How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“…I should start moving.”

About an hour after the awaited sun had risen.

As the clear morning arrived, Aiden got up from the dirty bed in the room where he had been sitting.

He glanced out the window just in case, but there was no problem with the view from there.

“I’ll go check the situation outside,” Aiden told Arian.

Arian, who was sitting on a nearby sofa, let out a short sigh.

“Are you really okay alone?”

Although Aiden said it briefly, the tasks he needed to accomplish on this outing weren’t something he could handle alone.

Scouting the path to the west, checking the available vehicles, and securing Rebecca’s will and necessary supplies, among various heavy tasks.

He had to perform multiple significant missions all at once.

However, he casually nodded his head as if it was nothing.

“There’s no problem on my side. Rather, how long can you last?”

Arian frowned at Aiden’s question.

It was about blood.

The blood she received from Diana yesterday was completely used up in the fight against the Brutal.

This was because the Brutal was powerful, and Arian thought that fighting while saving blood for the sake of her friend’s survival wasn’t appropriate.

Of course, she had no regrets about that decision.

However, the problem was that Arian had almost no blood left immediately.

So, with a cloudy expression, she opened her mouth.

“Tomorrow is the limit.”

“Hmm…”

In response to that answer, Aiden simply let out a deep sigh.

He also needed blood.

The effectiveness of the neutralizer he injected would last only until today.

If he couldn’t find blood soon… the decay would start right away.

However, realistically, obtaining blood from Pittsburgh, which was overwhelmed by zombie hordes, was an impossible task.

Furthermore, the option of using Sadie’s blood wasn’t available to them.

There was an unspoken agreement between them not to touch the blood of the little girl, regardless of what happened, and that agreement had been reached in the early morning.

So the best option was to leave Pittsburgh as soon as possible and find other people.

“I’ll try to come back by the morning… at the latest, by 2 o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Okay. Oh, and…”

Arian hesitated to speak as he watched Aiden packing up his luggage.

“What?”

“That… now, I have to tell Sadie. About Rebecca and Diana.”

“Right. If it’s too difficult for you, I can do it.”

At Aiden’s words, Arian shook her head.

Informing a child about the death of her parents was undoubtedly a painful task.

However, Arian wasn’t cold-hearted enough to leave such a task to the emotionless zombie.

“Okay. Anyway, it’s not something I should ask you to do.”

Arian got up from her seat.

At that moment, Aiden asked.

“But do you have clothes to change into?”

The clothes Arian was currently wearing were in a mess from yesterday’s fight.

Arian looked at her clothes with an uncomfortable expression and then asked.

“Why?”

“Because someone has to hold a crying child.”

Arian widened her eyes.

“You… are strangely delicate in unusual places.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard such a story.”

“Anyway, I understand what you mean. There were abandoned clothes in the room… I’ll figure something out.”

Aiden nodded.

And leaving Arian, who began searching for clothes, behind, he immediately left the hotel.

The small square in front of the hotel was quiet as if yesterday’s events were a lie.

The ordinary zombies were fleeing from the mutants trying to prey on them.

And the mutants were chasing them, avoiding the sunlight, so all of them had left this place.

However, Aiden didn’t relax his tension and headed straight to the hiding place of Rebecca and her group.

“…”

The large iron door of the hiding place was torn apart without any care.

Also, the door leading to the underground inside was open with the lock broken.

As expected, the zombie horde, which had been searching every building, didn’t leave this small hiding place alone either.

Aiden stepped inside.

Fortunately, the zombies hadn’t touched anything inside, like furniture.

Thanks to that, Aiden was able to find Rebecca’s will at the place she had instructed.

A paper envelope with no writing on the outside.

Aiden didn’t bother to unfold it and carefully took it with him.

And after searching the hiding place a little more, he found the necessary water and food and went outside.

“Next is…”

He checked the motorcycle he had parked near the hiding place.

Fortunately, the condition of the motorcycle was fine.

Aiden checked the route to the west while riding it.

There were no problems.

Due to the influence of yesterday, the number of zombies inside the city had increased significantly, but he could easily avoid them.

Also, thankfully, there were no signs of mutants along the route, and the vehicle he had stored at the western end was also in good condition.

“…”

With this, the minimum safety for movement has been confirmed.

Aiden could return to the hotel and join Arian and Sadie, but…

Finally, Aiden decided to head south of Pittsburgh.

The motorcycle roared back onto the almost ruined road.

The destination was the Merchant Cooperative.

Although time was somewhat pressing, Aiden had promised Anders that he would visit again.

Riding the motorcycle through the city, Aiden traversed Pittsburgh from the west end to the south end.

“As expected… it turned out like this.”

Arriving at the cooperative, Aiden looked around with a gaze that sank into the completely changed scenery.

The terrain and roads were unchanged from yesterday, but the space where the cooperative had been was now completely transformed into ruins.

The barricade that surrounded the warehouse and blocked the road was more than half collapsed.

Also, the warehouse where supplies were stored had been partially demolished, revealing its interior.

And in the area they had occupied, numerous bodies were scattered.

It seemed that quite a fierce battle had taken place.

Most of them were the remnants of zombies, including Brutals.

Proving that the people here didn’t just collapse without a fight in the face of the zombies.

However, as Aiden checked the faces of some corpses lying among the zombies, he sighed. Most of them were the members of the cooperative who had been guarding the barricade until yesterday.

“…”

Aiden slowly walked towards the ruins where the dead lay.

Past the collapsed barricade, he headed towards the inside of the warehouse.

As he went inside, the number of bodies increased.

And when he stepped into the innermost part of the collapsed warehouse, Aiden could finally find the person he was looking for.

“Anders…”

Fortunately or unfortunately, his corpse was relatively intact.

Except for the part of his head blown off by gunfire, he was recognizable, even his face was intact.

There were also many bodies of other members around.

Looking at the scene, it seemed like Anders had fought with his members until the last moment after the barricade collapsed, facing the zombies crawling into the area.

After probably the last comrade fell, he might have shot himself in the head to avoid turning into a zombie.

“…”

After briefly mourning their deaths, Aiden collected the bodies of the members in one place.

There was no time for a proper burial, but using the supplies stored in the warehouse, he could pour oil on top of them and perform a makeshift cremation.

Later, the bodies gathered by Aiden… were only about 30 in total.

Compared to the original gang numbers, it was less than half, but the rest were torn apart to the point of being unrecognizable or not visible at all.

Finally, Aiden lifted Anders’ body.

However, with a clinking sound, something hanging from his waist caught his eye.

It was… a stainless steel flask, only the size of a palm, known as a ‘hip flask,’ that Anders used to carry around.

On it was roughly engraved ‘To Aiden’ with a knife.

“This…”

It seemed that Anders had anticipated Aiden’s return here.

Aiden picked up the flask.

The liquid inside was clearly sloshing.

Why would Anders leave such a thing for him?

With such questions in mind, Aiden opened the flask and dabbed a bit of the liquid on his hand.

What was inside was not the vodka that Anders commonly drank in his lifetime.

“Ha…”

As Aiden looked at the red liquid on his fingertips, he let out a bitter smile.

It was blood.

This born merchant had predicted the most inconvenient resource that Aiden would lack even at the moment of his death and left it here as a payment for organizing his and his comrades’ funerals.

As if handing him a final request.

Upon this realization, a lonely and faint smile appeared on Aiden’s lips.

“I’ll accept it gratefully. Well then, rest in peace.”

Aiden took the flask and placed Anders’ corpse beside his comrades. He poured the oil stored in the warehouse over them and set it on fire.

In an instant, a huge flame engulfed the traces left by the deceased.

Aiden gazed at the flames for a moment, then turned his head.

Now was the time to return.

* * *

“…You’re back?”

As Aiden returned to the 25th floor of the hotel, Arian, who was standing in the corridor, reacted.

Having noticed that her expression was strangely dark, Aiden asked her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well…”

Arian hesitated and explained the situation.

According to her, she informed Sadie of the deaths of Rebecca and Diana, but Sadie didn’t show a big reaction.

“She looked sad, but didn’t shed a tear. Still, she insisted she was okay, just like… you.”

“Hmm….”

Upon hearing this, Aiden sighed.

Was it because she was too young to understand death?

It probably wasn’t the case, Aiden thought to himself as he shook his head.

Even though Sadie was a young child, she must have experienced numerous deaths over the past three years.

Moreover, she had already lost her father before coming to Pittsburgh.

So, saying that she couldn’t understand death was simply unreasonable.

Furthermore, Sadie was a clever child.

Then… perhaps it was the opposite.

As Aiden pondered this, Arian impatiently opened her mouth.

“What should we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

“What do you mean…?”

“In a world like this, do you think there’s a way to comfort a child who lost her parents?”

Arian fell silent at Aiden’s words.

According to Aiden’s perspective, this wasn’t a problem that others could solve. All they could do was hope that the child would accept it and overcome it on her own.

Arian sighed heavily.

However, Aiden spoke calmly.

“So, let’s hope that the words Rebecca left behind will be her source of strength.”

“Oh… a will! Did you bring it?”

Aiden nodded and pulled a small envelope from his pocket.

“I’ll bring it right away. Is there no problem?”

“Yeah. Probably… it should be okay.”

Aiden opened the door to the room where Sadie was staying.

Sadie was sitting quietly on the sofa in the corner of the room.

“…”

The atmosphere of the child was deeply subdued.

And her eyes were clearly filled with tears.

Perhaps she hadn’t shown these tears in front of Arian, and she was quietly shedding them alone now.

Aiden inwardly felt relieved at that fact.

Fortunately, there were no signs of psychological issues.

Sadie was just using an unchildlike self-control to desperately hide her sorrow.

Aiden approached Sadie with Rebecca’s letter and held it out to her.

“What’s this…?”

“It’s a letter left by your mother.”

“A letter…”

Sadie’s mouth opened slightly.

The child’s hands trembled. She slowly took the envelope with her small hands.

After a while of just caressing the empty envelope, Sadie finally took out what was inside and spread it out in front of her.

“This is…”

What was inside were three pages of a letter.

However, the contents were somewhat different from Arian’s expectations.

It wasn’t about comforting Sadie, encouraging her not to lose hope, or any other words of encouragement.

It was a set of survival guidelines tailored to Sadie’s situation, reflecting the techniques Rebecca had accumulated over the three years of survival.

What to do and what not to do.

How to procure food.

How to deal with people.

How Sadie should live after her death.

Rebecca’s true testament to her beloved daughter amounted to just three lines, pleading for her to survive somehow. It was like urging the girl who had lost her parents to quickly get up and move on.

Seeing this, Arian turned her head with a heavy heart.

She couldn’t easily understand why Rebecca left such a letter.

However…

“…”

Aiden’s thoughts, watching this from the side, were completely different from Arian’s.

Rebecca was indeed a wise mother.

She was facing the despair that Sadie would face if she died.

So, she was confronting Sadie with numerous tasks. Not to think about anything else, not to sink into sadness, just to be busy floundering.

And that was the maximum comfort she could give to Sadie in the situation.

If there were immediate tasks to do, sadness and despair could be postponed.

By putting it off like that, someday… even those overwhelming emotions would gradually fade.

This was a farewell letter containing Rebecca’s wishes.

She hoped that her remaining daughter wouldn’t give up on herself.

“…”

Did Sadie understand that intention?

Even after reading the letter, Sadie remained silent for a while.

She simply bowed her head and stayed quiet.

Her eyes seemed moist, as if tears could fall at any moment.

Her lips trembled like a quivering willow, but no tears came out.

She was enduring the surging emotions.

For a mere 10-year-old child, it was an incredible display of restraint that was hard to believe.

While Arian looked at Sadie with a complicated gaze…

“If you want to cry, you can cry.”

Aiden said so in front of her.

Knowing how to restrain emotions to this extent was a talent necessary for survival. However, Aiden was aware that enduring it might not always be the best option.

It wasn’t just a vague saying.

Above all, from a psychological standpoint, it was true.

“This place is safe. And the people here are safe too. So… there’s no need to endure it now.”

Aiden’s gloved hand gently touched Sadie’s shoulder.

At that moment, tears flowed from Sadie’s eyes.

And…

“U-uhh…”

Finally, the dam of emotions crumbled.

Sadie’s sobbing turned into weeping, and eventually into wailing.

Arian hugged Sadie.

In Arian’s embrace, Sadie cried for a long time.