How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“Are you leaving now?”

Aiden, who was packing his luggage, nodded to Antonio’s question.

Upon that, Antonio opened his mouth with a faint smile.

“I heard from Uncle Victor. You’re heading to Fort Wayne. I hope you have a safe journey.”

“What about you? Are you staying here?”

“Of course. There’s nowhere else to go. Also… you did take me in. I may not repay you like my cousin would, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Well, wish you luck.”

Antonio lowered his head one last time, leaned on his cane, and stepped back.

Now, Victor approached Aiden.

In his hands were a few small bottles.

“Take these with you.”

“These are…”

Inside the transparent bottles was a red liquid.

No need to mention what it was.

Blood.

And it was more than 700ml combined, even more than what he received yesterday.

Aiden looked at Victor silently.

Then Victor cleared his throat and spoke leisurely.

“Emily wanted to express her gratitude.”

Is that how it turned out?

Upon hearing the name Emily, Aiden understood the situation.

He still remembered the story that one of the zombies he had taken down in the large store yesterday was her son.

“She wants to repay you all. So, I suggested that giving blood is better than supplies. Is that okay with you?”

For Aiden, it was rather a welcome event.

Arian was in urgent need of blood replenishment after yesterday’s battle.

So, he had no reason or room to refuse Emily’s kindness.

Aiden accepted the bottles without hesitation.

“Of course. And…”

After a moment, Aiden turned back and handed a paper box to Victor.

Victor received it with a puzzled look.

“What’s this?”

“Water purification capsules. There was no drinking water among the supplies we found yesterday.”

Victor raised an eyebrow.

Indeed, they were short on drinking water.

And if it was water purification capsules, they could purify the water from the lake near the base, making it a useful item for Victor and his companions without saying a word.

Grateful for the unexpected help, Victor scratched his head.

“Emily gave this as a token of thanks. You don’t need to go this far.”

“No, this is a return for the information you shared yesterday.”

Aiden said, shaking his head.

Upon that, Victor opened his mouth with a willing smile.

“Well… if you’re saying like this, then I can’t refuse. I’ll gratefully take it.”

Victor carefully accepted the water purification capsules, and Aiden got into the driver’s seat.

Sadie and Arian were already seated in the back.

Having confirmed that all preparations were done, Aiden started the vehicle.

“Thank you.”

“Take care!”

Through the car window, Arian and Sadie bid farewell.

Victor and Antonio also waved their hands.

“Well, have a safe journey.”

Vroom!

With a heavy engine sound, the vehicle started moving.

As they drove along the straight road, the figures of Victor and Antonio, seen from behind, gradually became smaller and eventually disappeared.

Thus, Aiden and his group left Canton, beginning their journey towards Mansfield.

* * *

The National Route 30 connecting Canton to Fort Wayne.

The four-lane road under the clear sky passed through a small forest on the left and abandoned fields covered with overgrown weeds on the right.

“…Quieter than I thought,” Arian murmured.

She touched her chin with her completely healed left arm, and with her eyes, she looked lazily through the window.

In the scenery reflected in her eyes, there were no zombies or monsters.

The forest simply glowed with morning sunlight according to the season. And the small buildings occasionally visible through the vivid trees had become part of the forest, covered by nameless thickets and vines. The railroad passing through the middle also had a blue color rising between the gravel laid out.

The sight was somewhat dreamlike.

Like a road in a fairy tale, it seemed to be calling someone inside the forest covered with trees.

Arian shook her head at the peaceful scene, not without a sense of wonder.

In response to her, Aiden spoke.

“Better than enemies showing up, isn’t it?”

“That’s true. But… it’s too slow.”

The van carrying Aiden’s group was moving at a speed of less than 30 km/h.

The destination for today, Mansfield, was about 150 km away.

Until now, they had been traveling for over two hours, but Aiden mentioned that at this speed, they still had to go more.

“It can’t be helped. The road conditions are not good,” said Aiden in a dull voice, and Arian remained silent, unable to say anything in response.

His words were true.

Contrary to the peaceful scenery of the forest, the situation on the road was dire.

Various debris was scattered on the road, and wrecked vehicles blocked the entire road. Trees that should be standing in the forest were either fallen towards the road or lying in disarray. There were even sections where the road seemed to have completely collapsed.

With the road in such a condition, even if a good road appeared, Aiden’s group couldn’t easily pick up the pace.

They had to be cautious as they couldn’t predict what might protrude onto the road.

“…”

Arian sighed shortly and glanced at Sadie, who was seated next to her.

While the forest and fields, which were boring to Arian, seemed interesting to Sadie, given her perspective, it wasn’t surprising.

According to Sadie, when she lived with her mother, she rarely even came out of their small hiding place. Thinking about it, Arian looked at Sadie with a somewhat disdainful gaze.

Despite being at an age where she would be curious about the world, it seemed like this world couldn’t properly respond to her interests.

Lost in such thoughts, the vehicle suddenly stopped.

Curious about what was happening, Arian looked ahead, furrowing her brow.

“What’s this…?”

What she saw were numerous vehicles.

The road, and even the adjacent forest, were invaded by so many tangled and collided cars that it seemed like a completely blocked highway.

“This is troublesome.”

Aiden clicked his tongue.

There was no way to drive through this level of obstruction.

Though it seemed like the abandoned vehicles had been left for a considerable time, it fortunately didn’t seem like an intentional trap. However, now they had no choice but to find another route.

“Now what?” Arian asked.

Aiden unfolded the paper map he had left in the car.

Soon, he came up with an alternative plan.

“Let’s enter a nearby city for now.”

“A city?”

Arian looked at the map Aiden pointed at. The National Route 30 they were taking passed through a city, and the blocked section happened to be in that city.

“So… are you saying we should enter the city to bypass the blocked area?”

“Yeah, it’s called Wooster.”

Wooster was a small city about 50 km away from Canton, the city they had left, and entering the city from the west allowed them to rejoin National Route 30.

But Arian showed a strange expression.

“If it’s a city… Isn’t it dangerous?”

“It may be so, but it can’t be helped.”

Even if it might be risky, bypassing the city and taking a longer route wasn’t guaranteed to be safer.

In the end, no matter where they went, they had to face danger. Understanding this, Arian nodded with a short sigh.

“Alright. Let’s give it a try then.”

Thus, they entered the city of Wooster.

The first thing that greeted them was a desolate residential area.

The rows of empty wooden houses along the road were left abandoned with open doors. There were no traces of recent human presence anywhere.

The vehicle slowly passed through such a residential area and soon reached a small shopping district.

Aiden parked the vehicle at the entrance of the shopping district.

“From here, I’ll get down and check.”

Even though this city seemed quiet and had a seemingly low risk, Wooster was an unknown territory for Aiden. So, before dragging the vehicle any further, he judged it was safer to conduct reconnaissance firsthand.

Arian, with an expressionless face, nodded and spoke.

“So, do we wait here?”

Aiden was about to nod absentmindedly, but at that moment, a certain memory flashed through his mind.

It was one of the stories Victor shared with him while they were on sentry duty last night.

It was about Sadie.

“…No, everyone comes with me this time.”

“Why?”

“It’s a good opportunity. That’s what I think.”

While trying to nod casually, Aiden’s mind was touched by a certain memory.

It was the memory of Victor praising Sadie.

“Yesterday, I heard you’re good with guns. Victor praised you.”

Sadie reacted with a start at Aiden’s words.

“Y-yes.”

Sadie lowered her head with a faint smile, as if she was embarrassed.

Aiden continued.

“He said you have skills. But he also mentioned that you were very scared.”

“W-well…”

“I’m not blaming you. But if you were really scared, you need to get used to it,” Aiden said, skillfully parking the vehicle between buildings.

Afterward, the group all got out of the car.

Arian, stepping on the ground, glanced at the empty street for a moment before asking Aiden:

“Get used to what exactly?”

“I’m just going to scout the path we need to cross. It’s a short distance, around 30 minutes. If there’s no problem, we can discuss the next steps after that.”

Saying so, Aiden took the lead and started walking.

Arian shrugged and followed Aiden’s steps with Sadie.

A shopping district with low buildings lining the two-lane road.

Aiden’s group passed by well-known franchises, a pizza place, an abandoned clothing store with discarded clothes behind broken glass walls, and a tobacco shop, continuing forward.

Gradually, they entered the densely packed central area of this small city.

However, just like the residential area, silence, fitting the term ‘ghost city,’ prevailed in this small city’s center.

In the streets filled with debris, where not a soul was in sight, not even zombies could be seen.

“Really quiet place,” Arian murmured while observing the street.

Aiden’s group quickly finished exploring the route.

There were no specific threats to worry about.

Returning to the point where they had to turn back, Aiden looked back at Arian.

“Were there no zombies along the way?”

“There were some.”

Arian detected roughly about ten zombies with her senses.

Even then, they were either stuck inside buildings or in places like basements, making it unnecessary to avoid them.

Ten zombies in a 30-minute walk.

It was an unexpectedly low number, almost hard to believe in comparison to other cities.

Aiden nodded in satisfaction.

“It worked out well. Seems like this is indeed an empty ghost city.”

A city with few people and zombies.

This phenomenon was common in nearby small towns.

Small towns with initially limited resources would run out faster than larger cities. Consequently, even the few remaining survivors would leave for big cities.

Since there were no people in the deserted small towns, the number of zombies gradually decreased, eventually leaving the town completely empty.

Convinced that Wooster was such a ghost city, Aiden soon took out a small pistol.

It was the same gun Sadie had used yesterday.

He extended it towards Sadie, proposing:

“Sadie, why don’t you practice shooting here?”

“Practice… here?”

Sadie widened her eyes in surprise.

If the intention was to get used to it, was that what he meant?

Seeing the specific method of the exercise, fear flashed in Sadie’s eyes. It was because she recalled the madness of the zombies she saw in the dark office yesterday.

But Aiden spoke, saying that she needed to get used to that fear.

Soon, Sadie nodded resolutely with a determined expression.

In the meantime, Arian intervened.

“Isn’t that too risky?”

“If you’re worried, stay close and watch over Sadie. I’ll be the one luring the zombies.”

With Aiden saying so, Arian had nothing more to say.

The group began to retrace their steps.

Before long, Arian detected the presence of a zombie.

“There’s one behind that black store.”

Upon Arian’s words, Aiden headed confidently in that direction.

As they turned the corner of the store, they indeed saw a lone zombie.

The zombie momentarily glared at Aiden, who suddenly appeared, but once it confirmed he was just like the others, it lost interest.

However, Aiden grabbed the zombie’s arm and forcefully pulled it towards him.

“Kiii!”

As the zombie growled, it bit Aiden’s shoulder, but only rotten body fluids flowed from his shoulder. The creature then groaned and turned its head away.

Meanwhile, Aiden brought the zombie with him to the open path where Sadie and Arian stood.

The distance between Sadie and them was about 20 meters.

It was a distance where even a zombie with deteriorated vision could be seen clearly.

As a result, the zombie soon spotted Sadie.

“Kghaaa!”

It screamed, rushing towards her.

Sadie, pointing her shaky gun, aimed it at the approaching zombie.