How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“This is a big harvest.”

Aiden muttered as he examined the weapons.

Perhaps the gang that stayed here was quite large.

In addition to basic firearms such as rifles and pistols, there were even rare firearms like anti-materiel sniper rifles.

Consumables like ammunition and grenades were abundant, and among them, there were even military-grade claymores.

Considering this amount, even if the three of them took their fair share, it was questionable whether they could carry it all.

Moreover, since it had been quietly abandoned underground, the condition of the weapons was decent.

There were hardly any signs of disturbance.

After the gang was wiped out, no one had entered this place.

“Let’s each take the weapons we want. Should be fine, right?”

Aiden asked.

At this level, there was no need for complicated calculations on how to divide the discovered weapons.

Upon hearing this, Arian looked at Diana, and Diana nodded soon after.

“Sure, let’s do that. Oh, by the way, can you come with us tomorrow too?”

“Not a problem.”

The weapons stored here weren’t something that even the three present could carry all at once.

If they scraped up all the minor items like bullets, Aiden estimated they would need to come at least two or three more times.

So, from Aiden’s perspective, being invited back to this treasure trove one more time was undoubtedly a welcome invitation.

“All right. I’ll be checking out the weapons. Oh? Arian, what are you doing over there?”

Diana spoke as she was about to enter the weapon selection area, looking at Arian.

“What else? Finding a weapon.”

Meanwhile, Arian was examining a blade from that side.

With so many guns and firearms available, she was oddly interested in cold weapons.

It was something Aiden couldn’t understand.

And Diana felt the same way.

“There’s nothing here but knives.”

“I’m good with just a knife.”

Watching them for a moment, Aiden soon left the armory and headed for the adjacent room, which was securely closed.

This was the room Arian mentioned, where the smell of chemicals lingered.

Aiden turned the doorknob.

Click-

The door was indeed locked.

But it was nothing more than a wooden door, not seemingly strong against impacts.

In that case…

Bang!

Aiden kicked the door without hesitation.

In response, the latch of the door broke with a cracking sound, and the door fell flat on the ground.

Despite the loud noise, the gazes of the two in the armory turned this way, but Aiden waved to them as if nothing had happened.

He then crossed the broken door and entered the adjacent room.

“As expected…”

Aiden, who had surveyed the interior, nodded.

There were some clothes, plastic containers, and even a small glass bottle containing an unidentified liquid.

At first glance, the room seemed filled with miscellaneous items.

However, Aiden quickly found valuable items among them.

Hydrogen peroxide used as a disinfectant, clean bandages, and an unused water purifier filter.

These weren’t items that Aiden would personally use much, but they were goods with considerable trading value.

In addition to that, there were many other useful items.

The treasure trove wasn’t just one.

Aiden returned to the armory and informed Diana that these items were available. He also joined the process of selecting weapons.

It took them another 30 minutes to gather the items they needed and leave the armory.

* * *

And a few hours later.

“Haa… Huff…”

Diana, who had safely returned to the hideout, breathed heavily.

The bag she was carrying seemed about to burst with various bullets and firearms.

On top of that, there were three rifles of different kinds, and her waist was full of attached magazines.

Having walked for hours with such a heavy load, even Diana, accustomed to this world, found it hard to breathe.

“Isn’t it too much to carry?”

Aiden said, looking at Diana like that.

In that state, it wouldn’t be easy for her to escape if something happened.

However, Diana replied with a bitter smile.

“I think I have less luggage than you or Clifford.”

“She’s not a normal human, but a vampire. Comparing a human to loading goods onto a wagon is no different. She’s not the standard to compare.”

Arian turned a pointed gaze towards Aiden, who compared her to a wagon.

Diana continued.

“Even so, it seems more efficient for me to carry more. After all, I’m not going to fight anyway.”

Her words weren’t wrong.

Since the returning route was already known and relatively safe, considering only ordinary threats, leaving the combat to Arian and Aiden while Diana focused on transport made sense.

“…”

However, Aiden, even at her words, only let out a reluctant sigh.

It’s good to consider efficiency.

However, even so, isn’t it necessary to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances?

Aiden thought so, but he didn’t explicitly say it.

In the end, there was no definitive answer.

In this ruined world, there is not just one way to survive.

Living in this world sometimes requires considering efficiency and prioritizing safety. Which one is right depends on results, not theory.

In other words, unless you know the future, it will ultimately be a story of results.

From that perspective… at this moment when Diana safely returned to the hideout, it could be considered that Diana’s choice was already proven right.

So, Aiden remained silent, and a strange silence lingered for a moment.

Then.

“You all are back.”

Rebecca, who felt their presence inside the hideout, opened the door.

She looked at the three, including Diana, and her eyes widened as she saw the load they brought.

“It seems like you had a good harvest.”

“Not that much. Take a look at this.”

Diana carefully put down the bag she was carrying on her back and excitedly showed the contents, boasting about today’s gains.

Rebecca watched with a pleased expression.

“Also, we brought disinfectant and a water filter. With these, we don’t have to worry about drinking water for a while. Oh… and by the way, how about the food?”

Suddenly feeling hungry, Diana asked.

Although it was early in the morning when they left, they hadn’t eaten anything all day because of going to the power plant.

Rebecca smiled confidently.

“Don’t worry. I also had a harvest.”

“Oh? Did you find a box of canned goods?”

“Something even better than that.”

“Oh… What is it?”

Rebecca’s self-assured gaze made Diana, and Arian, who was quietly listening to their conversation, curious.

Rebecca looked at them playfully, then turned her gaze to Aiden.

“By the way, are you coming tomorrow too?”

Rebecca asked.

She had heard about tomorrow’s plans from Diana.

Aiden nodded.

“Yes, there are still plenty of resources.”

“That’s fortunate. Well… I have a suggestion.”

“A suggestion?”

“How about having dinner together?”

It was an unexpected proposal.

It was a suggestion that Aiden had never received since the time he became a zombie.

So, Aiden tried to refuse.

“There’s no need for that-“

“Yes, there is. I have something I want to ask you, and, more importantly, the food we found today doesn’t have a good shelf life. We need to eat it quickly, but there’s quite a lot.”

It was a strange answer.

How could food with such a bad shelf life still exist in this world?

“What did you find to talk like that?”

Before Rebecca could answer that question, something jumped out from behind the open door.

Brown fur that clearly wasn’t from a human.

In that appearance, Aiden, who recalled the Beast he saw earlier, reached for his gun but soon confirmed its identity and let out a dry laugh.

It was a severed deer head, as if it had just been butchered and only the blood had been drained.

“Deer!”

Proudly lifting it with both hands as if it were a trophy, Sadie showed it to Aiden and the others.

“…It seems its shelf life isn’t that great.”

Watching that scene, Aiden finally understood.

* * *

The hideout where Rebecca and her group were staying was safe but narrow.

The first floor, with doors, was mostly used as a warehouse for weapons and necessities.

The living space, the basement, only had enough space to lie down.

In short, their hideout wasn’t a suitable place for butchering deer or cooking the butchered deer.

Therefore, Sadie, including Rebecca’s group, was leaving the current hideout and moving to another place.

Their destination was a 4-story building about a 3-minute walk away in the same shopping district.

Behind them, Aiden, who silently followed them, looked up at the building that soon came into view.

“Here…”

This place wasn’t unfamiliar to Aiden either.

The building’s top floor, the 4th floor, had a large hole in the ceiling caused by something, making it look like a building with a big opening.

However, the remaining structure of the building was relatively sturdy, so there was no danger of collapsing on its own.

Moreover, the entrance was difficult for zombies to flow in because someone had set up a barricade.

Compared to that, the inside was full of holes, and visibility wasn’t blocked.

For this reason, Aiden had used this building as a temporary shelter a couple of times.

However, he always stayed on the 1st floor; there was no reason to go up.

But Rebecca’s group, who had arrived, went up to the top floor, the 4th floor.

What Aiden saw when he followed them and arrived at the 4th floor… was a surprising scene.

“…Are they camping here?”

What was scattered there were indeed several camping items, just as he said.

Tents, sleeping bags, and even a barbecue grill.

Although not many, they had everything they needed.

Rebecca opened her mouth, watching her daughter enthusiastically run towards the small camping site.

“When we first came here, there were sleeping bags and tents.”

That wasn’t particularly strange.

This place was quite safe, enough for Aiden to stay, so it was possible that someone else used this place temporarily, leaving behind items like sleeping bags and tents.

“So?”

“So, I thought it would be perfect if we had a grill here. Actually, this isn’t the first time I’ve hunted.”

Rebecca subtly boasted about her achievements.

Since coming to this place, she had occasionally hunted deer and wild boars that accidentally entered the city, sometimes going into the woods to catch wild animals.

“Ha…!”

Aiden let out a dry laugh.

Indeed, with the collapsed ceiling, it was a perfect place for grilling the hunted meat.

Moreover, flames wouldn’t be visible from the ground due to the walls, and on the 4th floor, zombies wouldn’t easily gather just by the smell.

“Hunting is one thing, but I didn’t know you could butcher. It must have been difficult to move as well.”

Aiden said as he looked at the deer hanging upside down in the corner of the building.

It was a white-tailed deer, weighing around 50 kg, which Rebecca had brought today.

Was it in the process of draining the blood?

Rebecca shrugged and answered:

“I learned. How to butcher and how to move. Surprisingly, it’s not that difficult.”

Rebecca approached the deer and checked the amount of blood flowing down.

This should be… enough.

Rebecca made that judgment and took out a knife next to the grill.

“Well, I guess we should start. You just wait. Diana, Miss Clifford, can you help me?”

“…”

At Rebecca’s words, Aiden silently stepped back.

He might help with other tasks, but as a zombie, he had no place interfering in the preparation of food.

So, Aiden went to the window with a view of the outside.

Under the sky preparing for the sunset, the quiet scenery of the city spread out.

There, Aiden took out one of the big sniper rifles he had brought today.

It was a standardized U.S. Army anti-materiel sniper rifle, capable of sniping enemies beyond the kilometer range.

It also had the advantage of being able to use armor-piercing ammunition, and it was equipped with not only a regular scope but also a thermal imaging scope and night vision scope, making it usable even at midnight as long as power issues were resolved.

Aiden took out the sniper rifle and attached the scope, then aimed it outside.

Beyond the clean window, zombies roaming far away came into view.

Then he checked the night vision scope.

“…Looks good.”

It seemed to be working fine as well.

At this level, the condition of the weapon could indeed be considered more than sufficient.

Aiden monitored the threats around the building like that.

“Yeah, pull it over there.”

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s group diligently worked on butchering the deer.

First, they cleanly stripped the deer’s skin from the hind legs. The deer, with only red flesh left after stripping off the skin, was then dissected by Rebecca into appropriate pieces.

Arian’s job was to cut through the tough joints.

Rebecca expressed her surprise at the spectacle of sturdy bones being cut like cheese but found it more convenient and praised Arian.

Diana also joined in and observed the interesting sight of the deer being butchered.

Under Rebecca’s skilled guidance, it took less than an hour for them to finish butchering the deer.

And a little later.

Chiiing!

With a cheerful sound, deer steaks were grilling on the grill.

At that sound, Diana, Sadie, and even Arian, who had only eaten canned food since coming here, swallowed their saliva.

Although there were hardly any vegetables or other food, even with just a side of easily preservable salt, pepper, and the usually neglected canned corn, the meal couldn’t have been more delicious.

“Oh…”

Once the deer steak was completed, each plate was presented.

Then Sadie, holding one with both hands, handed it to Aiden.

“Enjoy!”

“…Thank you.”

The child who handed the food ran back to sit next to Diana with excitement.

Aiden cut a piece of steak and put it in his mouth.

The texture was quite tender.

At that moment, Rebecca approached him.

“How is it?”

Isn’t it delicious?

There was a strange conviction in Rebecca’s question.

Unfortunately, Aiden couldn’t provide a satisfying answer to that question.

His zombie tongue had lost its ability to taste long ago.

“Sorry, but I can’t taste it.”

“Oh, really? I’m sorry.”

Rebecca apologized with a bitter expression.

Aiden nodded slightly and shifted the topic.

“I heard you wanted to ask something.”

“Oh… yes.”

Rebecca, who was slightly excited, became calm again.

She then spoke to Aiden with a serious attitude.

“I want to know about the information outside this city.”

“Outside the city?”

“In fact, we are soon… planning to leave Pittsburgh.”

At the unexpected words, Aiden looked at her.

Rebecca’s eyes were still calmly directed at Aiden.