Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 92: You Want To Know, Kitten?

Chapter 92: You Want To Know, Kitten?

Ye Yao Zu narrowed his eyes, studying Fan Teng Fei. The man had been standing still for a few seconds, just staring at the empty space in front of him.

"You good, man?" he asked, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

"Yeah, I’m good," replied Yan Teng Fei, blinking rapidly a few times. "I think I got a superpower."

Cheng Bo Jing and Bai Long Qiang approached him and looked him over. "What are you talking about?" demanded Bai Long Qiang.

"I think I have a place to put stuff in," muttered Fan Teng Fei, seeming out of it as he spoke to the others. "I was trying to think of a way I could take everything, and they disappeared. I closed my eyes, and they were in an empty room inside my mind."

"Are you able to take them out?" asked Cheng Bo Jing as he tilted his head to the side. He hadn’t heard anything like this happening to anyone else, but that really didn’t mean anything. Zombies hadn’t appeared before, and now they are here. It’s not unreasonable to expect the remaining humans to develop some way of protecting themselves.

It was the way evolution worked, right? He just didn’t expect evolution to happen in a matter of months; normally, it took thousands of years for a species to experience it.

The supplies that Wang Tian Mu had stockpiled appeared in front of everyone, and Bai Long Qiang let out a sigh of relief. "At least we now have a way of storing shit," he grunted, and Fan Teng Fei simply nodded his head in agreement.

"How big do you think your space is?" asked Si Dong, looking around the living room. Could they take more stuff? Once they found Wang Tian Mu, it might be nice if she had familiar furniture around.

"I don’t know," answered Fan Teng Fei. "Maybe 90 square feet by 90 square feet?"

"That will be more than enough for supplies." Everyone looked at Bai Long Qiang as he stared blankly outside. "The rest of us will have to try and see if we’ve got any powers too." The look on his face when he said it was almost a sneer, like developing superpowers, wasn’t going to be possible.

But it was the end of the world; trying wouldn’t really hurt, and it wasn’t like they were going to get sent for a psych eval if they told a supervisor that they thought they had special abilities.

The other four nodded their heads, grabbed their packs, and left the house. The furniture was never going to be more important than food and water, so they might as well concentrate on the essentials.

Wang Tian Mu wouldn’t fault them for that.

----

Bai Long Qiang turned around in the house that he had picked out. This was supposed to be...

What was it supposed to be? It was supposed to be a home for him and Wang Tian Mu. A place that they could call their own without his parents butting in every few days and pushing their agenda on them. It was a place where they could start a family and watch it grow.

The first time he had entered with the real estate agent, he could hear Wang Tian Mu’s laughter echoing in the halls. He could see the kid running around, him chasing after them. Going into the backyard, he saw the barbeques that he would have with his teammates, their spouses, and kids milling around and talking.

This home represented his ideal future.

And now that Wang Tian Mu was nowhere to be found, those dreams went up in a puff of smoke.

No Wang Tian Mu meant no future. No kids, no barbeques, no laughter.

If the dreams were no more, then there was no need for the house to still stand.

Bai Long Qiang gripped his hands tightly, not caring that his nails were digging so deep into his palms that he could feel the blood dripping down. Taking in a deep breath, his upper lip twisted into a snarl.

The calm man was no more. In his place was nothing more than a beast. And the beast wanted to burn the world down.

All of a sudden, he could feel his hands start to heat up.

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. It was the same one he got when Wang Tian Mu held his hand as she skipped beside him. He closed his eyes and could practically feel her standing beside him, the look in her beautiful eyes the same one she gave him when she was impressed with what he had done.

That look that made him feel on top of the world.

"What are you going to do?" Her voice echoed in his head, sounding like a venging demon.

"I am going to burn it down," he grunted, the words coming out through clenched teeth.

"And just how are you planning to do that?" she smirked her reply, egging him on. But he had no idea what she wanted him to do.

"Lift your hand," she said. It sounded like she was on her tiptoes, whispering in his ear. He could even feel the heat from her body pressed against his arm.

He lifted his hand, too entrapped with what was going on in his head. If this was the only place he could feel and see her, he never wanted to go back to reality any time soon.

"Can you picture it? The house burning down? What does it look like? Where does the fire start? What color is the fire? Tell me everything," the whispers continued, pulling him further and further into his head.

"You want to know, Kitten?" purred Bai Long Qiang, unknowingly calling her the same thing that Cheng Bo Jing had been calling her. Mind you, Bai Long Qiang had been calling her it longer.

"I want to know," she whispered into his ear, and he could feel the heat of her breath as the air ruffled his hair.

"The door. The fire will start at the door, a bright red, orange, and yellow fire. The door was supposed to keep intruders out, and it couldn’t even do that. It doesn’t need to be there anymore."

Bai Long Qiang was too lost in his head to see what was going on in real life, but the others could see it easily. A ball of fire shot out of his right hand and engulfed the front door.

"What then?" whispered Wang Tian Mu. "Does the fire spread to the outside?"