Charted Deception II

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Reese is finally welcomed to stay in the arena's dormitories.

The contestants no longer lies to him and Felix is not attempting to run away again.

Humans and zombies used to exist together without the Walls.

The Zombie Evolution is the greatest life-changer both for humans and the zombies.

It's what gave hope to zombified loved ones to come back to their homes and hope for humans to reunite with them.

In other words, the Zombie Evolution united both species.

But that's all just stories today.

It's all just history.

"So you think there's someone behind the attacks?" Felix asked.

"Yes. Because the mutual connection between 7 locations are all government property service buildings."

"Huh, true." Felix nods.

"Look at it this way, how are those average zombies able to find themselves positioned in the center of those buildings and just coincidentally wreaking havoc?"

Felix pauses to let it sink in.

"We studied their profiles, they have commoner identities, blending in, their work place and residential zones aren't even near the crime scenes." Reese continued.

"Which makes you suspect a third party?"

"How else could they have gone there?" Reese's gut says so.

Felix raises a brow on him.

"I mean come on, given the underground-brotherhood-terrorism theory is still on the table,"

Reese wasn't sure how to describe it at best.

"They probably also went there to do something. But that would mean they are aware the zombie evolution is lapsing, right?" he tells the zombie.

Reese pulled out a couple of pictures from his knapsack. He lined them up on the bed like it was a police line-up behind a one-way mirror.

"Tell me if you recognize any of them."

Felix analyzed the faces from the photos carefully.

He frowned when he saw some of the familiar faces in those pictures. Because it would mean...

"Some of them are my friends." he answered dryly. "The missing contestants."

Reese can sense the sadness from Felix's voice. He nods to acknowledge the honesty.

"And do you think they are capable of pulling an act of terrorism?"

"..." Felix swallowed.

Deep inside he is questioning himself.

How he could have missed it if they really were involved in terrorism or if they were aware of the lapsing.

"...no." he replies, the word is left heavy in the air.

"Which leads us back to the possibility that someone is taking zombies, putting them in places and causing incidents on purpose." Reese's theory just got stronger.

Felix pushes the photos away.

He doesn't want to see them and remember his friends who are now gone. Really gone from this world.

He then locked his eyes on Reese's, wanting to assure to collect honesty from the Guisarme.

"But who? Who would take them?"

"Could be human. Could be a zombie as well. We can't rule out anything yet."

Reese is unsure himself but he KNOWS now that there is someone who is staging the incidents.

Someone who wants a scene.

"We don't know the 'who', then let's go to the 'why'. Why do this?" Felix says.

"Hm," Reese is now in deep thought, "motives could vary."

"Uh-huh." Felix raises a brow.

"Could be that they want war, or attention because they want something no one is giving them. We can't rule out rebels who hates the government too." Reese shared.

"Basically we have branches of possibilities."

"Yep."

Felix scoffed, shaking his head at how far behind they were.

Whoever the mastermind is must have thought things through.

With them being able to hide their identity, commit crimes and cover up all loose ends.

"Then what about the 'how'. How does this person or zombie, know if a zombie is lapsing from their Zombie Evolution phase?" Felix asked.

Reese stared. "I was actually going to ask you that."

"What?"

"I mean YOU'RE the zombie here. Shouldn't you know if you're feeling sick?"

Felix laughed. A sudden burst of laughter at the mention that they are feeling sick. Feeling sick!

"We are always feeling sick. We don't know what warmth feels like. When we eat, after a couple of hours we feel like we want to vomit."

"Really?"

"That's not in Zombie 101 class, right? Because we don't feel like sharing all of our secrets. Not if we want to blend in with you judgmental humans." Felix felt his pride swell.

It was something that a zombie can confidently brag about.

Things that us humans don't know, they felt superior over it.

Of course, who would know zombie anatomy and zombie functions more than them, right?

"If lapsing is a 'sick' feeling and not something beyond what we naturally feel, then we wouldn't know if we were going to lapse." Felix opined.

"Unless a zombie has figured out the symptoms." Reese theorized.

"It's possible."

"You've been really helpful! I need to report this to my C.O." Reese picked up his phone. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Do I get assurance of protection?" Felix teased.

"I will negotiate that. Besides, there's no rule against zombies staying in the Human Region and you didn't commit any crimes. So..." Reese shrugs.

People no longer believed that it's possible since the Walls were raised up.

I don't know the real reason behind it but I am doing deep research about the history of those walls and I will show the world the truth once I find it.

Reese's home zone is cultured according to the days of B.W. (before the Wall).

Which is why humans and zombies are friends since childhood.

It's why Reese struggles to hurt zombies or 'kill' them.

It's why this time he is determined to help Felix and the rest of the zombies who are involved or about to be involved in this case.

If someone is using the zombies for whatever reason.

For ulterior motive, for personal gain or the possibility of just a psychological maniac in the loose, Reese vowed to find them.

If my vow is to tell the truth to the world...

...his vow is to bring justice to humans and zombies alike that are abused by the law or anyone who thinks they are above any specie.

"Ana hey, I got our next lead. Meet me at the Commanding Office." Reese says over the phone.

<Me too. Killian and I are heading there now.>

"Alright, I'll see you there."

Reese jogs out of the dormitories to walk over to his car.

Only... he never reached his car as a black sedan hit the brakes.

Reese tumbles in front of the car, rolling up to the roof upon impact and hitting the trunk before landing on the cold cement.

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A/N: I revised this chapter so all of the paragraph comments have been deleted. I'm really sorry you guys.