How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“…!”

The zombie fiercely pounded the ground with momentum. A loud, rhythmic sound echoed, disorienting.

The distance between them rapidly closed due to the sprint of the living corpses.

Fear welled up in Sadie’s eyes.

Bang!

There, Sadie’s first gunshot rang out.

The distance between them was 15 meters. The zombie, running towards them, staggered. Flesh from the chest, hit by the bullet, flew backward.

However, it didn’t fall.

It merely paused its sprint momentarily.

Regaining its balance, the creature swiftly raised its torso again, charging forward with a pierced chest.

“Kiiiie!”

The distance further closed, tension crept onto Sadie’s face.

When there were less than 10 meters left, Sadie’s gun echoed again.

But this time, the bullet didn’t hit the zombie at all.

Frozen in the face of the horror emanating from the charging zombie, Sadie’s consciousness stiffened.

Finally, the zombie approached Sadie’s very nose.

Chack!

Its head fell, severed by Arian’s hand.

“…”

As the zombie collapsed to the ground, Sadie lowered her gun.

Then, with a face that seemed about to cry, she lowered her head.

“Sadie! Are you okay?”

Although Arian asked, Sadie couldn’t respond.

Sadie believed she hadn’t done well enough. Despite receiving praise, she felt she had disappointed them.

However, Aiden, who approached, calmly spoke to Sadie:

“Remember the fear you felt just now. You need to get used to it.”

It wasn’t comforting at all. Just a stern reminder of what Sadie had to do.

Arian glared at Aiden with sharp eyes, but Sadie, looking up slightly, gazed at Aiden.

His indifferent tone resembled the legacy left by her mother.

“Wanna try again?”

Aiden asked Sadie calmly.

Sadie was lost in thought for a moment.

Facing zombies again was still frightening. But Sadie couldn’t refuse Aiden’s proposal. If she couldn’t defeat zombies, she would be a burden to others.

This directly contradicted the teachings left by Rebecca.

Therefore, she had only one thing to do. Sadie slowly nodded to Aiden.

“…Yes.”

Aiden vaguely sensed that Sadie was tense.

So, before luring another zombie, he decided to give her some minor instructions.

“Let’s start by checking your grip. First, your shooting stance. Sadie, hold the gun.”

Sadie assumed the shooting stance.

It was correct, but her arms were too tense.

Aiden quickly corrected Sadie’s posture and continued with advice.

“You probably know that a zombie’s weakness is the head. But hitting it won’t be easy. So, it’s better not to shoot from too far away. Start with 5 meters. Slowly increase the distance from there. Like… around here.”

Aiden positioned himself at that distance. His head, just like a real zombie, turned to Sadie.

“When the zombie gets here, shoot at the moment it’s about to reach you. If you shoot from too far away because you’re afraid of them getting close, you’re less likely to hit, just like now. Finish them off with a sure shot. Understand?”

“…Yes.”

Sadie struggled to remember Aiden’s words.

In the process, the fear she felt moments ago seemed to diminish slightly.

Aiden concluded his advice and turned away.

“Let’s try it again.”

Soon, Aiden brought another zombie.

The creature spotted Sadie and rushed towards her. It was a repetition of what had happened a little while ago.

Sadie raised her gun. Remembering Aiden’s instructions, she relaxed her grip.

“Kiiii!”

Through the barrel, the zombie screamed, rushing towards Sadie.

Its rotten eyes, recognizing Sadie only as prey, met hers.

At that moment, fear invaded Sadie’s mind. The gun she held suddenly felt heavier, and tension unintentionally tightened her arm. She wanted to shoot right away, to stop that monster.

But Sadie suppressed the impulsive urge.

It wasn’t time yet.

Until the distance she could shoot, the zombies had not approached yet.

So, Sadie opened her eyes and stared at the zombies. It was still terrifying to stand in front of them, but she never averted her gaze.

“Kiiiii!”

The zombie continued pounding the ground. Finally, it stepped onto the ground where Aiden stood.

At that moment.

Bang!

Finally, Sadie’s gun muzzle spewed fire.

The head of the approaching zombie snapped backward. Its body swayed significantly, and it collapsed right there.

Sadie’s shot had splendidly pierced the zombie’s head.

“Well done! Sadie, you’re really good at shooting!”

“Haah…hoo…”

Sadie, who had been very tense, breathed a sigh and lowered her gun.

Arian, while patting her head, praised her efforts. Even Aiden, who had returned to the vicinity, nodded approvingly at Sadie.

“Good job.”

Although his face remained expressionless, and he didn’t say much, Sadie finally managed to smile faintly at his words.

Finally… it felt like she had achieved part of the significant task her mother had left behind.

“Wanna try again?”

“Yes!”

Responding energetically to Aiden’s question, Sadie continued her shooting practice against about ten zombies before returning to the car.

Aside from the first attempt, there were a few failures, but Sadie didn’t collapse every time. Instead, she tried to correct her mistakes, and she successfully shot the last three zombies.

Aiden evaluated it as excellent.

It wasn’t an outstanding skill all at once, but considering it was her first time and she was just ten years old, it was a remarkable achievement.

“Good job.”

Upon arriving at the vehicle, Aiden handed the gun back to Sadie. Sadie nodded with a slightly flushed face due to nervousness.

Arian kept stroking Sadie’s head as if praising her for being admirable.

“Well… Let’s move again.”

Although there was enough worth investigating, Aiden urged the group forward at a later-than-expected time.

They got into the vehicle, passed through the path scouted on foot, and entered Route 30 to Mansfield, their destination for the day.

* * *

“We arrived more smoothly than I thought.”

About four hours after leaving Worcester, Aiden, finally arriving at the outskirts of Mansfield, remarked.

Hearing this, Arian reacted with a wry smile.

“Smoothly? Didn’t you see that the road collapsed a while ago?”

Contrary to his words, the journey here wasn’t that smooth. The highway that should have been connected by a bridge had collapsed, and they had to spend another hour going back to bypass it.

However, according to Aiden’s experience, that level of unpredictability was considered smooth.

“But there was no combat. That’s a bit lucky.”

Encounters with zombies or gangs resulting in combat outside the city were quite common. In the worst-case scenario, someone could get injured, or the vehicle could be damaged.

This was one of the threats Aiden encountered regularly, even when he traveled alone on a motorcycle without stopping.

So, a day without such encounters, like today, was genuinely lucky.

“Still… This place looks similar to that called Worcester, doesn’t it?”

Arian looked around and commented.

Although they hadn’t entered the city center, there were no signs of gang or survivor groups anywhere. The atmosphere was eerily similar to the ghost town they saw earlier.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone here.”

Aiden also agreed with Arian’s words.

Mansfield was larger than Worcester, but it was still classified as a small town. So, it wouldn’t be strange if, like Worcester, only empty shells of buildings remained.

“Well, maybe it’s better this way? It means it’s safe.”

“We’re fine, but…”

If there was an urgent need to replenish supplies, it would have been problematic.

However, Aiden’s group didn’t need essential resources right now. They had enough provisions to last for several days – food, water, fuel, and even blood.

So, even if there was no one in Mansfield, it was fine as long as they could spend tonight safely.

However, as the vehicle passed through the desolate outskirts, and houses, warehouses, company buildings, and stores mingled into the street, ominous signs began to appear.

“Kiiiei…”

Zombies roamed between the abandoned large and small buildings.

Only five were visible right away. However, if those were the ones appearing on the street, there would be several times that number hiding inside the buildings.

Therefore, Aiden couldn’t move forward anymore and stopped the vehicle right there.

“There seems to be quite a few zombies even though there’s no one around. It’s better to give up going further inside.”

The car slowly backed away, escaping the area.

Arian turned her head while looking at the zombies receding into the distance.

“So? Shall we go to another city now?”

The time was already past 3 in the afternoon.

Even if they were to leave Mansfield immediately, reaching another city before sundown was impossible.

Acknowledging this, Aiden nodded in response to Arian’s concern.

“That’s not it. Let’s just try to find a place to stay on the outskirts for today.”

Aiden changed the direction of the car.

The vehicle, retracing its steps, slowly explored the outskirts of the city. Stores and warehouse buildings were scattered along the road on the spacious plain.

It wasn’t an ideal temporary shelter.

Moreover, such open places were easily noticeable by wandering eyes of passersby on the road.

“It’s probably not around here.”

Muttering that, Aiden turned the direction toward a small forest that had just appeared.

Following the straight road were various-sized houses lined up. And at the end of one such road, Aiden finally spotted a building he liked.

A gray three-story house. Interestingly, there was a tall black fence installed around it, and the door was not an ordinary wooden one but made of iron.

Although the fence was damaged, judging from the brick walls and blocked windows, it was a much sturdier building than an ordinary house.

Considering it would be difficult to find a better building than this, Aiden parked the vehicle next to the building.

“I’ll take a look around. Wait here for a moment.”

Saying that, Aiden got out of the car. Holding a pistol in one hand, he slowly approached the gray house.

The interior of the house, blocked with wooden boards, was dim. Moreover, the front door seemed to have been closed for a long time, with little signs of recent use.

Externally, it looked like an abandoned, thoroughly empty house.

Therefore, Aiden tried to open the front door. However, the door didn’t budge, making a creaking sound.

It was locked.

Should he find another way in? Aiden circled around the building.

But there was no visible entrance.

Did someone stay here after the appearance of zombies? All the windows were blocked, and there was no back door.

“Hmm…”

Aiden frowned.

Breaking the wooden boards blocking the windows would allow entry, but it would also create unnecessary noise.

While contemplating quietly how to handle this, he heard something.

“Hmm?”

A crying sound reached his ears.

The direction was upwards, on the roof connected to the second-floor window. There was a black cat.

“A cat…”

It wasn’t a zombie, just a healthy cat. Was it someone’s pet?

The cat glanced at Aiden for a moment, then leaped onto the adjacent roof and disappeared.

But Aiden was no longer looking at the cat. He had discovered something else near the roof where the cat had been sitting.

Near the small window on the second floor, which was slightly open.

“There seems to be an entrance.”

However, the window was small. Even though a cat or a child might pass through, unless Aiden broke the window frame, entering was impossible.

So, Aiden called his companions. He first asked Arian.

“Is the inside empty?”

“Yeah, seems like there’s nothing.”

“Then can we enter through that window?”

Arian looked at the window that Aiden pointed to. Soon, she slightly furrowed his brow.

The size of the window was not generous enough for Arian to pass through easily.

“I’ll go.”

Sadie, realizing this, spoke up.

Although Arian cast a worried glance at her, she didn’t stop the girl. Sadie was finding her own role within their smal organization.

Arian didn’t want to disregard her efforts.

On the other hand, Aiden nodded at Sadie’s suggestion.

“All right, then first find a way to get up there-“

“I’ll do that. Come here, Sadie.”

“Yes? Oh…!”

Arian swiftly embraced Sadie and leaped onto the second-floor roof. Sadie in her arms widened her eyes.

It was an amazing leap, and the posture landing on the roof was smooth and stable.

Like the movement of the cat they saw a little while ago.

“Can you pass through?”

“Yes.”

Answering Aiden’s question, Sadie moved through the window. And not long after, with a heavy clinking sound, the lock of the front door was released.

The door opened with a creak.

“…”

However, Sadie’s expression as she opened the door was strange.

Aiden immediately asked her why.

“Why is that?”

“Well… it’s not a zombie, but there’s something else.”

“Something else?”

“Bones… like things…”

Sadie pointed to a room inside.

“I’ll take a look. Don’t approach.”

Aiden, without hesitation, entered the room Arian had pointed out.

It was a reasonably sized room of about 5 square meters. The room contained a chair, a bed, and a small desk. On one side, there was a blocked window, and what Sadie mentioned was there.

Sitting on a large rocking chair placed in front of the window, someone’s remains were there.