How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“…”

Aiden frowned as he watched the bizarre battle unfolding in front of him.

Even though he was witnessing it with his own eyes, the sight was hard to believe.

The Asian girl with brown hair seemed to be in her late teens at most.

And the clothing she wore was an oddly extravagant black dress.

How did she end up here in such a state?

That alone made her seem out of her mind.

However, the reason the girl was special wasn’t just because of her appearance.

“Kiiiiik!”

A zombie’s head was torn off, soaring through the air.

It wasn’t due to a sharp blade or a gunshot.

It was simply because the girl’s hand had swirled once, tearing the zombie’s body apart like tissue paper.

She was tearing through the approaching zombies, confronting them across the reception desk.

In the midst of this astonishing scene, Aiden hesitated on how to react.

Should he help?

But who was he helping?

Helping the zombies meant assisting the very creatures she was annihilating.

Yet, the girl, who was tearing apart the zombie about to attack her, also didn’t seem like someone in need of help.

No, from the beginning, it wasn’t clear whether he should consider her an enemy or an ally.

As Aiden grappled with these questions…

“Get lost, you damn bastards!”

The girl’s irritated voice resounded.

Suddenly, her onslaught was pushing the zombies back.

“Kiiiie!”

Finally, the zombies broke through the girl’s barrier, the reception desk, toppling over it.

At this, a look of disappointment crossed the girl’s face.

Bang!

His shotgun, which had been silent, finally burst.

Then, several zombies that were charging at the girl were swept away by the bullets and turned into pieces of rotten meat.

A loud appearance accompanied by a roar that seemed to shake the earth.

In the midst of the loud entrance, several zombie heads turned towards Aiden.

It was as he intended.

Despite the potential to attract more zombies, Aiden fired his gun, diverting the attention of the zombies towards him and away from the girl.

But the zombies didn’t move according to his intentions.

Their gaze quickly returned to the girl, showing no interest in Aiden.

Aiden focused on the girl as the zombies once again converged on her.

The noisy entrance turned into an awkward, ignored spectacle.

However, Aiden seized the opportunity.

Gunshots erupted consecutively.

In the merciless storm of 12-gauge buckshot, the bodies of the zombies, now vulnerable with their backs exposed, scattered like autumn leaves.

After the shotgun’s ammo was depleted, Aiden skillfully pulled out his pistol, piercing the heads of the zombies.

At first glance, his ability to fire bullets calmly and accurately was extraordinary.

Had there been others witnessing this scene, they would have been astonished at Aiden’s combat abilities as much as the girl tearing zombies apart with her bare hands.

Yet, there were no other spectators here.

Thanks to that, Aiden and the girl on the opposite side of the lobby continued their activities in mutual indifference, piercing and tearing through the living dead.

After barely thirty seconds, the number of zombies that had numbered in the tens had now reduced to half.

Bang!

Aiden’s pistol shot pierced through another zombie that had been approaching the girl.

The zombie’s head was torn apart, repulsively fluid oozed from its forehead, and his awkwardly standing body fell to the floor.

Aiden, recognizing its death, turned his gun to the next target.

But at that moment.

Wow!

Quaack!

Another zombie’s head was just being torn off from its neck with a clean cutting sound.

But the zombie didn’t die.

The grotesque sight of the severed head, still moving independently on the ground. Still, the sight of the head rolling across the floor to Aiden’s feet resembled a scene from a cheap horror movie.

Aiden stomped on the head with his combat boots, and the zombie’s head crumbled like rotten fruit.

“…”

That was the last one.

In Aiden’s field of vision, there was no other threat except the girl.

The lobby of the hospital regained its silence, and Aiden turned his gaze towards the girl.

“Haah… Haah…”

The girl, who had been battling the zombies, breathed heavily.

Aiden aimed his gun at the girl and cautiously approached.

Then suddenly, he noticed something and stopped in his tracks.

“You… What?”

The girl’s voice, spat out towards Aiden, sounded faint.

But Aiden couldn’t grasp the meaning behind that faint voice.

He just looked at the wounds on the girl’s right wrist, left shoulder, and around her waist.

Sharp teeth marks, and the flowing red blood.

Anyone could tell; those were bite wounds from zombies.

“…”

Aiden’s gaze was filled with a momentary despair.

The reason he had wasted so many bullets sweeping through the zombies became clear now.

But he quickly discarded those emotions and raised the gun towards the girl.

There were still a few bullets left that he needed to waste for her.

“What are you doing…”

At that moment, the girl, who had been on guard against Aiden, collapsed right there.

Perhaps she had exhausted her strength.

Despite the seemingly strange battle power she had shown, the girl must have reached her limit in front of the increasing number of zombies.

“…”

Nevertheless, Aiden didn’t easily approach the fallen girl.

More than anything, he was concerned about the strength she had.

So he patiently aimed his gun and waited.

The girl, for a while, closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

Gradually, her breathing calmed down, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Aiden cautiously approached the collapsed girl.

He crossed over the reception desk.

The legs of the table, which had barely endured the chaos in the middle of the battlefield, creaked but didn’t break.

He went all the way to where the girl was leaning against the wall.

And he slowly raised the gun towards the girl’s head.

Even so, the girl’s movement didn’t return.

Aiden sighed shortly.

A person bitten by a zombie turns into the same kind of zombie within a few minutes, at the latest within half a day.

Therefore, making her comfortable here was the last courtesy for the girl.

With that thought, Aiden was about to pull the trigger the moment he decided to.

“Hmm…?”

A question escaped his lips.

Aiden was looking at the girl’s left shoulder, which was now exposed as her dress had been torn apart by zombies. However, the skin visible inside the torn dress was surprisingly clean and white, with only a few dried bloodstains remaining.

Aiden’s brow furrowed.

Was it a hallucination?

No, that couldn’t be.

He had just seen it a few minutes ago.

Aiden remembered the places where the girl had been bitten: the left shoulder, right wrist, and the side near her waist. But now, there was no sign of any wounds in those areas.

“How…?”

With this strange event, Aiden’s gun slowly lowered.

Could this be another power the girl possessed?

Aiden felt a perplexity in his mind.

He couldn’t comprehend this unexpected and never-before-seen phenomenon, where wounds from a zombie bite were seemingly healing on their own.

After thinking for a moment, he quickly put the pistol away from the girl.

Killing the girl like this might be a big mistake.

That was his thought.

But then, what should he do with this girl now?

The safest for him is to leave her as is.

With that, Aiden no longer has to get involved with the girl, and the purpose of coming here today can also be neatly achieved.

But Aiden couldn’t easily take his steps from the girl.

He scanned the girl’s cleansed skin again.

Both that regenerative power and the unidentified power shown earlier were beyond Aiden’s common sense.

Although they posed a clear threat, they also held some potential.

“…”

In less than ten seconds, countless calculations went through Aiden’s mind.

What would be the most advantageous course of action for himself and the girl?

And the result?

Despite the risks, Aiden decided to take the girl with him.

Even though they would have to face zombies on the way, he couldn’t let go of this unexpected possibility he had encountered after three years.

Aiden made that decision and looked at his weapons.

Fortunately, there were still enough bullets left.

Aiden took out the empty pistol and shotgun magazines and reloaded them.

Then, carrying the fallen girl over one shoulder, he left the hospital.

* * *

Several hours later.

“Hmm…”

Aiden entered his hideout when dusk began to fall.

It was a run-down apartment on the outskirts of Pittsburgh.

In a corner of the apartment on the fifth floor, a dim light shone. Inside the sparsely furnished room were a wooden desk, a chair, and a rusty metal bed with only a mattress on it.

Aiden sat down on the bed.

In front of him, the girl he had seen during the day was now chained to a chair.

“…”

The girl hadn’t regained consciousness yet.

But that was not necessarily a bad sign.

Typically, those infected by the zombie virus showed signs of heightened awareness as symptoms progressed.

They stayed awake, strangely full of energy, and could even ignore severe injuries.

So, the fact that the girl had peacefully slept for several hours implied that she was not undergoing zombification.

“…Strange.”

Aiden murmured as he stared at the girl.

Her identity remained a mystery to him.

A girl with a flamboyant dress on her blood-stained body, appearing in front of the hospital teeming with zombies.

Even if she was just a survivor or part of some gang of fanatics, there were too many strange aspects about her.

If he had a bit more time today, Aiden would have tried to wake her forcibly to inquire about her identity.

“Hmm…”

Looking out the window, Aiden sighed shortly, lifting his head.

The sun had already set.

The time after sunset was dangerous for everyone surviving in this world.

Some zombie mutants actively roamed around at night, making it a precarious time for humans.

This is because they react sensitively to light and have a fighting power that is on a level different from that of ordinary zombies.

Even if Aiden is in perfect condition, they can be a burden to deal with.

So, unless he wanted to tear down this dilapidated apartment, today’s activities had to end here.

So he blew out the small candle on the table that was burning.

Naturally, the room he was in was buried in the silence and darkness of the city.

Just like that, another night passed.

The next day.

Sparse sunlight came through the window covered with curtains.

Seeing this, Aiden took something out of his luggage.

It was a desk clock the size of the palm of one’s hand.

It was still faithfully moving every second, indicating that it was now 7 a.m.

Even after the sun rises, there are times when dangerous people walk outside in the early morning.

Considering this danger, it was essential to finish all activities by 7 a.m., the time when the environment became safe again.

Aiden, having confirmed the time, pulled back the curtains.

The bright morning sunlight streamed into the room like waves of light.

“…”

Nevertheless, the girl tied to the chair showed no intention of waking up.

Because it could be troublesome if she woke up in the middle of the night, Aiden had even put a gag on her, making the effort somewhat pointless.

Aiden removed the gag from the girl and put his helmet on.

Then, he placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder.

He had thought about shaking her awake, but soon he changed his mind.

There were things to do while she remained unconscious.

Aiden took a syringe from his bag, a clean item uncontaminated by the outside, and opened one of the unused blood collection sets.

He then pierced the girl’s arm with the syringe.

When he pulled the plunger, the girl’s blood was drawn into the syringe.

But…

“Hmm…?”

The color of the blood was odd.

Not the usual red of human blood, nor the greenish color of zombie bodily fluids. It was an orange color.

Perplexed by this unexpected result, Aiden’s forehead wrinkled.

“Who are you?”

There was no time for him to be surprised.

The girl, who had been sleeping all night, was now looking at him with fierce eyes.