Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 352: First Night Back

Chapter 352: First Night Back

Rip nodded his head as he looked around the well-furnished bunker. It had everything a house would have had before the end of the world came and even more.

It didn’t even look like a bunker. Instead, he would have bet that it was a bungalow that was just buried underground. There was even one of those expensive coffee makers sitting on the counter, waiting for the morning round of coffee.

"How?" he asked, spinning around. There was carpet under his feet and more than enough light to make this place something special. Best yet, it felt like home.

"I was always on edge, always expecting something bad to happen around every corner. And then, when my entire family died in a car accident, those feelings only intensified. The only time I was able to calm down and breathe was when I was working on the bunkers. But I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want them to look at me weirdly."

Wang Tian Mu shrugged her shoulders like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but Rip could see the heartache in her eyes as she talked about it.

"So, no one knew?" asked Bin An Sha, looking at the guys.

"Nope," replied Bai Long Qiang as he took a seat in one of the chairs, a beer in his hand. "But now I am wondering if this was just her power of premonition appearing very early on."

Wang Tian Mu paused at that and then finally nodded in agreement. "Probably. I always did seem to know when something was going to happen."

"You said bunkers," interrupted Rip, not wanting her to focus on the bad. Right now, they were exactly where she wanted them to be and that needed to be enough for now.

When morning came, they could worry about the details then.

"There are three. This is the primary one, and then there is one that holds only medicine and another one that acts as a secondary food panty," she smiled, looking up at him. "I made six bedrooms, so we might need to share, but... this is home."

Si Dong leaned forward, grabbed the remote that had been left on the coffee table, and casually turned it on. The noise was loud enough to startle everyone.

"Your TV works," breathed Si Dong as he stared at the loss of signal icon bouncing around the screen.

"Like I said, I built it to withstand an EMP. There are movies on the shelves just under the stairs if you want to watch something. It’s nothing new, but some background noise might actually be nice after all this time," offered their woman, pointing to a small hallway that Rip had overlooked until just now.

Although to be fair, he had a lot of things to pay attention to. The most important one being his Little Bird.

"How about we make you some dinner, and we can watch a movie?" suggested Fan Teng Fei as he caught Rip’s pointed look.

Cheng Bo Jing stood up and walked over to the kitchen without a second thought. Opening the freezer, he saw all of the premade meals.

"You really thought this through," he said, looking over his shoulder. "There is enough to keep us down here for a very long time."

Wang Tian Mu shrugged her dainty shoulders and pulled up her legs so that they were curled under her. "I didn’t even think that there would ever come a time when this place would be put to use. But here we are."

"Here we are," agreed Ye Yao Zu, sitting down beside Wang Tian Mu, pulling her toward him so that he was supporting most of her weight.

Finding a blanket, Bai Long Qiang pulled it over her while Si Dong went to go look at the DVD options.

"This place is amazing," murmured Bin An Sha as he started to wander around the entire bunker, not just the main room.

"At least we know that it is an option. We can go to the cabin tomorrow and see what that place looks like," his Firefly said with a sleepy smile. Bin An Sha was willing to bet that she wasn’t even going to be able to stay awake until dinner time. But that was fine.

They were safe.

This was the first time in his life that he had ever felt so safe. There was no one going to jump out of the dark and try to kill him. There was no one waiting for him to trip up, and he wasn’t scared about being left here by himself.

This bunker, these people had finally helped him find his real home.

And he was willing to fight to keep it safe.

"Tomorrow will come soon enough. Why don’t you try to get a quick nap in before dinner, and the rest of us will get familiar with the place?" offered Rip, exchanging a look with Bin An Sha.

The two of them weren’t that different at the end of the day, and if this was where they were going to put down roots, then they would make this the safest place in this new world that they could.

No one would be allowed to be a threat to them for long.

And that meant that they had to kill off Alpha, once and for all.

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I fell asleep on the couch, only to wake up in my bed with Rip and Bin An Sha on either side of me. Rip’s arm was holding me from behind so that I was pressed up as tightly as I could against the man’s front.

But I didn’t mind. Not only did it make me feel safer, I was able to stare at Bin An Sha’s face as he slept.

"Your gaze is enough to wake up anyone," smiled the doctor, his eyes still closed. "It’s hard to sleep when you are studying me so intently. Do you not like what you see?"

I smiled and shook my head as I raised my right hand to touch his face. This man was one of the most attractive men I had ever seen. He had that classical beauty, porcelain smooth skin, eyebrows that were neither too thin nor too bushy, and a grace that he carried in every movement of his body.