409 Between power and autonomy
The reactions to Mathew’s decision to pull out from the mission prematurely were… varied, at best.
Some of the newbie hunters were more than happy to take things slow.
They were the ones who understood the value of having a system while killing zombies and thus were willing to pay with time for the opportunity, even if the cost was steep.
On the other hand, the majority of the newbie hunters, drunk on their recent victory, quickly formed a dissatisfied camp of those who believed they should keep on going.
They likely saw the casualties up to this point as either unfortunate accidents, unavoidable costs, or simply the danger of weeding the weak links of their group out.
Regardless of what was the source of their confidence in their ability to keep on going, they weren’t happy with Mathew’s decision to retreat. Thankfully, though, they were also aware of how they had no power to enforce their own take.
It didn’t matter how many zombies they could take on all by themselves. Not when just one of Mathew’s wives was easily capable of massacring a horde several times bigger than what they faced… all by her lonesome!
‘But this status quo won’t last long, not when I’m about to give them all an opportunity to grow stronger,’ Mathew thought, pressing his lips together as he continued to wrestle the ideas in his mind. ‘I know I need to have the grow stronger… but at the same time, it really makes me uncomfortable!’
Up until this point, everything in their group was working fine.
Those with real power were all grouped up in a tight clique of Mathew, his wives, closest equals, and allies.
Mathew’s girls were happy to obey his directions, ending up as his closest aides and confidants. Others, like Beatrice or Daniel, were still on Mathew’s side, but their influence came at a cost of autonomy, in the form of mere cooperation in Beatrice’s case and near complete separation when it came to Daniel.
Then, there were people like Norbert and now also Pavel, both possessing a degree of power on their own, but opting to closely cooperate with Mathew as his half-autonomous officers.
All of those people had interests strictly aligning with Mathew and formed a relatively tight group where everyone’s combined goals could easily triumph over any personal animosity.
But the same couldn’t be said about the newbie hunters… or even the first batch of them!
First, their number was too great.
Second, they never really spent all that much time bonding with the people at the top, creating a natural, social barrier preventing the two parties from seriously merging on a personal level.
And it was this detachment, this abyss that separated Theo’s clique from the rest of the survivors, that made him worried.
Because now that the newbie hunters were about to gain power, their desire to gain autonomy would soon follow.
After all, humanity made it as far as it did not through a course of academic discourse but by bashing the heads of fellow humans, paying the price of blood to establish a working hierarchy.
And now, as the levels of everyone’s power were shifting, it was only a matter of time before those changes would develop and bring forth inner turmoil in the group.
‘In other words, I only have as much time as it will take those hunters to grow strong enough to become a threat to ensure the cohesiveness of our group,’ Mathew decided, only to step on a sharp stone.
And as the bout of delicate discomfort spread from his foot up, he suddenly realized another problem.
‘I didn’t really bother with Daniel for quite some time… But I can’t dismiss the idea of him growing stronger all on his own!’
With all the worries regarding the hunters that Mathew was currently interacting with, he forgot to really think about the most autonomous of his allies, the only one who got the chance to govern a whole fortress all by himself!
‘And judging by what I saw when I visited him recently…’ Mathew thought, pursing his lips even harder, all the way to the point where the blood escaped from his mouth, robbing them of their signature red color and turning his lips white.
Mathew heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes.
‘No, I better not think about it too much,’ he decided with a shake of his head, raising his eyes on the road, only to see the familiar outline of the area of his home ground.
“Are you sure you are not overthinking things?” Nadia asked, joining Mathew’s side after observing him from behind for quite some time.
“What do you mean?” Mathew asked, confused when his wife’s question forcibly removed him from the line of thought he was developing.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm “It’s your face,” Nadia explained. “You make a very specific expression when you are struggling to decide on something.”
Nadia sped her steps up, only to grab Mathew’s hand and pull ahead even further. Already in front of the young man, she turned around while using Mathew’s hand to stabilize herself as she started to walk back while facing her man.
“And I think I know how we can solve the problem of your overthinking,” she then said while a small grin started to grow from the corners of her mouth.
“What is that method, I wonder,” Mathew commented while rolling his eyes, only to suddenly freeze mid-step before struggling to keep himself upright after that.
“Who?” Mathew threw a short question, snapping his eyes up and locking them on a group of people waiting by the fortress’ gate.
“We come from Daniel,” someone that Mathew wasn’t familiar with stepped forward only to then turn sideways and point at a huge wheelbarrow filled with a disgusting mesh of blood, zombie’s flesh… And what looked like at least a thousand cores!
“And what is that?” Mathew asked, lowering his eyes as suspicion took over his soul.
How else was he supposed to interpret the sudden appearance of Daniel’s people, right as he realized how he might be growing too strong to remain as a vassal group to Mathew’s?
“A just share of what we gathered recently,” the leader of the messengers spoke before smiling, “or do you want to tell me that you are not interested in it?”