System Of The Undead

Chapter 183: Hope Or Despair?

Jason and Clementine were on a mission that could potentially save everyone because Jason wasn’t sure if the zombie would get even smarter and what abilities the fragment would give it.

It could even regenerate showing that it had learned to harness the fragment to a certain degree.

Jason was frightened by the potential of this zombie but this made him realize that there might be a zombie out there that has consumed more than one fragment and the thought sent chills down his spine.

Clementine was tracking the tracks left by this zombie, it was clear it was running but the footprints were now a lot closer to one another.

This meant that they were closer to the zombie’s location but Jason was feeling uneasy.

"Watch your steps..." Clementine gave him the heads up.

"Sure thing, and don’t drop your guard," Jason responded with a heads-up of his own.

[[6 minutes until assimilation]]

Chronos reminded Jason and this meant that they couldn’t even have a prolonged battle.

Jason noticed how Clementine gripped the shotgun, it was clear that she was nervous.

Even though he was scared; he had to keep his composure or they would certainly be killed.

They couldn’t lose the mind game before the fight.

There it was, a sound but this wasn’t the typical growling of a zombie.

"What the fuck is that sou-!" Jason was shushed by Clementine, the last thing they needed to do was spook the zombie.

Jason realized that Clementine was putting her military training to good use.

Clementine wasn’t going to take any chances, this zombie was something that could potentially cause harm and the frightening thing about all of this was that they didn’t know the capacity of this zombie. From all the movies and games they had played, the only thing zombies sought was either brains or human flesh yet this one had the fight-or-flight response.

Something that should only exist within animals, humans included but not the undead.

She gestured for Jason to go the other way so they could draw the zombie’s attention towards him.

Jason was the key and the zombie would be drawn to him so it was best if they split up.

And just then, the zombie turned around, Clementine was surprised because the hole in its torso was covered up.

Clementine gulped in fear, the only thing masking her scent was the zombie guts on her.

And it was just as she predicted, the zombie’s head jerked in Jason’s direction.

She expected it to rush towards him with killing intent but it just stood there.

The strange growling sound echoed, she tried to understand the situation but she realized that it didn’t matter if she did or not; the objective was to kill that creature.

But then the zombie jerked its head in her direction and Clementine was speechless.

It kept making that strange sound and Clementine knew it couldn’t have perceived her.

Jason got closer to the zombie yet its focus was still on Clementine.

"Chronos, what the fuck is going on?" Jason questioned his system.

[[The zombie has regained certain functionality of the brain that ceased to exist upon death]]

"Chronos, stop speaking in parables and spill it!" Jason wasn’t having it.

[[The zombie has regained its ability to see and...]]

Chronos said as the zombie’s growling finally turned to something else.

"E-E-E-E..." It wasn’t growling, the zombie was trying to speak.

"Clementine! Run!" Jason barked, realizing that this zombie had assimilated a good part of the fragment that it was still absorbing.

"D-Did it just speaks?" Clementine muttered and the moment this happened, the zombie dashed towards her.

It recognized the gun and Clementine involuntarily let loose a shot from her gun.

The bullet missed the zombie, it was more accurate to say that it had dodged it.

[[4 minutes until assimilation]]

Jason was frightened about this but before the zombie could touch Clementine, Jason pushed her out of the way but there was no way he should have been able to reach her without activating the Nexus skill.

Jason knew it had to take it down within 4 minutes but noted the difference in the zombie’s eyes.

It wasn’t the same as the one he had seen previously.

This showed that its ability to see was obtained from replacing its damaged organs and using Debra’s optical nerves and eyes.

Jason stopped the blow with his fist but this zombie had a lot of battle experiences to draw from.

It had assimilated loads of people and this meant that it inherited their combat prowess.

Jason tried to land a blow with his other hand but the zombie easily ducked down before attempting to claw Jason’s torso open.

If this connected, it would have spilt his guts but fortunately for Jason, he was able to step back to dodge this attack.

Clementine used this opportunity to fire once again but the zombie didn’t dodge it this time.

However, the bullet didn’t exit his body which shouldn’t have been possible but the zombie had increased its density by stacking up the bodies it had fed on to thicken its skin.

It was evolving at an astonishing pace, Jason knew he didn’t have time to play around.

However, he had worse things to worry about and that was the zombie now had access to the shotgun bullets that had pierced its skin.

But the zombie didn’t point its hand towards Jason. No, it had pointed it towards Clementine who was out in the open.

There was no way she could avoid it, she wasn’t some superhuman creature nor was she an undead.

"No!" Jason screamed at the top of his lungs as his eyes met that of Clementine.

Clementine knew that this was it and she flashed Jason a smile right before the bullets pierced her.

And this was when it happened, the look in Jason’s eyes changed.

[[Error! 404!]]

"What did you just do?" Jason muttered under his breath with a look of death brimming in his eyes.

-

Andre and Brayden had gathered up their remaining men and headed right for the camp.

He didn’t even waste time because he knew the longer they stayed here, the harder it would be to leave.

The zombies that lurked here, he didn’t know how many more people they would lose if they explored this area any further.

Brayden kept quiet, he thought about it but if Franklin wouldn’t even stand for him then there was no reason for him to stand for them.

Andre was the leader and he was the one that was responsible for making the tough calls.

This was the right call and one that Brayden couldn’t have made otherwise due to his compassionate nature.

"I have no idea what this place is but there is no way that we’re coming back here. If the zombies evolved this quickly then there is no telling what could happen in the future. The extinction of mankind looks even more likely," A random soldier muttered.

"You’re right, we are in serious shit..." Andre responded.

"Jason..." Franklin muttered and this was one of the few times he had spoken ever since listening.

"What of Jason?" Andre questioned; his attention was focused on the road as he swerved from the roaming zombies, making sure that he didn’t run over any of them or risk getting stuck or damaging the car.

"Jason is one of them..." Franklin said; this was cryptic but Andre brushed it off as Franklin losing his mind but Brayden on the other hand, didn’t.

He had seen it, Jason had charged right towards them with a gorilla on his tail.

There was no reason for him to be that fast nor should it be possible for him to reach her if it wasn’t by some miracle.

He also found it strange that Jason just jumped out of the car out of the blue.

There was no reason for the zombie horde to react to them as well.

The pieces were scattered but Brayden didn’t have them in place just yet.

They managed to rejoin with the other group that was drawing the zombie away.

The car sped through the streets and they managed to get out of the zombies’ range.

"Franklin, we have held up our end of the bargain. How you return to your camp is none of our concern," Andre said sternly.

He didn’t care about Franklin’s current state of mind because he knew that he had no business with him.

"I understand, I will return to get Glenn and I will be on my way," Franklin responded.

He was disconnected from reality and didn’t care about anything right now.

Debra wasn’t just his girlfriend, she was his fiancé and it was going to take a lot more time for him to get over it.

He had just lost the love of his life and with the way the world is right now, what were the chances of that ever happening again?

Franklin, however, didn’t lose sight of the mission.