14 Chapter 11: Panic and Leadership

After what seemed like an hour after their encounter with the alley full of what they at first believed were crazed homeless people, Alexia, Alice, Lana, and Jacob sat on Alexia porch after each had been questioned about what had happened by agents of the FBI.

They all looked stunned until Mattheson came finally arrived and looked at the four with surprise. He had just come over from the body of the woman whose body was now lying still on the ground in front of the alley across from Alexia's house with confusion riddled over his face as if dumbfounded.

Alexia, Alice, Lana all stared at him while tensing up as they held onto a secret that might've made the whole situation way worse than what it looked like. Their glaring eyes glued to the man of the brother who one of them had wrongfully killed and just watched him speak through a homeless woman.

The women weren't stupid as they all had heard the same ghastly and grating voice that had addressed Alexia and told them something that they only knew. Although both Alexia and Lana believed in the afterlife Alice remained constant on her atheist beliefs until an hour ago. They all knew they would have to confess they're information sooner or later to Mattheson but for now, they had only explained things to Jacob after he saved their lives.

Mattheson had stopped a few feet away from the group to and stared into each of their eyes before asking, " Ok so someone wanna tell me why a three-day-old dead corpse which seemed to have taken a few bites of someone, seeing how she has what looks like human flesh and hair in her mouth, is laying on the concrete across the street. I already heard what you said to the other investigators about the 30 to 40 people committing mass murder and cannibalism and how they escaped into the sewers along with the people they attacked while that supposed corpse attacked you. That's somewhat believable looking at the scene, but what's not believable is the whole fucking thing so Imma need you guys to stop bullshitting and tell me the truth now because I'm seriously not in the fucking mood for games."

Each of them except Alexia looked at Mattheson with shock and a little bit of fear shooting up their spines. Alexia had thought through everything and had went cross-referenced everything from her religious beliefs and couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for tonights events. After going thinking deeply, she had come up with nothing to base anything she had seen tonight on except that the undead she'd only her of in movies, books, and other media were real. Without realizing it she had asked herself out loud, "Zombies?"

Everyone's head jerked towards her at breakneck speed and stared at her. Noticing she had the attention of everyone she knew her thoughts had escaped and needed explanation or else she would've lost her standing with everyone. She looked Mattheson in the eyes noticing the obvious red eyelids that showed he'd been crying. She knew that her actions were inexcusable that she would be found out sooner or later. She knew the truth would be found out sooner or later even if they were able to destroy any of the evidence. The only way out she could see was to tell the truth as John's final words before unleashing the woman on them kept her mind busy and she needed to have the leverage to keep her family alive at any cost if John was to accomplish his goal even if she needed to sacrifice herself.

"If you want to know what really happened we have to talk in my house. Just the five of us and no one else." Alexia said while rising from the step which she was just sitting on.

Alice looked at her mother as if she could read her thoughts and said, " Mother..."

"Hush child this is going to have to happen or we might have more blood on our hands, specifically mine," Alexia said while cutting Alice off rudely.

Looking confused at the words Alexia just said, Mattheson looked at Alice who he had sent home earlier that day wondering what she tried to hide. Looking back at Alexia he said, "What you have to say can be said out here. No need to beat around the bushes."

Turning to look back at Mattheson with her head at an angle and only one eye being capable of seeing him she said, "What I have to say to you includes pertaining your brother and that corpse over there."

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John sat in the middle of the Grave Center as he still and as if meditating, but if he had a face you would see his menacing smile. He was happy and distraught as he had found his killer more easily than he expected considering the huge city he was under and the thousands of people above him. So happy he ordered half of his zombie horde to begin stalking and infecting potential carrier of his curse as he believed would be traveling far and wide while the rest clear the remaining homeless population of the city.

Joseph had only concluded with John's original plan to infect those near major modes of transport. Joseph had killed and conducted several operations to stop and foil the plans of multiple would-be terrorists over the years and saw John's plan as the most optimal for his goal, although he didn't agree without announcing his concern over the exposure that could occur but quickly brushed it off.

John knew of the risk but he knew that his antics at the graveyard and the alley with Alexia were minimum at most as he knew that everyone would only see their stories as nothing more than lies or deceptions. He saw this as a game of chess and he was playing different matches at the same time. On one board there was Alexia and her family that he planned to toy with, while on another was the world leaders that couldn't see his moves against them, and lastly, the would-be heroes that would try and be brave and build resistances against his horde which he knew would eventually happen once he began humanities genocide. He and Joseph had planned wide and far for any nuisances that could occur, he now just had to be patient as his infected spread across the globe unaware of the doom they would bring upon those around them.

While he waited patiently for his curse to spread to other nations he wanted to grow stronger while ensuring his new daughter, Joselin, and Jospeph became stronger. He didn't want those around him to be weak in case the time came for them to take action. So he had Joseph train Joselin in close-quarter combat while he himself was being trained by Dixie to use magic properly. John decided to self teach himself while remembering he had left his menu unchecked for a while.

He looked at his menu to be disappointed by the result he saw.

[Status]

Name: John Carlton

level: 18

species:

--Stats--

Health: 195 Mana:9530

Dex: 75 Wis: 255

agility: 75 luck: 30

Int: 205 Str: 97

Stat points: 10

Seeing his level and available stat points made him feel uneasy enough for Dixie to shoot him a look of curiosity as she felt his disappointment due to their connection. From his guess, he could tell that he would have to have his horde kill more in order to speed up his leveling, but it would have to wait until he could ensure that his mass of extinction of the human race had a stable pillar to start from.

At this moment he shifts his thoughts back to Dixie as he plans her inevitable spiral into insanity. He knew she would be hesitant in teaching him the ability to make someone corrupt purposefully through the act of magic, but she wasn't the only that was cunning as he looked back at his wisdom and intelligence stats. He knew he had to test them to see how effective it was as he needed to measure how exactly his stats were, but couldn't risk it yet as he felt that she was stronger than him by leaps and bounds at the moment and one misstep could lead her immediate betrayal despite being an agent of the gods. From the moment she cried when a portion of John's soul became corrupt he instantly saw her sympathy for humanity that would hold him back in the coming days but for now he asked, "Dixie can you show me how to corrupt someone's soul? Only asking for research purposes only."