System Of The Undead

Chapter 161: It Returns!

"A BEAR!?" Franklin exclaimed because he didn’t understand how different a bear would be from the average zombie.

It would still die if a bullet pierced its head but there was also no way that Clementine could have guessed that there would be a bear here.

This couldn’t be why she put the zombies on top of one another, there had to be another reason for that.

Was she going to cover herself in zombie guts and kill the zombies from close range or did she want to use it as a wall of defense?

Franklin found it strange that Clementine hadn’t told these people about what they could do but he also understood that information like that should be worth more than they could provide.

"Don’t fire!" Clementine screamed and the men that had their guns directed at the beast halted in their tracks.

They looked to A as he was the one that led them and maybe he too would have the same opinion as Clementine.

"What do you mean?" A asked Clementine who was behind the wall of zombies.

"It’s not a zombie," Clementine said and A wondered how she could tell from so far apart.

They hadn’t encountered any animals that had turned yet either, this was entirely new to them.

"How do you know?" A asked the all-important question but he got his answer the moment the bear dropped to the ground.

It was injured, if it was a zombie it would have rushed right towards them without regard for its own safety.

"That is how," Clementine responded but she already knew what injured the bear.

It had to be the zombies but Clementine didn’t know what zombie would be capable of injuring a bear and frankly, she didn’t want to find out.

"A, we need to spread out..." Clementine muttered, she had a bad feeling about this.

"What? Why?" A asked, this wasn’t the time for such a conversation even though the number of zombies coming through here significantly reduced.

"I don’t know why but something tells me this was a diversion," Clementine said but A was confused about this.

There was no way that this could be a diversion because that would require intelligence.

"They are just fucking zombies, you give them too much credit," A random person warned and A knew at that moment that these people encountered that zombie.

A silenced the man talking and he looked surprised that A was even entertaining something so absurd.

"A, you can’t be serious," The man responded but A wasn’t listening to him.

"You saw it..." A said; he had his suspicions but this only confirmed it.

"Yes, we did," Clementine finally said and this made A wonder how they made it out alive.

They shouldn’t be here if they saw it because that zombie would have ripped them apart like it had done numerous of his men.

"What do you know about this zombie?" A asked, he knew that they didn’t kill it or Clementine wouldn’t have made such a statement.

This meant that the zombies had managed to get away from them and somehow followed them here. That was a long shot but that thought was something that he had to entertain.

"It was fast and it seemed to possess intelligence as it caught up by surprise, I have no idea why but something spooked it into running away. I have never seen a zombie run away," Clementine said and A gritted his teeth. He looked worried for the first time but no one could see that face behind his mask.

"That is bad, we need to get back," A said but what would happen to the zombies here?

That was the big question even though they had grinded down their numbers.

"We need to remain here, there is a reason why the zombies are concentrated in this area..." Franklin intercepted.

"I will head back, you people will stay here and make sure no zombie gets through," Clementine said; she agreed with Franklin but she had to also head back to make sure that Jason was aware of the threat that was coming.

"What can you do alone?" A asked but Clementine chuckled as she looked right back at him.

"I’m in the military," Clementine revealed the big secret and Franklin smiled because he thought as much. There was no way she could be a normal civilian with the way she moved.

She had the movements and combat prowess of a trained soldier and this was what made the zombie even more impressive.

The only reason it was this strong was because it had assimilated with the fragment for weeks now.

This was the longest any zombie had been with a piece of the fragment hence why it was so strong.

"Go but take him with you," A said, pointing at a man who had the letter B on his mask.

"Why do you wear masks?" Clementine asked and the man couldn’t give her a response.

"Take it off, I cannot trust someone who wouldn’t even show me his face," Clementine said.

This was the least they could do as Clementine and Co didn’t need to go out of their way to help them defend this place.

B looked back at A to see if A had any intention of listening to Clementine but the moment Clementine said she was in the military, he knew that she was an asset that they needed.

"You’re right," A said and everyone was surprised that he agreed to do this as this was going against everything they believed in.

"We wear masks because we have agreed that we no longer act as individuals but as a collective. This is why we have gotten rid of our names..." A said as he gradually began to take off his mask.

"By wearing a mask, we have gotten rid of our earthly urges and the sins that came with it," A said, pausing briefly as he reached for his mask but he wasn’t the only one reaching for his mask, everyone else was reaching for theirs.

"The day that I take off this mask is the day that everyone regains their identity. Who they were before the world fell," A explained as his mask came down.

A was nothing like Clementine had imagined, he had the face of a child but it was clear that he was an adult but a young one at that.

She looked around and noticed that every one of these people was approximately the same age.

They ranged from their late teens to early twenties and yet they managed to implement such a rule. This meant that A not only possessed extraordinary leadership skills but he had control over his urges.

Considering their ages, sex should be one of the things occupying their thoughts and with the world the way it is now.

That also meant that they could take it by force if they wanted to yet they chose this approach.

"Is that good enough for you?" A asked and Clementine was glad that he did as this removed the thought of talking to a ghost.

"That should do by now, I will be on my way now," Clementine said and the men heard growling in the darkness.

"Get ready for the second wave boys!" A commanded, he sounded a lot more lively as opposed to when he wore the mask.

"Good luck!" Clementine told everyone and she ran to Jason.

-

Jason had managed to rally the masses but this was because he still had this uneasy feeling.

Jason wondered if this was why he was feeling uneasy, he didn’t know what absorbing Chronos did to him but it changed him.

He went to Glenn’s tent and saw that he was fast asleep, he was still recovering from his injuries so he was on meds.

"I will make sure nothing happens to you," Jason assured his sleeping friend.

[[Threat detected!]]

Jason knew that something was lurking around, he couldn’t see or hear it but his gut feeling was spot on since he came back to life.

[[Fragment detected!]]

"I see, so that is what it is," Jason said, he instinctively knew that he was dealing with the same zombie in the hospital.

Jason stepped out of the tent with a fierce look on his face.

Jason knew exactly where it was as it was beeping on his map, he knew that things wouldn’t be as straightforward as last time as he now knew the limitation of the Nexus skill.

He couldn’t use it right from the get-go but he needed that fragment in it, he needed all the strength he could acquire.

"Is it waiting?" Jason thought to himself, this was the first time he felt a strange sense of anticipation.

"No... that can’t be right," Jason muttered and before he knew it, he saw a few zombies creeping in from his peripheral vision and knew what had to be done.

"I will entertain you for a bit then I’ll come after that fragment," Jason said.

He could have easily gone right for the fragment but that would allow these zombies to wander.

Jason had to settle it here.