Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 323: Complacency Kills

Chapter 323: Complacency Kills

I came back into my own body to the sound of the zombie Alpha roaring commands and Rip cutting through the rope, holding my arms behind me.

As soon as the tension was gone, I fell forward into his chest and felt his arms wrap around me.

"How about we never do that again, huh?" murmured Rip softly as he gathered me up and brought me over to where the other guys were all standing.

"Works for me," I grunted, looking at the carnage around me. The bodies of the dead were lying on the ground all over the place, their expressions of fear preserved for eternity on their face.

Well, maybe not eternity... preserved for however long it took for the decomposition to start.

We all knew that the zombies wouldn’t be eating from the dead bodies after all.

No, this was simply to prove a point. Sure, some of the citizens inside of City A would have been used for food, but not the majority of them.

"What happened?" demanded Bai Long Qiang as he reached up to brush a strand of hair out of my face. I’d have to redo my ponytail later, but for right now, I was just thankful that everyone was alive.

"Someone managed to open the door," I scoffed, tears coming to my eyes as I remembered the fear of being dragged away from my men as they fought the zombies in front of them.

"How?" growled Bin An Sha. The man was so still as he watched the zombies that it was hard to believe that he was even alive.

"Probably had a metal user with them," sighed Cheng Bo Jing as he brought Wang Chang Ming over to me. "Melted the lock. We never even thought of it."

"Too complacent," grunted Fan Teng Fei. "We thought we were invincible, and the Gods laughed."

"In our defense, we have been going at 100% for over a week. There was no way we could keep it up forever," I murmured, hating the look on his face. That man tried to be perfect in all ways, and it just wasn’t possible.

"We knew the threats," he replied, his eyes staring into mine like he would fuse the two of us together if he could. And I had no doubt that he would.

However, I had to laugh at his statement. "There are always threats. There were threats at Camp Hell, and I still needed sleep every night. There were threats while we were first here, and yet nothing happened. There were threats when we went out on the road... and yet nothing happened."

"Not true. We were captured by both the Black Mountain Syndicate and the Red Dragon Syndicate," pointed out Si Dong, really not helping.

"But we got out of all those situations just fine and with new friends," I shot back, not really believing my own words. If my powers hadn’t evolved, if the heads of those syndicates didn’t listen to reason, if they shot first and asked questions last, things would be entirely different.

But if you lived in a world of ’buts’ and ’what ifs’, you would never be able to live; you would be paralyzed by fear.

"It was shit luck that we managed to get out of this situation with all of our lives intact," grumbled Fan Teng Fei. "Complacency kills. From now on, we go back to guard duty."

"Not a problem," I smiled back at him. He needed to do this to calm down, and I would support him however I could. "As long as I get to be part of that rotation." All of the guys growled at that idea, and even Cheng Ming chirped up.

"Fine. Then I can guard, too. I was also sleeping; if no one else can sleep, then I won’t either."

I raised an eyebrow at Fan Teng Fei, wondering what his response would be when Ye Yao Zu interrupted the conversation.

"He seems familiar," grunted Ye Yao Zu, his eyes never leaving the zombie alpha. "Not its looks, but the way it carries itself. The way it delivers orders to the others."

I opened my mouth but quickly closed it again. How did I explain it to Ye Yao Zu without going against what my father-in-law asked for?

"Ye Yao Zu," I called out and waited until the man turned around to look at me. The fact that the zombie alpha took the opportunity to look at him without Ye Yao Zu noticing it was beside the point. "Your father wanted you to know that he approves of the match now."

Ye Yao Zu looked at me, confused for a moment before his eyes widened. Clearing his throat, he turned around and met the zombie alpha’s eyes for a second before he looked away. "I knew my father would love you if he ever had the chance to meet you."

The zombie alpha nodded to him before turning to look at me.

"That building was filled with people. What do you want me to do with them?" it demanded, approaching the group.

"I am going to turn City D into a city for humans. Let them out, and I’ll ask if they want to join us. Otherwise, I would appreciate it if you would just let them go," I said, wondering who Hu Wen Cheng managed to save. Hopefully, he got back in time to save himself, or else I was going to be yelling at him.

"Fine," hissed the Alpha, clearly not happy with my request. "But then we are done."

"Of course, Alpha," I said, lowering my head and looking at the ground. "I am thankful for everything that you have done on our behalf."

The Alpha looked at Ye Yao Zu for a moment before turning his attention back to me. "We are even."

"And you are welcome in City D whenever you want," I told him again. I couldn’t see why he couldn’t rebuild a relationship with his son...

As long as he didn’t eat anyone in the city, at least.

The Alpha grunted and led the way back into City A and to the Retribution Guild.