Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

'Survivors?' Mathew thought, his eyes opening up wide at the mere notion of the idea.

For someone to survive being stuffed into the back of an armored police van for the last three days... It was a feat more incredible than one could imagine.

'Unless they had some food and water in there, they are likely to be on the edge of dying,' he thought, climbing further into the car only to raise and glance through the barred window.

Yet, it was still the middle of the night. And while the light of the stars and moon that cut through the smoke hanging low over the city was enough for Mathew to see the silhouettes of the stuff on the outside, the back of the van was covered in complete darkness.

'There is a chance it's just a zombie winning,' Mathew thought, trying to consider all the possibilities. Yet, it was just as unlikely as it sounded. After all, the zombies that acted differently from the others were evolved ones. And while Mathew already knew how an evolved zombie could appear...

Just what kind of evolution would it have to undergo for its added ability to be that of winning instead of its usual groaning?

'Well, there is a very simple way to find out,' Mathew thought, only to curl his right hand into fists before slamming it a few times against the metal frame surrounding the window.

"If you are still alive, we are going to get you out of here!" he called, only to sneak out of the driver's cabin before rushing to move around the car. Yet, reality quickly brought another challenge upon him.

Because contrary to the first Van that he checked, the back of the second one was tightly pressed against the front of the one behind him.

"Getting to them through the doors will be hard," Mathew muttered. He then took a sweeping look around, trying to figure something out by feeding his brain random information.

"Did you say there are some survivors in there?" Nadia approached Mathew, stopping only to drop two sealed boxes near the pile where her man dropped all of his loot.

"It appears so," Mathew admitted, gritting his teeth as he looked towards the car at the very edge of the blockade. "We will have to try to pull that one away," he then said, hiding his weapon in his scabbard and approaching the back of the police's truck. "I might need your help with that," Mathew then admitted as he looked for just the right place to firmly grab at the truck.

If they were to randomly grab at one of its elements, the chances were they would simply end up breaking said element apart rather than moving the truck.

"Can't you just lift the hand brake?" Carol then suggested, still waiting for her next orders to arrive.

"Wait, don't you have your bet going on right now?" Mathew asked, turning his eyes towards the girl, changing the topic to hide his embarrassment caused by missing such an obvious point.

"I'm keeping count of the number of zombies he killed so far," Carol replied while waving her hand as if to showcase how little she cared about the bet. "I can still top him off with one or two spells," she then announced. "But I get the hint," she then added only to wink at Mathew before turning around and heading back to help with the fight.

"I will go raise the brake," Mathew then said in a hushed voice, too embarrassed to admit that he simply forgot about this. With just a few steps he was back in the filthy cabin, reaching out for the huge handle of the braking mechanism of the van. Yet, even after he pressed the button at its very top... he didn't have enough strength to lower the handle.

'Is it broken?' Mathew thought, looking around the van's cabin in search of inspiration.

"For fuck's sake!" he then shouted, using the annoyance to power the strike that he brought down on the handle. And surprisingly enough, even though the button on the handle wasn't pressed... his strike managed to somehow release the brake, allowing the handle to fall to its neutral position.

"I somehow did it," Mathew announced as he snuck out of the cabin only to move towards the back of the truck, grab it by the handles of the doors of its back cabin and then dig his feet into the street.

At first, the truck resisted his attempts. Yet, as Mathew pushed his muscles closer and closer to the current limit of his strength, the van's wheels finally budged a little only for the truck to then slowly move to the back, nearly catching Mathew's legs between its chassis and the road.

"Woah," Mathew jumped to the back, escaping the self-imposed trap in the nick of time. "I'm getting a bit too hasty," he then commented on his failure only to step away from the truck before approaching the now unlocked back of the next van in line.

Yet, rather than getting to opening it up right away, Mathew slammed his fist into the metal of the doors in three bursts of three hits. The first and the last of the bursts were quick, with the second round of knocking taking him a few seconds to accomplish.

"SOS sign?" Nadia commented, standing right by Mathew's side and ready to launch herself at whatever would come of the van's locked back.

"Imagine yourself being stuck in this kind of cramped space, with zombies constantly moving all around, with no food or drinks to keep you alive," Mathew replied. "Even with all the knocking I did, they might just spray and pray the second we open the doors," he added, his face darkening a little.

He never went through this kind of experience in his past life. Yet, he bore witness to the peak of human desperation more than enough times to learn what they would turn into when the conditions were harsh enough.

And to all of his knowledge, there could hardly be any worse circumstances for whoever was potentially locked inside.

"I'm going to open the doors now," Mathew announced while pulling his saber out. "Warn everyone, could you?" he then asked, glancing over at Nadia.

"Sure thing," the girl smiled only to run off right away, jumping at the other man in the group, grabbing him by the collar before throwing him away from the potential line of fire that could come from the soon-to-be-opened doors of the van.

"Girls, watch out! They might start shooting from that Van soon!" Nadia then shouted, openly showing favoritism towards the female part of their group.

"Here goes nothing, then," Mathew muttered to himself, taking a deep breath as he raised his saber.

And then, with a single swing, he ran it right across the tiny gap between the two wings of the back doors to the van, cutting through the bolts that kept it shut.

Ting!

This time, Mathew failed to finish the task in a single swing. He could feel several bolts giving up under the slice of his blade, yet, barely after reaching half of the door's height, the blade lost all of its momentum, failing to penetrate any further.

'Again,' Mathew thought, pulling his weapon back before returning back to his stance.

"Zombie to the right!" Leila then shouted, distracting Mathew for a second as she rushed to take care of the undead that managed to push itself through the underside of the car.

"Thanks," Mathew nodded his head before taking another breath. He then fixed his stance before tightening his grip over his weapon.

'This time, I will cut it through,' he thought, tensing up his muscles before dropping the saber down.

And just like he told himself, this time, Mathew managed to achieve what he wanted, cutting all the remaining bolts in half.

'Now then,' he thought, lowering his weapon and taking a step to the side of the vehicle. 'Let's see what's inside,' he thought, locking the tip of his saber against the underside of the door's handle before pulling one of the wings of the doors open.

The metal hinges squeaked in a high pitch as the back of the van opened up.

Mathew's entire body tensed up as he prepared himself for a barrage of bullets...

Yet, nothing happened.

The young man waited for one more moment before his curiosity got the better of him. He then slowly walked around the vehicle so that he wouldn't just pop out of nowhere in the vision of whoever was inside.

And he finally got to glance at the insides of the van... Only for his eyes to open up even wider than when he saw the filthy content of the driver's cabin of the truck behind.