System Of The Undead

Chapter 298: The Uncertain Fate Of Humanity

Back at the community, Mariam had taken the helm and was on paper the perfect ruler for the community as her ideals were slowly taking shape even though it wasn’t much of a democracy, people rarely complained because it had a sense of the old world.

There was food and even a currency to encourage them to work harder but this also meant that theft was one of the few things that remained.

The sad truth was not everyone was useful, not everyone could be assigned a task that gave them a decent amount of income.

So the lower class were beginning to subtly revolt or rather, someone from the lower class.

It was strange that such a problem remained in the first place but that was one of those things that one couldn’t escape regardless of the state of the world.

This rise in theft made the people who did meagre jobs be seen as a liability because one bad egg, unfortunately, ruined the batch.

Mathias was turning the community into something that was thought not possible and that was an influx of medicine personally crafted by him.

Mathias was respected even though he was seen as a playboy in the past, he had stepped up and assumed his role as the only doctor this community had to offer.

That was a lot of pressure because the lives of these people were in his hands, any mistake or wrong prescription was his cross to carry.

Mathias might have been a coward in the past but he had more than made up for that with the amount of lives he had saved.

The herbal medicine that caught his interest also brought about progress because they could now easily treat the common everyday illness that had now become deadly in this day and age with the lack of medicine at their disposal.

Mathias and Josephine were close or rather, Josephine had somehow managed to offer him support he didn’t think he deserved.

Mathias hated himself and even if Josephine and him didn’t initially get along, like Rachel, she saw that Mathias was trying his best even to the point of sacrificing his health.

"You need to get some rest, Doctor," Josephine said upon walking into his office, Mathias was reading a new book the raiders had acquired in one of their recent raids.

The eyebags on him were obvious, he looked ten years older doing away with the vanity that once plagued him.

He didn’t care about his looks anymore despite easily being one of the best-looking men most of these people had ever seen.

"I’m close! If I can just figure this out then maybe we can have a way to..." Mathias stopped but this wasn’t because his thoughts were jumbled but rather, the aggressive cough that spilled out of his mouth.

"Mathias!" Josephine exclaimed, worried about the state of the doctor because he looked horrible and this was putting it nicely.

"I-I’m fine..." Mathias whimpered but that was only because he didn’t see the particle of blood that had spilled onto the table in front of him.

He only realized this when he looked at the book he was reading, it was stained with red but he did not look surprised about this development.

Squinting his eyes, he quickly clasped the book shut and wiped his mouth before Josephine could get close enough to notice this.

"You’re right, I will take your advice," Mathias responded and in his mind, there was a single worry.

"I still have a little more time left,"

-

Clementine was bloodied and injured, on the floor and barely hanging onto her consciousness.

She managed to kill a few of these creatures, which was impressive in itself but there were too many and she eventually succumbed to their infinite stamina and strength.

She was scared because she thought this was it for her, there was nothing she could do.

She managed to get away from the area but her wounds were too severe for her to keep running.

She could hear the growling in the distance, there was no way that they wouldn’t smell the blood on her body.

She didn’t want to die and wasn’t going to, she used every last bit of strength in her body to get up.

Her legs were wobbly and the wounds across her body worsened, opening up and ensuring that she lost even more blood despite her attempt to stop it.

"I’m not going to die here!" Clementine muttered to herself with a hand on her torso, she began to walk at a slow and steady pace leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

Clementine’s life flashed before her, she was scared of death and didn’t wish to die.

She wished for Sam to save her just like he did back then but that was not possible.

She was going to die all alone and with no one by her side, that thought didn’t break but fueled her will to survive.

She was going to make it out of there even though she had no idea how she was going to do it and the odds were against her.

If she survived the zombies then there was no way she could prevent herself from bleeding out as she had no tools to do so.

But there was only so much she could do as the zombies caught up to her but they didn’t move to deliver the finishing blow.

Something that they could easily do but rather, they restrained her, pushing her face into the ground with her limbs pinned.

Clementine could hear footsteps approaching her, she managed to look up to see Doctor Schneider standing right above her.

"Do it!" Clementine barked but Schneider simply chuckled; the way he chuckled was like he had just learned to laugh.

"I never planned to kill you... I need you, Clementine. You are the next step," These were the last words Clementine heard before she lost consciousness.

Would this be the end of Clementine or was this the beginning of something even more sinister?