Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 83: Need To Hurry

Chapter 83: Need To Hurry

I found the hatch just in time and opened it.

Every muscle, every cell of my body, was screaming in protest, and yet, I had to keep going.

Slipping inside the medical bunker, I used my remaining strength to close the door and lock it behind me.

I didn’t bother to look around the room. There was no point in figuring out my next move. I had pushed my body too far, and it had officially given up on me.

I tried to take a step forward, but my legs shook and gave out, sending me crashing to the floor. The freezing cold floor.

"It’s all good, Kitten. You made it. The zombies are searching through the primary bunker, looking for you, but they don’t seem to be destroying anything. Smart move with the beer," whispered Cheng Bo Jing as his ghostly fingers slid through my hair.

I didn’t bother to move or even acknowledge his statement.

"It’s okay. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you up in time to escape if you need to. I assume there is still a way to escape from here, right?"

I nodded. There was yet another hatch behind the refrigerator that would lead into the forest a few miles away from the cabin, but I didn’t even want to think about that right now.

My heart was still pounding in my chest, and I forced my breathing to slow down. I needed sleep. I needed the chance to recover.

Closing my eyes, I let the bliss of sleep take over my body.

----

"You have to be fucking me," growled Bai Long Qiang as he and his remaining men took the ramp leading toward City D.

It had taken them almost six months to make their way home. Six months of trying to dodge the zombies intent on hunting them down and killing them.

Or converting them.

Honestly, he didn’t know which one was worse.

"What?" grunted Cheng Bo Jing as he followed Bai Long Qiang, only a few steps behind him. He looked around, wondering what had set off his fearless leader now.

Bai Long Qiang waved his hand to show the destruction in front of him.

Some cars were overturned, while others were nothing but a bare skeleton, the result of a fire burning everything else but the metal outside.

But that wasn’t the most concerning part. No, that was that all the cars were pushed to either side of the road like something big came through and parted the Red Sea.

"What on earth?" breathed Si Dong as he walked up beside Bai Long Qiang.

"Help," came a voice from the side. It sounded more like a croak than an actual word, and it was so soft that it was almost lost on the breeze.

Ye Yao Zu broke away from the group and walked in the direction the voice came, the knife in his hand ready in case it was a trap.

Stepping off of the ramp and onto the shoulder of the road, he looked down into the ditch.

"Help," croaked the voice again.

Ye Yao Zu never flinched when he saw the man in the ditch begging him for help.

The lower half of his body had been ripped off, his intestines falling out of his lower abdomen as one of his arms reached out in front of him, trying to reach Ye Yao Zu.

There were bloody gashes on the man’s face, and it looked like one arm not reaching out was broken, the white bone easily seen where it pierced through the skin.

It was a miracle he was still alive.

"What happened?" asked Cheng Bo Jing, walking over to stand beside Ye Yao Zu. This wasn’t even the most disgusting thing they had seen lately.

That dubious honor was one of their teammates who had his small intestines ripped out of his abdomen and then used to tie him to a tree as two zombies ate the rest of his flesh. Those screams would haunt the men for years to come.

"Zombies," grunted the man as one of his fingers broke under his weight. He ignored the pain, or maybe he didn’t feel it as he continued to drag his body up the ditch. "Thousands of zombies."

Si Dong and Fan Teng Fei shared a look before turning their attention back to the man.

"Zombies did this?"

"So many..." trailed off the man, clearly in his own head as he continued on his mission to get out of the ditch.

"Which way were they headed?" demanded Bai Long Qiang.

"Into City D," came the response, and each man felt a shiver of fear run down their spine. Wang Tian Mu wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against thousands of zombies. She would be ripped apart, just like the guy in front of them.

"How long ago?" demanded Fan Teng Fei as he crouched down to see the man better.

"Maybe an hour or two? I don’t know... do you know?" The man’s eyes started to glaze over. Death was coming for him.

"Fuck," whispered Si Dong as he turned around to look at the outskirts of City D.

He then turned to look at his friend, his eyes wide with panic. "Don’t tell me that we are only an hour or so late... don’t tell me that we are too late."

They could have picked up the pace. If they had tried, they might have been able to get here two hours ago.

If they lost Wang Tian Mu simply because they were dragging their feet, then he would never have forgiven himself.

"We’ll go to the hospital first. She might be there helping people," grunted Bai Long Qiang, his thoughts the same as Si Dong’s.

"She won’t be there now," grunted Cheng Bo Jing. "Five months ago, maybe. But she is smart. She would have collected any supplies she needed and hunkered down. We need to go to the house."

The other three men simply looked back and forth between Bai Long Qiang and Cheng Bo Jing. Both had a good point.

Wang Tian Mu would have done everything in her power to help those that needed it.

But what if that need to help others put her on the front line? Put her in front of the zombies?

What if they were too late?

"Hospital first, it is on the way. Then we’ll go to the house."

"Fine. But we need to hurry."