Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 264: Why Would You Do That?

Chapter 264: Why Would You Do That?

One of the little girls let out a whimper of fear as she dove behind her mother at the sound of the door closing behind them.

The room turned dark again, the only light source coming from the fire in front of them.

There was a cast iron pot of something boiling over top of the flames, supported by a tripod type structure with the pot hanging from a chain. There wasn’t any smell coming from the vessel, even though Cheng Bo Jing could see steam coming up.

They must be boiling water, which would make sense. There had to be a lot of MREs and dehydrated food pouches around. Maybe the guy outside was joking about the whole cannibal thing.

"We’ll be eating good tonight!" cried out the woman, raising her hands in the air as if she had gone out and hunted a deer for the group to eat. But what disturbed Cheng Bo Jing the most was the look of relief on the kid’s faces at her words.

"Yes, kiddos, that means that you are off the hook for tonight... get it? Off the hook? Ah, I crack myself up sometimes," laughed the woman before turning her attention back to Cheng Bo Jing. "But it would be a shame to eat you. Or at least in that way. Maybe we should start with your friend and move on to you."

She nodded her head as if the decision had been made. And in fact, as far as she was concerned, it had been.

Some of the women around the fire shooed the children away, not wanting them to be around the crazy woman. Not like Cheng Bo Jing blamed them.

The kids ran toward the empty shelving units behind them, climbing up the metal brackets until they disappeared behind hanging blankets. Their voices were soft, barely audible as they talked amongst themselves.

"Shut up!" shouted the water user, clearly not caring that these were the quietest kids Cheng Bo Jing had ever come across in his life, and that included Wang Tian Mu.

The voices died.

"So much better. Fucking hate the brats," grumbled the woman as the men who captured Cheng Bo Jing and Ye Yao Zu walked toward the fire and sat down beside the women. "I mean, they tasted good, the meat is tender, and there is still a lot of fat left on them even after all this time. But the noise they make... it’s like nails on a chalkboard for me."

"I can imagine," replied Ye Yao Zu, speaking up for the first time in a bit as he looked around the storeroom turned shelter. He was really impressed that they had thought to use the empty shelves as beds. It would keep them off the ground and had the ability to hide them in the darkness.

"You are taking the fact that we are going to eat you relatively well," smirked the woman, walking over to the fire.

She had yet to bother restraining the men, and with the guns no longer pointed at them, it would have been easy for Cheng Bo Jing and Ye Yao Zu to get out of there. Even with their guns taken away.

But they didn’t move.

"I’m one of those who won’t cry until I see my coffin," shrugged Ye Yao Zu, not overly concerned about the idea of himself being eaten.

"Apparently. But I told you another one of my secrets. Isn’t it time for you to tell me why you aren’t worried about the zombies?" smiled the woman as she leaned back, her feet in front of the fire.

Whatever doubts Cheng Bo Jing had before, they were gone now. She was the leader of this group of survivors, and he was willing to bet it wasn’t because of her amazing personality.

"Ah," nodded Ye Yao Zu, taking over the conversation as Cheng Bo Jing let his poison drift off into the darkness.

He didn’t know who should live or die, but he needed to be prepared, just in case.

"You see, one of our team members still in the city is a Reaver. And we all know just how scared the zombies are of the Reavers. They leave us well enough alone," answered Ye Yao Zu as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. But he was much more willing to throw Rip under the bus than he was his Little Fox.

And even Rip would be able to appreciate that, too.

"You are teammates with a Reaver?" whispered one of the women tending to the fire. Her face was pale at the very thought of a Reaver around... or maybe that was just her normal color.

Either way, it was clear that she wasn’t eating the same thing that the leader and the men were. Maybe that would be enough to save her.

"We are," grunted Cheng Bo Jing.

Just then, there was a scream from the shelves as a tiny body fell out of the bunk and started to plummet to the ground. Both Cheng Bo Jing and Ye Yao Zu lunged forward, but Cheng Bo Jing was that much faster, plucking the child out of the air.

The fact that the child had metal bands wrapped around him to keep him safe was something that only Ye Yao Zu and the child knew.

"Shhhh," soothed Cheng Bo Jing, pulling the kid into his arms and pressing his face into his shoulder. The boy shook from fear and relief, his tears falling down his face as he clung to his savior.

However, not a single adult had come over to check on the boy, who couldn’t be more than three years old. He was old enough to somewhat fend for himself, but at the same time, he was so malnourished and abused that he could easily be mistaken for a one year old.

"Now, why would you do something like that?" asked the woman, cocking her head to the side with a sigh. "It’s survival of the fittest here, and clearly, he isn’t smart enough to survive. You should have let him fall. Then we would have eaten him tonight instead of your friend."

The boy gripped Cheng Bo Jing’s neck even harder as the smallest whimper was wrung out of him.