LEVELING UP WIVES IN THE APOCALYPSE

“On one hand, I would rather stay back,” Norbert replied, turning his eyes towards the fence. He then stared at the zombies for a bit, only for a sudden bout of shame and anxiety to fill his face. “For many reasons,” he added.

His ambiguous words did a poor job at hiding the real reason from Mathew, though.

‘It can’t be comfortable to lead a man so that he can fuck his sister,’ Mathew thought, hiding his own awkwardness behind a stupid grin.

“But on the other hand…” Norbert muttered.

His gaze sharpened. His fingers curled up to form fists. Norbert then raised his eyes and looked at Mathew’s face.

“I can’t really be away either, can I?”

Mathew looked at the officer.

He then took a deep breath and swallowed his saliva.

‘It’s just a normal guy with a bit more experience than me,’ Mathew thought, taking a moment to calm his agitation down. ‘Not just some random NPC in some stupid game.’

And so, Mathew found no further need to keep the conversation up. Instead, he turned his face back towards his target before making his way through the ruins to the compound.

‘It was only a single night,’ Mathew thought a moment later once he reached the part of the compound that was relatively intact.

He could see the marks of the battle he fought on the ground floor against his first evolved opponents. And yet, this place somehow gave the young man a sense of familiarity.

‘To think I could miss it after such a short time.’ Mathew shook his head as he walked through the corridors to the still-existing staircase at the end of the eastern wing.

“It would be potentially useful to restore the main staircase,” Mathew commented once the two of them reached the central point of the building’s cross-section.

“Wouldn’t that make it easier for zombies to penetrate?” Norbert replied, offhandedly picking up on the small talk.

“Yeah,” Mathew admitted, stretching his voice as he stopped and stared at the pile of rubble that once connected all the floors in the most convinient of ways. “But sooner or later, this place will likely become a hub,” Mathew then added, only for his expression to sour.

‘We can’t really go far the way we currently do,’ he thought, staring at the rubble for a little longer before picking the pace. ‘There is no time and place for personal bravado and adventures.’

Mathew closed his eyes, using just his sense of the area around him to guide his feet.

‘We need to get more people involved as soon as possible.’

It was an obvious truth.

The speed at which the zombies around Mathew evolved was astounding. Far greater than what he experienced back during his first attempt.

‘Back then, there were hardly any evolved zombies or monsters around,’ Mathew thought, recalling his bitter memories. ‘And it was two damn weeks into the thing!’

Mathew and Norbert reached the stairs and started to climb up. And yet, their steps became slower the closer they got to their objective.

‘The only thing that can keep up with this growth is my system,’ Mathew thought, gritting his teeth. ‘And there ain’t no way I will fuck a thousand women in a thousand different ways!’

Mathew’s current predicament was in a straight line a result of the philosophy he never really thought about before. He somehow directed all his actions towards a certain outcome, one that he believed to be capable of taking advantage of.

‘Are those my RTS senses tingling?’ Mathew suddenly grinned to himself.

Norbert quickly caught a glance over Mathew’s changing expression. And as a result, his own face soured, giving testament to the newborn misunderstanding.

“I’m not smiling for the reason you think I do,” Mathew suddenly said, breaking the momentary silence between the two.

“Hmm?” Norbert mused, turning his eyes away. “It’s not like I’m judging you, okay?” he attempted to drop the topic, clearly too awkward to talk about it.

“I mean it, I was thinking about something else,” Mathew pressured, even going as far as to take a complete spot.

‘And if I want things to work out, I need to secure both Carol and Norbert,’ he realized the obvious conclusion of the idea that just spurred in his mind. ‘And for that to happen…’

“Once everything is over with, I will likely leave this place to you, Carol, and those survivors that wish to fight,” Mathew threw a massive bone straight into Norbert’s face.

“Wha…” Norbert stumbled to the back in shock, saved from a trip down the stairs only by Mathew’s quick save. “Thanks…”

The officer quickly shook Mathew’s hand once he regained his stability.

“I believe we should switch our approach,” Mathew revealed, exposing the ideas and thoughts, not even his girls knew about.

‘And here I promised to share everything with them,’ Mathew then thought, averting his eyes before his self-directed shame.

Mathew then turned his eyes back to Norbert’s face.

“We can’t afford to do everything ourselves. And I already have the means to empower others to do my bidding,” he added.

Mathew then took a step back and pulled out his saber.

“For two hundred and fifty cores, I can purchase this blade,” he revealed a small bit of info. His arm then drew a quick swing with the saber. “I can also get cheaper weapons. Macheette, katana, ax, you name it, there is a chance I can get a stronger version of it.”

“I think I see where are you going,” Norbert said.

His demanour changed. Now that he focused on Mathew’s drift, he could push aside the thoughts about what would happen to his sister in the near future.

“What about the others, though?” Norbert then asked, raising his hand to rub his chin.

“Those who can’t or don’t want to fight will soon be able to prove useful in the media building,” Mathew revealed. “As soon as we get enough cores on our hands, they will be able to work.”

“That’s…” Norbert squinted his eyes, “quite a massive piece of news, isn’t it?” he then commented in a lowered voice and with his eyelids squinted down.

“I still have no idea how much it will cost, but once we are done, we will start the process of retaking this city,” Mathew revealed the one thought that kept on bothering him from the bottom of his soul.

There was no way to live a safe, stable life in a fortress within a hostile city. With zombies crawling and evolving all around them, they could never be free from constant worry.

And for that very sake, the one thing that Mathew could do to inch closer to his dream life was to conquer the entire city.

‘Humans on their own were always weak,’ Mathew thought, taking a deep breath only to stop his steps right before the doors to the room the two of them wanted to reach. ‘Our strength always lied in numbers, so why go against this truth?’

Mathew stood by the doors. He then took a deep breath and reached for the door’s knob.

“I will try to get this over with as quickly as possible,” he said in a hushed voice before pushing out the doors to the teacher’s shed of the class.