Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 276: Only If You Are In Them

Chapter 276: Only If You Are In Them

Let them think that I was jealous or that I couldn’t stand being in the same building as my high school bully. But there was nothing anyone could do to get me back in there with those women.

Rip nodded as Fan Teng Fei took out all of the supplies to set up the tent and get the camp started.

None of them spoke as they got everything ready, and even Bin An Sha helped out.

"Are we sleeping outside?" asked Cheng Bo Jing, taking the boy from my arms and giving me a bit of a break.

"I am," I answered. I didn’t know what he would choose, but I would stand firm on this.

"Well, then make sure to make room for all of us then," smiled Ye Yao Zu as he walked out of the building. Bai Long Qiang and Si Dong followed quickly after him.

Even Chang Guo Zi didn’t stay inside long, preferring to be with us instead.

He looked at me for a moment, not saying a word before turning his attention to Fan Teng Fei. "You got a spare tent in there? I don’t know what is wrong with them, but I am not being infected by whatever they caught."

Fan Teng Fei didn’t reply; only brought out a single tent and chucked it at our official team leader.

"Those women give me the creeps," grunted Si Dong as he appeared behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Burrowing his head in my neck, I felt him legitimately shudder.

"It will be fine," I assured him, rubbing his arms. He tended to be a bit more sensitive to emotional things, more so than the other guys. Maybe it was because he was a spirit user, or maybe it was just something that he had before the end of the world.

"As long as you are in my arms, I know it will be. But why are we the only ones out here?"

"Do you want the honest answer to your question or for me to pretend you never asked it?" I asked in return. My throat ached, keeping the answer to myself, but there was such a thing as a rhetorical question for a reason.

Si Dong stilled for a moment, and I could feel a shift in him. "I want the honest answer," he replied, his voice dropping an octave, and it almost felt like there was someone else behind me.

Don’t get me wrong, it still felt like Si Dong and still smelled like him, but it was like a switch had been flipped, and I was seeing the other side of a coin I didn’t know had two sides.

"You are here because your heart is full. There is no room for anyone else, no doubt in your future," I answered, my voice taking on a dream like quality that I hated just a bit.

The words were pulled from me, not letting me have an ounce of control over my voice or body.

"I understand. Thank you for that," murmured Si Dong softly. He turned me around in his arms and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "You don’t look comfortable answering questions like that. I will try not to ask you to do it too many times."

I nodded my head and rested my forehead on his chest, feeling more tired than ever before.

Letting my power branch out, I grabbed onto the first zombie I found and pulled as much of its energy as I could.

I felt its fear and warning to the others, and the rest of the zombies continued to give this place a wider berth. But it still didn’t matter; I continued to take from the zombies until I was once again full of power.

But wait...

If this was a human farm, then wouldn’t the zombies have a guard here? Looking after the stock?

Yes, there were a few of them around, maybe 50 to 100 zombies, but they weren’t trying to protect the humans inside or prevent other from rescuing them...

I mean, anyone would be able to break into that place and steal the humans... and a smart human would easily be able to run away from a building that size. There had to be alternative exits, other than the front door, or even places that they could hide in or disappear.

Why were there so many women just sitting on the floor right in front of the door?

And how was it that not a single one of them was hit by a bullet?

The more I thought about that mall, the more questions I ended up having and the less sense everything made.

The entire situation was more than a bit sketchy. But now that I was outside, the ants had died off, and I wasn’t going to give it another thought.

"Who is going to stand watch?" asked Chang Guo Zi as soon as the tents were up and the guys started entering ours to spread out our sleeping bags.

"No one. The zombies aren’t going to touch us," replied Ye Yao Zu, his jaw cracking in a loud yawn. He had his sleeping bag in his arms, and he looked half asleep standing up.

"I’m sorry, what?" demanded Chang Guo Zi, his mouth dropping open at the other man’s statement. "Since when?"

Fan Teng Fei blinked at their leader and smirked, throwing him a sleeping bag for himself. "If you are that worried, then by all means, you can stay up all night and guard us."

I was about to open my mouth and explain to Chang Guo Zi that there weren’t any zombies around. And even if there were, they didn’t seem to be all that interested. However, before I could say anything, Si Dong pushed me into the tent and into my sleeping bag. Spreading out his own beside me, he took off his shoes before wrapping his arms around me and cuddling in close.

"I knew it," he murmured sleepily. "You do have the best cuddles."

"I try," I replied, snorting. I looked over to see Wang Chang Ming cuddled in Cheng Bo Jing’s arms and the rest of the guys getting into their beds too.

"Night, guys," I said, closing my eyes. "Sweet dreams."

"Only if you’re in them," replied Bai Long Qiang. The rest of the guys hummed in agreement.