Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

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Back to the present

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"Come out to the light," Mathew said as soon as he noticed the figure hiding in the shadows.

Despite the risk of attracting the zombies, the area where they organized both the staging ground against monsters and where they harvested and then counted the zombie cores was perfectly lit.

After all, it was hard to find out the cores in the depths of the zombies' slimy brains. Doing so without any light would make this task maybe not impossible, but way too time-consuming for Mathew and company to bother.

As a result, while their part of the corridor was well lit, as long as one walked just several meters deeper into the hallway, the area would turn dark pretty quickly.

"I'm unarmed," the man in the shadows reported, slowly coming forward with both of his hands armed.

"He is telling the truth," Norbert whispered as soon as Mathew blinked.

"Then stop hiding and just come out," Mathew ordered while rolling his eyes. "We won't harm those that do not wish us harm," he added, hoping to encourage the other party.

The young man finally walked into the zone that was somewhat lit, allowing Mathew's party to see him.

He appeared slightly older than Mathew and his girls, either around Norbert's age or just a little bit younger than him.

His hands lacked the calluses of someone working physically while his well-kept face and hair fitted the presentation of an office worker.

'He managed to stay so well-kept through an entire day of the apocalypse?' Mathew thought, his opinion of the man plummeting right away.

"I'm Robert," the young man announced when he finally reached the properly illuminated part of the corridor. "And I mean no harm to any of you. Contrary, I came here to ask for a favor."

'Why am I not surprised?' Mathew thought, stopping his eyes from rolling with the utmost effort of his willpower. "And does that favor have anything to do with the people kept in the shed outside?" Mathew asked, unwilling to give the man any time to organize his thoughts.

He had all the time in the world to figure out what he wanted to say before.

'If I want him to be honest, I need to press him a little,' Mathew thought.

"That's right," Robert replied while nodding his head, yet, he kept his hand raised high at all times. "To be perfectly honest, I don't give a fuck about most of them, I joined the company two days ago so I have yet to properly introduce myself to most of the victims..."

"But...?" Nadia asked, seeing through Robert's sentence and what it was aimed at.

"But my girlfriend was also picked as a sacrifice," Robert stated, turning his eyes and looking directly into Nadia's face. "And if you can save her, I'm willing to do anything that's within the realm of possibility."

"That's quite a bold statement from someone who can't contribute anything at all," Mathew countered while raising one of his eyebrows.

"I..." Robert opened his mouth and even let the first syllable out, only to close his lips right back and avert his eyes. "I don't really know what to say..."

"That will be enough," Daniel spoke out, looking at Mathew with dissatisfaction. He then turned his head and looked at the newcomer. "We were going to save all of them anyway. Now that you know it, try to figure out how you could be of use for us in turn," he explained the situation.

'Oh how naive you are,' Mathew despaired in his thoughts. 'You might be a policeman, but the moral code you follow right now is... empty.'

Mathew could understand Daniel's approach. But that didn't mean he was willing to accept or even worse, endorse it.

'And now that he knows we are going to save his girlfriend anyway, what leverage do you expect for us to have over him?'

"I don't know," Robert replied, cutting Mathew's thoughts short. "If you want, I can help you restore the operations of this building?" he suggested, only for his voice to take a turn and hesitate.

"Mathew?" Daniel turned his eyes towards the young man again. "I believe you are the one who should decide what we want to know or what to do with him," he pointed out.

"First off, how far did you go with your girlfriend?" Mathew asked as a small smile twitched upon his lips.

"Hai?" Robert jumped a little, the sudden twist of the conversation taking him by a surprise.

"I think this question is pretty simple though?" Mathew pretended to be stupefied by Robert's reaction. He then turned his eyes towards his girls. "Is there something hard to understand about my question?" he asked.

"Nothing at all," Nadia answered while shaking her head to the sides.

Yet, deep behind her seemingly stoic expression, Mathew could see a hint of dissatisfaction.

'I can tell what she thinks about this turn of the topic,' he thought, hiding a small smirk from appearing on his face.

"We are regularly sleeping together," Robert took a breath and replied, raising his eyes to look directly into Mathew's eyes. "Are you happy now?" he then asked while tightening his fists.

"Not really," Mathew shook his head. "That means one less ace in my hand," he added before openly clicking his tongue and then spitting on the ground. "Well then, how about ways to get to that room where that despot is without giving her a clear shot on us?"

There were three things that Mathew hoped to accomplish in the media building. And all three of them eventually aimed at the same result.

First, he had to ensure he had someone with a system that was ready and willing to defend this building with their life. Secondly came defeating all the potential opposition and getting rid of those who could hamper Mathew's attempt at expanding here.

And then, last but not least, came establishing an actual fortress.

'In a sense, we started from the ass side, didn't we?' Mathew thought in a momentary reflection when his eyes moved over all the cores his group managed to gather in a single skirmish against the zombie army outside.

"Getting there without having that filthy bitch notice you?" Robert reiterated Mathew's request. "I'm sorry to say, but there is no way. She used to be the secretary of the director here. And ever since her personality suddenly changed, she made sure to pick the one place that's easiest to defend in the entire building."

Robert's head leaned down as he pinned his eyes to his shoes.

"I can't give you any form of access or information about one that would compensate for the advantage she obtained right from the start," he stated before raising his eyes and looking at the faces of Mathew's group. "But I believe I know how you can obtain an element of surprise."

'Hah?' Mathew nearly jumped, not expecting the guy to be of any use. He already managed to classify Robert along with all the other freeloaders that he saved back in the school compound.

'I was originally willing to keep him, just in case he could be of use later like the rest of system-less survivors,' Mathew thought, resting his back against the wall before leaning forward a little. 'But to think he could actually contribute anything...'

"Speak, then," Mathew ordered. "There isn't any point in trying to save the others if we will have to constantly be worried about someone stabbing us in the back," he explained his wish.

"I'm not sure if that was one of your guys... or girls," Rober said and then added after glancing over at Nadia for a second. "But there was a voice that led me here," he explained. "And that voice easily made a fool of that bitch, making her cover on the ground in fear of the sniper," he explained.

"Huh?" Mathew, this time, didn't hide his surprise. "Norbert?" he muttered, only to bite himself in the tongue.

'And what you are mentioning him for, now?' Mathew was quick to scold himself for freely revealing information to someone whose loyalty he wasn't sure off.

"So I was right..." Robert muttered, heaving a deep sigh and slumping down where he stood. "Also," he raised his voice back to its normal range, "can I lower my hands already?" he asked, waving them a bit to the sides. "I'm not really used to keeping them raised..."

"I think we stressed him out enough," Nadia suddenly spoke out, the expression on her face mellowing down. "So, what's the plan?" she then asked, turning her eyes back to Mathew.

"You guys are really too soft," Mathew muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

Yet, at the same time, the young man was hardly surprised.

'I wouldn't fall in love with her if she were any different,' he thought, looking at Nadia before moving his eyes on Robert.

"Fine, then," Mathew said. "First, we will make sure to depose that despot, then we will continue grinding the zombies down and in the meantime, we will look for someone suitable to be left here once we are done," the young man formulated the next steps of their plan.

He then pressed his back against the wall, pushing himself away from the wall.

"Before we get to planning how to get that..." he took a moment to glance over at Robert, "Before we get that bitch down, there is one thing that I'm really curious about," he stated.

Mathew then crossed all the distance that separated him from Robert. And contrary to Nadia's wish, he refused for even his expression to soften.

"What exactly did you mean by her personality changing?"