System Of The Undead

Chapter 168: A Trail?

They were on their way, the vehicle was packed and on the road, Franklin had the map that they intended to follow. He knew that the road ahead of them was going to be a difficult one but they now had more men than they came with so there was a decent chance at success.

They led the way with the others trailing behind, it was like a convoy but Jason had a bad feeling about this.

The conversation he had with Clementine was an eye-opener, this was going to become a problem for everyone involved.

He was tapping his feet nervously but he soon felt a hand on top of his, it belonged to Clementine.

"Breathe, you have got this," Clementine reassured him and Jason took a breather,

Franklin was seated in front, he was watching them through the rearview mirror.

"I’m okay. Thanks, Clementine," Jason said, squeezing Clementine’s hands between his, he was still fidgeting but it had calmed down significantly.

Jason knew he would have to scan the area and no one knew what happened to Debra and her team.

Was it safe to assume that they got back to base?

If that was the case, then wouldn’t a team have been assembled to save them from these people?

Jason was trying to make sense of the situation but the possibility that they abandoned them was beginning to look like an option after seeing what Franklin was willing to do with Clementine.

"Stop!" Franklin commanded and the car screeched to stop, the remaining car behind followed suit.

"What in the world!?" Brayden exclaimed, he was the one driving the car and Franklin startled him. Franklin didn’t give him a reason for this request and simply stepped out of the car.

"What’s wrong with your buddy?" Brayden looked over his shoulder to ask Clementine but Clementine didn’t have an answer for this.

"I have no idea," She said before stepping out of the car to ask Franklin what was wrong.

Everyone else remained seated, they didn’t know what came over him and knew they needed to start moving again if they were going to make it during the day.

They couldn’t travel by night or they would be at a big disadvantage.

"What’s wrong?" Clementine asked Franklin, who was crouched down.

"Bullet casings..." Franklin said, picking it up to show Clementine.

What was so strange about seeing shells in the middle of the road, it was a fucking apocalypse with zombies, this should be the most common sight in the world right now.

"I can see that, is there any reason why this bothers you?" Clementine asked and Franklin turned it around to reveal a marking.

"This is one of ours," Franklin said and Clementine now understood why he was worried.

But how could he tell without inspecting it because it could have easily been a random bullet shell as well?

"The road has tyre marks..." Franklin muttered, running his finger along it, Clementine was surprised that he was paying so much attention to the road.

He must have good eyesight because the tyre marks were barely visible and it took Clementine a second glance to even notice it.

"These tyre marks, they belong to one of ours," Franklin said as he got back to his feet.

"But this is the wrong path... They aren’t supposed to be on this road," Clementine said and this was when Franklin began to walk in her direction.

"My thought exactly," Franklin said, Clementine had to observe her own.

The screeching on the road was due to hasty maneuvers on the road so there was something that either made them take this path or there had to be another reason.

They couldn’t have been running away from something, could they?

Why else would they open fire? They must have been trying to fend off something.

Franklin walked towards the car with Clementine following behind him.

"I apologize but it looks like my people might have run into a little trouble," Franklin told Brayden.

Brayden sighed as he understood why Franklin would react the way he did.

He radioed Andre to inform him of the recent development and Andre gave him the go-ahead to follow the trail.

If there was anyone alive, their information would be invaluable in how they proceeded.

Franklin looked worried, a look that he didn’t seem to share with Elliot or anyone else.

This told both Clementine and Jason that there was someone important to him on that team.

Brayden stepped on it and they tore through the street with terrifying speed, the wind enough to throw a fully grown man off his feet should he stand close to the zooming cars.

-

Rachel had returned to work and she had a task in mind however, there was something unusual about the hospital.

She couldn’t quite place her fingers around it but the air felt different and to her surprise, the doctor who seemed to have vanished into thin air was right in front of her.

"Doctor Charlie?" Rachel thought to herself but he looked confused when he saw Rachel.

"Good evening Doctor," Rachel quickly greeted him with a slight head bow.

The man walked up to her and just stood, staring at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" Doctor Charlie asked and Rachel thought he was messing with her.

She raised her head and looked at him, it took one look for her to realize he was either serious or a very good actor.

"I’m sorry for not introducing myself, I’m Rachel and I was here last week. I helped clean the room for Mr. Gabriel..." Rachel said quickly.

"You’re Josephine?" Charlie muttered and this was strange, Rachel just introduced herself so why was he calling her this?

"Mr Gabriel.. If we could just get the meds then he would be better," Charlie continued to lament.

Rachel now knew for a fact that there was something wrong with him, she didn’t know what was going on but this man didn’t seem to recall what had been happening.

The drugs he was talking about were the same drugs gotten by Jason so why was he speaking like they hadn’t received it, and the fact that he couldn’t recall meeting her was another telling sign that he might be suffering from some kind of memory loss.

"Doctor Charlie, I told you to stay close to me," Mathias appeared, taking hastened footsteps in their direction.

"What’s wrong with him?" Rachel couldn’t hide her curiosity even though it might come off as rude.

"I’m afraid it is the side effects of old age, Doctor Charlie is suffering from dementia," Mathias said and this made sense.

But he was perfectly fine during their first interaction, he was fine enough to conduct a test and give commands so what changed in the space of a week?

"Has it always been this bad?" Rachel probed further, trying to gather as much information as she could.

"I have no idea," Mathias responded but before he took Charlie away, he told Rachel one thing.

"I don’t know what is happening but something is definitely going on, I have a feeling that Doctor Charlie is suffering the same fate as the wall commander," Mathias said before taking the older man away.

Rachel couldn’t believe that they were targeting doctors now, was it because of what Allison and Bella told Mariam?

Did that information somehow find its way to the person responsible for these things?

Did they want to take out Doctor Charlie so they wouldn’t probe further?

Things were getting interesting and Rachel knew she needed even more information but they were getting somewhere.

She realized that whoever this person was, they were in a position of power to be privileged to this information.

Rachel rushed to the medicine cabinet, this was the perfect opening as she could easily pin it on Charlie due to his current state and he wouldn’t have any way to defend himself thanks to his dementia.

It was a shitty thing to do but Rachel was going to put the well-being of her sister first, even if it means throwing a few people under the bus.

She had already thrown Josephine, what was one or two more people?

Rachel swiped the medicine from where it was kept and luckily, no one saw her.

Rachel was in and out like a ninja but she bumped into someone when she walked out of the room.

She bumped into Josephine, Josephine raised a brow as to why she was her but she didn’t say anything considering Rachel technically outranked her so she was in no position to question her.

She was an assigned nurse and there was a possibility that one of the doctors had sent her.

She, however, was here to clean and she quickly apologized before making her way into the room.

Rachel had now done the one thing that Bella warned her against, she had created a loose end but how this would affect her in the future was unknown.