396 Shot fired
“We are not going to do anything,” Mathew said after a mere second of hesitation. “Not directly and not unless absolutely necessary,” he then added some more details.
Mathew took a deep breath before releasing it in a long, heavy sigh.
He ignored the look of disappointment on Carol’s face. Yet, when it turned into anger, he realized that he couldn’t leave the girl on hold like that.
“Listen and listen carefully,” Mathew said in a heavy voice. “The only reason we are here right now is because I don’t believe those guys have what it takes to figure everything out on their own. But with the exception of saving them when they will reach the point of no return, I don’t want any of you to get involved.”
“And the burial from before proved how valid that strategy of yours is!” Carol snapped, her eyes narrowing while she tightened her hands into fists.
She wasn’t going to lash out. That Mathew could tell from the lack of unnatural activity of the energy inside of her. And even if she were to come at him with her fists…
Well, her system ability was all about magic, not physical attacks. And for an all-rounder like Mathew, her fists could only ever amount to tickle.
Still, even in spite of the futility of doing so, Carol was clearly just an inch away from lashing out.
“Ask yourself this, what will happen in a week from now?” Mathew asked while continuing to walk forward, clearly unwilling to let the hunters get ahead of their smaller group by too much.
The sight of losing one of the newbie hunters so early into the expedition taught him a costly lesson, after all.
“It’s it obvious?” Carol shrugged with the same, angered expression on her face. “In a week from now, they will have enough experience to deal with whatever comes at them. And…” The girl hesitated for a second only to end up shaking her head. “No, scratch that. But in a week, all those who show any promise will have a system, won’t they?”
‘A valid point,’ Mathew thought only to heave a sigh. ‘But it has nothing to do with what I want her to realize.’
“In a week or so, we won’t be with them to help them out. We will be too far from them to tell them how to act, how to fight, or help them out if they stumble into an opponent that they cannot defeat.”
Unwilling to let the heated discussion between Mathew and Carol affect the morale of the hunters that they were approaching, Nadia stepped in and explained the situation.
“And what does it have to do with what’s going on right now?” Carol asked, still refusing to accept Mathew’s point of view.
This time, it was Nadia’s turn to heave a sigh.
“I think we can all agree that it’s a better idea to stay where they were instead of rushing to meet the horde, can we?” Nadia asked before throwing a sweeping glance across the faces of her fellow wives and husband.
And with no exception, everyone nodded in agreement.
Such was obvious. It was far better to funnel zombies through a narrow chokepoint so that the hunters would only need to deal with a few of them at a time. And yet, ignoring that obvious tactical advantage, the hunters moved forth, beyond the choke point.
What was supposed to be their greatest advantage for the fight became a massive risk if they ever needed to quickly retreat. And while a group of a bit more than twenty could cross the chokepoint far easier than hundreds upon hundreds of zombies from the horde, it would still slow them down.
And given the nature of the conflict between humans and zombies, even a minimal delay during an escape was likely to cause a lot of panic which would lead to the group losing its cohesion. This kind of situation would only increase the casualty rate which would then lead to an even greater panic as more and more of the hunters would fall…
And so, the vicious circle would close its loop, easily capable of turning a single, tiny blunder into a reason why an entire unit of hunters could get massacred in a fight that should be easy for them to win.
“Are you going to just let them walk into a trap?” Carol asked.
Now that they walked some distance and she had some time to think through what Mathew and Nadia spoke, her voice returned to its usual, calm version.
“We are not letting them do anything. We are here just to observe and prevent a potential disaster,” Mathew shook his shoulders. “But whatever trap they willingly walk into, it’s all on them.”
Just like in the future, he wouldn’t be able to help the hunters out if he was in a different part of the city, he couldn’t mediate their differences either. And the problem right now was purely of political nature.
“Now that I think about it… aren’t I a hunter?” Carol suddenly asked, completely changing her approach to the situation.
“You are their leader, not one of them,” Mathew quickly replied.
It was easy to see through what Carol wanted to achieve. By getting herself counted as a hunter, she could use her authority as Mathew’s wife to put aside the ongoing conflict between Frank and Pavel.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm But allowing her to do so would defeat the very purpose behind the rest of Mathew’s group standing aside and letting the disaster brew.
“So I’m supposed to just let them walk into a trap? All because Frank dares to flaunt his authority?!” This time, Carol failed to control the anger in her voice. “He is implying that he’s the leader nominated by you! That’s the only reason why people are listening to him rather than to Pavel!”
“Oh?” Mathew raised his eyebrows. ‘That wasn’t a part of what I expected,’ he thought, squinting his eyes as he looked over to the group of hunters and newbies.
He could already see the mass of zombies walking down the street mere two hundred paces ahead.
Right now, it was only a matter of seconds before the fight would start.
“I didn’t know that,” Mathew admitted before hurrying his step. “And if that’s the case, then…”
BANG!
A discharge of the firearm shook the air and caused everyone to stop.
‘It’s still too early for them to fire!’ Mathew instantly noticed, gritting his teeth as he raised his eyes toward the middle of the group of hunters…
Only to see them all waver in place before hurriedly retreating where they came from!