344 The next step
pAn,Da-n0v e1,c
Out of the two other areas that they had to defend, the one where they deployed Carol and Daria was simply closer.
“How bad is it?” Mathew asked, raising his eyes at the former police officer while simultaneously gritting his teeth.
The regeneration ability of his body was on an entirely different level when compared to a normal human. And yet, the injuries he received during the clash with the highly evolved zombies continued to make themselves known, filling his mind with nothing but pain for every step that he took.
“Leila is okay, but there were some causalities amongst Peter’s soldiers,” Norbert quickly revealed the few bits of information he received from the girl. “Right now, she is cleaning up the mess and is urgently requesting the basic cure.”
The basic cure. The one item that would make anyone who still remained alive go into a frenzy for.
A medicine that actually allowed one to heal the zombie infection as long as it didn’t reach the critical point.
“How many wounded does she have?” Mathew asked, letting out a long sigh as he got ready to calculate the costs of the operation.
“A total of five wounded and at a risk of infection,” Norbert reported right away.
‘He didn’t have his eyes closed for long,’ Mathew took notice of the small detail. ‘And from how much of the important stuff he knows, it seems that Leila really knows how to report stuff!’
Sadly, that was the only good part about the news that they received from Peter’s base.
“How’s the situation at Daniel’s place?” Mathew then asked, trying to push his thoughts away from the problematic part of the situation, even if only for a moment.
After all, before making an educated decision, one had to educate themselves about the full extent of the circumstances.
“Nothing much to report, as it appears,” Norbert replied after a short while. He closed his eyes and walked a few steps ahead complexly blind. “They are just killing the zombies,” Norbert then added with a shrug of his shoulders.
‘So at least one of the bases has it relatively easy,’ Mathew thought, finally able to breathe a small sigh of relief.
“I guess it’s decided then,” the young man added after a short moment of thought. “We will swing by the media building, grab the cure from the merchants and Carol just in case before heading for Peter’s base,” Mathew decided.
“Will we make it in time?” Nadia asked with a look of uncertainty on her face. “This might not be a long trip but…” she hesitated for a second. “Unless she took some drastic measures, the zombie virus is going to turn the wounded pretty damn soon.”
Even if not a single member of Mathew’s group turned into a zombie during the current fight, the young man couldn’t claim to never receive even a single causality. And even if he were to ignore one of the hunters that fell during the fight for the school’s courtyard, he saw more than enough of his fellow students turning into zombies right at the outbreak of the apocalypse to know just how right Nadia was with her point.
“Apparently, Leila went the extra mile to buy us some more time,” Norbert filled the rest of the group a mere moment later. “But that’s quite problematic in its own way.”
“Did she…”
“She cut their wounded limbs off,” Norbert then confirmed Mathew’s worst-case scenario guess. “She only spared a guy who got scratched on his waist,” the former officer added only to close his eyes again. “She’s waiting for him to turn to cut him down at a moment’s notice,” he then added as soon as he confirmed the details of the situation.
“Why didn’t she just leave…” Mathew spoke out before he could think about his words.
He cut his words short and gulped his saliva down. “That would be pretty damn bad for the morale I guess,” Mathew muttered as he looked down.
“The good thing is, that should buy us enough time to get there with the cure,” Nadia pointed out. “And rather than thinking about how problematic her initiative might be, you should focus on what you will demand from Peter in exchange for the cure.”
Just like most of the time, Nadia’s words shook Mathew’s awake. Or rather, she directed his thoughts towards the most pragmatic side of the situation.
“That’s right, thanks for pointing it out,” Mathew admitted as he leaned his head to the back, taking a look at the darkness of the night sky. “It’s not like we can offer it for free just because.”
The cure, even if it could be easily obtained, was the greatest ace card in the sleeve of Mathew’s group. After all, its worth wasn’t decided by its price, but by how much others were willing to pay for it.
“Any ideas?” Nadia speeds up her walk to reach Mathew’s side and wraps her arms around her.
On the outside, she was simply cuddling with him. In reality, though, she noticed the sorry state he was in and sneakily attempted to support him.
“I…” Mathew hesitated for a second. “I do have one,” he admitted.
‘But is it really okay?’ he then asked himself as he lowered his head to its natural position before walking a few more steps in complete silence.
For once, Mathew turned thankful to complete silence on the street, something that he found to be extremely unnerving so far.
“You want to turn his base into the third fortress, don’t you?” Norbert muttered in a low voice.
“Are you against it?” Mathew asked in return, turning his eyes towards the former officer’s profile.
In the darkness of the night, he could only see the rough shape of the man’s face, even with the help of his augmented senses.
“That’s just the most pragmatic thing to do now,” Norbert replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Even if you are currently not the strongest in our entire group, it’s only a matter of time before the zombies evolve beyond the point of what the girls can handle,” the former officer pointed out.
Norbert then stopped in his tracks, forcing Mathew and Nadia to follow suit.
“It’s only a matter of time before the evolution of the zombies will outpace our current level of growth,” Norbert pointed out what was quickly becoming obvious to everyone. “And from the looks of things, going beyond the level of the mere fortress is our best bet at handling this sort of threat!”