System Of The Undead

Chapter 103: The Final Night

The day ended with the sun descending in the distance, Jason remained outside to keep watch for potential zombies but not only that, he spoke to Chronos deeply and understood the origin of Chronos and how the system came to be.

Jason wasn’t selected at random, it was the VR headset that he had, he had unknowingly used a fragment of the meteorite to fix a broken one.

This allowed him to use an outdated VR machine to play updated games but this was also the genesis of Chronos.

This was what gave it life to a degree but how Jason could use the meteorite was entirely unknown considering that many had tried and failed.

Jason couldn’t believe that he was the one that gave Chronos sentience but he understood that this wasn’t a bad thing entirely as it allowed him to survive this apocalypse until now.

Jason wasn’t arrogant, he knew that he was alive today because of the choices that Chronos presented to him.

Jason also realized that Chronos was using him just as much as he was using it, but the term that Chronos used was still ambiguous.

Jason had no idea what he was talking about but he understood that he wasn’t the only one about to get stronger but Chronos was as well.

Jason also made one of the toughest decisions he would have to make during this apocalypse and that would only be revealed once the night passes.

"You have been standing outside for quite some time," Allison said, Jason couldn’t even register her presence due to her size but also because she could sneak up on him due to her skills as a killer.

"Oh Allison, why aren’t you sleeping?" Jason asked, partly concerned that she had done something to Clementine because, unlike Bella, Allison was skilled when it came to taking a life.

"I couldn’t sleep with all that snoring going on inside the room," Allison said.

Jason had to pause and there it was, something that could easily pass for an earthquake shook the very foundation of the room.

"She must have been exhausted," Jason muttered with a faint smile.

Allison stood beside him, looking into the horizon alongside him as she wanted to feel Jason out a little.

"Why are you standing watch when everyone else is resting?" Allison asked.

"I don’t know, something is calming about the wind. The world might have gone to shit but nature remains the same. You could say it gives me a feeling of..." Jason was interrupted by Allison as they said in unison.

"Nostalgia,"

"Hahaha! You get it, nostalgia," Jason repeated and Allison’s cold gaze softened.

"I don’t know how this world came to be and I don’t know if we will survive it but I plan to live every day like it is my last because it could very well be. The beauty of this world is I don’t have to worry about the future..." Jason blurted out, that he had no problems opening up to people and this was what made him more trusting.

"What were you before the world fell?" Allison asked, her curiosity peaked.

Jason turned to look at her with an aura of superiority surrounding him as his lips parted.

"I was a gamer," Jason’s voice was filled with pride but was there anything to be prideful about when all he did was play a bunch of games?

"Excuse me?" Allison asked, Jason could have easily been an athlete with that height but hearing he was a gamer was something that she couldn’t have ever seen coming.

Jason noticed the look of confusion on her face and he laughed right away.

"Isn’t that a fancy term to say you were unemployed?" Allison asked and Jason immediately stopped laughing because what was this audacity?

"You do have a point but I want to know why you decided to join us?" Jason questioned, shifting the tide of the conversation.

"Join you? I’m just tagging along until I’m bored and then I will go my separate way." Allison responded, clearing any misconception that she was loyal to them.

Allison will always put herself first, this has been how she survived for so long.

Well, that and her combat prowess as a Specter but she understood that things could go haywire.

This group was lacking in structure and Sam seemed to be the only logical person when it came to decision, the rest acted with their emotions.

But Jason, who she deemed a threat, was proving to be anything but a threat.

"You plan on leaving?" Jason asked her.

"Not if I see something that will make me stay," Allison responded.

Jason didn’t know if she was flirting with him so he didn’t know how to respond to this.

"You probably will be killed by Sam," Jason dismissed this, he knew how Sam was but if they were leaving tomorrow then they wouldn’t need to worry about Sam anymore.

But he didn’t trust Rachel around these ladies either because they have had to dirty their hands to survive, unlike Rachel.

Rachel could and should have killed him early on but the fact that he was alive told him she had a moral compass of some sort.

"Sam is the grumpy guy, isn’t he?" Allison asked and Jason nodded.

"With those wounds, what he can do is limited so I should be fine but does this mean you’re worried about me?" Allison meant this as a tease but Jason had every intention of letting his feelings be known.

"Don’t let him hear you say that..." Jason laughed lightly as he looked over his shoulder.

Allison was at his waist level but he was enjoying this conversation.

He didn’t know he would but this conversation was calming and it was just at the right tempo.

"You skipped a question," Allison brought his attention back to the question she asked.

"I don’t know, I know it must have taken a lot for you to leave the world you knew behind to tag along with us. Call me naive but I believe in second chances, people live to correct the mistakes of their past or even find a new path. I wouldn’t want to be the one that denies them this right so yes, I’m worried about you Allison. You could have killed us but you didn’t; that says a lot about you," Jason said, looking right into her eyes and Allison’s face flushed.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, Jason had a perspective on life that she didn’t even know existed.

"People aren’t their past, they’re the things that they can become in the future but I’m aware not everyone changes for the better... I’m not stupid but I would rather be wrong than rob someone of the opportunity to make the right choices," Jason concluded and for the first time, he saw Allison smile.

Allison’s smile was as innocent as her face.

"Now I understand you, Bella," Allison thought to herself despite knowing that this way of thinking would do more harm than good in the long run.

-

Rachel was with Bella, she didn’t know what would happen if she closed her eyes.

They might have returned to save Bella but she wasn’t sure that the lady had turned over a new leaf.

She was suspicious and knew that the lady might have an ulterior motive. This was the same case with Allison but Clementine was more than capable of handling her.

"You can’t sleep?" Bella asked the watchful Rachel.

Rachel had separated Bella from the boy, erecting a makeshift curtain around his bed to protect him from seeing Bella.

Luckily, Bella was incapacitated so there was not much moving around.

"Why did you do it?" Rachel asked; she was trying to figure out Bella’s reason for this when she could have escaped countless times.

"I don’t know... As ridiculous as that sounds, I don’t know," Bella responded, facing the ceiling of the motel room she was in.

"Was it Jason?" Rachel asked right away because something told her she would get her answer.

"I don’t think it is just him, there was something about you all that I didn’t know I needed until I saw it..." Bella said, pausing briefly.

"You had each other’s back and Jason went to such lengths to prove I was worth saving so you could say it all comes back to him in the end," Bella said with a satisfied smile on her face.

She was content, she had done something she could consider selfless.

It was something that she could be proud of and if she died today, she could die with that sense of accomplishment.

That feeling that she was capable of good.

Rachel smiled the moment she heard Jason’s name because this was the same man who affected her sister whom she hadn’t seen in ages.

There had to be something about him but no one could wrap their fingers around it.

No one but Sam; he observed Jason’s conversation with Allison and slowly realized what made him interesting wasn’t his height or physique but the naive view he had about the world.