System Of The Undead

Chapter 169: A Choice

The car sped and the further they travelled, the more they noticed the abnormalities on the road.

They began to see motionless zombies on the ground.

They were dead and it was just as Franklin suspected, there was a battle of some sort here.

"What the hell..." Brayden muttered under his breath, he noticed that things weren’t looking good either. They were seeing more corpses the further they drove in but there was no sign of life, the tyre marks they were following had gone cold too but they must be on this road using the environment as a guide.

"There was a battle here," Jason commented, saying what was on everyone’s mind.

Jason knew that there was nothing that they could do and it now made sense why they didn’t return for them. Jason knew this was just a guess but he was aware that they might be in more trouble than he initially thought.

"It isn’t looking good," Clementine whispered to Jason.

"I think it is safe to say that they might be in trouble or... dead," Jason muttered.

"Clementine and Jason, we need to find a way to scout the environment, I’m afraid the chances of us getting detected is high if we keep moving by vehicle," Franklin said.

"You’re right but it also leaves us a lot more vulnerable, we will remain in the car," Brayden said bluntly, shutting down his suggestion with immediate effect.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Franklin asked.

"Hey Clementine, what do you think?" Brayden asked for her input which caught Franklin off guard.

"I think you’re right, we are safer in the car than we’re on the road," Clementine supported Brayden’s approach.

This indirectly undermined Franklin but there was nothing that he could do so he kept quiet.

"I’m glad you see things my way. I understand why your friend over here is worried but it’s been a week since you last saw them. The chances that they’re dead or returned home are high... I don’t think it is a good idea to look for them," Brayden aired out his thoughts but Franklin was sticking to his earlier decision.

They had left Glenn back at the camp because he wasn’t fit enough and they couldn’t afford for him to become a liability even though they knew he was being kept as some sort of insurance policy should Franklin or Jason have any funny thoughts.

They were glad that Glenn was left behind as they didn’t know what would happen to him if he joined. Franklin was a warrior who was used to these types of things but Glenn, there was no way he was experienced enough to deal with this kind of trauma.

The car came to a halt and they looked over at Brayden, wondering why he suddenly stopped.

"Don’t make a sound..." Brayden whispered to them and they soon realized why, the road ahead was filled to the brim with walking corpses, they were dormant and stagnant.

This was the reason why he had stopped, he couldn’t run through that many even though they were in a car.

The cars behind him reversed slowly, trying their best to make as few sounds as possible. They were glad that Franklin had a map as it showed there were different paths to their destination.

Brayden noticed that they had wandered into a zombie nest and it was best not to wake them up or they would have to use their guns and draw every damn zombie around to them.

Jason looked worried and Clementine picked up on this, he had told her about the fragment so she had an idea as to why he would be worried.

"It is fine," Clementine whispered in his ear but this didn’t calm Jason down, he knew it was anything but fine.

"The fragment, it will attract them!" Jason thought to himself and the moment he had this thought, the dormant zombies suddenly flinched.

"What?" Brayden thought to himself as they hadn’t made any sound to alert the zombies so what was going on?

They should still be dormant and in no time, all the zombies began to move in their direction.

It was like they could see and Clementine now understood why Jason was worried.

As long as he was with them, there was no way any of them would be safe.

The zombies would always find them regardless of what they did as long as Jason was with them.

"Stop the car," Jason commanded but Brayden wasn’t about to listen to him.

"Now isn’t the time for this, we need to get out of here and I need to concentrate!" Brayden warned him.

There was no point being silent, the zombies had found them and Brayden knew he had to leave their range of perception and fast.

"What’s going on? We shouldn’t have alerted them..." Brayden muttered but Franklin kept quiet.

Clementine was confused, if Franklin gave them the information she thought he did then these people wouldn’t be worried about a horde.

They could easily cover their body with zombie’s guts and move about freely hence this could only mean one thing.

There was a possibility that Franklin didn’t divulge this information but there was also a chance that there were too many zombies to implement that tactic.

Clementine entertained both possibilities but she needed to keep Jason in check.

"Stop the car!" Jason said with more urgency but his desperation fell on deaf ears.

Brayden wasn’t about to risk their lives just because Jason was having a mental break.

"Jason, calm down," Clementine tried to ease him through the situation.

Jason took a deep breath before looking at Clementine right in the eyes but no words escaped his lips.

"I’m sorry Clementine," Jason said right before opening the door of the car and jumping out, landing on the concrete pavement.

"Shit! What the hell is he doing!?" Brayden barked, showing a form of concern.

"Go back for him!" Clementine commanded but Brayden wasn’t about to risk everyone just for one man. He, instead, stepped on the gas as Jason was doomed at this point.

Clementine looked panicked, she knew she had to make a choice and fast.

She could think rationally and understood that Bradyen’s decision was the right one but there was no way she was going to let Jason die.

Clementine grabbed a small bag of ammunition and jumped out of the moving car and unlike Jason, she didn’t sustain injuries as she rolled upon her impact.

She had the necessary training to navigate this situation but Brayden was left speechless.

This was reckless from her but he couldn’t do anything to help her now that she was out of the car.

Franklin didn’t look concerned either, he knew that Jason was strong enough to defend himself so why was Clementine taking it upon herself to ’save’ him?

Jason was motionless on the ground and Clementine was already fearing the worst-case scenario, this was what influenced her decision to jump out of the car.

Jason might be strong but there was nothing he could do for himself unconsciously.

"T-That hurt..." Jason blurted out as he got to his feet slowly, clutching his head.

"Jason, are you okay?" Clementine, who had covered the distance, asked.

"Yeah, thanks Cleme-!" Jason paused, looking at her in horror.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Jason barked, she wasn’t supposed to suffer for his decision, why did she intentionally put herself in harm’s way when she wasn’t nearly as sturdy as him?

Clementine didn’t even bother with a response and just handed him a weapon, Jason realized he had none on him before sighing.

"You’re hopeless..." Clementine said while shaking her head in disbelief.

One would think he would have thought of everything that could go wrong before making that decision.

"And I’m here to make sure you don’t turn into one of them... The fact that you know it is risky for me should also allow you to understand how important you have become to me," Clementine said and Jason kept shut.

"Now let’s get out of here before those dead bastards gain on us," Clementine muttered, leading the way.

They had the advantage of speed, these zombies were walking at a slow pace and this allowed them to extend their distance away from the zombie.

"Do you even know where we’re going?" Jason asked to which Clementine nodded.

"We’re going to meet up with the rest, you cannot give up on life yet Jason. There has to be a way to control whatever is inside of you or at least suppress it," Clementine said, trying to cling to the possibility that this was a temporary problem.

There was always a solution and for those that didn’t have a solution, it simply meant it hadn’t been found yet but it existed.

They left the road but Jason knew that this

was concern for bigger problems as one thing dwelled in his mind.