Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 247: More To Do

Chapter 247: More To Do

Whatever needed to happen in the future meant that we had to stay on the same course.

"I don’t think that is going to be possible," I told Fan Teng Fei, looking at him seriously. "We might be his prisoners, but I don’t want to get him in trouble for losing us before he can bring us to his place."

Fan Teng Fei smiled and nodded his head. "You were always the best of us," he said as he walked over, took me out of Rip’s arms, and wrapped his own around me instead. "Whatever you want. You know that."

Wei Xiao Li lined up with his men, standing shoulder to shoulder beside him. "No, he is right. You should take this time to run. There is no way that we are going to be able to hold back a horde of this size, and there is no point in all of us dying."

"Maybe they’ll turn around and walk away since they know that you are now prepared for them," I shrugged; I looked over at Rip and Bai Long Qiang and raised an eyebrow.

Rip nodded his head while the other man just looked at me, concerned.

"I appreciate your thinking," said Wei Xiao Li slowly. "But that is, unfortunately, not the way the current world works."

I tried my best not to be offended by his statement, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. I was quite aware of how the world worked; I was trying to think of a reasonable excuse for why they all died before they could be seen.

But maybe if he was going to be that way, I could just let him die.

The ants under my skin took offense at that thought and let their displeasure known. Rolling my eyes, I let out a long sigh.

Letting my consciousness fade, I felt my power flowing out of me and through the roots underground. I wouldn’t be able to take all of the energy inside of myself, but I could give some to my men and the plants around me.

Splitting my power, I grabbed the zombies’ life force and pulled it violently out of their bodies, not giving them a chance to fight back or attack.

Right now, no one could see them, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Pulling the energy closer to me, I then distributed it amongst my men, giving Fan Teng Fei the majority of it.

Watching carefully as their levels topped off, I moved on to feeding the root system under me.

At first, the plants fought back, something that I had never had happen to me before. It was like they consciously refused to take the life force I was offering.

But I could feel them dying like their life source was screaming out to me to save them, only to meet with a brick wall when I tried.

Unfortunately, I had barely used a drop of the energy from the zombies. They were still alive and well, and if I wanted to change that, I needed to send their life force somewhere else.

My mind made up, I forcefully broke through the brick wall, preventing me from giving the surrounding roots the life force they needed.

It turns out...

That was a really bad decision. Especially if I was trying to keep a low profile.

Fully grown trees crashed through the cement under our feet, knocking almost everyone off of their feet. Fan Teng Fei, his arm still around me, jumped up in the air and seemed just to be suspended for a second while the ground shifted and transformed.

Roots pushed through the road of downtown City B looking like living worms as they settled over top of the jagged shards of concrete.

Rip pulled Bai Long Qiang up onto one of the massive roots closest to the trunk of the tree, but they looked like nothing more than insects on it.

Bin An Sha grabbed Si Dong by the back of his shirt as he also jumped up to stand beside Rip, letting my other man sit down on the root.

But there was still more energy to give.

Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound, and all that.

I gave the other men a chance to get to safety before I continued, siphoning the power from the zombies and returning it to the earth.

Grasses, plants, and vines were next to emerge from the ground, causing the cement to crumble into nothing more than dust as an actual jungle replaced the concrete one from before.

"What the fuck?" grunted Wei Xiao Li, looking around at everything that was happening.

Fan Teng Fei brought me over to the root, where everyone was on, looking more than a bit dazed and confused.

My men circled me quickly, their guns back in their hands as they turned them to the outside.

"What?" asked Wei Xiao Li. His eyebrows scrunched in concern as they saw their reaction.

"Whoever can do that is too powerful," grunted Bin An Sha as he scanned our surroundings as if he didn’t know where the threat had come from.

Wei Xiao Li’s spine stiffened. "It isn’t one of yours?" he asked, looking directly at Ye Yao Zu.

Well, now I felt kind of guilty that Ye Yao Zu was being blamed for something that I did.

"Do you really think that if one of us were that powerful, we would have gone with you so easily? I think that if they could control plants that well, you would’ve been dead before you even knew what hit you," smirked Si Dong, not bothering to look at the other man.

Everyone was staring away, poised and ready to defend against any attacks. Hell, I knew what was going on, and I was still feeling tense, waiting for someone to attack.

The earth continued to shift as vines clung to buildings, making them living works of art as flowers bloomed in the setting light.

"I’ve never seen an earth power this strong before," murmured one of Wei Xiao Li’s men as he looked around in awe. Within minutes, the landscape had completely changed.

But there was still more to do.

There was still energy flowing from the zombie horde around us that needed to be channeled into some place else.