How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

The Vomiter had the same appearance as Aiden had heard from the Merchant Cooperative Association.

The height was about 2 meters.

However, the upper body, filled with gas and filth, greatly expanded, and the lower body to support it was also surrounded by muscles, making the overall size much larger.

In addition, the face had an impressive square-jawed split like a monster.

Aiden, confirming its appearance, immediately struck the ground.

The Vomiter would have already noticed Aiden’s presence.

So, there was no need to maintain secrecy, and the decision was made to move swiftly.

“Woaaaaah!”

As Aiden rushed into the library, zombies scattered throughout reacted to the noise.

The corpses, spread widely in the library, gathered into the central aisle.

At that moment, the passage leading to Aiden’s sides was blocked.

Thud!

Suddenly, a bookshelf in front collapsed, and a stream of filth hit like a spear.

Aiden immediately twisted his body.

In the end, he ended up intertwined with the zombies that were rushing, but it didn’t matter.

Even if they bit him, he was unfazed.

However, the power of the filth he avoided by twisting his body was not to be taken lightly.

A zombie next to Aiden was suddenly swept away by the flying filth.

Under the pressure, its upper body twisted, and it fell backward.

“-!”

Aiden didn’t miss the sight.

One of the scouting units that had discovered the mutant was killed on the spot, and even without being infected, it had considerable power.

Also-

“Kiiii!”

Zombies that had rushed in stuck to Aiden.

Their teeth, attached in this way, were not threatening at all, but the problem was that they blocked Aiden’s movements.

He swung his axe, hitting the zombies.

Two heads split, and one neck was broken.

However, zombies continued to swarm endlessly.

Of course, this alone wasn’t a threatening force.

If given a little time, Aiden could have smashed the heads of the zombies and broken through this battlefield.

“Tsk…!”

However, the fact that his feet were momentarily bound was a problem.

Like this, he would be directly hit by the Vomiter’s next attack.

So, he lowered his body as much as possible.

If unavoidable, he decided to use the zombies swarming him as a shield.

Right after that-

“Kiiii!”

As he expected, the Vomiter’s attack hit again.

A gathered mass of filth flew like a cannonball, colliding with the zombies gathered in one place and Aiden.

The fierce impact tore the limbs of the directly hit zombie apart.

The corpses behind it were sent flying in various directions like bowling pins hit by a ball.

Naturally, Aiden was among them.

Thrown far back, he got up from the ground nonchalantly.

“Hmm…”

Aiden, checking his body with his eyes, sighed.

There was no pain, but there was damage.

Despite wearing several layers of cushions from a rotting corpse, the Vomiter’s attack had finally crushed a few of his ribs.

There, Aiden couldn’t help but acknowledge the danger of that thing.

The filth it spat out had considerable power, and it was fortunate that only a few ribs were crushed.

If it had hit his arms or legs, he might have become disabled.

“…I need to be careful.”

Muttering in a low voice, he ran forward again.

Having confirmed the danger of the Vomiter, he didn’t proceed on the same path as before.

He used the still-standing bookshelves as walls, smashing zombies with an axe to clear his path, approaching the Vomiter cautiously yet boldly.

Bang!

The Vomiter’s attack toppled the bookshelf as Aiden continued to move.

However, at that moment, Aiden had already seen through the Vomiter’s weakness.

Its attack was liquid, but practically, it was no different from a gunshot.

There was no continuity like the water from a fire hose.

It probably generated a momentary high pressure to spit out a certain amount of filth.

Moreover, there was a short gap after spitting out the filth.

If so… the solution was unexpectedly simple.

First, Aiden hid behind the bookshelf.

Then, when the Vomiter attacked to collapse the shelf, he took advantage of the gap to move to the next shelf.

However, as he repeated this a few times, a change occurred in the Vomiter’s pattern. It no longer attacked the bookshelves.

Instead, it fell silent as if waiting for the moment Aiden left the shelf.

“…”

This was the change Aiden had expected.

A novice-level, embarrassing cruelty commonly seen in mutants, which could be called psychological warfare.

Mocking it silently, Aiden grabbed a nearby zombie and tossed it outside the shelf.

In that moment, the Vomiter, who had been anxiously waiting for the zombies that came out from behind the bookshelf, immediately initiated an attack.

The zombie hit by the filthy bomb was dismantled and thrown backward.

At that moment, Aiden smoothly took another step and approached the Vomiter again.

After repeating this several times, Aiden had reached near the second-floor railing where the Vomiter was.

Now, if he could break through just another 10 meters, he could go under the Vomiter where it could no longer attack.

Also, in that direction, there was a staircase leading to the second floor. If Aiden reached there, the Vomiter would lose its advantageous position of launching one-sided attacks.

However, in front of him was a reading area with a long table, and there was no cover anymore.

Exposed to the Vomiter’s attack without any protection.

Did the Vomiter know that?

Bang!

The Vomiter’s bodily fluid collided with the bookshelf where Aiden was hiding.

Under the fierce pressure, the paper that had rotted away flew apart, and the bookshelf that couldn’t withstand the weight fell backward.

Aiden immediately emerged from behind it and ran.

It was in the direction of the stairs.

Aiden jumped over the table that was blocking his way without any cover.

But, ultimately, time was short.

It was impossible to run over 15 meters during the Vomiter’s brief break in attacks.

Did it anticipate this?

Maybe, as long as it destroyed the bookshelf, it could somehow grab Aiden.

So, he adjusted his axe.

Just before the Vomiter’s next attack.

At the right timing, he threw it with all his might towards the Vomiter.

Although there was a strange sound from his arm, he ignored it.

“Woaaaah!”

The axe pierced the Vomiter’s shoulder.

He aimed for the head, but throwing a firewood axe not designed for accuracy during a sprint meant not expecting perfect precision.

However, it was enough.

The Vomiter couldn’t aim at Aiden due to the impact of the axe, and in the meantime, Aiden entered the first floor where it was standing.

Aiden immediately ran towards the stairs.

He felt the Vomiter turning its body in a hurry.

As soon as Aiden reached the stairs, he picked up a book that was lying on the ground, and threw it up the stairs.

Then,

Bang!

The flying filth hit the book, tearing it apart.

It meant that the Vomiter was keeping an eye on this place.

Already having lost a melee weapon, it was too difficult for Aiden to break through to the second floor and go back to the Vomiter.

Moreover, there was no cover on the second floor.

Charging at the Vomiter like this was, literally, suicidal.

However, Aiden never intended to approach it in the first place.

He took out a flashlight he had and turned it on. The brightness was ordinary, but its durability was certain. And with it turned on, he threw it towards the stairs.

What Aiden needed now was a reliable bait.

As the flashlight flew, a filth bomb came directly at it.

Fortunately, the flashlight blinked a few times under the impact, but luckily, it didn’t lose its light.

Then, a while later, the Vomiter’s attack detonated again.

The flashlight, rolling on the ground, flew into the air due to the impact.

Because of that, it bounced off the wall like someone had thrown it, but the LED still fulfilled its role.

However, when the third attack hit, the flashlight couldn’t withstand it and broke, losing its light.

Aiden just watched the scene.

Losing the flashlight was regrettable, but it served as a suitable bait.

The three previous attacks.

Because of them, the Vomiter had completely failed to notice another presence approaching it.

Rumble!

Shortly after, a heavy tearing sound emanated from behind the Vomiter.

Its head turned directly in that direction, and only then did it notice.

Arian leaping over the first-floor table, the machete’s blade reflecting a bloody crimson in her eyes.

And that red blade finally beheaded the Vomiter.

Swish!

The head, likely twice the size of an ordinary person, was cleanly severed like a piece of cheese.

Arian vertically cut it once more in the air, and landed calmly on the second-floor railing.

Aiden confirmed that the Vomiter’s body, now without a head, swayed unsteadily and collapsed.

Arian, after confirming that the body no longer moved, opened her mouth.

“It’s over.”

After hearing those words, Aiden climbed the stairs.

He immediately pulled Arian behind him.

He remembered that there was gas inside its torso. Although Arian was a vampire and might not die, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks.

“More anticlimactic than I thought,” Arian said.

From her perspective, it was just rushing in and slashing the guy’s throat.

“Because they’re not very bright. It’s easy to hunt them when you use that.”

Aiden said calmly.

It was a feasible strategy due to the low intelligence of the mutants.

Unlike zombies that just charge like beasts, these guys use their heads pretty well.

For example, they understood when Aiden insisted on using the axe that he had no intention of using firearms.

Or they recognized the building structure and knew that the only way up to the second floor was through the stairs outside.

This made dealing with mutants more challenging compared to ordinary zombies.

But on the flip side, there were ways to exploit their intelligence.

If Aiden stood near the stairs like now, the Vomiter would have no choice but to focus on him.

Humans without firearms must use the stairs, as they firmly believed.

So, from their perspective, Arian, who leaped from behind them, attacking them by jumping the height of the second floor, would be slower to react than a normal zombie.

“So… do we need to take that with us now?”

“We just need to take the head. I’ll handle that.”

Aiden lifted one half of the severed head with his hand.

It was quite a gruesome sight, but he casually picked up the other half with his other hand and moved forward.

After a while.

Aiden was presenting the severed head of the hunted mutant to a soldier.

The location was an open area outside the trading zone.

Even if it was a requested item, they couldn’t carry a fresh zombie head into the trading area, so Aiden called the soldier through security.

“Is this the mutant?”

The soldier looked at the mutant’s head, and his eyes widened.

It was an unfamiliar sight.

“This is… really a mutant with no known information.”

“Then, can I get compensation for this?”

“Well, just a moment. I need to report this to the higher-ups.”

The soldier who left came back with a few soldiers and a non-commissioned officer.

Among them, the non-commissioned officer was a woman wearing a military uniform with the rank of sergeant on her chest.

She looked more relaxed than Ayla, whom he had seen before.

She pushed aside the people around her, examined the mutant’s head carefully, and then looked back at Aiden.

“It’s unusual. A truly new species? Did you catch this?”

The woman asked Aiden while scrutinizing him.

He nodded.

“How did you catch it? And it’s quite large, what about the overall size?”

The woman bombarded Aiden with questions about the mutant, writing down his answers on a small piece of paper.

Paper and pencil.

Once common, these items were now hard to come by.

“Especially filled with gas? It was a dangerous one. Where are the rest of the body?”

“It’s still in the library where it was found.”

“Hmm… okay. That should be enough.”

The woman, after carefully noting all of Aiden’s answers, instructed one of the soldiers accompanying her to move the mutant’s head.

“What’s your name, by the way? Oh, don’t worry if it’s something bad. I need to write it in the report.”

“Aiden Lee.”

“Ah, a name I haven’t heard before?”

“I came recently, introduced by Lieutenant Nathan Cooper.”

“Oh, I see.”

After carefully noting Aiden’s last response, she finally put down her pencil.

Then, she gave some instructions to the soldier who brought the mutant’s head, and left.

Shortly afterward, the soldier returned with Aiden’s reward.

“Here you go.”

What the soldier handed over was not a few sheets of paper.

It was a type of currency only used in this trading zone.

While the value was equivalent to a predetermined item, for Aiden, who had been considering staying here for a while, it was a more flexible reward than receiving specific goods.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The soldier bowed his head.

A more courteous attitude than their first meeting.

Aiden watched the soldier for a moment and then, along with Arian, headed towards the trading zone.

“Now it’s shopping time?” Arian playfully asked.

It wasn’t exactly shopping, but it was time to replenish supplies.

Thinking that he needed to replenish the gasoline for the vehicle first, Aiden began to explore nearby shops.