System Of The Undead

Chapter 123: Settling In!

The roles were assigned and they were immediately put to work, Jason was welcomed to the raiders officially alongside Clementine.

It was like a camp because this area was clustered with men and women in uniform.

Jason drew the majority of the stares because of the stories that circulated regarding his accomplishment, he wasn’t going to get used to it and he knew it.

Clementine was a beauty so most assumed she was lost or something because there was no way a woman that attractive would choose such a dirty job.

Jason soon bumped into someone but his sight didn’t even register the individual due to their size.

He looked down and saw someone measuring 4’9, Jason didn’t even know what to say.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there," Jason apologized but the boy took it as a dig.

"Is that a short joke? You piece of shit!" The boy cussed out and Jason processed what he would say next as he didn’t want it misinterpreted again even though he understood why the boy would think the way he did.

"No! I really didn’t see you," Jason reiterated, hoping that the boy would back off but it only infuriated him.

"You bastard! Just so you know, I’m only this height because I didn’t eat my veggies!" The boy began to explain himself but Jason knew that this was pointless.

Whoever this boy was, clearly wanted trouble but he also noticed that he had the uniform on.

"Do they accept people this young?" Jason thought to himself because this child had to be Lillian’s age.

"Hey! Travis! Leave him alone you little fucker!" A voice warned and Travis gritted his teeth as he took a step back.

Jason noted that whoever this was held some authority over the boy but why did they allow children to join something so dangerous?

Jason didn’t care how skilled the boy could potentially be but he understood the dangers that came with the job better than anyone.

He knew it wasn’t in his place to decide what people got to do with their lives but at least there should be an age restriction to these things or this would make them child soldiers.

"I apologize for Travis, he has a bad temper," The man apologized on his behalf and Jason grinned the moment he did.

"Ha! It’s fine, I’m surprised a kid his age has such a bad temper," Jason replied.

"He got it from him, I was his babysitter before the world fell and the world has brought out a side of me that isn’t very baby-sitter-like of me. My name is Jeremy," Jeremy introduced himself, he wasn’t as tall as Jason but boy, did he have the face of a model.

Jason could easily tell that he was drop-dead gorgeous and the fact that he was a babysitter did no justice to his looks.

Jason glanced over at Clementine to see how she would receive him but she wasn’t fazed by his appearance.

He stretched out his hand to greet her but Clementine didn’t take it.

"I think you should get your kid under control, not everyone will be as nice as we," Clementine said as she walked past them.

Jason was left standing awkwardly in place, he smiled and excused himself.

Following behind Clementine to ask her what that was about,

"You didn’t need to be mean," Jason said even though he was secretly happy that she wasn’t impressed by his looks because he was.

"That was a scheme, Jason," Clementine said but Jason didn’t understand what she meant by this.

Clementine sighed the moment she saw his confused expression because she knew she had to explain herself to make him understand what she was talking about.

"You don’t know anything, do you? That boy knew exactly what he was doing, he blocked you so the other one could come and introduce himself to me. He was in on it," Clementine cleared things up for Jason.

Jason thought about it for a second, he allowed the thought to marinate because he wanted to see if there was any sense to it.

"Holy shit! That is actually a genius plan!" Jason exclaimed and Clementine couldn’t believe how simple-minded he was.

There was no doubt that these people would eat him alive, it was a good thing she decided to do what she does best and that was combat.

She saw the boss in the distance, she also noticed that these people had cars.

They were filling up a Hilux truck and Clementine wondered where they were headed.

"Don’t mind them, they’re going to check out a new place that was discovered some distance away, they should be back in a day or two..." Glenn appeared out of nowhere but it was nice seeing a familiar face.

Jason wondered why he wasn’t in uniform but he realized that was because it was hidden behind the trench coat he had on.

The skies already signified that today could potentially be a rainy day and the chilly wind made the hair on his skin stand upright.

"Check? Isn’t a day or two too long?" Clementine asked and she was right considering that this was meant to be them going on runs for goods.

"You’re right and this is a first, we have emptied the stores around us so we have no choice but to go further out," Glenn responded.

"Why are you called the Raiders?" Jason derailed the whole conversion even though he had a point, raiders had a different definition of what they were supposedly doing.

"I have no idea, maybe it’s because it sounded cool?" Glenn said with a shrug.

The boss was leaving with them and his eyes momentarily locked with Clementine.

But this only lasted a second right before the car zoomed off.

"Hey Clementine, are you okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, you look like you just saw a ghost..." Glenn added.

Clementine didn’t even realize when it happened but she had frozen up the moment she locked eyes with the man known as the boss.

"I’m fine, I’m fine," Clementine brushed aside their concerns.

"It has to be in my head..." Clementine thought to herself.

-

Rachel was being shown around her unit, she was to tend to the sick and injured but this place had little of that.

This was impressive as it meant that they took care of their own or they had very good doctors.

"Rachel, stay with me..." A voice brought her back to reality.

"I’m sorry," Rachel responded, she needed to make a good first impression as she understood that people didn’t take her seriously due to her looks.

She heard the whispers but she didn’t mind it, she had to prove herself just as Jason proved himself.

The person before her was a lady who looked unremarkable, she had a very simple build and face. She went by the name of Josephine.

The building they were in had multiple rooms and then a huge corridor.

The doors had numbers that were handwritten and Rachel wondered why they weren’t entering any even though the person guiding her told her that these rooms were empty.

Rachel had no reason not to believe her but the lady stopped in front of a room.

It was Room 68, and Rachel knew that if it was 69, Jason would have made silly jokes if he was here with her.

The door swung open and the stench that followed nearly brought her to her knees.

She wondered why something so awful even existed because it smelled worse than Jason.

She knew she had to take a leap of faith and she took a step into the room but her feet made contact with something wet.

She looked down and saw what it was, this was no doubt piss.

The lady was observing Rachel closely, and Rachel knew this was some sort of test.

She had to suck it up and she did just that, taking a step into the room to see what was responsible for this.

There was a bed in the room and she noticed that a body was on it but it was not dead.

Rachel saw that this person was fighting off an infection and had no control over their bowel movement with their right hand all but rotten.

"Why haven’t you amputated his arm?" Rachel asked and the lady was surprised that she could even look at it, she was more than a pretty face.

"He doesn’t wish to have it amputated, he has that right," Josephine responded.

"But it is spreading and at this rate, he will die," Rachel said bluntly.

The man was clearly in pain and they must be wasting drugs to keep him alive.

It would be a wiser choice to amputate it, cutting the infection at the root and proceeding to treat whatever it was that was causing the bowel movement to function properly.

"We don’t have a say, I’m afraid..." Josephine said and Rachel wanted to know why.

"Why is that? Is he not a patient?" Rachel inquired.

"Yes, but he is Mrs Mariam’s husband.." Josephine dropped the bombshell and Rachel’s mouth clamped shut.

"At least clean the room, it is filthy..." Rachel said, she wasn’t speaking to Josephine like she was her superior and that was because she wasn’t.

"About that... That is why I brought you here, you will be in charge of cleaning the room," Josephine said but this was because she didn’t trust Rachel was cut out for this.

"Ha! I see!" Rachel responded with a determined look on her face, a look that surprised even Josephine.

"What’s up with this chick?" Josephine thought to herself.