System Of The Undead

Chapter 141: Left With A Choice Or No Choice?

Rachel had to take a breather, she was exhausted by what had just happened.

They weren’t exposed to the ensuing commotion due to their distance from that location.

Mathias walked into the waiting room where Rachel was resting, he knew she wasn’t used to such things judging by her facial expression.

"Here..." Mathias said, handing her a beverage which she accepted with full gratitude.

"Thank you, Doctor Mathias," Rachel said, trying to maintain a level of professionalism.

She didn’t want to blur the lines that separated their dynamic from becoming too friendly.

"You can call me Mathias, you know?" The man said, taking a seat right beside Rachel.

"I’m sure you didn’t slave away in med school only to be called by your first name," Rachel fired back, justifying her stance as she took a sip from the beverage handed to her.

"Well, would you believe me if I said everything I learned was when the apocalypse started?" Mathis said to which Rachel gasped the moment she heard this.

"What!?" She carelessly blurted out before covering her mouth, she didn’t mean to say these words.

"Haha! I know it sounds ridiculous but one could say I’m a quick learner," Mathias said and Rachel was even more impressed.

"You really are something," Rachel was verbal with her admiration and who could blame her?

"Tell me, why did you choose this unit? A girl with your looks could have easily excelled in something less messy," Mathias asked and Rachel knew where he was coming from.

It was the same reason Josephine did what she did but Rachel knew looks wouldn’t get her far in this world.

There were no longer any rules protecting her so she had to become useful in other ways, even if it meant cleaning shit and pissing off the ground.

"I want to protect the people I care about and learning how medicine works will help me do just that," Rachel told Mathias her true intention and the man smiled when he heard this.

"You knew you were soft-hearted..." Mathias said and the moment he said this, Rachel flinched because she found herself liking the compliment

"Where did that come from?" Rachel asked, looking away and she was asking herself why she was doing this.

She knew this could turn into a moment and part of her knew if she did anything with another man, that Jason might look at her less.

"Is there anyone in particular you want to protect?" Mathias asked and Rachel couldn’t contain her smile.

Mathias got his answer even before she opened her mouth.

"I do... My younger sister," Rachel said and Mathias’s face changed because he was expecting her to call the name of another man.

"Are you sure that’s all? There is no man in the picture?" Mathias asked and Rachel opened her mouth, ready to talk but she stopped herself shortly after/

She wasn’t about to tell a stranger about her business with Jason when it wasn’t even solid yet.

"It is just her," Rachel reiterated and this gave Mathias the impression that she wasn’t only single but there was no man in the picture either.

"My offer for dinner still stands, I think it would be good to go for a walk after that so you can better understand your environment," Mathias said and Rachel had gotten a better glimpse of his character.

He didn’t seem like a bad person but she wanted a second opinion regarding this considering that Josephine was spooked by him.

This made her cautious but she didn’t have any friends outside her sister, Lillian.

Rachel thought about this but the more she thought about it, the more hopeless it looked.

"I will think about it," Rachel said and Mathias was satisfied with this response, it beat a direct no like he got the day before.

Rachel knew she might have to talk to either Bella or Allison regarding this, they weren’t friends but they were the closest she had to a friend.

Then her mind remembered something that she wouldn’t have wanted to at that moment and that was the discussion about Jason blowing Bella’s back out.

Rachel found herself flustered by this thought and tried to push it out of her mind but this only made her imagination wander.

"You’re getting flustered?" Matthias asked, a sense of pride in his voice as this meant that he was making progress with her.

But this could be the farthest thing from the truth, it was simply a misunderstanding.

Rachel would rather have him believe this than know the real reason why she was flustered.

"You wish," Rachel responded with an eye roll but part of her knew she needed to remain on his good side and she couldn’t lead him on forever either.

Rachell didn’t know if it was all in her head but she could swear that she had leaned in close

Thankfully, the moment couldn’t get any more heated as the door sprung open.

"What is it?" Mathias asked but the man that had walked in wasn’t just anybody.

"The wall commander has been attacked!" The man blurted out and Mathias stood up the moment this was said and headed out the door without wasting another second.

"RACHEL! FOLLOW ME!" He shouted, they knew what could potentially happen if someone of such prominence was to die.

And they also needed to know what happened to him because things weren’t looking good.

-

Jason awoke but it was like nothing happened to him, Jason steadied himself in the back of the Hilux as it sped away.

He noticed how Clementine and Franklin were looking at him but this wasn’t something that he cared about right now.

Jason sighed as he looked at the guy holding a gun in their direction.

"You know, it would be more effective if you hold the gun from beneath," Jason advised the man but he got no response in return.

"Don’t mess with them, we don’t want to make them any more suspicious than they are," Clementine whispered but she noticed that Jason had something distant in his eyes.

It was like he wasn’t present there and she kept quiet as she felt he wasn’t listening to her and she was right.

Fortunately for Chronos, Jason had a case of amnesia as he couldn’t recall anything that was discussed with Chronos for reasons unknown.

This included the fact that he was infected but something had happened within Jason that no one could have anticipated.

He had died and met the single requirement to become a zombie after being infected yet he was somehow brought back to life.

Did this mean he was still a human being or an undead?

Jason was feeling strange, his mouth was a lot drier but this could simply mean he was dehydrated, there were so many other natural reasons for this so it was foolish to jump to a conclusion.

He didn’t know if what happened with Chronos was real or imagined but it affected his psyche, he knew that Chronos no longer had the control it did moments.

Jason reached into his pocket quickly and was relieved when he found out that the fragment was there, it could attract zombies so there was no way that he would leave it back home where Rachel and Lilian were.

This was a no-no and with the information he had gotten so far, this fragment was a lot more dangerous than he had thought.

Jason thought of throwing it away but the existence of zombies made this choice a difficult one.

He didn’t want to throw it and make things worse for themselves as there was no telling what kind of mutation a zombie would undergo if it were to consume it.

"Chronos, what were you about to say?" Jason asked, attempting to conclude the conversation that he was having with Chronos before he came back to life.

[I don’t know what you’re talking about.]

Chronos said. Jason thought it was playing coy but the reality was, that Chronos never had that conversation with Jason.

Jason had somehow managed to infiltrate the very essence of Chronos to seek answers that Chronos itself had no idea existed.

Chronos was an AI, and the things he was allowed to know were severely limited but it too started as a fragment so why wasn’t Jason infected?

The questions were many but the answers to these questions were lacking because there was no way that Jason should have been able to go that deep into the system without being rejected yet he wasn’t.

[Ding!]

"Huh?" Jason was confused because this was out of the blue but he knew he was infected and the very thing he was holding was responsible for it.

There was nothing that could happen that hadn’t already happened.

[Compatibility assessment complete!]

[Jason Abbot is compatible with the fragment!]

Jason was confused about what was going on, he didn’t permit Chronos to do this but then again, Chronos had a habit of acting on his own so this wasn’t new.

[Begin absorption? Y/N?]

Chronos requested, that Jason establish that it could be absorbed through physical contact and mustn’t be consumed orally as he initially thought.

But why was Chronos asking him such a question and Jason soon realized why.

"I died, didn’t I?" Jason muttered out loud and Clementine’s look gave him the answer he sought.