How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Some time later.

Where Aiden stopped was an unexpected place.

He had reached the southern part of the residential area.

It was right next to Highway 24, a major road that penetrated Paducah.

In terms of location, it followed the road from the hotel area.

There was an area surrounded by makeshift barricades piled up like a maze.

The barricade itself was a wall of an amateur level, made of iron fences shaped like nets with various things attached to it.

It didn’t seem very durable. At best, it might be able to block ordinary zombies.

But even such a crude barricade showed clear signs of maintenance.

People had been here recently.

So… Could this be the stronghold of the survivor group he was looking for?

Aiden cautiously approached the barricade.

The letters on a small sign outside the barricade caught his eye.

“It’s a funeral home…”

Not the best setting.

Aiden, muttering so, raised his head.

The size of the area surrounded by the barricade was not large. At most, it was big enough to accommodate two or three ordinary store buildings.

It meant that there wasn’t a large group hiding here.

At most, there might be around 10 people, or even 2 or 3.

“…”

A short hesitation passed through Aiden’s mind.

Compared to groups of tens or hundreds of people, it was particularly challenging to guess the nature of a survivor group with such a small number.

If he was lucky, there might be ordinary people, like Rebecca’s group in Pittsburgh.

In the worst case, it might be a group of people so mentally disturbed that they couldn’t form a large group.

However, Aiden didn’t have the option to avoid them.

If the opponent was human, he had to negotiate somehow to get blood.

So, he walked around the fence carefully to find the entrance to the barricade.

When he turned about a quarter of the barricade like that.

“B-Back off!”

A young man’s voice came from inside.

Now that he looked, someone was watching this way through a hole punched in the wall.

It was a guy… a young man who was about to become an adult.

“We have guns on this side! Back off!”

He shouted.

At the same time, voices of other people besides the man were heard from inside.

“What’s going on?”

“Who’s there?”

At least three people. Aiden quietly counted the number of voices heard from inside the barricade, raising both hands towards him.

“I don’t intend to fight with you.”

There was no response.

Naturally, it was a natural, distrustful reaction.

Aiden spoke again.

“I’m Aiden Lee, a junk dealer passing by. I want to trade with you.”

“Trade?”

The eyes of the man who had been watching Aiden disappeared for a moment through the hole in the barricade.

Instead, only his voice continued.

“What should we do?”

“What about what? Do you believe that?”

“That’s…”

“Go away before you get shot! We don’t need marauders like you here!”

After a conversation that lasted only a few words, a sharp female voice rejected him.

There was nothing to be sad about.

It was a common reaction.

But before Aiden could say anything, another voice came from inside.

“Wait a moment. We need to hear what he’s saying.”

The young man’s voice stopped the rejecting woman, and this time, a middle-aged man looked at Aiden through the hole in the barricade.

“What do you want to trade?”

“Anything.”

“We don’t have much.”

“But there must be something you need, right?”

“Well…”

The middle-aged man sighed.

Meanwhile, the voice of the woman who rejected Aiden earlier was heard again.

“Enough! Trading with someone we don’t know and trust?”

“It might help us.”

“Help? We don’t need help from people like him.”

The sharp voice of the woman and the voice of the middle-aged man bickered.

As the meaningless argument continued-

“We don’t need it! Everything is scarce!”

Frustrated, another young woman shouted.

So, there were six people here.

Aiden silently counted their numbers while listening to the voices of the people arguing among themselves.

One middle-aged man and woman each.

Two adult women, one adult man, and… a young man of a very young age who was staring at Aiden.

Considering that no other voices were heard, the number of people staying here seemed to be a total of six.

Of course, someone could have left the place for exploration, leaving it temporarily empty.

But for now, it seemed that these six were all that was left in this stronghold.

“Hey, junk dealer. Can you really get anything for us?”

Beyond the hole in the barricade, a Latina woman in her late twenties, wearing crumpled glasses, showed her face.

She was looking at Aiden’s helmet as if it was strange.

“It’s not omnipotent, but what do you need?”

“We need a vehicle.”

“You’re not asking me to bring a whole car, are you?”

Even for Aiden, getting a functioning vehicle within a few days was an impossible task.

Even if there were abandoned cars all over the city, among them, there wouldn’t be many real working vehicles.

But at the words of the woman, Aiden raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not it. We just need the parts.”

“Parts?”

“Yeah. Cars scattered around the city. Just bring me there, and I can handle the rest.”

If that’s all, it shouldn’t be impossible.

So, just when he was about to ask exactly what parts they wanted, the woman’s face suddenly disappeared.

Instead, the sharp voice of the rejecting woman was heard again.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“What?”

“Trying to break through a zombie-infested road with such junk cars, are you out of your mind?”

“But we can’t stay here forever!”

“It’s better than going outside!”

Soon, the face of a white woman in her thirties appeared inside the barricade.

She stared at Aiden with a suspicious expression.

“You. If you really want to trade, bring us food and water. That’s it. But what will we give in return?”

“Well… I’ll tell you after I can get the items.”

Aiden said with an attitude of using goodwill.

In fact, doing something like not even confirming the reward for the request was one of the actions that should never be done.

Among the clients, it was common for junk dealers not to receive rewards even after completing the request.

But this time was different.

Above all, the reward Aiden was looking for was their blood.

So, there was no need to worry that there would be no reward at all.

What remained was their cooperation.

However, the small survivor group in front of him was very distrustful of Aiden.

So, if they heard something they didn’t understand, such as asking for blood from them, it could raise even more suspicion from their point of view.

In that case, Aiden judged that it was better to present food and water in front of them first and then negotiate.

If there was bait in front of their eyes, it would be much easier to convince them.

Thinking so, Aiden quickly changed the topic.

“But is there a place in this city where you can find supplies?”

“If there was, we would have gone there. We’ll send you.”

“Even if it’s a dangerous place, it doesn’t matter.”

At Aiden’s words, the woman gave a short hollow laugh.

As if she was so sure of herself.

However, when Aiden showed no reaction, she wrinkled her eyebrows and continued.

“We’ve almost searched this small city entirely. It’s especially not a good idea to go to the northern shopping district. It’s empty.”

“I know. It seemed like that.”

“So, if you want to go, try the downtown. It’s dangerous there, though. Zombies are pretty abundant. If there’s anything, wouldn’t it be there, right?”

The downtown.

It happened to be the area he was planning to go.

The possibility of finding supplies there was high.

In its own way, it was optimistic information.

“If you know, go there. There’s no need to spy on us anymore, right?”

The woman chased Aiden away with a cold tone.

Without saying anything, Aiden moved away from the barricade.

The level of vigilance they showed wasn’t uncomfortable.

“…”

He returned to the residential area, heading back towards the city.

The silent residential area was bathed in the dazzling sunlight at the end of spring.

Although the only things standing under such bright sunlight were decaying corpses.

Aiden walked through the strange scenery, reminiscing about the group of survivors he had just met.

A group consisting of only six confirmed members.

Even though the conversation with them was not very long, Aiden was able to gather various pieces of information.

Firstly, it didn’t seem like they had formed the group a long time ago. The vague politeness they showed during their conversations hinted at that.

Perhaps individual wanderers who were moving separately had met by chance or formed a group in a crisis.

Moreover, judging by their conversations, it didn’t seem like they had very compatible opinions.

Seeing them being cautious of Aiden but not refusing the trade indicated a shortage of supplies.

And mentioning the vehicle parts suggested a division between those who wanted to leave and those who wanted to stay.

In such hastily formed small groups, conflicts were common.

Soon, those who wanted to leave would probably split off.

It might be burdensome for them, but such conflicts could be helpful for junk dealers like Aiden.

To do that, there will be a lot of things needed, and Aiden will be able to bring them and get paid for them.

“But it’s fortunate.”

Aiden muttered like that.

Although it wasn’t a large group, they had barely found humans with whom they could do deals.

Of course, this was just the beginning.

To see the results, he needed to find supplies in the city, and with that in mind, his steps quickened towards the city.

* * *

Some time later, the city center of Paducah that Aiden arrived at was quite deserted for a city center.

Like typical small towns, government buildings such as city hall, public library, and post office were mainly distributed.

There were large and small buildings scattered around them.

However, the distribution of buildings being sparse didn’t mean that even the zombies walking below were like that.

Maybe it was because it was along the river.

There were numerous zombies gathered in the city, to an extent that it couldn’t be compared to residential areas.

Dozens of them were just on the straight road in front.

And when combined with the zombies scattered in the open spaces like parking lots on both sides, it reached hundreds.

It was a number comparable to the defense battle in Fort Wayne during the midnight.

Even though Aiden, who didn’t attract the attention of ordinary zombies, felt nervous, it couldn’t be helped.

“…I have to be careful.”

Aiden walked through the city.

The first building he saw was a laundromat.

Beside it was an auto repair shop, and on the other side, a tire shop was visible.

Neither side seemed like a place where there could be food.

So, Aiden passed by the buildings and moved on to the next block.

Then, this time, a decent sign finally caught his eye.

It was a restaurant sign.

Two restaurants lined up side by side on one block.

One was a place selling barbecue grill dishes, and the other was a pizza place.

Aiden headed to the pizza place first.

It was a small one-story building with a green wall.

Next to it, only a lonely sign stood tall, guarding this place.

Aiden placed his hand on the glass door leading inside.

However, the door was locked.

If what the woman said about the city not being looted was true.

Even though it was an entrance that anyone could enter just by breaking the glass, it seemed like no one had entered until now.

“…Can’t be helped.”

So, Aiden cautiously took out a crowbar.

No matter how much he looked around the building, there was no entrance.

So, he decided to break the glass himself.

Crash!

The loud noise gathered the attention of dozens of zombies.

Eyes filled with a fleeting madness simultaneously turned towards Aiden.

“…”

Aiden stood still, not wanting to provoke them unnecessarily.

A needle-like silence flowed between the zombies and Aiden.

The zombies first looked at Aiden and searched the surroundings, but eventually, they couldn’t spot any prey.

“Grrrr…”

Soon, the disinterested heads of the corpses turned back the other way.

Among them, there was even a zombie that approached Aiden as if suspicious, but after confirming Aiden was a zombie with a distorted face, it moved away in an odd direction.

The zombies that had gathered for a moment scattered disappointingly.

Only after the attention of the zombies was dispersed, Aiden cautiously entered the pizza place.

The store was empty.

He first headed to the kitchen.

In such restaurants, most of the remaining supplies would be there.

“This is…”

Aiden murmured as he examined the kitchen.

As expected, the pizza place’s kitchen was clean, with only dust accumulated, and in a good state.

Probably, only three years had passed since the owner of this restaurant left without anyone touching it.

Aiden immediately searched the kitchen.

First, he found a bag of flour.

There was quite a lot, but flour couldn’t withstand three years at room temperature.

So, he pushed the bag aside without even opening it.

There were many other spoiled foods.

Vegetables and meat were out of the question.

Even cheese and ketchup had completely decayed, making them inedible.

But Aiden didn’t give up; he searched elsewhere.

And at the end, he found something.

“It seems to be in good condition.”

It was a can of corn.

Moreover, it was a large-sized can weighing 3kg, typically used for businesses.

It wasn’t in direct sunlight inside the building, and the seal was still intact without a single scratch on the surface.

Next to it, there was also a can of pickles.

For pickles, it was a bit ambiguous to call it food, but… there was no reason to abandon it, so he took it too.

Finally, he opened the refrigerator in the corner of the kitchen.

Inside were various spoiled foods.

In the midst of them, there was a can of soft drinks.

A dozen cans of cola with a vivid red color still remained.

“…”

However, Aiden, who had discovered it, sighed briefly.

The expiration date of canned drinks like cola was at most around a year, so taking them was meaningless.

Continuing to search the refrigerator, unfortunately, there were no other drinks.

Soon, Aiden left the pizza place.

In the end, the harvest was only two cans of canned food. And one of them was a can of pickles.

However, Aiden wasn’t disappointed.

He had raided just one small shop, and this was already a great harvest.

Aiden immediately headed to the next restaurant.

A restaurant with a sign saying ‘Grill & Bar’ above it.

Again, it was a structure where the inside could be seen through glass. But unlike the pizza place, this place had a large window facing inside that was already broken.

Had someone entered?

Of course, it couldn’t be confirmed.

Trying to force entry into a building in a gust of wind, considering zombies’ reactions, was a difficult task.

Aiden entered through the broken window.

Inside the still brightly lit restaurant, zombies were wandering around as if they were staff.