While the others were still busy chasing after some insects, Hazel did not sit still. She lifted a part of my body with enough strength. Then, the insects that were crushed under me, she gathered all the squashed bugs she could before stuffing my mouth with them and their juices.
Slowly, my mind became clear, and my pain felt like fading, after I had gulped down whatever Hazel had put in my mouth. I felt like I was no longer on death's door, and that I was definitely going to survive. Just that, I just needed a bit more food, and I would be back in peak condition within no time!
"Hazel, check for anything that looks abnormal about me! An uneven leg or arm, maybe. If there are any, try to put them back to how it's supposed to look like." I instructed Hazel.
I was not sure how exactly my healing factor would work, so I made sure to have Hazel check to realign a possibly broken leg or arm. After all, if my healing factor was just something like simple regeneration, then I would eventually be healed but disabled. I did not want that. Not even in a so so peaceful world like Earth!
Hazel got down and started to check on me. After a while, she replied, "I don't see anything strange... Here, open your mouth. There's more for you to eat."
"Thank you," I mumbled.
Hazel was quite diligent in feeding me. When she could no longer gather the juices of calories and protein below me, she went and gathered those that were under the bodies of the others who had met with the same fate as I did.
In the process of her feeding me the rest of the squashed insects she could gather, the individuals that had scattered earlier gradually returned. They walked forward and stopped beside me one by one.
"What do I do?" Brolee, who was the first to come back, questioned Hazel.
"Put it in his mouth for him to eat," Hazel answered.
Nodding, Brolee then moved to feed me the insects he had found. The majority of the insects in the palm of his hands were centipedes and termites, which I heartily accepted as a protein-rich diet! I did not gag or feel in any way disgusted as I ate up all of the insects.
One by one, more and more people came back and forth with what they were able to gather. At one point, receiving so much food from five people over and over again, I felt like an altar that was receiving offerings!
When the last person was about to stuff me, I moved my arm to stop her midway.
"No more."
She backed away silently.
"Phew.." I let out a small sigh of relief. "Looks like it works." I muttered after sighing. "I can move my arm and my upper body again… Let's see."
Attempting to stand up, I met with success. My legs were fine too, just like my arms and back were. It was a miracle! My body is a heaven-sent treasure!
'Hmm… Is that why we've been captured while being mere kids? To figure out our genetics and our development as we grow?'
"Interesting… Interesting." I muttered and swept a quick glance around me, only to notice the girl who stopped by me earlier was currently staring at me.
"Uh-uhm!" I cleared my throat and said to her, "I'm fine as you can see. Go tend to someone else. It'd be great if they could recover fast too. Especially since we don't know what might be the source of that loud booming! We have to be careful.…"
Hearing my words, and since I've mentioned that I'd find it great for the other injured to recover fast, the girl readily nodded without any sign of dissatisfaction or disappointment.
Perhaps she might not be like Sutow, who seeks my validation at every given opportunity, but just in case if that's the case, I made sure to use the right words so as to not make the girl and the others after her feel bad or jealous of the others who had been able to feed me more times.
I looked at everyone who had their hands empty and said, "I doubt that amount of food would be enough for those four. Who's willing to look for food again with me? Raise your arm."
To my request, everyone who had nothing in their hands raised their arms. Even the ones that were busy feeding the injured wanted to go with me.
To them, I responded, "You guys can come too once you're done. However, make sure there's always one person here to watch over the injured. When one comes back, the one that stayed goes, and another who had already gone with me stays. Who stays is up for you all to decide I guess."
They nodded and thus we proceeded to do as instructed by me. It didn't take us too long to gather more food. The cave was very open and it did seem like it was a nest for centipedes, after all.
'Perhaps there might be a source of water somewhere, since this place is damp enough for centipedes to nest in…' I thought on my way back to the injured ones.
It took us around four cycles before every injured individual was back at their prime. With us having walked around four times, everyone had taken part in providing the injured with food. It was quite a satisfactory outcome.
"So, it seems that all of us can recover from fatal injuries like this with enough food, huh?" I commented.
"Are you saying it's not normal for food to do that?" Sutow asked, showing curiosity about this subject of "eat to heal".
Sutow wasn't done talking yet. Right after asking his question, he revealed a thought of his that he had just a short while ago. "I was starting to believe that the reason why we had been provided little to no food by those evil people… is because it's so great! Great to ease pain, great to solve pain!"
I added in the end, "I'm not certain if there might be food like this out in this world, but I'm very certain that the trash leftover food we used to get would have nothing of that like. That garbage food did not even have enough calories to keep us full! Tsk! Tsk!"
I shook my head. My thoughts went back to the fresh memories of those days in the prisoner area where I was forced to eat a meal that only stray dogs would eat. Not that I am eating any better nowadays…