Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 357: Stay Like This Forever

Chapter 357: Stay Like This Forever

After a huge brunch that I ate way more than I probably should have, I looked at the guys. "Do you want to take a look at the cabin?"

Si Dong let out a loud yawn and looked at me from half closed eyes. "I am so full, I really don’t want to move."

"Meh, you can stay here. I want to see this magical paradise," shrugged Bin An Sha, rising to his feet. Rip was already waiting at the hatch.

"Wait! No fair! I don’t want to be left behind. We all know that I suffer from FOMO! You can’t leave me behind," whined Si Dong, jumping up from the couch and pushing past Bin An Sha to go stand beside Rip, his body shaking like a golden retriever promised a walk.

Rolling my eyes, I wasn’t surprised when everyone got to their feet, ready to go.

Fan Teng Fei brought out a bunch of guns for everyone while he took his monk’s staff. I was left empty handed, but I really didn’t care. I would let the guys handle anyone that we found in the cabin. But between you and me, the place was so remote that unless you knew how to get here, there was little chance of coming across it.

But stranger things have happened.

Like the world ending.

Rip went up first, undoing the hatch and opening it to the outside world. Si Dong was quick to follow but also quick to let out a sharp yelp. "Ouch! Did you really need so many raspberry bushes?" he grumbled as I went up the ladder after him.

Rip smacked him upside the head with a grunt. "Of course she did. It is the best way to hide the entrance in plain sight. No one would be looking for it in the middle of so many thorny bushes."

Si Dong waited until Rip’s back was turned to make weird faces at the Reaver. It was all I could do to hold back my laughter.

"And yes, I saw that," grunted Rip as I parted the bushes so we could get through. Picking a ripe raspberry off of the plant, I moaned as the sweet and sour taste exploded in my mouth. I was really going to have to make some raspberry jam as soon as I had the time. These fruits were amazing.

"The mountain has eyes in the back of his head," Si Dong whispered loudly to me, making sure that Rip was able to hear him.

"You should remember that when you steal a biscuit from the tray and blame it on Bai Long Qiang," grunted my giant. From behind me, I could hear Bai Long Qiang’s protest.

"Not fair! I told you I didn’t steal it!" he said. I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but I still nodded as if he was talking to me.

In fact, although Si Dong had taken one, I had three stashed away in my stomach.

They were just that yummy.

Following the path we made last night, Rip quickly found the cabin.

"This place is beautiful," he murmured, standing in the driveway.

"It is," I replied. I could still hear my parents’ voices as they shouted at each other from opposite ends of the property. Or mom yelling at Dad and Grandpa to get off the lake, that they weren’t going to be catching any fish for dinner and they might as well call it.

I could have sworn that the wind brought with it the smell of my mother’s cookies, and I could hear my grandmother chopping up vegetables for the only soup she knew how to cook.

And I remember the four of us pouring the soup into the plants, pissed off when they died, and Grandma asked us how that could have happened.

This place held all of my happy memories of a life long ago.

"Are you okay?" asked Ye Yao Zu, wrapping an arm around my waist as the rest of the guys headed toward the house, their eyes opened for squatters or survivors.

Not like there was a difference between the two.

"I will be," I nodded. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let it out. "I will be," I repeated, this time more sure of myself. This place was important to me because of the memories that my family and I had made here.

More than our apartment in the city, more than the Song Family mansion... this was the place where we could just be.

And for that, I would forever be grateful.

"Clear!" grunted Rip, standing at the front door of the cabin, his hands on his hips.

"Clear out back," added Bin An Sha as he walked around the house and back to where I was standing.

I stepped out of Ye Yao Zu’s arms and stood for a second, breathing in and out as I closed my eyes.

This time, when I connected to my surroundings, it wasn’t faint; it wasn’t restrained. This time it was like I was getting hit by a Mac truck of pure, unrestrained power. It was as if the land itself was welcoming me back from a long absence.

And I guess it was right.

Letting the healing power flow out of me, I spread it across the land as far as I could. It was like I could feel every part of City D like a thrumming network of roots and people.

I could even feel Alpha hanging from his cage, the living bars he was surrounded by, giving me a real-time vision of how he was doing.

And showing me that he was slowly knitting himself back together.

Huh, good to know.

I pulled part of his life force out of him, feeling it being absorbed by the vines under his body, feeding his cage.

Pulling my attention away from him, I looked around my forest. I could feel the new life all around me. New trees pushed out of the ground, eager to greet the afternoon sun. I felt the unsteady footsteps of new animals that were just born, I could feel the thumping of insects as they flew around the flowers and trees, looking for food.

A big part of me wanted to stay like this forever. To never move from this spot so that I could always feel what was going on around me.