Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 43: My Sweet Girl

Chapter 43: My Sweet Girl

(Trigger Warnings: Death. Death of a Family Member. Car accident. DUI)

"Fuck!" yelled Cheng Bo Jing as he swerved the military-issued hummer out of the way and onto the shoulder of the road. The four men in the car with him held on while he maneuvered the vehicle to a stop.

"Traffic accident. Wu Meng Yao, call it in. A semi just t-boned a passenger car on the highway, heading south. Don’t know if there are any injuries, but you need to get police and ambulance here as soon as possible," he snapped as he took off his seatbelt and got out of the car.

"Understood," replied Wu Meng Yao from the back seat. His phone was already out and dialing 119.

Cheng Bo Jing didn’t wait. He looked both ways before running toward the passenger car.

It looked like it had been hit hard enough on the passenger side to have the whole vehicle wrapped around the semi-truck.

"I didn’t see them," said the driver of the truck as he tried to get down. His body seemed to sway with his movements, like he was impaired or something. "It wasn’t my fault. They just came out of nowhere."

"Just get back into your truck. The police are on their way, and they will figure out everything," replied Cheng Bo Jing, one hand reaching out to stop the driver from moving while his right hand was on his gun.

"No!" shouted the driver, looking around wildly. "It’s not my fault that this fucker can’t drive. I am not going to be held responsible for it!" Clearly agitated, the driver continued to walk forward.

"Tan Li!" shouted Cheng Bo Jing, never taking his eyes off the threat in front of him.

"I got him," replied the other man as he passed Cheng Bo Jing and continued to walk toward the driver. Satisfied that the threat had been neutralized, Cheng Bo Jing turned his attention back to the passenger car.

"Help us," said the older woman in the back seat as she banged on the window. There was blood gushing from a wound in her head, but she refused to stop. Cheng Bo Jing reached down and opened the door, barely catching her before she could fall out of the car.

The older gentleman beside her was obviously dead, his neck almost completely twisted from the impact.

"My daughter," said the woman, her shaking fingers pointing to the woman in the passenger seat. Cheng Bo Jing nodded his head at one of his teammates, and Feng Xiao Li tried to get over to check on the woman.

"Can’t get to her. The door is pinned against her, and I can’t move the driver to check," came the answer. There was a slight pause. "Driver’s dead."

The woman in his arms let out a low moan, sounding more like a wounded animal than an actual person. "My granddaughter...."

Cheng Bo Jing raised his head and frantically looked around the car. "There are no children here."

"Not here. City Z. Oh no... what is she going to do now?" The woman’s anguished scream sent goosebumps up and down his arms as he tried to hold her as still as he could.

"Tell me about her?" he asked, trying to take her mind off of the fact that she had just lost everyone in the car.

"She just moved to City Z last week. We were picking my daughter up from the airport. She is interning at Mercy Hospital," said the older woman, gripping his arms as if just by holding him, she would stay alive.

The blood flowing freely from her side said otherwise, but he refused to let go of her wound. Maybe if he held on too, the ambulance would get here in time to save her.

"Is she a doctor?" he asked, trying to keep the hoarseness from his voice.

"She is going to be. If people weren’t so stupid, she wouldn’t have had to go so far... Ah... my baby, what is she going to do now?"

"Don’t worry. You just save your strength. As soon as the ambulance comes, they will fix you right up, and you can see your granddaughter again," he said, cursing the fact that the Hummer didn’t have a more extensive first aid kit. This wasn’t something that a mere Band-Aid would solve.

He could hear his men dealing with the driver, his cursing getting louder and louder. What he didn’t hear was the ambulance coming.

"Wu Meng Yao!" he called out, adjusting his grip on the woman’s side, pressing down harder on the wound.

"At least 20 minutes out," came the shout back. Cheng Bo Jing bit his tongue, stopping the curse words from coming out of his mouth. The woman didn’t have 20 minutes.

"Tell me more about her," he said instead, clearing his throat to get past the lump in it. Death was always hard. But when it was unexpected like this when it involved civilians...

"She is amazing," said the woman, a dreamy smile on her face. "She was who mended the gap between my husband and daughter. Both of them are so stubborn you would think they were donkeys in a past life. But Tian Mu is like a bright star. Anyone that meets her is automatically drawn into her orbit."

Her voice trailed off as her breathing slowed down.

Concerned, Cheng Bo Jing used his left hand, the one not applying pressure to the wound, to rub the woman’s arm up and down. "Come on, I need you to stay awake. You are telling me about your granddaughter."

"Tian Mu," she said softly on her next exhale.

"Right, Tian Mu. If she is as beautiful as you, she must have the suitors banging down your door," he said, but the laughter in his voice was forced. Thankfully, the woman didn’t seem to notice.

"Hardly. She just turned 12 a few months ago. A spring baby."

Cheng Bo Jing paused, unable to comprehend her words.

"Twelve? And she is already interning to become a doctor?" he asked. The surprise in his voice obvious.

"Like I said, she is special. My special little girl.... My special.... Wang... Tian—" The woman’s voice trailed off, and the hand gripping him dropped to her lap.

"Boss?" asked Wu Meng Yao. "The ambulance needs an update."

Cheng Bo Jing simply shook his head as he reached out to check the woman’s pulse.

There was nothing there.

"Dead."