How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

The entrance to the residential area had a calm atmosphere.

The straight road, surprisingly clear, seemed relatively clean compared to the commercial district or downtown. Furthermore, the houses lined along the road appeared to be in better condition than one might think.

Though some were rusty and broken, the signs of destruction painted over them were significantly fewer than the buildings in the city center.

The reason was simple.

There were almost no resources in the ordinary residential area compared to the commercial or busy districts. This made it less attractive to looters from the city.

Meanwhile, due to their well-preserved appearance, the ghostly residential area basked in the bright sunlight at 1 p.m., making it seem peaceful.

Various weeds grew in the gardens, and the warm spring sunlight filtering through the leaves created a fleeting scene.

The sparkling sunlight invaded not only the outdoors but also the interior of the houses, sitting between the rows of trees in the garden.

One scene reflected like a display shelf caught Arian’s attention – a table in one of the kitchens.

It was a four-seater table with a few plates and utensils neatly arranged at each place setting. Two were regular plates and utensils, while the remaining two were smaller dishes with characters drawn on them. Additionally, the chairs arranged according to those dishes were noticeably smaller than the other two – barely fitting for a five-year-old child.

It truly was a scene overflowing with domesticity.

If only the white dust covering it was absent, a scene of a family having a meal might naturally be painted even now.

Perhaps the people who lived in this house hastily left while preparing a meal.

“…”

Arian looked at Aiden, who was walking ahead.

He wore only a flipped helmet, not riding a motorcycle this time. Sharply alert, he surveyed the surroundings.

In his hands wasn’t the usual shotgun but a machete, specifically the type commonly known as a jungle machete.

By the way, Arian also held a machete handed to her by Aiden, despite her objections. Just basic armament, he had said.

Indeed, basic armament.

Arian smiled bitterly, caressing the handle of the machete handed to her by Aiden.

He really knew nothing about her or vampires.

If this place truly was a world completely different from hers, it was only natural. But facing it so directly now was bewildering.

Did those zombies really think of her as just an ordinary human girl?

“Huh…?”

While she was lost in thought, walking through the residential area, her sensitive senses picked up on something.

Vampires possessed cognitive abilities that surpassed humans, especially in hearing and smell.

What came into Arian’s cognitive range was, unsurprisingly, moving rotten corpses.

Moreover, the signals of those zombies sensed from afar weren’t just one.

At least twenty, at most twice that amount.

Thinking she should inform Aiden, Arian glanced at him discreetly.

If they continued walking like this, they would inevitably encounter the horde of zombies.

But Aiden still seemed oblivious to the presence of the zombies.

Naturally, given the distance to where the zombies were lurking was about 200 meters. And several abandoned houses blocked their line of sight.

Both humans and zombies couldn’t sense each other at such distances.

“Hmm…”

Arian thought for a moment and then changed her mind.

A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

This was an excellent opportunity to test the skills of the junk dealer, Aiden, who had boasted like a great professional in front of her. But would his skills match his words?

So, without saying anything, Arian looked at Aiden and continued to walk.

However, just a few steps later, Aiden suddenly stopped.

His eyes were fixed on the garden of a certain house next to them.

“What’s the matter?”

“There are traces.”

Answering Arian’s question, Aiden approached the fence surrounding the garden.

The fence was broken and damaged in various places.

Aiden pointed to one of the broken sections.

“See this?”

What he pointed out was the end of the broken fence. Now that she looked, there was a slight stain of decaying flesh.

Aiden continued:

“Recently broken by zombies. Probably a zombie in this garden witnessed a human or heard a loud noise.”

Saying that, Aiden examined the ground.

Beyond the fence, clear traces of something rushing were vividly visible.

And the continuation of those tracks precisely led southeast – the direction Aiden was heading and the direction they needed to go.

“It seemed unusually quiet, but it looks like some fool gathered the zombies in one place. It’s better to detour here.”

Saying so, Aiden naturally changed the path.

While Arian nonchalantly followed him, internally, she felt a considerable sense of amazement.

Deep down, she wanted to see him flustered in front of the horde of zombies that had appeared before them, but perhaps it wasn’t so simple to avoid the danger with just intuition.

“…”

But even after that, Aiden didn’t live up to Arian’s expectations.

He could discern if there were zombies inside a house just by looking at the broken front door or the rotten wooden floor.

Before reaching a place where many zombies had gathered, he read their traces like a ghost and skillfully avoided them.

Of course, occasionally, zombies appeared unexpectedly, even to Aiden.

“Ki-“

But that didn’t surprise this man either.

The head of a zombie, hidden under fallen leaves on the dried pool floor, flew away as the machete swung.

It was a surprising appearance, enough to startle most people, but Aiden just moved mechanically in front of it.

Perhaps because he was the same zombie?

Internally mocking that, Arian couldn’t help but acknowledge Aiden’s skills.

There was no sign of clumsiness in his actions or judgments.

Undoubtedly, Aiden was quite a skilled survivor in this world as well.

Although it ended up being an uneventful encounter with just five zombies penetrating the vast residential area, Arian found the process intriguing as she assessed how many zombies were hiding among the many houses.

“…Do you always find your way that well?”

As they exited the residential area onto a quiet road, Arian asked.

Aiden casually replied:

“It was a familiar place. Besides, it seems there were recent unwanted guests. That made it even easier to find.”

For him, it wasn’t anything remarkable.

Predicting the location of zombies was similar to hunters in the forest finding traces of prey and tracking their path based on knowledge and experience.

In this case, since the creatures in the mountains didn’t hide their traces and the left marks didn’t get damaged.

So anyone with observation skills could find traces of zombies.

“You seem to know the location of the zombies as well.”

Just as Arian observed Aiden, he did the same.

Arian nodded as if there was nothing to hide.

“Yes, I knew.”

“It’s quite a useful ability. It makes survival easier.”

Arian thought he would at least make some sarcastic remark, but instead, Aiden calmly assessed her ability.

Anyway, he’s a boring zombie.

Thinking so, Arian looked around.

What appeared after leaving the residential area was a four-lane road.

Around it, there were only grass and trees, and there didn’t seem to be any particular danger.

Arian spoke again:

“But… is it normal for there to be no people here?”

“I told you. It’s a ruined city.”

“Even considering the zombies, it’s too empty. Shouldn’t there be some sort of fortress made by the military or refugees, even in a place like this?”

Arian mentioned a movie she had once seen while pondering.

Pittsburgh, where they were, was originally the second-largest city in Pennsylvania, with a population once reaching 300 000.

Even if only 10% of the people survived the zombie crisis, there should still be 30,000 people here.

However, Arian hadn’t seen a single person. Not even a trace of people.

Even if it’s ruined, isn’t this too severe?

In response to Arian’s doubt, Aiden nodded as if understanding.

“This place isn’t far from the origin of the virus. Most survivors turned into refugees and left. The only ones left here are those who died or those who turned late.”

“Where’s the origin?”

“New York. It spread from there throughout the United States. So, the entire Northeast of the United States is practically empty.”

Although New York and Pittsburgh were 500 km apart, in terms of the entire United States, they could be considered relatively close cities.

Hm… nodding to herself, Arian suddenly realized something and continued her questions.

“Wait. So, is there something on the other side?”

“That’s right.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, it might not be complete nonsense. There are sporadic radio broadcasts. They seem to be calling refugees from all over the United States to LA. I don’t know their intentions, but considering they’re broadcasting even to places like this, there’s a good chance there’s a large organization nearby.”

Upon hearing that, Arian’s eyes quietly lit up.

However, Aiden immediately denied that hope.

“It’s better to dismiss unnecessary expectations. Even if it’s true, believing in rumors like that won’t help here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Most refugees who can’t pass through those residential areas end up dead. But believing in radio broadcasts to cross the entire United States? They must be really good.”

Pittsburgh and LA, or Los Angeles, are cities on opposite sides of the United States.

The distance between them is almost 4 000 km, a level of traversing the continent. Even in the pre-apocalyptic world, it would take nearly 40 hours of driving to reach there.

How could an ordinary refugee, avoiding zombies everywhere, manage to traverse that distance and arrive in LA?

“I think I can do it.”

Arian said it lightly, but Aiden chuckled as if it wasn’t worth responding.

“I see a park. Let’s stop the nonsense here.”

Aiden, who had reached the entrance of the park where there was supposed to be a cemetery, glanced around.

It was a park sloping down a low hill, surrounded mostly by a forest with hardly any noticeable buildings nearby.

Considering the distance from residential areas and commercial districts, it was unlikely that zombies would gather here even if there were some noise.

Aiden, making this judgment, took out his pistol.

“Do you know how to shoot?”

“I know how, but it’s not necessary.”

Aiden nodded at Arian’s refusal.

He couldn’t hand a gun to someone who disliked it, even though she might handle a machete.

After instructing Arian to follow him, Aiden walked ahead.

The park area was quite spacious.

Originally covered with grass, it was now overrun with weeds, and trees stood as if encircling the grassy field. Because of this, the view of the park was obstructed, making it hard to see at a glance, but it didn’t give a feeling of being cramped.

Moreover, the concrete path laid between the trees was still intact.

Probably, if they followed that path, they could easily reach the cemetery inside the park.

Aiden walked on the path covered with fallen leaves, entering the interior of the park.

At the park entrance, there were no signs of zombies yet. Only old benches, surrounded by overgrown grass and giving off a lonely atmosphere due to long neglect, welcomed them.

But after just a few minutes of walking, they soon discovered something peculiar inside the park.

“… What is that?”

The location was supposed to be a cemetery where graves were lined up.

However, all the graves had been pulled out of the ground, the soil had been churned up, and only black earth resembling internal organs was exposed, instead of the green grass.

Also, in the center, there were deep holes where two adults could easily fit.

The area around the holes was cluttered with rotten branches and bits of cloth, looking like a chaotic gateway to hell.

“It’s a trapper’s nest. Trappers dig wide tunnels under the ground, centered around those holes.”

Aiden explained while cautiously moving forward.

“So, zombies are underground?”

“That’s right. By any chance, do you know about trapdoor spiders?”

It was a type of spider that supposedly existed in Australia.

These spiders dug tunnels into the ground, created a cover for their holes with dirt or leaves to camouflage them as ordinary ground, and when prey passed by, they would suddenly open the disguised cover and ambush their prey.

The zombies called trappers exhibited a similar behavior.

Only the central hole was exposed outward; all the other ambush holes extended like spider silk were disguised as undisturbed ground.

Moreover, the level of their camouflage was quite clever, to the point that even Aiden might not easily discern it.

But hearing Aiden’s explanation, Arian subtly furrowed her brow.

“There doesn’t seem to be any zombies around, strangely.”

Oddly enough, no zombies fell within her perception range.

Whether it was because their concealment skills were excellent, or it was just a simple illusion.

Aiden neither affirmed nor denied Arian’s words.

For some reason, those trappers protected those central holes as if they were their lives.

So, if they exploded just one of those nests, they wouldn’t need to search for each trapper to prove Arian’s words.

“We’ll find out soon.”

So, Aiden said and moved forward.

In his hand, there was suddenly a stick of dynamite.