292 Relocation plan
“The nearest one is directly at the front, banging its hands at the garage doors we can see from her,” Norbert reported. He pulled out his arm and pointed towards the area Mathew took notice of before. “Second door from the right, near the left corner of it.”
“And the other?” Mathew inquired.
“Two blocks south, at the back of the thickest part of the horde.”
“Wait, what?” Mathew muttered in surprise.
He then turned his eyes in the direction Norbert implied.
It was just like the policeman said. The horde didn’t occupy only the area directly adjacent to the car workshop but spread out in a long line before curving around the corner.
‘The building is blocking the view to see how far the horde extends in that direction,’ Mathew took notice and turned his eyes to Norbert.
“You can see the bulk of the horde, there are only between fifty to a hundred zombies left in the areas blocked from your view,” the policeman replied right away, not needing even a second to figure out what Mathew was thinking.
‘Is he that observant, or is it the experience of a veteran speaking?’ Mathew took a moment to wonder before turning his head around and taking a glance at the two guests in his group.
“I believe you guys need to explain the situation. Because from where I stand, it doesn’t make much sense.”
Despite the height advantage, Mathew could only see the few streets nearest to the building he was in. And when it came to the streets on the west-east axis that were shifted one or two blocks to the side, he could only see a few meters into them before his view would be blocked by the local buildings.
Or, in simpler terms, he could only take a proper look at the road directly one block west. And it just happened, that the other evolved zombie was hidden behind the corner where Mathew’s eyes couldn’t reach!
pAnD a(-)n0ve1.com “There is something else,” Norbert took a step forward and leaned over Mathew’s ear. “From what I can see, that other one is on the direct line of approach from our camp.”
The blood froze in Mathew’s veins. The weight of implications that this could potentially bear was greater even than what Mathew learned back in the mall about the potential origins of the system.
‘If this isn’t a coincidence… Then there is a huge chance the zombies can somehow communicate between themselves,’ Mathew thought and gulped down his saliva. ‘Does it apply only to evolved ones?’ He took a deep breath. ‘Or maybe the evolved ones can gather information from all the zombies they want?’
The young man closed his eyes.
‘No, that’s not really possible,’ he then decided. ‘And even if it’s the case, they likely cannot process that much information anyway,’ he poured some cold water over his worries.
“You called?” Peter and his friend spoke up once they reached Mathew’s position.
They were breathing heavily, clearly struggling to get up just a few flights of stairs.
‘Is this the stamina they wanted to go against this horde with?’ Mathew thought, raising his eyebrow.
His mind filled with disbelief… that the young man welcomed with all his soul.
There was hardly anything that could be worse for him to think about than the idea of zombies only needing to evolve a few more times before they would turn into a hive-minded beings, controlled by a single and near impossible-to-kill entity.
“There are no ways a horde this size wouldn’t try to surround its target,” Mathew started with an obvious statement.
It was something he learned from his own experiences at the school. The educational compound was far bigger than the square blocks most of the city was based upon. And even with that fact in mind, his group had to come up with various ideas on how to attract all the zombies into just one side of the compound.
But with what Mathew could see right now, this horde didn’t appear to be all that interested in taking the block from all sides, satisfied with a frontal assault on the car workshop and some spillover over the sides of the block.
“I need to know why,” Mathew stated, turning his head around and looking right at Peter’s face.
“That’s…” Peter hesitated for a second. He then squinted his eyes as he looked at the headquarters of his group. “Maybe it has something to do with the relocation plan?” he then guessed.
“Oh,” Peter’s companion twitched a little. “He meant the orders we got to vacate the residential building to the south of the block. We spent two damn days cleaning it out… Only to then barricade all the exits and windows before abandoning it.”
“Is that all there is to it?” Mathew asked, turning his eyes over to Peter.
‘Pushing everyone to just a single part of the block could do the job of taunting all the zombies to a smaller area, I guess,’ Mathew thought.
And yet, a gut feeling told him it couldn’t be all that simple. After all, most of the survivors of his own group were all gathered in a single wing of the school compound, yet, the zombies still attempted to break in from all around the barrier’s perimeter!
“Once we were done, the high leader ordered everyone out and occupied the place for a whole day,” Peter pointed out. “I have no idea what he did back then as no one was allowed to look…”
Peter’s face turned tense as he fell deep into his thoughts.
“But when I recall the looks of the small group of people that worked there during that day…” Peter hesitated for a second. He then raised his eyes and looked straight into Mathew’s face. “Not only they were all covered in blood and filth, but they appeared to be quite traumatized by what happened too.”
‘Blood, trauma, an entire day’s worth of work…’ Mathew thought.
And a memory from his original life responded to the call of those tags.
‘It can’t be…’ he thought, forgetting how to breathe for a moment. ‘He’s here?!’
It was just a small memory. A mere hint mixed with rumors of what happened roughly a week into the apocalypse and coupled with some things that Mathew wished with all his being he never saw or heard.
And it all went down when the school was invaded by a group of system holders.
It was a memory that Mathew actively tried to push out of his mind, as it was too gruesome for him to handle.
Yet, regardless of what happened in the room that produced several hours of the worst kind of screams Mathew ever heard in his life, there was one undeniable fact.
After that day, no zombie bothered to approach that part of the school at all. It only changed five days later, when some zombies and some monsters went through a second evolution, growing somewhat resistant to whatever was holding them back from the area before.
“I see…” Mathew whispered. He closed his eyes and shrugged a little, trying to shake off those unsavory memories.
‘Back then, I didn’t care all that much as I only saw my former bullies being led to that room… But I know for a fact they never came out, not even as zombies.’
Mathew took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Nadia’s and Leila’s worried faces while they looked at him. Then, he noticed the look of concern on Norbert’s face.
“I think I know what’s going on,” Mathew muttered only to put all the intensity he could spark into his eyes and then the look he threw on Norbert’s face. “And if you don’t want to lose your mind, you shouldn’t check that place out.”
“I…” Norbert hesitated for a little. He then gritted his teeth and lowered his face. “I understand.”
“Good,” Mathew summed up and stood up. “Am I safe to assume that group of yours controls the entire block, save for that residential building?” he asked, once again turning his eyes to Peter and his friend.
“Yeah,” Peter nodded his head. “We were told when clearing that place out that we had to secure the plot of grass in the middle of the block to start growing some veggies,” he added.
‘A sound idea,’ Mathew thought. ‘An actual source of fresh food in the apocalypse?’ Mathew smiled a little. ‘Even if it wouldn’t provide nearly enough, it would still help a little.’
“Then that settles it,” Mathew muttered, turning his face away and looking towards his wives.
“So, girls,” he called out before crossing his hands on his chest and revealing a charming smile. “How do you think we should hunt them all down?”