Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 281: A Date At The Mall

Chapter 281: A Date At The Mall

There were no arguments when it came to us deciding what to do next. We all knew the importance of supplies over anything else, and while we had the entire mall to ourselves, we might as well take advantage of it.

Besides, since the zombies were following the women, and the women were following the teams back to City A, the more space we put between us, the better.

It was a great time, clearing the mall out of every last bite of food, clothing, houseware goods, and bags. We went to every store and took absolutely everything, whether we needed it or not. There were at least three jewelry stores in the high-end mall, and now I had more rings than I had fingers and days to wear them.

The men picked out outfit after outfit for me. Everything from casual to eveningwear before Fan Teng Fei just dumped everything in his space. I had no idea where I could wear that dress to, but what the hell? We were having fun.

Si Dong raced up and down the empty hallways, not worried about outsiders or zombies as the rest of us trailed behind him.

I think it was the most fun any of us had, even before the end of the world. Right here, right now, nothing else mattered to us. We were the last people in the world, and we loved every minute of it.

We found a furniture store and decided that that was where we were going to spend the night.

Cheng Bo Jing melted the lock on the door, locking us inside the store, and Wang Chang Ming and I crawled between the sheets of one of the display beds.

It was so comfortable I never wanted to wake up. I wondered if there was any way I could convince Fan Teng Fei to take the bed before we left, but I ended up falling asleep before I could ask him.

The next thing I knew, I could feel a faint breeze on my face and the sound of birds chirping in my ears.

I must have gotten so used to Rip carrying me around everywhere that I didn’t even notice that I was in his arms until I woke up in the middle of the woods. The smoothness of his gait almost lulled me back into sleep until I noticed Wang Chang Ming watching me from over Cheng Bo Jing’s shoulder.

Sticking out my tongue at him, I was rewarded with a giggle.

"Good morning," smiled Rip, looking down at me. I quickly returned my tongue to the inside of my mouth and looked up at him.

"Morning," I replied, reaching up and wrapping my arms around his neck to give him a hug. "I take it we aren’t taking the highway home?"

"Too crowded," smirked Rip. "In fact, we were worried that the noise from everyone was going to wake you up."

I snorted at the idea of anything waking me up.

When I was a doctor, I learned to go without sleep in order to study hard and perform well at my job. But now that I wasn’t spending every free minute in the hospital, my body seemed to be trying to make up for lost sleep.

"We’ve already caught up to them?" I asked, looking up to see what time it was. However, the branches of the trees covered my view of the sun. Without that as my guide, I had no idea the time... but my body said it was around noon... give or take.

"And then some," chuckled Ye Yao Zu from where he was walking right in front of us. "We passed their group an hour ago."

"Huh," I grunted, not sure what I was supposed to say. They made such a big deal about me slowing them down, but clearly, that wasn’t the case at all. They had an entire day on us, and we still managed to pass them in the end.

"Any idea where this ranch is?" asked Bai Long Qiang, looking over his shoulder at the rest of us. He was in the front of our pack, leading the way, but apparently, he didn’t know what way to lead us.

"Yeah, it’s just off the highway right before we get to City A. Li Dai Lu has assured me that we can’t miss it. Whatever that means," grunted Rip from over my head.

"Righty ho!" laughed Bai Long Qiang, mimicking Rip’s accent.

"Bugger you," snapped back Rip. "Never once have I said righty ho! What does that even mean?"

"No idea. You are the one from Country E. I’ve only ever heard it on TV shows and in the movies," smirked Bai Long Qiang as he skipped forward.

The good-natured ribbing continued until long past the sun had set, and darkness covered the forest. I have to give it to the guys. They must have been eating a lot of carrots or something because their night vision was second to none.

I wanted to claim that it was because they had powers, but I had powers too, and my night vision was crap.

"Should we stop for the night or keep going?" asked Ye Yao Zu, looking over to where I was still being carried by Rip.

"I think I am the last person who should have a say in the matter," I chuckled, looking up at the man. I had yet to put my feet down since yesterday, so it was really up to them.

"It’ll be better to keep moving. Then we can warn the ranch and get back into City A before everyone else arrives," suggested Cheng Bo Jing.

"I wanted to say that you’re the boss man, but then I remembered... you weren’t," smirked Bai Long Qiang. "But that doesn’t mean that we won’t do as you say."

I tapped Rip’s arm to get his attention. "Can you put me down? I’ll give you guys a good shot of energy," I offered. The zombies had to be around here somewhere, and even if I couldn’t steal some of theirs, then I could take it from the forest around us.

Rip grumbled under his breath but ended up putting me down just long enough for everyone to get topped up. As soon as he felt like I had accomplished my goal, he picked me back up into his arms.

Fan Teng Fei took a blanket out of his space and wrapped me in it before kissing me on my forehead. "Thank you for that," he said softly before going back to his place in our procession.