199 They know, but do they believe what they know?
“I guess that’s the end of the show,” Mathew muttered, watching how the withered corpse of the zombie turned dark only to shatter into a cloud of ash and then scatter on the wind.
“Any ideas what that was supposed to be?” Leila asked, tightly gripping the handle of her saber.
Two drops of sweat trickled down the side of her head while her eyes continued to scan all the zombies in proximity. Even though the strange situation now came to an end, she didn’t dare to relax her hand at all.
And yet, Mathew couldn’t help but smile with a tiny bit of irony.
“Do you want to know what it all meant?” he asked, leaning his head over his shoulder as he smiled at the girl.
“Wait, do you actually know?” Leila finally turned her eyes away from the fence and looked at Mathew. Her eyes were wide open as a hint of deep respect appeared at the bottom of her pupils.
“That wasn’t the question,” Mathew said, shaking his head. “Do you want to know?” he then asked again.
Leila pulled her eyebrows together as she failed to follow Mathew’s drift.
“Yeah?”
“Well then, now you know how it feels to be me,” Mathew finally revealed his small ploy. “I can only guess what happened. And to be fair, I believe that’s how zombies might be evolving,’ he added, opting to add some sugar to the mental nudge he just made. “But overall, with everything we observe and fail to understand, I constantly need to make assumptions, guesses, wishes,” he said, shaking his head.
Mathew then rested his hands on his hips. He then raised his chin and looked at the girl with a stern look on his face.
“I didn’t want to put you down. Your question is perfectly valid. But to be honest, this lesson might be even more important than the truth about what happened,” he revealed only to then release a deep sigh.
“Lesson about what?” Leila asked, her face twisting in dissatisfaction. “About how there are things you don’t know?” she suggested, only to shake her head as she crossed her hands over her chest. “But didn’t you mention it over and over again already?”
“There is one thing to say it,” Mathew nodded his head as he agreed with what the girl said. “But to experience it on its own is another thing entirelly,” he explained the real reason behind the entire experiment.
“Are you guys done?” Norbert then joined the discussion. The look of annoyance and anxiety on his face spoke wonders about what was going through his mind. “I located my sister so how about we move and get everything over with?”
‘Oh right,’ Mathew thought, taking a deep breath right as the energy appeared to leave his body. ‘I still have that girl to deal with,’ he thought, gritting his teeth.
The mere mention of the girl was enough to attract the attention of Mathew’s girls.
“How about we go find her and then explain the situation in advance?” Nadia suggested, taking a step forward to enter the conversation not only with her words but with her presence as well.
“Huh?” Mathew shrugged, not expecting this kind of suggestion. ‘I thought you didn’t really like the idea,’ he thought, turning his eyes towards the girl. “What for?”
“You are a man,” Daria stepped in as well. A silly smile appeared on her lips as she cast a glance at Mathew as if she was looking at some sort of a naive toddler. “It will be easier for her to understand the situation if fellow girls explain it to her,” she explained.
“That…” Mathew hesitated for a moment. ‘Wait, what am I even hesitating about?’ he then realized his own mental fallacy. ‘It’s just the fact that things aren’t going the way I expected them to, I guess,’ he then uncovered the truth behind his automatic reaction. “Well, that’s perfectly reasonable,” he admitted only to nod his head toward the girl.
“In that case, give us five minutes of a headstart,” Nadia suggested only to turn her eyes towards Norbert. “And you, where can we find her?”
“All the way to the back of the east-bound wing of the building, second floor,” Norbert gave out the location without a word of complaint.
‘It seems he grew to accept the situation,’ Mathew thought, only to watch how the girls grouped up and rushed towards the ruins, eager to deal with the matter as soon as possible.
“You know it’s likely not the only reason, do you?” Norbert asked, sending a slightly amused glance toward Mathew’s face.
“I know,” Mathew replied while rolling his eyes. “There are some conflicts between the three of them already. It’s given that only more of them would appear once we will have to add Carol to the equation,” he pointed out the thing Norbert was likely hinting at.
“Didn’t you say it was going to be a one-time thing?” Norbert then countered, raising his right eyebrow to express his displeasure.
“That’s right,” he confirmed Norbert’s words. “I know this,” he stated. “You know this,” he then added only to turn his eyes towards the building. “And they know this as well,” he pointed out, staring at the ruins as if they held some sort of ancient treasure only waiting for someone brave and attentive enough to discover it.
“But there is a difference between knowing and believing,” Mathew finished his explanation, presenting the very logic that was the source of the anxiety he was doing his best to hide.
“I believe that this is going to be a one-time thing,” Norbert said in a stern voice while sending Mathew an eye. “No, I know it will be,” he then corrected himself only to stand up and take a small stroll around the open area of the school’s compound.
There two of them then turned silent. Everything that had to be said was already voiced out. And with no need to keep on the small talk, the two of them reached a silent yet unanimous agreement not to entertain each other in this culturally-enforced manner.
“It’s time to go,” Mathew then said once the agreed five minutes has passed. “Are they still…”
“Yeah,” Norbert replied before Mathew could even finish his sentence. “I didn’t listen in to what they were talking about, but they are still right where I found Carol before,” he reported right as his face started to take on darker tones.
“There is no reason to keep on waiting here, then,” Mathew summed up, stepping towards the ruins of the southern wing of the school. “Are you coming?”