System Of The Undead

Chapter 310: The Dream...

There was something that killed the horseman but it was unknown what had caused this carnage but whatever it was, it had ripped the horseman apart like it was searching for something.

Its innards were strewn all over the place and Brayden instinctively knew that they were either walking towards their death or salvation but there was no doubt that this was a big help as they hurried to safety.

They had to find a place to rest, that was it, they had no idea where to go and with what Glenn told him, they would have serious problems.

They managed to find a safe zone, it was safe enough for them to pass the night.

The kids were traumatized but that was to be expected, the carnage that they experienced was something that would live with them until their life came to an end.

However, Brayden didn’t know what else lurked around and instantly addressed his men.

He knew they needed to rest but they also needed to be vigilant, which meant they had to keep watch.

There was no other choice and they did just that, they swept the area and realized that they were in the clear.

There were no zombies around them but Brayden was heartbroken because this meant that he had to abandon Andre’s grave. Andre wasn’t the only one that had fallen but others as well so it held sentimental value not only to Brayden but everyone present.

"Are you okay?" A man asked Brayden, he was much older, presumably in his late thirties but Brayden was aware that they looked to him for strength.

"I am okay, I just need to get some rest..." Brayden responded.

"You should join the others, we have set up a rotational team. We will switch in two hours..." The man reassured Brayden.

Brayden would have loved to take the first watch but his body had reached its limit, he fought like a madman and expended all of his energy.

He was only human and his men looked at him with admiration because there was no doubt that he could survive on his own yet he sacrificed so much to give them a chance at survival.

But Brayden couldn’t help but recall how Andre died and that subconsciously seeped into the dream he was about to have.

-

Brayden found himself back to that day when everything changed.

It was their usual run just six months back, they had scouted the area prior before embarking on the journey, and the success rate was at 99%.

It was one of the easier raids on their hands and this was why they didn’t leave with as many men as they usually do.

It was just Brayden, Andre and four others as they couldn’t leave their camp unprotected by taking more men than necessary.

It was an abandoned warehouse that once housed goods, the factory workers never made it out alive so they were parading around.

But these were walkers, they wouldn’t pose any real threat but the factory doors were shut or was it accurate to say that it was sealed from within?

"We need to do this carefully, I will go ahead and give you all the signal," Andre laid out their plan and they all agreed to it.

This was their M.O. and the one thing that had kept them alive, was order.

They had a way to do things that worked for them as they all watched Andre go towards the warehouse.

Andre smeared himself with the flesh of the dead, knowledge gotten from Jason made this easier to do.

Andre managed to slip through the zombies with ease, they didn’t pose much of a threat.

This allowed him a certain level of freedom but the problem was getting into the warehouse and they could only wonder what was inside.

It was bolted from within and there was no way for them to get inside no matter how they tugged at it, they had the option of going through the window but it was higher than they could reach.

They had to climb the wall to make this possible, which was impossible due to how the walls were constructed Besides breaking it wouldn’t do them any good as it would give zombies a way to breach it.

There must be something that was preventing them from climbing but Andre wanted to see what was inside. He noticed that there was a generator sitting at the corner of the compound but it hadn’t been used for years.

He could tell by the state of the generator that it hadn’t been in use for a long time.

Whoever was here didn’t make use of it but Andre went around the building to see if he could enter from the back, the back had far fewer walkers and the door was less secured from the front.

Andre found a way to get in but he knew better than going in alone, he gestured for the rest of them to come in, they had already covered themselves in the guts of the dead so all they needed to do was walk right to him.

Andre needed a hand to get through one of the windows at the back, it was a lot lower than the one in the front and it had been barricaded from the inside with the glass already shattered.

This meant that someone or something either tried to get in or managed to get in, it was possible that the people currently inside could have entered through this very way.

Brayden joined his hand together, allowing Andre to use it as a stepping stone to launch himself towards the window but they had nailed it shut with wood so he had to break it down to enter.

This meant that the noise would draw in the surrounding zombies but they had enough men to deal with them.

Andre began to bang against it, trying his hardest to breach it. The sooner, the better.

"Hey Andre, hurry it up!" Brayden urged his friend as they handled the zombies coming around the bend, Brayden knew that they had to be careful even if they were dealing with the weakest class of zombies.

All it took was one mistake, one bite to change their life for the worse and that was one thing he wasn’t going to risk but they didn’t have to stay outside for long because Andre managed to breach it, tossing himself into the building and quickly unlocking the backdoor for the rest of them to enter.

"That was close," One of the men said but Brayden knew this was an exaggeration considering they could handle them to begin with.

However, they were met with a foul smell the moment they entered the warehouse, it was rotten, something that even the dead wouldn’t be able to produce unless it was some sort of mass grave.

Andre instructed his men to be careful as he took the lead, walking towards the main compartment of the warehouse.

It was clear, that there was no one or nothing here, that was what he thought at first until he moved in further.

There was a family, they must have killed themselves and judging from the state of their bodies, it must have been over a year ago.

Andre closed his eyes, they must not have known that they would return as corpses otherwise they wouldn’t have drunk the poison.

The fact that it was over a year ago also meant that their knowledge regarding how people turned must have been limited.

"Damn..." One of the men could be heard saying as they stared at the family of seven.

The corpses could barely move and they looked like their innards had been sucked right out of them, like some sort of parasite was using it as sustenance.

There was a note close to the body and Andre picked it up, slashing the tendons of the ones that were capable of moving.

"What does it say?" Brayden asked his old friend, seeking an answer he wasn’t sure he wished to know.

"They asked whoever found them to give them a proper burial, they also gave their names..." Andre said but Brayden noticed that his friend looked sad by whatever was in that note.

Who could blame him, these people have been rotting here for months waiting to be found.

"What is this?" One of the men questioned, noticing something on the wall.

Everyone’s attention shifted towards it and they realized that it was a fragment but it had thread-like tendrils connected to the corpse.

That would explain the state of the corpse but little did they know, this would be the very thing that would cause Andre’s death.

-

Brayden jolted awake from his nightmare, it was time for them to switch out their watch and just like that, two hours were up.

Brayden felt guilty because his actions were the very thing that got his best friend killed.