Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

'Shit,' Mathew held back his curse behind the barrier of his mouth. 'How the hell does he know about it?!'

In theory, the answer should be obvious. An event as massive and disastrous as a potential school shooting was bound to have massive coverage in the media. But...

But just what kind of job did Marcus have before the apocalypse for him to be able to watch TV while everyone else was working?

'There is no way to keep the fact that it was me hidden from him for long,' Mathew thought. 'And once he realizes it, he will be bound to ask even more questions!'

In theory, Marcus was now on a great way to rehabilitate himself in Mathew's eyes and potentially become yet another key ally in the young man's plans. But...

The fact that Mathew actually came back in time was a secret that only a few of the people he fully trusted knew about!

And this wasn't the point in time when Mathew was confident in sharing this secret with the man yet!

"Yeah, that's the place," Mathew replied after gulping down his saliva.

A small thing that Marcus certainly didn't fail to notice.

"Ah, sorry," the man then apologized with a troubled expression on his face. "I didn't mean to bring up those certainly traumatic memories," he said while averting his eyes.

'That's not it,' Mathew thought, surprising himself over how easy it was for him to read the man's face. 'That's not what bothers you at all!'

Mathew was curious about the reasons behind Marcus' weird behavior. But for now, he decided to make use of the help that Marcus unknowingly offered himself.

"It's okay, man," Mathew replied, forcing a relaxed smile on his face while every step brought him closer to the risk of his lies falling apart. "I wasn't there when it happened and it was all over before the shit with the apocalypse went down," Mathew swallowed his saliva again, "so I don't really care."

Step after step, they were getting closer to the school. And at this point, Mathew took advantage of his position as the leader of the group to hasten his steps and head to the very front of the group.

Yet, as if the goodwill of the world turned away from him, Marcus followed closely behind.

"Beatrice!" Mathew shouted out loud as soon as he saw a familiar face peeking over the school's fence.

"Mathew," the woman smiled as she ran her eyes along the long column of people Mathew brought with him. "I didn't expect you to come back so soon!" she shouted, only to lower her voice once Mathew got closer. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing much," Mathew forced a smile on his lips. "I'm not sure if Leila explained it, but we managed to get quite a lot of workers for our camps," he revealed while turning sideways to the street and pointing his hand at all the people following him.

"That's grea..." Beatrice opened up her mouth to praise Mathew's results... only for her eyes to land on Marcus' troubled face. "Aren't you..." the woman hesitated for a moment only for her eyes to suddenly open up wide. "YOU!"

Mathew opened up his eyes just as wide as the woman did, although for a different reason.

It was the first time for him to hear the police officer shout that loud or act in that manner!

"How in all hell did you bring this bastard here?!" Beatrice screamed out, only to jump down from whatever she was standing on, on the other side of the barrier only to then come out running from the gate as soon as it opened. "Don't you know who he is?!"

Marcus averted his eyes and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with how the situation was playing out.

"I don't have a clue," Mathew admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"This man," Beatrice said while locking her hands on her chest and looking down at Marcus' suddenly shrunken posture, "is the most elusive druglord of this entire damn city!"

'That's...' Mathew opened up his eyes wide as he turned his eyes and stared at the man he nearly made into his ally. "That's actually not that surprising," he admitted.

"What?!" Beatrice nearly burst out in flames.

"The camp he organized is smaller than either of the ones under my control. But it had more people than both of them combined. In fact, even with all those people," Mathew pointed his hand at the crowd slowly making its way through the schools' gates, "I don't think we have more people than he does."

"And why the hell should I care?!" Beatrice uttered through her tightened lips.

"That's the question I should be asking," Mathew replied harshly. "He was a criminal in a world that went to a war against drugs," he pointed out. "But I see no lawmaking institution that has the power to enforce those bans anymore!"

Waging a war against drugs in the apocalypse... was just as stupid as it sounded.

"I understand that he was some sort of your archnemesis while you were still in the police," Mathew pointed out, raising his hands and opening his palms wide before slowly bringing his hands down, "but right now, he is a man of exceptional skill that can help us save more people."

Mathew's attempts at calming the situation... surprisingly worked.

The hate in Beatrice's eyes didn't disappear. Yet, her rage vanished, replaced by the cold realization that Mathew's words... were actually correct.

"I'm not going to forgive you for all the things you've done in the past," she claimed in a harsh voice as she looked down at the man's lowered head. "But I guess this is a chance for you to redeem yourself. Even if not in my eyes, then in the eyes of whatever god you might believe in," she added.

"And I guess that explains how he knew about the school shooter incident that took place in this school," Mathew added, bringing up the one topic that he was worried about while giving Beatrice an intense stare.

'This commotion actually works great,' he thought, making the most of the fact that Marcus didn't dare to even raise his eyes.

"What?" Beatrice brought her eyebrows together, giving Mathew a weirded-out look. Yet, as she noticed his stare and how he glanced over at Marcus, she quickly realized something was going on. "But yeah, people like him tend to listen in on the police's wavelengths. So it's not a surprise he knew about that sorry incident."