Published at 26th of February 2023 9:12 pm

Chapter 345 Daniel's Stance

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“There it is,” Mathew muttered once his detachment finally reached the general area of the media building. They still had to walk down the street before taking the final turn but they could already see the upper floors of the building peeking above the roofs of the mostly smaller, apartment complexes in the vicinity.

The travel, save for the struggle to ignore the pain of his wound, was more or less all the same. With no zombies anywhere in sight, there was no need for Norbert to keep his guard up, allowing the group to move at a steady pace.

The situation changed only once they reached the direct proximity of their destination, where the spillover zombies from the attacking horde started to appear.

They were the evolved mob ones, just like the mob that they fought with before. And while it would be foolish to call them weak, for Mathew’s party… that’s exactly what they were.

Yet, it wasn’t the zombies that made Mathew’s group stop. It was a strange construction that appeared to bar their path the second they took one last corner before reaching the media building.

“What the hell is that?” Mathew muttered, staring at the blood-covered surface of a roughly two-meters high wall made out of rubble and glued together with the hopes and wishes of its builders.

“A maze,” Norbert replied right away, showing no sort of a surprise in contrast to Mathew and Nadia. “They built it to better manage the incoming zombies,” he then explained.

“And how are we supposed to cross it?” Mathew turned his head to the former officer before squeezing his lips tightly together. “Over the top?”

“There has to be some sort of a path,” Norbert replied, closing his eyes. “Give me a second.”

They didn’t need to take any stops for Norbert’s scouting while traveling due to all the zombies either leaving the area or converging within the horde. As such, this was the first time Norbert used his abilities in a long while.

“Follow me,” Norbert then ordered the second he opened his eyes.

‘Is he…’ Mathew stopped for just a second when Norbert’s expression caught him off-guard a little. ‘Annoyed?’

There was only a hint of anxiety on Norbert’s face. A slight bruise appeared on his forehead, a few tiny cracks circling his eyes.

There wasn’t anything much for Mathew to get a clue. Definitely not enough to figure out what was going through Norbert’s head. But more than enough to clue him in that there was something going on.

Mathew’s group managed to cross roughly half of the entire maze when the area filled with an extremely annoying, penetrative sound of the bell coming from beyond the blockade.

‘Is this…’ Mathew only managed to form half a thought when his body tensed up.

He was far from being the strongest in his group. But that didn’t make his sense any weaker than what the rest of his girls could offer.

‘Enemy!’ Mathew nearly jumped, turning around on the spot to face the attack… Only to see Daria’s shadowy form rushing through the top side of the maze.

The girl apparently noticed them as well. Her nightly form couldn’t stop in place, it was running too fast to kill all of its momentum on the spot. And Daria was too smart to even try it.

Instead, she slowed herself down only a tiny little bit before taking a turn and dancing atop the maze while circling around to where Mathew was.

Daria took one last leap, directing herself towards the top of one of the walls that Mathew was currently stuck behind. She then dissolved her shadowy form mid-jump, turning back to human right in time to land right on top of the wall’s edge.

“How are you, guys?” Daria asked with a small smile while squatting down in her heightened position.

He was away from one of his wives for only a few hours tops… and yet, he could feel a strange sense of relief seeing Daria seemingly alright.

“How are things on your end?” Mathew then asked, hoping for some more explanation than Norbert’s short reports could provide.

“Most of the horde is cleared out,” Nadia replied, her smile souring when the topic instantly switched to the job. “It should be fully done in the next shift,” she then added only to turn her head towards the media building nearby.

“Speaking of shifts, we should pick up the pace,” Norbert pointed out, rolling his eyes due to how this meeting caused yet another stall to their plans.

And given the situation at Peter’s base, they really didn’t have the time to waste.

Norbert’s words acted like the bucket of cold water thrown on everyone’s head, making them shut their mouths and move their legs instead.

Soon, the idea behind the maze became apparent when Mathew had to give up on Nadia’s helping arm to let her fight off some of the mobs that were stuck within the deeper parts of the maze.

Thankfully, Daria’s words were right on point. The horde that came to attack the media building was nearly wiped out by now, leaving a mere three zombies within the entirety of the maze. And due to this, in only two more minutes, Mathew finally reached the place where the ruined part of the media building formed its new, natural entrance.

“Mathew,” Daniel spoke out the second Mathew’s group emerged from the last of the maze’s corridors.

“Daniel,” Mathew replied, turning his eyes towards the bearded face of the former police officer.

For a moment, the two of them simply stared at each other. The air turned tense as both Mathew’s companions and Daniel’s soldiers didn’t really know how to react.

“You took a beating,” Daniel spoke out right before the situation could turn too tense for everyone’s comfort and potentially invite some trouble. He then grinned with a look of superiority appearing on his face.

“I wonder how many high evolved zombies you fought to have this kind of smirk on your face,” Mathew replied with a darkened expression on his face.

The situation, rather than relaxing, turned even tenser.

And then…

Both of the men laughed out, dropping the pretense and both taking a step forward before shooting their right hands forth to shake on the meeting.

“I’m sorry, but we are really on the clock right now,” Mathew then said as his eyes wandered toward the hole in the building’s wall behind Daniel’s back.

“I’m aware,” Daniel replied before taking a step to the side and bowing lightly while pointing his hand to the makeshift entrance. “I heard the details from Norbert,” he then explained the source of his information.

“Do you have anything against our current plan, then?” Mathew asked right as he passed by the officer, opting to turn his head over his shoulder rather than properly turning around.

“You mean going before the level of a fortress?” Daniel asked to make sure he was on the same page. And given the lack of negation from Mathew, he released a deep sigh before shaking his head.

“This is something that ultimately had to happen. And while I would love to keep some autonomy here,” Daniel paused before taking yet another deep breath. “I’m fully prepared to do whatever I can to make that plan of yours happen.”

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