bai Long Qiang softly, his voice barely making it to me. "But this isn’t a safe place to stay. Come with us now, and maybe we can arrange something. We do have some injured."

"Wei Xiao Li," snapped the fighting power user from the third floor. "You might want to shut your mouth before you manage to find yourself without a tongue."

Wei Xiao Li only rolled his eyes. "Then, by all means, get your ass down here and challenge me. Until then, I am still higher up on the food chain than you."

"He’s right," grunted Rip, "The sooner we are out of this building, the better."

His words snapped all of my men out of their heads, and they grunted in agreement.

"We’ll follow you, no problems," assured Bai Long Qiang, raising his gun over his head. It quickly disappeared, and I hoped that Fan Teng Fei had managed to grab it and there wasn’t a space power on the other team.

"Thank you," nodded Wei Xiao Li, turning around and leading the way down the last escalator and out the doors of the mall. "I’ll do everything I can to help as long as you don’t do anything stupid."

Bin An Sha nodded his head before turning to look at me. "Rip," he grunted as my mountain picked me up in his arms.

I shook my head frantically, wanting to be put back down on the ground, especially now that we were outside. "That is the stupid thing he wants me to prevent," said Rip in my ear. "We are safe for now. Wait until we get to our final destination before we pull out the big guns, okay?"