How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“Vampire?”

Diana’s expression twitched slightly at the unexpected question. In response, Aiden spoke.

“Doesn’t matter. Even rumors from the junk dealers are fine.”

“Yesterday, you said it was all nonsense, didn’t you?”

“…”

“I haven’t heard anything. Why, did even blood-sucking zombies start appearing now?”

“I wish that were the case.”

Seems like there’s no gain in the end.

Aiden, somewhat anticipating this, felt no regret.

Perhaps next time… Should he go and officially buy the information?

With that thought in mind, just as Aiden was about to turn away, Diana spoke.

“Hey, can I ask you something too?”

Seeing Diana’s mood, it didn’t seem like a very important question.

If she wanted to ask, is it just small talk?

Aiden doesn’t particularly enjoy this kind of small talk.

However, having initiated an unrelated question himself, refusing now seemed shameless. So he reluctantly nodded.

“Why are you asking things like blood collection kits and the blood as the price? You are the only junk dealer who accepts it as a trade item.”

Diana was asking with quite an intriguing expression, but for Aiden, it was a question he had already heard several times.

So, he answered familiarly.

“It’s needed to make medicine.”

“…Medicine?”

Diana’s head tilted.

Then, as if something occurred to her, she widened her eyes.

“No way, are you researching some kind of vaccine with that?”

“A vaccine, huh.”

The vaccine she was talking about was undoubtedly a vaccine for the zombie virus.

Aiden could have burst into laughter at the guess that was almost ridiculous.

Not only could you not make a vaccine by just collecting human blood, but more importantly, a vaccine was unnecessary for Aiden, who had already turned into a zombie.

“Do you think I need something like that?”

“Then…”

“The answer is already finished. I’ll hand over the remaining antibiotics in about a week.”

Judging that he had paid enough for the question, Aiden immediately moved away.

Although Diana looked at him with a regretful gaze, Aiden didn’t react to it.

Aiden rode his motorcycle and moved south along the road.

* * *

The area of West Mifflin, bordering south of Pittsburgh.

It was known for its large commercial zone with scattered stores and warehouses on the shallow plain. It was relatively sparsely populated by zombies and had plenty of abandoned goods, making it once known as Pittsburgh’s treasure trove.

However, numerous scavengers and gangs had picked it clean multiple times, leaving only empty warehouse buildings.

Aiden’s destination was one of these large warehouses.

Because in recent times, a major trader had set up a base in one of the empty warehouses and continued commercial activities based on that.

“…”

The motorcycle came to a sudden stop as Aiden faced an unexpected obstacle in the middle of the road – a large barrier made of rusty metal plates and wooden pillars, about three stories high. Numerous gun barrels protruded from it, aiming at the top.

A voice came from behind the barrier.

“Name!”

“…Aiden Lee.”

His low voice resounded, quiet yet clear.

A head suddenly appeared over the barrier, showing a middle-aged man with a large scar extending from his forehead to his left cheek. The man, somewhat lean and sharp-looking, revealed yellowed teeth in a smile.

“The junk dealer here. Let him in!”

In response to his shouting, a screeching sound was heard from beneath the wall.

The barrier, comprised of rusted metal plates and wooden pillars, opened up, revealing a large gap wide enough for Aiden’s motorcycle to pass through.

Aiden slowly rode in, and inside, he could see the man who recognized him.

“So, alive and well? I didn’t see you for a month, thought you might have kicked the bucket.”

“Anders… You’re still up to this stupid stuff.”

Looking around the large warehouse, Aiden remarked.

The first thing that caught his eye was people, not a huge number, but something not commonly seen in the ghost town.

However, upon closer inspection, something more surprising stood out. Tents were pitched, and makeshift stalls were set up around the warehouse, with people engaging in trade.

“Haha! If someone else had said something like that, I would have put a bullet in his head. But if it’s you, I have nothing to say.”

“…”

“Anyway, let’s go. Don’t take off your helmet. I don’t want unnecessary trouble.”

“Sure.”

“More importantly, did you come for another deal? Leave your motorcycle and gun here, follow me.”

Aiden nodded, and Anders led him inside the warehouse.

Inside, there was a considerable amount of goods piled up. Everything belonged to Anders’ gang.

“How is it? Quite well, huh?”

Anders asked with a confident face.

The name of the gang that Anders belonged to was ‘Snake’. The reason it is in past tense is because the name has now changed.

“…Hard to believe.”

Originally, Anders’ gang, like other gangs, survived day by day through robbery and fighting. However, persuaded by the gang’s leader Anders, they devised a new survival strategy based on the resources they had accumulated.

It was this merchant cooperative.

The intention was to use this warehouse as a base to purchase and sell resources and information, thereby profiting from continuous transactions with junk dealers and survivor groups, as well as other gangs.

To put it simply, although they are a gang with military power, they don’t use that military force for plunder but rather make money through business.

Aiden had thought from the beginning, and still thought now, that this was nothing more than cowardly talk. Yet, for some reason, this merchant cooperative seemed to be unexpectedly successful.

“So, what do you want this time?”

Guiding Aiden to a corner of the warehouse, Anders asked.

“Bullets and food.”

“Sure, no problem. I can just give you the ones you always use, right? How about instant noodles or spaghetti for food?”

“That’s enough. Just canned food.”

“Alright. Anything else?”

“I want to buy information.”

Then Anders’ lips curved slightly.

“Information, huh? What about?”

“I want information on zombie mutants I don’t know about.”

“For starters, tell me about the ones you know.”

Aiden listed the names of the mutants he had encountered. After hearing them, Anders nodded.

“There are only two mutants not in your list. One has relatively accurate information as it was recently hunted down in Cleveland. The other one is a bit uncertain as it’s based on eyewitness accounts, but there’s at least some credibility since multiple people have testified. How about it, interested?”

“I’ll take both.”

“That’s a lot. Then, let me hear your offer first.”

Aiden took out two small pill bottles from his belongings.

“What’s this?”

“This is an anesthetic, and the one next to it is a painkiller.

They were one of the medications brought from the hospital where he met Arian yesterday.

Upon this, Anders searched through the medicine, then turned his head and called one of his colleagues.

“Hey, Jackson! Go and call Brown.”

The man called Jackson disappeared from sight, and soon returned with a woman.

“You called?”

The 30-year-old African American woman named Brown was the only doctor in the merchant cooperative Anders belonged to.

With a somewhat anxious expression, Brown asked:

“I’m busy. Is it urgent?”

“It’ll only take a moment. Come here and take a look at this. Is this usable?”

Was he just calling her to inspect the items?

With that thought, she furrowed her brows slightly, but she couldn’t refuse Anders’ instructions as a member of the gang.

Brown picked up the heavy bottle and carefully examined the label.

Soon, her eyes widened.

“An anesthetic?”

Brown looked at Anders with surprise.

It was because just yesterday, she had to perform surgery to remove a bullet without anesthesia because there was no such drug available.

The patient who underwent surgery was a middle-aged man, and several people were needed just to restrain him.

The one next to it was a painkiller.

Both were medications she desperately lacked.

“…”

Brown soon looked at Aiden and Anders and quickly understood the situation.

So, without saying anything, she nodded slightly at Anders.

“Well, take it and check if it’s genuine. If it is, use it as is. Okay?”

Anders asked Aiden.

Since the goods would be handed over once the deal was made, Aiden nodded.

Upon this, Brown breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately. I already have surgery again.”

“Why, someone got injured?”

“Davis. There was a shootout with the Snuff Gang outside.”

“Again? Those damn bastards…”

“Who else? Jackson, could you help me for a moment?”

With those words, Brown, along with Jackson, disappeared with the bottle.

Meanwhile, Aiden asked Anders, who was simmering with anger.

“Is there friction with the Snuff guys?”

The Snuff Gang was as infamous for their vicious acts as their name suggested.

Whether every member of the gang was sane or not, they randomly killed noticeable people and did gruesome things like cutting up the corpses and nailing them in front of their hideouts.

These are people who literally breathe disgusting and crazy things.

They were located deep in the woods, isolated from the city due to their particularly vile actions, but their atrocities continued.

“Do you have anyone without friction with those bastards? They’re the kind of people who not only kill anyone they can get their hands on but also kill their own children and hang them in frames. They’re not the kind of people you can reason with.”

“That’s true.”

“Why are you talking like it’s someone else’s story? You also have a grudge against those guys. About a year ago, you said you turned one of their outposts into a bloodbath. In the process, you even cut off the boss’s brother’s genitals.”

“…”

“Anyway, you better be careful. Those guys are moving strangely these days. They might be planning to invade the city soon.”

It was a ominous statement, but to Aiden, it was valuable information.

He etched the words he heard a while ago into his memory.

And a little later.

Jackson, who went with Brown, brought news.

Both medications were genuine, and the deal had value.

“Good, the deal is done then. Now, provide the information.”

Anders first asked the people around.

Then, lowering his voice a bit, he slowly spoke.

“It was about the mutants, right? Okay… the guy captured in Cleveland first. His name is the Vomiter.”

“The Vomiter?”

“Yeah. A zombie as fat as a pig. So, although it moves slowly, it’s a crazy one that spits out disgusting bodily fluids like a fire hose from its mouth. If you get hit, you don’t even bleed; you just turn into a zombie. Well, it’s not related to you anyway.”

“…”

“Besides, inside its belly, there’s a deadly gas, so be careful when killing it. They said three people died of gas poisoning while hunting it in Cleveland. Well, this is unrelated to you too.”

Aiden nodded at Anders’ words.

Information about unknown mutants was always valuable.

But if asked whether this was the information he was looking for, it wasn’t.

So, Aiden pressed on.

“Anything else?”

“As I said, it’s just eyewitness accounts. A mutant that sets up at night. They call it the Brutal. In simple terms, it’s a zombie with incredibly strong muscles. It was seen in Baltimore, smashing a concrete wall with its bare hands. Four guys with guns in the middle of the night all turned into minced meat and died. That’s all the information we have.”

Aiden sighed briefly.

In the end, both pieces of information were useful, but they didn’t relate to vampires, especially Arian.

He thought a little while wiping his helmet with one hand, then directly asked.

“Have you heard anything about vampires?”

“Vampires…? Is it a new type of mutant?”

It was Anders who asked instead.

It seemed he didn’t have any knowledge about it.

“If not, then forget it.”

Aiden’s business was done here.

Determining that there was no reason to stay any longer, he stood up immediately.

But Anders stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

“Wait a moment. I have a favor to ask, not a personal one, but a request from our cooperative.”

“A favor?”

“Yeah. It’s not personal, but a request from our cooperative.”

The word ‘cooperative’ caught Aiden’s attention.

“What is it?”

“If you go a bit west from here, you’ll find a communal graveyard. You know about it, right?”

Aiden nodded.

It would probably be called the Kason Memorial Park.

A place where a part of the spacious park was turned into a graveyard.

“They’ve built a nest of the Trapper mutants there. There are about ten of them. At first, we tried to deal with it ourselves, but due to dealing with those Snuff idiots, we ran out of people. So, we decided to entrust this task to a skilled junk dealer. That’s you.”

Anders pointed at Aiden with a sly smile.

The Trappers were a type of mutant zombies. They dug shallowly into the ground and ambushed people inside.

Among mutants, they weren’t particularly threatening individually.

However, if left unattended, they gathered zombies from the surroundings, gradually increasing their numbers and creating a minefield where zombies popped out from all directions.

“When did you discover them?”

“Three days ago. So, the numbers probably haven’t increased much. Also, the reward will be similar to last time. Is that okay?”

“Sure. But you’ll provide explosives, right?”

“Of course.”

Anders immediately searched for a nearby box, pulled out two long sticks, and brought them.

It was dynamite commonly known as construction dynamite.

Aiden accepted it and nodded.

“Got it. I’ll let you know once it’s done.”

The conversation ended there.

Having accepted a new request, Aiden moved immediately.

“All right. Let’s see each other alive.”

As Anders said that to Aiden, who had already turned his back and was walking away, Aiden quietly raised one hand in response.