How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Some time later.

Screech!

The motorcycle that Aiden was riding came to a stop in front of a church.

It was a church with a white cross adorned on the facade, constructed on a base of light brown bricks, seemingly luxurious.

Although the wooden door leading into the church had been torn apart and was nowhere to be seen, the cross, hanging in the center, continued to silently watch over the empty city.

Aiden’s gaze, however, was focused on the road passing in front of the church, rather than the grand cross.

It was a section where a 4-lane road narrowed down to 2 lanes.

Several vehicles were entangled and overturned there.

There was no way to drag the motorcycle through this mess.

“Tsk…”

Aiden lightly clicked his tongue and unfolded a crumpled map.

Fortunately, if this path led to the university hospital, his destination wasn’t too far. So, he hid the motorcycle between the overturned cars and set foot on the ground.

The blood pack he received earlier was carefully placed in the bag attached to the motorcycle. In his hand, he held a long shotgun, with a pistol, magazines, and a dagger strapped to his waist.

This time, he pulled out another map, studying it in detail.

Unlike the previous map, this one was chaotic, covered with various markings and scribbles.

However, this map didn’t depict terrain but rather dangers.

“Well… not exactly the damn gang territory.”

Aiden muttered as he looked at the map.

But those crazy bastards don’t even have control over themselves.

So, concluding that he won’t encounter them just because it’s not their territory would be a big mistake. And there was more.

The fanatics who claim to be everywhere and nowhere, shouting about the end of the world, were another story altogether.

In other words, a fight could break out at any moment. Aware of this, Aiden, armed and ready, set out on the motorcycle once more.

Thud!

He easily crossed over the overturned vehicles that now only left ashes.

There, within the upside-down driver’s seat, a charred corpse was visible. However, the corpse didn’t move.

So Aiden paid it no attention.

He continued to traverse several cars blocking the way.

Only then did the open road reveal itself once again.

Another obstacle, which looked like a large weed growing on the road, was wandering along the stretch of road.

“Kiii…”

Zombies.

When Aiden appeared, they all turned their creaky heads and glared at him.

Aiden, without paying them attention, tried to walk down the road, receiving that stinging, rotten glare.

But right after that he frowned.

Clearly, with his helmet off, Aiden’s appearance was no different from an ordinary zombie.

However, his gait was quite different from other zombies that ran around like mad dogs.His movements were clearly closer to those of a human than a zombie, as he held the gun tightly.

Maybe because of that.

“Kiaaa!”

Without any warning, the zombie standing closest to him, like a stone statue, moved. As if stung, the creature thrust its teeth into Aiden’s arm.

In response, a green, disgusting liquid burst from Aiden’s arm, entering the zombie’s mouth.

“Quak! Kakk!”

The zombie gnashed its teeth as if it had consumed something inedible.

Aiden roughly pushed him away.

“This stupid bastard… !”

Seeing his torn clothes on the zombie’s teeth, Aiden cursed.

But he couldn’t easily shoot or swing a knife.

No matter how stupid the corpses were, they had at least some sense of hostility.

This meant that if you attacked the same zombie right in front of other zombies, you could be attacked by them.

“Kii…”

When the zombie stepped back, Aiden spat out his frustration and continued walking.

A 13-story building made of brown brick.

The university hospital, his destination, was visible.

There were still numerous corpses wandering around the area.

Seeing the scene, it seemed that the incident hadn’t happened recently.

“…Fine.”

To shake off the unpleasant incident that had just occurred, he intentionally spoke with a loud voice.

Even though the zombies around him looked at him, sensing the foul-smelling green liquid and a pungent odor, they turned their heads away.

Aiden squeezed through the zombies and entered the brown building.

Beyond the large entrance was a large space that was probably used as the hospital’s lobby.

A space with reception desks lined up in a straight line and long chairs for people waiting.

There, Aiden tried to find a map of the building.

The first place he had to stop by was the hospital’s pharmacy.

Originally a place that made medicine for patients, it was the easiest place to find antibiotics.

If there would be nothing, he’ll have to search the medicine warehouse somewhere in the hospital.

Of course, a hospital warehouse of this size may have more than enough medicines. But generally, getting into such a warehouse is much more difficult than getting into a pharmacy.

Fighting with a large iron door or a door that opens with an electronic key was an effort that Aiden wanted to avoid, as he hadn’t come because he needed a lot of medicine right away.

“313… Okay, to the right?”

After checking the structure of the building on the map, he headed up the stairs.

Even though the sun was shining brightly outside, the building was dark like a cave.

Only the sunlight streaming through the broken windows served as the sole source of illumination.

“Grr…”

As he walked through the building filled with wandering corpses, Aiden tensed up.

A shotgun muzzle, protruding from Aiden’s shoulder, was aimed forward, and the attached light brightened the path.

Although he only saw ordinary zombies at first glance, within this darkened building, there could be special zombies lurking about.

Creatures like stalkers, black bodies blending into the darkness, or bigfoots, several times the size of regular zombies.

They were commonly known as mutants, and they existed within the shadows of the darkened buildings.

Aiden didn’t know how those unusual and dangerous zombies were created.

But there was one thing he knew.

They could differentiate between him and regular zombies, recognizing him as an enemy.

“…”

Aiden slowly climbed the stairs.

The second floor looked similar to the first floor.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing special.

But as Aiden continued up the stairs, he furrowed his brow slightly.

“…It’s been a while.”

There was a barricade.

Beds, sofas, and whatever items could be found in the surroundings were piled up as a makeshift obstacle, showing signs of someone trying to block something.

However, there were no signs of life inside.

The reason was evident.

To the left corner of the barricade.

One bed that had been blocking the way was completely crushed and in poor condition, which was why.

Aiden entered through the broken entrance into the barricade.

As he did, a sight completely different from the floor below unfolded before his eyes.

Walls and ceilings stained with dark, discolored blood. And a floor scattered with rusty casings and human corpses.

Beyond the barricade, the aftermath of a battle that had taken place was vividly apparent.

“…”

Aiden picked up a spent cartridge that had fallen to the floor in that place.

He blew the dust off the cartridge, wondering when it had fallen here.

Then he examined the cartridge carefully, moving it up and down.

9x19mm ammunition.

One of the widely used pistol calibers, and it was a type that he couldn’t find easily nowadays, especially for the pistol he had.

“It’s worth taking.”

He tossed the cartridge aside and checked the long corridor on the third floor.

The muzzle and the bright light attached to him quickly scanned the left and right sides of the corridor.

No signs of mutants… were visible.

Having confirmed the safety, he proceeded to inspect the stairs and the corridor floor.

Then, as expected, he noticed several dropped pistols.

Although there were hardly any intact guns, he checked the magazines from those guns.

He pocketed the undamaged bullets.

Among the guns, some were still in the hands of zombies.

But Aiden didn’t hesitate and took the guns from their hands.

“Kiik…!”

A zombie wearing a police uniform made a grumbling sound as if annoyed, but that was it.

After a brief glance at Aiden, it turned its head as if nothing had happened.

That way, Aiden quickly secured about 40 rounds of ammunition.

His pocket had become quite hefty in no time.

Feeling like he had earned some extra income, he then headed back to the original destination, the pharmacy.

The pharmacy was located in the right corner on the third floor, and fortunately, the door wasn’t locked.

When he shone the light, a zombie in the pharmacy, wearing a white gown like Aiden, nodded its head as if greeting.

A name tag was hanging around its neck.

Was it a doctor who worked here?

Aiden looked at the name tag and smiled sarcastically.

“You’ve worked hard, Dr. Kane.”

Aiden passed by him, approached a shelf that occupied an entire wall, and checked it.

But whether someone had already raided it or not, there were hardly any medicines left on the shelf.

“Hmm…”

So he turned his gaze to the drawer next to the shelf.

It was smaller than the shelf but enough to store a considerable amount of medicine.

Creak-

It had been so long since it was last opened that the stiff, rigid drawer made a creepy sound as it opened.

As Aiden expected, there were some medicines left inside.

But none of them were the antibiotics he was looking for.

Aiden picked up usable medicines from among them and searched other drawers.

“Here it is.”

When he searched the fifth drawer, he finally found the antibiotics he was looking for.

Just to be sure, he checked the description and name written on the antibiotic bottle.

No mistake.

He immediately took several bottles, as many as were available.

Although not accurate, it was enough to last at least a year if a child were to take them.

“Good.”

Having accomplished his goal, he searched all the remaining drawers, picked only the medicines in high demand, and stood up from his place.

It was time to leave now.

Exiting the pharmacy, he quickly headed for the stairs.

Then, just as Aiden awkwardly emerged from the barricade.

“Hmm…?”

Unexpected noise suddenly came from below.

Was it from outside the hospital?

He immediately stopped moving and focused on the sound.

Zombies were rampaging.

Which meant… someone had appeared.

Aiden furrowed his brows.

Did the gangsters manage to crawl all the way here?

“Kiiii…!”

Even the zombies inside the barricade were reacting to that noise.

Zombies trying to squeeze through the narrow gap in the barricade. If he left them like this, not only the third floor but also zombies would pour down from the upper floors.

“Tsk…!”

So he forcefully pushed away the zombies and stood the fallen bed upright to block the hole in the barricade.

The zombies inside made thumping noises, but the barricade that had been neglected surprisingly held up well.

At this rate, even if zombies were deployed, it would withstand for a short time.

Having regained his composure by concentrating on the strange noise below, Aiden soon realized something was amiss.

The screaming sound of zombies was roaring so loudly.

And there was no gunshot sound from anywhere.

“Could it be… an execution?”

It was a brutal act mainly carried out by some gangs or fanatics.

Usually performed on believers or their families, deliberately throwing human beings, who were still alive, as bait to zombies.

However, even considering that, there were many strange points.

Most importantly, the surroundings didn’t fit the execution.

There were zombies scattered around, and there was no reason for them to come all the way to this place just to watch the miserable death of a traitor.

Moreover, the zombie screams didn’t stop quickly.

The number of zombies laid around this area reached dozens.

This meant that one or two people wouldn’t last more than 10 seconds without being torn apart.

Already, the zombie outbreak had lasted for more than a minute.

In other words, someone who caused this commotion was still alive, and they were still fighting fiercely against the zombies.

“…”

So many possibilities passed through Aiden’s mind.

But none of them seemed like a proper answer.

Therefore, he decided to confirm the truth with his own eyes and moved his foot, which had been paused for a moment.

“Kiak!”

“Kiiiii!”

Descending to the second floor, the unpleasant sounds of zombies’ screams became even closer.

Although it seemed like there was a battle taking place in front of the hospital, now it appeared he had entered the hospital lobby.

Because of that, the second-floor corridor of the hospital was rather deserted. It was because all the second-floor zombies had gathered on the first floor.

Aiden fixed his shotgun and looked down, targeting the area below the stairs.

Whatever was down there, the probability of it being his enemy was high.

So he prepared himself for a battle and immediately turned the corner of the stairs looking down to the first floor.

“What…?”

Then, he began to doubt his own eyes.

As he never expected the scene that unfolded before him, the barrel of the shotgun aimed at the front wavered.

The space beyond the hospital reception desk.

There… a brown-haired girl was fiercely fighting against numerous zombies.