Jayr POV - Earth, Geia, Atnta's Survivor Camp - 2010

  As Shane and Carl tinue pying ier, I finish washing my spare underwear, wring them to release the excess water, and after doing that, I start removing my T-shirt to give it a quick wash as some dust, dirt, and blood did get on it which makes it slightly unfortable.

  At the same time, I hear Jacqui loudly pin to the other women doing undry nearby, " someone expin to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie Miel work?"

  Hearing that Amy casually ents, "The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" followed by Carol who warily g her shitty husband as he watches the women washing the undry from his vehicle before she meekly mutters, "It's just the way it is." but then Andrea quickly adds, "e on, girls. This time it isn't so bad, at the very least we enjoy a very nice eye dy..."

  Shortly after she siad those words, I felt the gaze of those 4 women on my body and that was quickly followed by their excmations.

  "Oh my...!"

  "That's quite a nice sight... If only I was 10 years younger..."

  "Wow... look at his muscles. They are no joke... he must take care of himself diligently."

  After that, I hear Carol's voice as she quickly ges the subjed pins out loud as she is scrubbing a particuarlly dirty piece of cloth, "I do miss my Maytag a lot."

  This causes a rea as a few seds ter Andrea sighs and ents, "I miss my Benz, my sat nav." followed by Jacqui who also sighs before she says in a longing tone, "I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." which makes Amy also remember things she misses and taken franted before the zombie apocalypse, "My puter… Aing."

  This creates a muber atmosphere that sts until Andrea suddenly burts out, "I really miss my vibrator at the moment." which immediately makes the girl start to cheerfully giggle and excim.

  "Oh!"

  "Oh my God!"

  Before Carol also admits in a very low tohat only the nearby women and I with my enhanced senses hear, "Me too."

  This makes the girls ugh even louder totally breaking the depressed atmsphere of a few seds ago, at least until I notice that Carol's shitty husband is being upset for some reason and starts to walk toward them.

  The piece of shit gets close enough and asks in a rude and aggressive tone, "What's so funny?"

  Not intimidated by that piece of shit's posture, Andrea calmly replies, "Just sing war stories, Ed." followed by her younger sister who says, "Yeah."

  Then seeing Carol's future te husband ing closer, Andrea calmly asks, "Problem, Ed?"

  In response, Ed gres at Andrea and shouts, "Nothin' that s you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no edy club."

  At the same time, I hear Lori arriving at the quarry oher side ao Carl, "Hey, Carl, what did I tell you about not leaving Dale's sight?" making the young boy expin, "But Shane said we could catch frogs, remember?"

  Upset by her son's reply, Lori quickly says and orders, "It doesn't matter what Shane says. It matters what I say. Go on bap. I'll be right behind you."

  I hear the young boy sigh quite loudly before he heads back up to the RV and shortly after, Shaells her, "I've got to tell you, I do not think you should be taking this out on him."

  Further insed by his words, Lori shouts, "You don't tell me what to do. You lost that privilege." before I hear her starting to storm off, Shane calls her out, "Lori, could you just wait up a sec? I think we should talk. We haven't had a ce…"

  Before he tinue, she interrupts him and says, "No. No no. That's over too. You tell that to the frogs." which makes Shane once again try to expin himself, "Damn it, Lori. Look, I don't know how it appears to you or what you think…"

  But again Lori interrupts him and shouts, "How it appears to me? I'm sorry. Is there a gray area here? Let me dispel it. You stay away from me. You stay away from my son. You don't look at him. You don't talk to him. From now on, my family is off-limits to you."

  At this point, Sharies to remain calm as he ents, "Lori, I don't think that's fair. I don't think that…" making Lori yell, "Shane, shut up. Don't! My husband is back. He is alive."

  In respoo that, Shane asks, "He's my best friend. Do you think I'm not happy about that?" but this upsets Lori even more as she yells, "How dare you? Why would you be? You are the ohat told me that he died. You son of a bitch." before she storms away in anger leaving behind a very upset Shane.

  Suddenly, my attention focuses ba the women doing the undry while that waste of oxygen Ed lecherously watches them as I hear an annoyed Andrea's voice as she asks, "Ed, tell you what… If you don't like how your undry is done, you are wele to pit and do it yourself. Here."

  I turn my head just in time to see a standing Aoss a T-shirt at Carol's husband but he immediately throws it back at her, almost hitting her face while saying, "Ain't my job, missy."

  Amy gets up and walks behind her sister while saying in a low, pleading tone, "Andrea, don't."

  But Andrea ignores her younger sister and stares at Carol's husband while asking in a challenging tone, "What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"

  In respohe man blows out some smoke from his mouth and replies in an irreverent tone, "Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch." before he casually looks at his wife and demands, "Tell you what… e o's go."

  Carol slowly gets up and starts to move toward her husband but Andrea doesn't let go and still stares at him in the eyes and says in a tohat almost dares him to do something, "I don't think she o go anywhere with you, Ed."

  Ed simply gres at her and says, "And I say it's none of your business." before he looks at Carol and presses on, "e on now. You heard me."

  At this point, Andrea looks back at the meek woman aly says, "Carol, you don't have to do this." but Carol shakes her head and says, "Andrea, please. It doesn't matter."

  Upset by Andrea's attitude, Carol's husband doesn't hesitate to call her out and say in a threatning tone, "Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, All right?" before he gres at Carol and shouts, "Now you e on now or you gon it ter."

  Hearing those words, Jacqui quickly rebukes, "So she show up with fresh bruises ter, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them." but in respoo Jacqui's accusation, Ed simply starts to ugh before he shouts, "Stay out of this. Now e on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am doalking. e on."

  The situation starts to turn chaotic as Ed tries to grab Carol and the girls try to protect her while shouting.

  "No no."

  "Carol, you don't..."

  "Carol, you don't have to..."

  Seeing that, I calmly grab my still wet shirt and spare underwear and quickly move toward them just as a very frustrated Ed yells, "You don't tell me what! I tell you what!"

  At the same time, the breathibag raises his hand with the clear iion of spping his wife in the face, but before he swing his arm, I arrive beside him and firmly hold his hand in pce while calmly saying, "It isn't o raise your hand against a defenseless woman. Even more so when the woman iion is your wife. Does that ring any bell? The woman you swore to love and protect for the rest of your life?"

  In respohe meatbag's face bees red from fury as he tries to break free from my hold while shouting, "Shut up! A shitty fag like you has no say in these matters! She is my woman and I do whatever the hell I want with her!"

  When he realizes that he 't break free, the meatbag yells, "Let me go!" before he throunch aiming at my face, but I calmly stop him by grabbing his wrist with a mog smile before I say in aone, "How pitful... A man who only feel fident, powerful, and important by hitting and l over defenseless children and women... what a failure. Let me punish you a little bit, maybe this way you'll learn some respect... or at least fear me enough to behave."

  Shortly after saying that, I quickly let go of his arm and wrist and with my free hands I "lightly" tap a precise point in his body that shuts down his sense of touch which makes the meatbag fall on the ground like a puppet whose strings got cut much to the shock of everyone else who remains stunned in pce.

  The brief moment of silence is quickly broken by the meatbag's panicked voice as he shouts while his body uncoordiwists and twitches around, "W-what did you do!? I 't feel...! I 't feel my body!!"

  I look down at him and calmly say, "I just shut down your sense of touch... basically I could smash your nuts with a rod you won't feel anything."

  After expining that, I look down at him ahe horron in his eyes, then a mog smile forms on my face as I say, "It is a pretty trippy experience, isn't it? The sudden loss of the sense of touch... You 't feel anything, your own body, the ground u, the slightly chill air toug your skin... nothing. And this is only the start..."

  Shortly after saying that, I once again lightly tap his body which makes the meatbag yells as his eyes lose focus, "Aah! I 't see!! I 't see anything!!" before I calmly expin, "Now, I've just shut down your sense of sight... actually, this is a lot better than suddenly losing the sense of touch. After all, humans experienething very simir when they suddenly wake up in total darkness, but that doesn't mean that it is a nice experience."

  As his screams start to annoy me, I again tap his body in another area which makes him let out some intelligible grunts as I calmly expin, "With that, I shut down your sense of taste... it also has the nice side effect of shutting you up."

  After saying that, I calmly tell him, "The o be gone will be the sense of smell..." before I again lightly tap his body shutting down his sense of smell.

  At this point, I expin to the wrigglibag on the ground, "Soon, I'm going to shut down your sense of hearing too. At that point, you will find yourself in a very dark and quiet limbo, uo feel, see, smell, listen, and perceive anything... there you will finally learn the human mind is the worst kind of prison one find orapped into, especially your own mind."

  Shortly after saying that, I don't hesitate to tap his body o time, shutting down his sense of hearing food while thinking, 'It has been quite some time since I shut down someone else's senses... It feels very refreshing. Moreover, it is a very good way to punish a piece of shit like this ohout actually killing them. After all, death isn't always the right punishment, especially when it bee a form of relief.'

  I'm suddenly brought out from my thoughts by Shane's voice as he excims, "Jesus Christ! What in the holy hell was that?"

  He quickly approaches us and checks on Carol's husband wriggling on the ground before he mutters, "He is alive..." before he looks at me and asks, "While I have nothing against what you did as I was just about to make a move myself, I have to ask... What the fuck did you do to him?"

  I calmly smile and excim, "Don't worry, I didn't physically hurt him in any way and he is still perfectly healthy, I just shut off all of his five serapping him in his mind. Think of it like a mundane case of sleep paralysis, he is scious but in a state where he 't see, hear, smell, taste, and feel anything."

  Hearing that, Shas up, looks at me, and asks, "How it be possible for someoo shut off a person's senses just like that? It feels like something out of a ic book."

  At the same time, Shane's question makes the girls also snap out of their stuate and Carol bursts out in tears and kneels over to check her husband while muttering, "Oh God! No. God! Carol him. Carol: Ed, I'm sorry. Oh my God. Ed, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Ed. Ed, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ed."

  I ignore Carol for the moment as she still isn't free from the hold the meatbag has on her, so I focus on Shane and casually answer, "Nothing that outndish. One just o have a very, very good aensive knowledge of human biology, and I'm not talking about the oaught in schools, but the more advanced and obscure one in addition to the capacity to actually use them. To deal with him I used something called pressure points which are some kind of structural weaknesses and quirks hidden in our bodies that by pressing them with a very precise amount of force cause all kinds of effects that be used for both healing and damaging the body."

  Hearing that, the irls and Shane don't know how to react at first, but then Andrea ents, "That's good. Ed for sure needs some time to cool off that hot head of his." followed by Jacqui who adds, "That's right a's not fet that he was about to hit Carol. I say we keep him in that state until tomorrow. Maybe this way, he will learn to treat his wife and kid better."

  At this point, Amy suggests, "Anyway, we 't leave him and Carol here. Let's at least help her bring him back to their tent."

  Hearing that, I and Shane look at each other before we both nodded and agreed with Amy's suggestiuon, so we picked up Carol's husband and carried him back to the tent while the girls expio the curious people of the camp who saw us carrying the apparentily unscious Ed what happened.

  After that, I watch as Andrea and Amy take a oe and head back to the quarry as they want to try fishing in the ke before I call Shane and ask him to follow me to a quiet pce a few meters away from the camp.

  Ohere, Shaares at me with a gaze that barely hides all the emotions he is keeping bottled up and bluntly asks, "So, what do you want to talk about?"

  In response, I don't cut around the issue and reply, "About the very messy situation that you, Lori, and Rifortunately found yourself into."

  Hearing that, a frown immediately forms on Shane's face, but before he say anything, I stop him by raising my hand and saying, "Yes, I know that it isn't my business, but I heard what you two said back at the quarry and saw how her words upset you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I didn't act you would have vented all your frustrations on that piece of shit beating him up an inch of his life."

  In respoo my words, Shaands in silence aowledging the truth behind my words, and seeing that he is still willing to listen, I smile a little before I tihe reason why I decided to involve myself in this mess is that from what I heard, it is clear that because of her current state, Lori will tio make one bad decision after the other that will possibly end very bad to the point of putting you and Rick against oher and maybe even the whole group in danger."

  Shaense up in respoo my words especially since he doesn't miss a little detail as he repeats, "Because of her current state? What do you mean?"

  I smile wryly as I reveal without aation, "She is pregnant... well, she is just in the first few weeks of her pregnancy, so none of the clear symptoms will appear yet. But her body is already starting to gh the usual ges. Usually, those are very difficult to notice especially in the first weeks, but I state with absolute fidehat I'm one of the best doctors alive in this world, and if someone otice that, that one is me."

  In respoo that revetion, Shane bees rooted on the spot with his eyes and mouth open wide uo say anything before a frantic expression forms on his fad he starts to turn around but just before he run bap, I put my hand on his shoulder and hold him back while calmly saying, "Wait. If you rush out and front Lori now you will only further worseuation, and that will only put this group in danger, but even more so, Rick, Lori, Carl, and your unborn child."

  Hearing that seems to work as Shane calms down and looks back almost with a pleading expression as he asks, "What should I do? I 't lose them! They are the only ohat kept me sane and alive while shit truly hit the fan!"

  Before he tinue, I interrupt him and say "First, take a deep breath and calm down... For sure the situation is very plex but it isn't like there is absolutely no way out of it."

  At this point, Shane focuses bae as I say, "The first thing to do is to talk about it with Rick, possibly without Lori's presence as in her current state she is only a destabilizing factor. You have to be ho and upfront with him. While I don't know him as well as you, from what I have seen, he seems to be a very good and smart man, sure, he may be upset at first, but I have no doubt that he will uand and five you in the end."

  Seeing Shane nod in silence, I tinue, "Ahing that you have to do is going to be a bit more difficult at first... You have to let go of your feelings for Lori."

  Hearing that, a frown forms on Shane's face, but I ighat and tio expin, "From what I have seen, I think that she genuely still loves Rid will likely fiercely fight back both out of guilt and self-hate from what happened. You already had a little taste of that a few minutes ago wheold you to stay away from her family. Give her a little bit of spad with time she won't go against you anymore and you'll be able to stay by your child and Carl's side keeping them safe with the help of Rid the rest of the group."

  After saying that, I sigh loudly and say, "I won't lie arcoat it to you. At first, it won't be easy and you'll likely be the one subjected to the most pressure but I think it is better thaernative of you all drifting apart until the point of urn where you and Rid up going against oher which could very well end with one of you going too far and kill the other. That isn't something I wish to see, both you and Rick are good men, and sidering the current state of the world, good men are needed more than ever if we want to build up a better world for kids like Carl, Duane, and your unborn child. Think about it a me know, I'll be there to help you get through this nasty situation in the best ossible for everyone."

  At the end of my speech, I start to walk back to the camp leaving behind a p and distressed Shane.

  Back at the camp, I walk around and che the rest of the survivors to know them better and see if they need some medical attention before I meet up with Man and spend some time talking about some random topics with him.

  At the same time, I notice that Dale is keeping wat top of his RV and that he is watg through his binocurs a specific area ahat in a field above the campsite, Jim is furiously digging holes into the ground with a shovel which makes me remember of the situation caused by his mental breakdown bined with a heatstroke caused by the whole end of the world situation and intense summer heat.

  Shortly after, Dale gets down from his RV, and worried, he carefully approaches Jim in the fields, seeing that, I excuse myself and follow after him.

  It doesn't take long for us to arrive at the fields where Jim is digging and ohere, Dale walks up to Jim, stopping a few meters away from him, before he cautiously calls him out, "Jim? You okay?" after a short pause filled with tense silehat is only broken by the sound of Jim's digging, Dale, who grows more and more ed each passing sed, adds, "You keep this up, yonna keel over out here. Drink some water at least."

  But Jim pletely ignores him and tio dig holes into the ground that are clearly graves, something that worries the old Dale even more as he stands there watg Jim dig unsure of what to do .

  Seeing that, I walk up and stop o Dale and try to reassure him, "Don't worry... It isn't anything too dangerous at the moment"

  Dale g me for a moment before he focuses ba Jim while saying, "You are that new guy. The Doctor Pucci, right? Do you know what is going on?"

  In response, I nod and say, "That's right. But you simply call me Jayr, or even Doc like Man does. I don't care too much about such things." before I expin, "Regarding what is happening. Jim is likely going through a mental breakdown. sidering what is happening in the world, it is natural for something like this to happen, especially to people who have witnessed and experienced a very traumatic event and didn't have the time to actually internalize what happened. Because of that, any random thing trigger a mental breakdown, a sound, a smell, or even a dream. In addition to that, Jim is clearly also affected by a heat stroke caused by this high temperature which worsened his dition even further."

  Hearing that, Dale's eyes grow wide as he excims, "Then we have to do something! I'm going to call someoo help..." but I interrupt him and say, "Don't bother them. I deal with this on my own. Moreover, it is better that the kids don't see Jim in this state."

  After saying that, I approach Jim from behind and before he eve, I gently trip him on the ground before I trap both his arms behind his bad hold them in pce using my knee while I restrain his body using my body weight and his head using my left hand.

  Of course, Jim tries tle out of it but my physical power and the teique behind my hold are just way too much for him to do anything against it.

  At the same time, I casually tap his pressure points to forcefully calm him down from his agitated state while whispering, "It's okay, it's okay. Take a deep breath... It's alright. Everything is going to be fine."

  I tio hold him a those words until Jim follows my instru and starts to take deep breaths.

  After some time, tears start to fall from his eyes as he mutters, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

  Odyin