How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

The next day, in front of Rebecca’s hideout.

“Ah, you’re here.”

When Aiden appeared at the agreed-upon time, Arian reacted.

She still had a long machete in one hand, different from the one she used before.

Since the previous one belonged to Aiden, the one she brought today was probably an item that Rebecca’s group possessed. However, in choosing the same machete in the end, it seemed that Arian liked this kind of sword itself.

On the other hand, standing next to her, Diana was in a much more thoroughly armed state than Arian.

Visible weapons included a rifle and a pistol that seemed capable of full-auto fire, and a hatchet was strapped to her waist. Yet, even with all that, she couldn’t match the arsenal Aiden was unpacking from his motorcycle.

In his arms were a military dagger, a pistol and a revolver always hung on both sides of his waist, a shotgun and a rifle were placed side by side behind his back, a metal bat lay on top of his backpack, and inside the backpack were bombs, including the grenades he received yesterday, and magazines.

So, the weight of the weapons and their ammunition alone was quite significant, but Aiden was carrying it without much difficulty.

It was possible for him as a zombie who didn’t feel physical fatigue.

“Are you okay?”

Aiden asked Diana.

She nodded calmly in response.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

To Aiden, Diana’s complexion seemed fine as well. So, he continued.

“It was Brunot Island, right? You managed to find treasure in such a dangerous place.”

Even using the shortest route, it would take more than two hours on foot to get from here to Brunot Island. Simply for a round trip, it would consume almost five hours.

For those who had to return before dark, the distance could be burdensome.

Therefore, to go there, they had to first establish a safe route.

“How did you get there?”

“I remember the way. So…”

On the map spread out by Aiden, Diana marked the path she had taken yesterday.

It was a route that bypassed residential and downtown areas, as well as gang territories, taking detours through deserted parks and forests.

So, it was a route that inevitably went a long way around, but Aiden shook his head, looking at it.

At this rate, it would take nearly four hours to get there.

A round trip of almost eight hours. The time loss was too significant.

“It’s too circuitous.”

“But there’s no choice. It would be too dangerous to go straight.”

“Then… let’s do it like this.”

Aiden quickly modified the route.

Each time, Diana pointed out each modification he made.

“But here’s a residential area.”

“Yeah, but it’s empty now. The fanatics did some crazy purification right next door recently, causing quite a big fire. Probably, the zombies in this area are all gathered there.”

“What about this area? Isn’t this a gang territory?”

“The guys there abandoned the area and moved further north. I confirmed it myself last week, so there’s no need to worry.”

Aiden readily accepted Diana’s questions and answered based on ample evidence.

Aiden, who always traveled throughout the city on a motorcycle, had a knack for finding safe routes in this city.

“Let’s go this way.”

The route was quickly modified.

The adjusted route would take about three hours on foot.

It wasn’t as direct as the shortest route, but considering avoiding potential dangers, the time spent was significantly reduced.

Diana widened her eyes and nodded.

“…It’s considerably shorter.”

“Agree?”

“If what you’re saying is true, I have no reason to object.”

“Good. Let’s move right away.”

Aiden put away the map and was about to turn around, but Diana’s words stopped him.

“Oh, wait. I’ll just say hello to Sadie and come right back.”

She opened the iron door leading into the hideout.

As the door opened slightly.

“Sadie! You shouldn’t come out right now.”

The audacious little girl from yesterday, Sadie, peeked her head out from inside the heavy iron door.

It seemed like she had quietly overheard their conversation from inside the sturdy door.

Diana tried to push Sadie back inside, but Sadie held onto the door and opened her mouth.

“Be safe.”

“You…”

Diana let out a bitter laugh as she looked at Sadie. However, whether she had no intention of breaking the persistence of the young child or not, she nodded and gently brushed Sadie’s head.

Sadie smiled once and then turned to Arian.

“Sister too.”

“Yeah, and you do take care of the house, okay?”

In response to Sadie’s greetings, Arian spoke with a warm smile.

Aiden, however, couldn’t help but feel a sense of confusion at her expression and tone, which differed significantly from her usual sharp and biting voice.

Fortunately, his face wasn’t visible due to the helmet he wore, so at least his bewildered expression wasn’t apparent.

Then, Sadie’s gaze finally turned towards Aiden.

“Uncle, come back safely.”

“…Um, sure.”

Aiden responded awkwardly to Sadie, who greeted him without hesitation.

After exchanging greetings with everyone, Sadie nodded once and closed the iron door.

Thud! The sound of the lock engaging followed the creaking noise.

Though she was a young child, it seemed quite familiar for her to be left alone in this empty hideout.

For a moment, he felt sorry for Sadie.

“Let’s move,” Aiden said, his voice now cold.

The two other women nodded in response.

Silently, they walked along the deserted shopping street.

* * *

“…We arrived pretty quickly.”

Arriving at the Ohio River after passing through a small, deserted forest and park, Aiden mumbled.

The metal bat in his hand was stained with dried blood. Along the way, there were traces left by a few zombies he had encountered.

However, Aiden paid no attention to the filthy blood and continued to walk confidently towards the river.

At that moment, a riverside road extending along the Ohio River welcomed him.

The road was connected directly to the land, and by following this road, one could reach the bridge leading to Brunot Island.

However, traveling this road straightforwardly was too dangerous.

It passed through areas with frequent zombie appearances, such as residential and shopping districts, making it easy to notice.

So, if it were just Aiden, it might not be a problem. However, with Diana and Arian accompanying him, it wasn’t an ideal route.

Therefore, Aiden crossed the road and looked down towards the side of the river.

Below, there was a railroad track lower in elevation than the road, which had been used by trains.

The river flowed from a place where the tracks went down once more.

In short, this riverside road consisted of a road, a railroad, and the river, all connected like stairs.

Aiden glanced around the railroad.

When moving, using the tracks below would be safer.

Zombies couldn’t swim, so there was no need to worry about the river side. Moreover, from the land side, people wouldn’t be easily visible due to the difference in terrain.

“I don’t see anything. Let’s go down.”

After confirming the safety of the railroad, Aiden said to the group hidden in the shade of the trees.

The other two also crossed the road and descended to the railroad.

“Huh…”

Diana, who safely reached the railroad, let out a short sigh.

Her face showed signs of tension.

It wasn’t unusual.

It had taken over an hour to get from the hideout to here.

Moving without a break, constantly hiding one’s body from the walking corpses not to be detected was exhausting in itself.

Moreover, she wasn’t with just anyone; it was with Aiden and Arian. From Diana’s perspective, there was still not enough trust in these companions.

So, she must have been unable to let her guard down even for a moment.

“And come to think of it, how did you plan to go all the way to the power plant?”

Now that there was a bit of a lull, Aiden asked Diana a question he hadn’t been able to ask yesterday.

It was a question that arose from a trivial curiosity, but the words he brought out weren’t because of that.

Conversations between parties somehow created a shallow sense of trust.

Now that they were supposed to rely on each other, Aiden judged that it was necessary to form at least some familiarity.

On the other hand, Diana, while showing a surprised expression that Aiden had initiated the conversation, calmly provided an answer.

“Since the nearby areas have already been thoroughly searched, we need to go far to find anything.”

“Even so, there’s no need to go all the way to an island known to be dangerous.”

“Well… I heard there was a gang there. Also, I heard stories that they hadn’t found the resources hidden by them.”

“Are you moving just because of those rumors?”

Aiden asked in a stern voice.

Even if there were fruits, it would be a foolish act to go there just because of rumors. Even if there were results, it was a foolish action.

But Diana didn’t move towards that place without any thought.

“I know the power plant structure better than an average person. Originally, I was supposed to work there.”

Diana brought up her past calmly.

Four years ago, just before the zombie outbreak, she was a university student about to graduate. Thanks to a recommendation from an acquaintance working at the power plant, she had already secured a job, allowing her to accumulate sufficient knowledge about it.

Thus, she could see through the structure of the thermal power plant on the island at a glance and quickly discerned something suspicious.

“Most of the power facilities on Brunot Island are underground. What was visible outside was the transmission tower, chimney, transformers… and a part of the boiler. So, the underground facilities must be quite spacious, don’t you think?”

Aiden’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of the underground facility.

The idea of such extensive underground spaces on Brunot Island was something he had never heard before.

“This is just a guess, but those gang members who were there in the past probably used that underground as their base. I also believe this is the reason why they set fire to the island.”

“So… the place where the gang stayed was actually the underground of the power plant, and you found the way to get there?”

Diana nodded.

“If you know the structure of the power plant, it’s not that difficult.”

Aiden could only nod in response to Diana’s matter-of-fact statement.

What seemed like a stroke of luck finding a treasure trove turned out to have clear evidence and reasons behind it.

“The problem is the underground. I managed to find the entrance while avoiding the zombies’ eyes, but… inside, it seemed like there were even more zombies than on the surface.”

Diana’s expression darkened as she spoke.

“I got into a fight with the zombies without properly entering, and the rest is as you know.”

“…I see.”

Aiden nodded. It was as he had heard before. 

In other words, does this mean that most enemies are underground, in the darkness?

Thinking about that, Aiden looked at Arian. The vampire who rescued Diana from the predicament yesterday was walking on the railroad more leisurely than anyone else, seemingly enjoying the surroundings like a stroll by the riverbank on a spring day.

Observing this, Aiden directed a question to Arian.

“But… why did you go to that island?”

When he thought about it, the one who moved unexpectedly, beyond Aiden’s expectations, was Arian. However, she answered nonchalantly.

“Well, you told me about it.”

“I told you?”

“Yeah. You said there’s no one there.”

He did say something like that. On the third day of traveling together with Arian. Aiden had informed her about the power dynamics in Pittsburgh.

To avoid unnecessary trouble in gang territory and battles, he had decided to impart this knowledge.

However, she took the teaching the wrong way, only remembering places without people.

“Did you go there just because there’s no one?”

“Yeah. At first, I thought about clearing the island and staying alone.”

“Alone? That’s a reckless thought.”

“It’s not bad living like you, isn’t it? But then I met Diana, and my thoughts changed. It just happened that there was a good place for me to join.”

Aiden clicked his tongue at Arian’s words.

“Rather than a small group like that…”

“Don’t say it; I know. You thought I would join some kind of cooperative association, right?”

Aiden, caught off guard, closed his mouth.

In the meantime, Arian continued speaking.

“But I don’t like it. I don’t want to fight without my will being involved anymore.”

Arian’s voice as she said that was dry.

There seemed to be some circumstances. Aiden speculated on it, but he didn’t pry into the details.

He had a gut feeling that it was something he couldn’t understand, something from a different world.

“Hey, that bridge over there.”

During their conversation, they had unknowingly arrived at the bridge leading to the island.

The narrow iron bridge, where only trains used to pass, clearly extended across the river, connecting to the island.