Chapter 10 - 8: Love and Family (updated number) (1/2)

It had been an hour since Alice had been sent home since she and Jacob couldn't get anything out of Megan and the other 3 survivors and she was just pulling up to her mother's house tired eyed. She knew she was in for some more stress after the phone call she received back at the precinct which had already thrown her of her focus while she was trying to pry information out Megan.

As she walked to the door she couldn't help but feel the intensity of the situation on the inside as if an aura leaked past the closed door into the surrounding area. Knowing that the feeling of anxiety swelling up inside would go away much quicker if she got this over with as quickly as possible she hurriedly entered the house to see both Her mother and daughter going through aged doc.u.ments.

”So are you gonna explain to me exactly what you said over the phone ma or are you just gonna ignore me like you hadn't said earlier that John was innocent,” Alice said to Alexia as she watched her run her old shriveled fingers across the page of a yellow-ish aged white doc.u.ment.

Alexia looked up at Alice with whose eyes were now moist and red. Alice saw the look her mother and instantly felt disheartened as if the curiosity and snarky comebacks she had ready for her mother had been forcefully s.u.c.k.e.d away by the despair her mother showed. She knew this look that almost never changed, it was the look of a suspect who knew they'd just made a heavy and unforgivable mistake.

Before Alice could say anything else Alexia pulled out her old and dusty cassette player she used to use for when she was an interrogator back in her day. It still sported the barely legible Califone logo above its many black buttons that were all identical to one another except the usual red button on the far left. Alice had only seen it a few times when she was younger when Alexia let her listen to a recording her father made her before passing away from cancer.

Before Alice could start reminiscing of her father's inspirational message Alexia pressed play and instead another voice came through the old speaker of the recorder. It was a voice Alice had never heard before, but from the look in Alexia's eyes it was apparent that she knew whose voice it was.

It took a while for the audio to begin playing. At first, it was just a bunch of shuffling and footsteps hat stopped abruptly. Then a soft and calming voice came through saying, ”Hello Mister...?”

”Dembe. You can call me Mr.Dembe.” The firm and strong voice flowed through the speaker and Alice's eyes went wide.

She had her suspicions about who it could be but didn't want it to be true. The voice coming through the speaker was none other than Mattheson who was the assistant director of the FBI currently. Shocked and confused as to why Mattheson was being recorded she remained silent.

”So I hear the product here is top-notch better than any I could find in the state right,” Mattheson said in a thick African accent that would have convinced anyone that wasn't as well trained as both Alexia and Alice. Although the only one in the room who couldn't tell that the voice belonged to Mattheson was Lana whose FBI training hadn't started yet.

The only reason Alexia knew the voice belonged to Mattheson was because she was quick to put the pieces together unlike her granddaughter, Lana. She remembered Alice's previous call of concern mentioning Mattheson being potentially John's brother and the package from Mattheson labeling John as a big brother.

Alexia felt the anger that was boiling over but she hid it, unlike her sadness at the thought she'd killed a man who had been punished for something he hadn't done. She felt the overwhelming sadness overflow out of her eyes at the thought of what her sister had gone through before being brutally killed. The grief that she had when she learned of her sister's death seemed insignificant compared to now along with her anger.

”Know what? I don't think your product is as secure as you believe. I'm going to have to refuse your services until you can prove to me your hundred percent secure,” Mattheson said through the recorder while still pretending to be a foreigner.

After that, the recording ends with a quick shuffling noise that comes to a quick stop letting silence rule over the room they were in. All three of them now sat in silence staring at one another as if they were looking for answers from each other. The silence reigned supreme until Lana finally spoke up and asked, ”So what do we do now?”

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A whole day had passed since John sent his legion of undead to the new sewer system repeating what he had done previously. If any of the homeless had been near the entrance to the old sewer system they would have sworn they had seen a flood of people flow out like a geyser had just appeared.

Camp after camp hordes of John's undead swept through tossing and turning every tent, shack, and makeshift home the homeless had made. John made sure to order them to leave nothing untouched as he made the zombie wolves sniff out any who had hidden well enough. While on the other hand making any zombified children crawl through vents and any other small areas too small for the zombie wolves.

The plan was progressing without a hitch if you didn't count the few close calls where some of the homeless almost climbed to safety through a partially opened sewer hatch they used to crawl out into alley's during the night and say. John made not of each and every one of the hatches for when the time comes for him to ascend his legion of undead to the surface.

After taking over the new sewer system John had amassed a whopping 583 zombies. It wasn't as huge as what he knew he'd gain after letting his horde loose upon the unaware humans above him. All John knew was that he needed to raise an even bigger army if he was to go up against the world he was born in.

John knew he had to wisen the hell up before making any big moves. He needed information, resources, and a plan after making his mass reveal. He knew there were plenty of holes in his plan and he wasn't smart enough yet to fill them on the spot. He needed more help than Dixie could provide. When he was alive he had a brother who helped him get on his feet financially, but now John needed someone who could help him lead and strategize. But the question that destroyed that thought was who in the hell was going to help an obsidian skeleton lead an undead army against the living.