How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Arian, setting foot in the cemetery, felt a strange discomfort emanating from below her feet and grimaced.

The ground, unearthed by the trappers, was no longer firm.

The surface lacked strength, feeling as though walking on a pile of crumpled paper.

Even just walking left distinct footprints, and with a slight push of the foot, it felt like the ground might collapse entirely.

With the ground like this, showing agile movements when needed was difficult.

Perhaps the zombie called a trapper set traps like this, hunting humans who unknowingly entered.

“…”

On the other hand, Aiden, who was ahead, was carefully advancing on such ground.

However, even when he got somewhat closer to the nest, there was no sign of zombies popping out.

Could it be that the trappers had abandoned the nest, just as Arian had said?

If that were the case, it was a very strange occurrence.

As far as Aiden knew, those moles never voluntarily abandoned their nests.

To confirm this, he lit the dynamite.

If this explosive meant for collapsing tunnels exploded, it would destroy the trappers’ nests in one go.

“Step back.”

Having thrown the dynamite into the hole, Aiden said and stepped back.

Just after they secured a safe distance-

Boom! With a loud noise, soil erupted from the trapper’s nest.

The circular hole that led underground collapsed, and the peculiar structures decorating its surroundings lost their form and collapsed as well.

“…”

After a while, in the place where the dust settled, only a large crater-like imprint remained.

However, even so, there was no sign of the monsters hiding underground emerging.

Only then was Aiden certain.

Indeed, this nest had been abandoned.

“…Strange.”

According to Anders, who gave him this request, trappers had been discovered just three days ago.

However, in the meantime, all the trappers seemed to have left their nests.

At least to Aiden, it was an inexplicable occurrence.

While contemplating this alone, Arian spoke to him.

“If it’s so strange, why not investigate?”

She wasn’t wrong.

Thinking alone wouldn’t lead to a conclusion.

If he was determined to unravel this mystery, it was right to find traces of the trappers now, then track them afterward.

But… that was also going beyond the scope of the request.

Even though there were no trappers, the nests had been destroyed.

Aiden could just go back, report the results, and demand his reward.

However.

“…”

He felt a sense of urgency that the trappers had deviated from his expectations.

The most crucial factor for Aiden was prior knowledge.

Since ordinary zombies, not to mention numerous mutants, had various characteristics.

Understanding their strengths and weaknesses was a key strategy for preserving one’s life in critical moments.

However, such knowledge couldn’t be gained by sitting idle.

Simply not dismissing this abnormality as mere chance was the beginning.

That’s why Aiden couldn’t just let this unexpected movement of the trappers go.

Perhaps hidden within these seemingly insignificant movements was a lifeline that would save him later.

“…Let’s look into it a bit.”

So, Aiden left the cemetery with a nest and circled its outskirts.

Then, it wasn’t difficult to notice traces of the trappers crawling.

Since they were always underground, traces of black mud-like footprints were naturally left where the trappers had passed.

“It hasn’t been long since they moved.”

Muttering to himself as he observed the mud footprints on top of the weeds, Aiden continued.

The clumps of mud that had fallen on the weeds hadn’t completely dried yet.

At most, a day might have passed.

Also, judging by the number of footprints, it wasn’t the movement of just one or two individuals.

Everyone from the nest seemed to have moved simultaneously, as if it were a planned event.

“This direction… south, is it?”

Aiden looked towards the direction where the footprints continued.

The black footprints were all leaving the cemetery, crossing the road beyond, and descending below the hill.

Confirming this, Aiden furrowed his brow.

Descending the hill and passing through a shallow plain would lead to a small village with about ten houses.

And once you passed through that village, it led to a large forest completely beyond the outskirts of the city.

The problem was that this forest was directly under the influence of the Snuff Gang.

Although it wasn’t their officially constructed and occupied area, if luck was bad, they might run into their patrols.

The gang members were always armed with rifles, making them formidable opponents even when alone, and in a situation like now where Arian was also present, they were even more unwelcome.

Going too deep was inappropriate.

The risk exceeded the utility of the knowledge he might gain.

So, Aiden decided to investigate only up to the village.

“Let’s move.”

Aiden turned to Arian and said.

They followed the signs left by the trappers to the south.

Soon, the village came into view.

Along the two-lane road in the center, buildings were widely spaced with a gap of several tens of meters between each.

The footprints of the trappers, who had passed through here, seemed to pay no attention to such vacant houses and continued straight through the village.

The scene continued with a quiet and lonely landscape like any other residential area.

But not for long.

“Hmm…?”

When they passed a little beyond the center of the village, the previously silent carnage revealed itself.

First, what was disturbed was the trappers’ footprints.

The neatly continuing footprints were now chaotically mixed, and on the ground were strange wounds as if a giant hammer had struck in various places.

The dark liquid seeping into the ground… it was undoubtedly the bodily fluid of the trappers.

Something that had trampled the ground had apparently crushed the trappers along with it.

Even Aiden, who was not an expert at distinguishing between the scents of zombies, could tell that this was the unmistakable trace of a clear battle.

“…”

Having noticed this, Aiden tilted his head slightly.

In this small village bordering the Snuff Gang’s territory, which was now a small number of remaining buildings, there was almost nothing left.

Therefore, Snuff members, as well as the few survivors remaining in other gangs or the city, rarely bothered to come to this village.

But a battle?

Could it be that the Snuff guys came out of the forest?

However, as Aiden examined the ground traces, he inwardly shook his head.

The remaining traces were awkward for being created by humans and zombies.

To put it differently, these were traces of a fight between beasts.

Snuff gang members who knew how to use guns wouldn’t engage in close combat, and even if they did, there was not a drop of human blood visible on the ground.

“…”

So, observing this, Aiden raised his gaze slightly.

Beyond the traces of the chaotic battle, he looked in the direction they continued.

The traces deviated from the road and were heading towards a warehouse building about 50 meters away.

On the sign in front of the building, there was a smiling cow drawing.

It might have originally been a place selling meat.

If that was the case, the place was probably a warehouse for storing such products.

Also, there were no traces leading from that warehouse to elsewhere.

In other words, if there was something, it was probably hidden inside that warehouse, concealed behind the white exterior wall.

So, Aiden turned to Arian.

“What’s inside there?”

“Yeah.”

Arian responded immediately.

Seemingly peering into the place, she opened her mouth.

“But… there’s a somewhat different smell.”

Aiden nodded in agreement, even though the metaphor of a different smell wasn’t very relatable to him, who lacked the talent to distinguish zombies by scent.

Whatever was there, it probably wasn’t an ordinary threat.

“Are you going? It looks dangerous.”

“That’s why I’m going.”

Aiden said as if it were obvious.

This place was not far from his hideout.

Just turning a blind eye to it because it seemed dangerous could be even more fatal.

“That makes sense too.”

Upon this, Arian lightly agreed.

The building they reached was a warehouse over 5 meters high.

The entire site was quite spacious compared to other butcher shops in the small village. Perhaps it was a place engaged in wholesale rather than retail.

The front-facing door was firmly closed. Without a single window, nothing could be seen inside.

However, they didn’t need to worry about how to get inside.

The traces of the monsters continued towards the side of the building.

Moreover, there was a large entrance created when the exterior wall collapsed.

“…There it is.”

First, they stood some distance away from the entrance and observed inside.

But all that could be seen immediately was darkness. Unfortunately, the entrance was facing away from the sun.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed at this.

Is there no choice but to go in directly?

Internally sighing at that thought, Aiden slung his shotgun and illuminated the end with the attached light.

Then, he walked slowly towards the entrance.

As he illuminated the inside of the warehouse from the entrance, the first thing that caught his eye was a long wall of rotten meat, stretched out like a screen.

Originally, it was edible meat stored in this warehouse.

Now, those products were completely dried and decomposed, hanging on hooks like dead bodies, swaying.

“…”

Arian’s eyebrows trembled slightly at this eerie scene.

Although the warehouse itself had a structure with holes, the view was blocked due to the rotten meat.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the thing they were chasing seemed to have created a clear path while passing through the warehouse.

Starting from the center of the entrance, the curtain of rotten meat split on both sides like servants stepping aside for a king’s procession.

Beneath it lay the shredded remains of the trappers, like a black carpet.

Aiden calmly stepped into the darkness.

After walking about 10 meters like that, the path turned 90 degrees in the middle, leading further inside the warehouse.

Aiden followed this path with only the light attached under the gun.

Upon illuminating the dark, the light extended far, finally clearly revealing the figure of the one who had created this path.

About 15 meters ahead.

Resting against the tightly closed front door of the warehouse, it was a 3-meter-sized lump of rotten flesh.

“Bigfoot…”

Aiden muttered the name of this mutant zombie.

A monstrous creature that, despite being a variant of zombies, preyed on humans and even its own kind, growing in size. Perhaps it was named after the monstrous creature it became.

“Raaargh!”

The one who sensed the light roared.

A distorted scream created by a stifled vocal cord.

In addition to the gruesome appearance of the creature, Arian’s forehead frowned.

Its face resembled that of a drowned person, swollen and distorted.

Covered in swollen flesh, its facial features were buried. The bloated abdomen seemed about to burst at any moment, filled with scars, and its massive lower body as enlarget as the given name Bigfoot, supported the body.

More than the smell emanating from it, the appearance was several times more horrifying.

Bang!

Immediately after, Aiden’s shotgun spewed flames.

The fierce gunshot shook the warehouse, and about ten lead balls charged towards Bigfoot.

“Raaah!”

However, the ferocious shotgun fire, which had torn apart multiple zombies at once, did not inflict significant damage on Bigfoot.

Most of the bullets were simply absorbed into the flesh, and the impact only momentarily made Bigfoot stagger.

“Get out!”

But that was enough.

Aiden didn’t think from the start that the shotgun would be effective against Bigfoot.

The purpose of this fierce attack was simply to buy time.

The battlefield of this warehouse was too narrow to face such an enemy as Bigfoot.

At Aiden’s shout, Arian immediately responded.

They turned around and ran simultaneously, and as if on cue, they quickly left the entrance of the warehouse.

Immediately after that.

Boom!

Like a projectile, the huge hand that chased after them swept over the entrance.

Beneath the thick flesh, sharp claws like bones hidden beneath, roughly shaved through the ground.

Contrary to the seemingly sluggish appearance of Bigfoot, the speed was absolutely incongruent, and Arian burst into laughter at the absurdity.