Chapter 176 The aftermatch

Chapter 176 The aftermatch

"Are you two lovebirds done with chirping to each other?" Leila asked, silently appearing by the couple's side. "I mean not to interrupt you, but weren't we supposed to get back to the compound first?"

"You can't say that you didn't mean to interrupt if that's exactly what you are doing," Mathew pointed out, only for his lips to curve up a little. He then released a deep sigh before placing his hands on Nadia's shoulders and gently pushing her away. "You are right, though Even though a lot of things happened over the last two days, it's not like we can allow ourselves any leisure yet."

"Isn't that kind of a bummer?" Nadia asked, taking a step to the side to reveal the bloody scenery that she formerly hid with her back from Mathew's eyes.

"That we can't just take it easy?" Mathew asked, reading out the intent behind the girl's words. "I believe it is, but what can we do about it?" he then asked the real question only to follow up with a shake of his head. "Hopefully, once we get all three fortresses, whatever will come next will give us some wiggle-room."

'In theory, we could take it easy as soon as we established the fortress back at the school compound. It's all on me that we kept on going all in to grow stronger,' Mathew thought, bitting his teeth as a wave of regret and guilt filled his soul.

"Shall we go back, then?" Leila asked, crossing her arms on her chest. "I know that we are all tired but I believe it's best if we go and properly recover," she explained her approach.

"No," Daria called out from several meters away where she obediently followed everyone's wish and rested to let her body recover from her injuries. "There is no point running around from one place to another. We should finish everything we have to do here and only then go back," she stated.

"But your injuries...!" Leila protested, turning her head to look at her dear friend. Yet, seeing the unforgiving look in Daria's eyes, Leila ended up dropping her head only to finally shake it to the sides.

"I second what Daria said," Mathew joined in. "I actually think we should take it easy for the rest of the night. And while I'm pretty sorry to say that, but I would like you two to take care of gathering the cores after all," he added, alternating his eyes from Nadia to Leila and back.

"We got injured too, you know?" Nadia pointed out, crossing her arms on her chest and raising one of her eyebrows.

"It's not..." Mathew attempted to come up with some sort of excuse.

"Chill," Nadia was quick to cut him off. "I was only joking," she added, opening up her arms only to drop her hands down on her hips and turn around on her heel. "If I were to complain about those few scratches I got, I would only insult the danger that you two put yourselves in," she added before heading off to the doorway.

"On the other hand, I'm perfectly fine," Leila pointed out. She then raised the corner of her lips only to take a spin on her heel as if to showcase the state of her body to the rest of the group. "See?"

"I see," Mathew replied, shaking his head over the girl's attitude. After all, given her skimpy dress, she appeared more to flex her curves than asking for a health inspection. "Or rather, I don't see anything wrong with your body at all."

"Not fair!" Nadia shouted over from the doorway where she already got busy moving the corpses and extracting cores from those that didn't have them plundered by Daria's shadowy form. "The two of us are to work now, don't try to get ahead!" she scolded Leila, raising her now bloodied hands back on her hips.

"Does that mean I'm free to get some?" Daria asked cheekily, getting on all fours and moving a bit closer towards Mathew. And while her possition made her breast hang down and wiggle for Mathew's eyes to see, an unpleasant grin that quickly appeared on her face culled Daria's attempts at seduction.

"We should rest for now," Mathew shook his head as he stood up and moved over to Daria's side, only to plummet down on his ass and pat himself on his lap. "Come here," he then ordered, only for the girl to fight off the pain of her injuries as she happily jumped at the opportunity and rested her head on the young man's lap.

"You guys are to rest," Leila shouted over from where she joined hands with Nadia and started to work on clearing the mess left after the fight. "We don't want the two of you dying in heat of passion, do we?"

"Well, that's true," Mathew agreed with the girl. 'I was already feeling weird, playing around with Daria while the two of you are working hard for everyone's sake...' he thought.

And then, Mathew's entire body froze.

'Wait, everyone's sake?' he thought, a hidden part of his self alerting the conscious part of his mind.

"What's wrong?" Daria asked, raising her head from Mathew's lap as she noticed the sudden change in his constitution.

"Ah, sorry," Mathew apologized and shook his head, forcing himself out of his state of deep thought. "I think I just realized something that should be insanely fucking obvious," he added, only to bring his hand up and then hid his face in its palm. "Girls, come back," he then shouted over, shaking his head over his own idiocy.

"What's wrong?" Nadia unknowingly echoed Daria's words, not sparing any time to return to the two.

"You are right," Mathew spoke, seemingly not making any sense. "There is something terribly wrong with what we are doing right now," he stated, shaking his head.

"And what that might be?" Nadia asked, approaching the group from behind with her hands already full of cores that she harvested.

"The fact that we, the only people who can fight the zombies, are willing to waste our time and energy on menial jobs," Mathew explained.

His head finally stopped shaking as he finally looked directly at the girl's faces.

"Didn't we save quite a few people who could do those things for us?"