138 Confronting the schemers
“I guess we are going to trade your sister’s pussy for a few more days of the alliance.”
‘So that’s how it is,’ Mathew thought, resting his back against a random piece of rubble.
He was hiding among the rubble of the southern wing, listening in to the conversation the two policemen had.
‘I noticed they were scheming again after helping Daria to touch the grass, but I didn’t expect their scheme to go like that,’ Mathew thought.
He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Yet, as no more words were shed in the police company just a few meters away, Mathew decided it was the right time to reveal himself.
“It’s funny how you guys assume a lot of things without actually asking others what they think in the first place,” he said out loud, walking out of his hiding spot before calmly approaching the policemen.
“You…” Daniel uttered, his eyes opening wide. At first, he took a step back, only to realize how did that make him look. “You don’t look surprised at all,” he ended up commenting, clearly not sure how else he was supposed to react.
“Oh,” Mathew smiled. “I knew about the two of you colluding against me since a while ago,” he explained. “Maybe you didn’t realize it, but it’s not only the zombies that I can see on the map at the merchant,” the young man added with a small smile.
The area turned silent.
Mathew locked his hands on his hips, staring down at the troubled duo. Daniel looked right back into Mathew’s eyes, unable to utter a word but clearly not willing to concede anything.
And in this tense moment, Norbert was the only one who simply didn’t know how he was supposed to act at all.
“Judging by when you came out, you heard my proposal,” Norbert somehow ended up being the first one to break the silence. While he kept his eyes averted, he still attempted to dissolve the tense situation.
“I do not give a fuck about it,” Mathew shrugged his shoulders. “I can track Carol just like I tracked your ghost,” he said while raising his hand and pointing his finger at Carol’s brother. “And it’s funny how you guys decided to give Carol to me without asking for her consent in the first place.”
‘I know I shouldn’t be that harsh with them, but it’s just too damn nice to call them out like that!’ Mathew thought, more amused than infuriated by the situation.
The tense situation brewed conflict. Just like no prolonged siege could go without some internal struggle, people stuck in the world of zombie apocalypse were bound to jump at each other’s throats.
It wasn’t even a matter of conflicting interests. Without the protection from the wide array of rules and mechanisms created to enforce said rules that the civilization brought, only fully authoritarian governance could work in both the short and long term.
And that obviously led to conflict between those at the top and those who didn’t accept the way the leader dealt with stuff.
“It’s funny how you call us out over not asking for Carol’s consent when you likely never intended to ask for it either,” Norbert finally brought himself to knock the ball back on Mathew’s field. “Weren’t you just going to claim her like you did with the other girls?” he accused while squinting his eyes.
“So you don’t know,” Mathew muttered under his nose while his lips twitched and formed a small, amused smile.
“What?” Norbert asked, squinting his eyes even further when Mathew’s voice turned out to be too silent for him to catch it.
“Do you know that it was Carol that came to me asking to be turned into my wife?” Mathew raised his head and asked while keeping the amused smile on his lips.
Norbert froze when he heard those words. His face tensed up. He then took a step forward. Then another. And then he straightforwardly marched towards Mathew only to end up grabbing his shirt and attempting to raise him up.
“This won’t work, buddy,” Mathew sighed calmly before swatting Norbert away with a single smack. “Oh, I forgot to mention I refused her,” he added with a lovely smile while looking down at Norbert on the ground.
“You did what?!” Norbert didn’t really mind being thrown to the ground. At least, he didn’t appear to do so when he heard the second part of what Mathew said.
“Can you two stop it?” Daniel finally rejoined the encounter right as Norbert’s face indicated he was about to lose it. “Your sister suggested she could become Mathew’s wife, but he refused. What’s there to be insulted at?” he asked, throwing a troubled look at Norbert.
“I…” the younger policeman hesitated, only to end up averting his eyes. “I don’t know. When I heard it, something made me act like that…” he attempted to excuse himself. Yet, before he could dig any deeper in this direction, Norbert shook his head before raising it from the ground only to then lower his head before Mathew.
“I apologize for my outburst,” he said while properly lowering his head. “I don’t know what got into me,” he added.
“Let’s forget about it, then,” Mathew waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t really care about the slight conflict. “She’s your sister so it’s only natural you will be quite oversensitive when it comes to her,” he added before moving his eyes on Daniel.
“What?” the older policeman asked. “Are you finally going to reveal what are you going to do with us?” he asked.
There wasn’t any sign of confrontational attitude in the man.
‘Is he aware that he couldn’t stop me from doing anything even if he tried? Or maybe he just gave up on resisting once his plan saw the light of the day?’ Mathew thought, only to shake his head and get rid of those useless thoughts.
“I’m not going to do anything to you,” Mathew said instead. “On the contrary, I’m interested in what exactly prompted you to look into ways of splitting away from my group,” he added with a small smile only to then shake his head again.
“But?” Daniel asked. “Your tone clearly indicated that there is something else you want to say,” he pointed out.
‘That’s a proper adult for you,’ Mathew thought, holding back his smile. Right now, grinning at the two of the policemen could send a very wrong message.
“But we don’t have the time to talk things through,” Mathew said before shaking his shoulders. He then turned around and waved his hand towards the building.
Nadia, Leila, and Daria marched out from the ruins, proving that they were ready to intervene if Daniel attempted any funny business.
“I’m glad to see you are okay,” Daniel commented when his eyes rested on Daria’s face.
“It’s not like it’s your doing,” the girl replied in a harsh tone. Yet, upon noticing Mathew’s cold stare, she shook her head and added, “nevertheless, thanks.”
“Then?” Daniel turned his attention back to Mathew. “Judging how you brought all your fighters to this place you could either be worried about our retaliation or you were planning another expedition,” he pointed out what should be obvious at this point.
“That’s right. But rather than explaining myself, I will ask you this one time,” Mathew said as his smile soured. “Norbert, why did the army of zombies suddenly start to retreat again?”
“I believe it’s because they found an easier target,” Norbert admitted without even a moment of hesitation.
“That’s right,” Mathew nodded his hand. “While initially, I was too busy thinking about our own situation to notice it, don’t you guys see what that means?”
For the second time, silence filled the place. Not a single one out of all five of Mathew’s companions managed to realize what he was trying to clue them in.
‘As much as I would like to have them realize it on their own, we don’t really have the time for that,’ Mathew thought before releasing a deep sigh.
“If they found another, easier target, that means there are other people that managed to survive,” Mathew pointed out the direct answer.
“And what?” Daniel asked, taking Mathew by a surprise. “Don’t we have our hands full trying to secure those few that we managed to save in this compound alone?” he asked, proving that he was a lot more cold-blooded than Mathew expected.
‘Or maybe he is just a pragmatic?’ Mathew thought. ‘Nah, it doesn’t matter,’ he concluded before taking a step forward.
“I believe that an entire army of zombies wouldn’t suddenly get on the move because of one or two survivors that managed to hide away,” he pointed out. “And that got me thinking,” he added, only to abruptly stop his sentence in the middle.
This time, despite how short they were on time, Mathew wasn’t going to just reveal the answer.
Nadia suddenly sighed as she approached Mathew’s side. Contrary to her man, she wasn’t willing to play the long game with the police officers.
“We believe that the other group that the zombies wanted to attack have people with the system as well,” she revealed before looking at Mathew’s profile. She then took a deep breath before moving her eyes back to the officers. “And in the current world, only people with the system can keep up with the rate at which zombies evolve.”
At first, Daniel’s face turned stale. Yet, a mere moment later, a flash of enlightenment appeared in his eyes.
“So in order to bolster our own defenses…” he muttered before abruptly turning around to face the gate of the compound only to then glance over his shoulder. “Guys, what are you waiting for? We need to go and save them!”