How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Five days after leaving Springfield.

Aiden and his group were heading south from Springfield towards the small city of Paducah, which was 400km away.

“Do we have to cross here?”

Arian said, looking at the wide river in front of her.

She, Aiden, and Sadie got off the vehicle they had driven to this point, stood by the forested road, and looked down at the river.

The width of the river they had to cross reached hundreds of meters.

Even without considering the vehicle, it was difficult to imagine swimming across such a wide river.

“Yeah, the Ohio River. It’s the border between Illinois and Kentucky.”

Aiden answered her question in front of such a river.

Sadie’s gaze silently followed the flowing river.

“Ohio River? That… for some reason, it sounds familiar.”

“It would. This is the same river that divided downtown Pittsburgh.”

“It extended all the way here?”

From here to Pittsburgh, it was almost 1000km straight.

The river that blocked their way started from the starting point of their journey and extended this far.

Arian let out a bitter laugh at the whimsical coincidence.

“Anyway, fortunately, the bridge itself seems intact.”

Aiden pointed to the bridge directly connected to the road.

There was a unique bridge made of metal plates that allowed cars to pass through.

As Aiden said, the bridge was still standing.

However, there was another problem.

“I guess, we can’t we just cross, can we?”

Arian said, looking at the obstacles piled on the bridge.

Artificial barricades blocked the center, and beyond them, several zombies were loitering.

But considering the condition of the road so far, that much was a considerable relief.

At least many abandoned vehicles didn’t completely block the bridge.

Although some preliminary work was needed, it would be better to wish for the ability to pass through by vehicle.

So, Aiden stepped forward with his new weapon, an iron crowbar.

The metal bat he had been using until three days ago was completely crushed, making it unusable.

This iron crowbar was the substitute he had prepared.

“…Got it.”

At that, Arian quietly retreated into the vehicle with Sadie.

Only a few days ago, she might have volunteered to help.

But now, the situation was different.

After leaving Springfield, Aiden’s group had not encountered any other survivor groups.

The only things blocking their path were abandoned obstacles and zombies.

Because blood supply hadn’t been established at all during this time, Arian had to quietly save her own life.

“…”

Aiden first tackled the barricade.

It was an improvised barricade made of wooden boards and steel plates, about a meter high.

But it seemed to have been made quite a long time ago; it was rusted and decayed here and there.

It would take some time, but Aiden alone could easily dismantle it.

So, with a light movement, he jumped over the barricade.

Before dismantling the barricade, it was to clear away the hindrances.

Thunk!

One zombie, the closest one, received a blow to the head from Aiden’s crowbar and fell.

Though the zombies around screamed in response, Aiden didn’t blink an eye.

They came running.

There were five of them.

At this level, there was no need to pull out a gun.

“Kiiii!”

The one who came first reached out its hand.

But before that rotten hand could touch, Aiden’s foot kicked its abdomen, crushing its ribcage.

While the guy was staggering like that.

Squelch!

Immediately, the bent end of the crowbar pierced through the zombie’s skull.

Rotten, dark greenish blood splattered from its end.

“Kkugh!”

Immediately afterward, two zombies rushed towards Aiden.

Holding the crowbar like a spear, Aiden thrust it into the wide-open mouth of the first one.

The other one was met with a head-on collision with a helmet.

“Ugh!”

The zombie impaled from the mouth instantly perished.

The one collided with the helmet let out a human-like scream and fell backward.

Thunk!

The crowbar dropped onto the already fallen one.

And the last ,one who came late, had his head blown off by a full swing, as if he was swinged by a baseball bat.

“…”

Aiden, who had taken down the five zombies in just a few seconds, looked around.

Far away, on the mainland, there were still a few zombies visible.

However, there were no more obstacles on this narrow and long bridge.

So, Aiden began dismantling the barricade now.

He smashed the rotten wooden boards and knocked down the rusty steel plates.

Having secured the minimum space for the vehicle to pass, he returned to the vehicle.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Upon seeing this, Sadie expressed her gratitude for his efforts.

However, Aiden, feeling no fatigue, waved his hand as if it was nothing.

The vehicle slowly crossed the bridge, passing through the dismantled barricade.

Watching that, Arian spoke up.

“If we’ve come this far, it should be safe, right?”

“…We should hope so.”

It was a conversation about radiation.

In the past five days, Aiden’s group had moved desperately to avoid the danger zone.

Although the straight distance was 400km, they had to detour due to destroyed roads and sections blocked by zombie hordes.

Thanks to these efforts, they had managed to stay quite far from the Nebraska nuclear power plant, suspected as the source of radiation.

But behind that, there were many losses.

Not only did they give up searching for resources to focus on movement, but they also didn’t encounter any survivor groups by chance, resulting in a gradual depletion of resources like blood, gasoline, ammunition, and even food and water.

“If there’s a barricade, does that mean there are people here?”

Arian asked with anticipation.

For Aiden’s group, finding other survivors was the most urgent task.

Above all, blood was the most urgently needed resource.

However, Aiden couldn’t make optimistic observations like that.

“Well, the barricade seems quite old. The likelihood is high that it’s an abandoned place.”

Arian sighed briefly.

Meanwhile, the vehicle crossed the bridge.

And so, the moment they set foot in Kentucky for the first time.

“Kik!”

Zombies lingering on the road across the bridge noticed the presence of the vehicle.

Aiden immediately took the crowbar and stepped outside the vehicle.

* * *

And a short while later.

“Let’s stay here for today.”

Aiden’s group settled in a brick building on the outskirts of Paducah.

There was a small parking lot in front of the building, but there was no sign of other vehicles.

Also, the surroundings had low buildings scattered sparsely, making it challenging to hide Aiden’s group’s minivan.

However, Aiden had no choice this time.

To hide the vehicle, they needed to go further into the city.

There were more zombies in the city than he anticipated. So, just coming here wasn’t an easy task.

The road from the bridge to this building was only about 2km long.

However, to pass through that distance, Aiden had to kill dozens of zombies.

It wasn’t as many as Peoria, but it was by no means a small number.

“Are you okay? You seemed bitten by zombies earlier.”

Arian asked.

Aiden nodded cleanly.

It was true that he was bitten, but Aiden didn’t care about such minor injuries.

“I’m fine. What about the surroundings?”

“There’s nothing nearby. Inside the building too.”

“Okay. Then, I leave the preparation here to you two.”

Saying so, Aiden grabbed his weapons.

It was only around 2 p.m.

It was too early to finish moving, so Arian asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Starting today, I think we need to combine movement and exploration.”

“…Yeah, that’s probably necessary.”

Arian nodded with a bitter smile.

Although Aiden’s group couldn’t be sure of the exact extent of the radiation danger zone.

They couldn’t blindly run away either.

So, from now on, they wouldn’t be solely focused on moving, as before.

Arian also felt the scarcity of resources, so she had no choice but to agree with Aiden’s words.

“Come back safely. Leave Sadie to me.”

After bidding farewell to Arian, Aiden walked alone on the wide road leading to the center of Paducah.

Before long, several hotels and large supermarkets came into view.

Fortunately, there seemed to be a large shopping district nearby.

“…”

Aiden first walked towards the nearby hotel.

A street where six hotels were gathered within one block.

While walking along such a hotel street, Aiden stopped in front of one hotel.

A four-story brown brick building.

It wasn’t very spacious, but what caught Aiden’s eye was the barricade blocking part of the entrance. Although more than half of it was collapsed and it wasn’t clear where it went.

It was evidence that someone had stayed here after the zombie outbreak.

Perhaps the barricade at the iron bridge was also made by the group that stayed here.

Aiden stepped into the hotel with such thoughts.

The hotel lobby was filled with worn-out clothes, empty canned goods, plastic containers, and such.

Traces of survivors who stayed here long ago were abundant.

Dust had accumulated on top of them, so it seemed that survivors had left here quite a while ago.

At least half a year ago, or maybe even longer.

“Ugh…”

While he was surveying the lobby, a zombie crawled out from inside the hotel.

It didn’t seem like a survivor who used to live here.

It was just an abandoned hideout from a long time ago.

There were no signs of recent battles nearby.

Passing by such a zombie, Aiden searched several rooms.

He wasn’t looking for supplies.

What he needed was a map indicating the area around here.

Of course, Aiden already had a paper map prepared from Pittsburgh, showing the entire United States.

But it only barely marked the road information.

So, to thoroughly explore a city like Paducah, he needed a map.

“…Here it is.”

And fortunately, Aiden found such a map right away.

The innermost room on the 1st floor of the abandoned hotel.

It seemed to be a command center of the survivor group that stayed in this hotel.

A map, including the entire Kentucky area, including Paducah, was haphazardly attached to the neglected whiteboard.

“North…”

‘To the north!’ was written in the upper corner of the map.

It seemed that the people who stayed here had left for the north.

Aiden moved in the opposite direction, away from the north.

Aiden first memorized the map with his eyes.

Paducah was a large shopping district with Aiden located in the western area. The central area was a large residential area. Finally, the eastern area adjacent to the river was configured as a downtown area.

In that case… It would be appropriate to explore the surroundings first, and if there were no gains, pass through the residential area and head to downtown.

Aiden carefully peeled the whiteboard from the wall, folding it neatly and tucking it into his arms so that the map wouldn’t tear.

Aiden then left the hotel and headed towards a nearby large mart.

The shopping district in Paducah was quite large for a small city.

There were two well-known brand supermarkets alone, and a region where department stores and restaurants were clustered.

However, Aiden couldn’t expect much from here.

If there were still enough supplies here, there would be no reason for the survivors who stayed in that hotel to go north.

“As expected.”

Arriving at the mart, Aiden murmured like a sigh.

The large mart had been completely cleared out.

No matter how much it was cleaned out, the shelves were tidy, and only zombies groaned inside, flowing in from the wide-open door.

Still, Aiden, just in case, went inside the mart, but the result was the same.

The supplies in the mart had run out a long time ago.

“Tsk…”

Leaving the mart, he clicked his tongue.

Now he had only checked one place, but such emptiness was by no means a good sign.

It meant that many people had passed through this shopping district repeatedly.

In this case… going to other buildings in the shopping district would be a waste of time.

Then, should he go straight to downtown?

Aiden thought so and walked towards the residential area.

A faint uneasiness settled on him.

Just a deserted city where only zombies roamed.

The worst assumption had crossed his mind, that he might not get anything today in this cityscape.

“…”

But even so, there was no immediate solution.

He had to save supplies and hope Arian would hold out.

At that moment, Aiden deeply prepared himself.

“That’s…”

He found something.

Aiden’s gaze was on a gray house in the middle of the residential area.

It looked like any other house from the outside, with broken windows and a dilapidated appearance.

But inside, something had clearly collapsed.

Aiden approached the place.

It was a zombie.

With broken legs, a fractured neck, and a skull that was completely shattered, the wretched remains of a zombie lay like a carpet.

Although the sight was a gruesome corpse itself.

Aiden confirmed the traces of green bodily fluid oozing out from the creature and finally could have a glimmer of hope.

Even though it was completely dried up, the traces of bodily fluids were vivid.

It meant that the zombie had become like this less than a week ago.

At the same time, it suggested that there might be people somewhere in this city.

“…”

Quietly, Aiden covered his face with the black helmet he had brought separately.

And with more determined steps than before, he started to meticulously search through the residential area that he was about to pass by.