Matt Hughes

"'I get it… but what do we do? I mean… our parents, our friends…?'""- Matt Hughes, considering his next steps in Life After: The Arising"Matt Hughes is a minor character in Life After: The Arising.

A high school sophomore, Matt participates in the marching band competition at Thomas Massey high school just before the zombie apocalypse begins. In the chaos, Matt follows Jeff Grey into the school, kicking off the events of Life After: The Arising.

Appearance and Character
Matt is not described by Jeff in any detail.

He is among the most combative members of the group in the hours following first exposure to the undead, disappearing before the following dawn.

History
Nothing is known about Matt's past.

Life After: The Arising
Matt takes part in the marching band festival at TMHS, joining Jeff's group when the undead storm the field. Once settled in the greenhouse on the school's roof, Jeff explains the grim possibilities of their situation, drawing the ire of Matt and Melody Landon while finding some support for his plan to stay put in Ava Vaziri, John Johnston, and local vagrant Richard McKnight, while fellow band members Don Mason and Jake Klimavicius say little beyond agreeing to spend the night. During the course of the evening, they are joined by Steve Parmacek, a student from out of town who was injured by one of the zombies. As a precaution, Jeff insists they restrain him before trying to sleep. By morning, Matt has disappeared.

After being forced to abandon the school during an assault by the undead, Jeff and the remaining survivors return, ultimately discovering Matt's zombified corpse outside the high school basement, surmising that he attempted to return and brought a horde of zombies with him. With the situation having been explained to him, John Anderson takes it upon himself to put him to rest.

Life After: The Void
When a suspicion arises that Melody has been looking for a way out of TMHS, after she and Helen Cleary are rescued from a group of marauders, Melody attempts to dispel the notion by saying she could've left with Matt her first night.

Later, when Jeff hallucinates following a debilitating injury, he regretfully recalls the terms of Matt's departure.