How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“Kid, move aside.”

Even at Maverick’s words, Sadie stood lowering her head.

Miles, who was next to her, then spoke up.

“That guy is done for. He’s going to turn into a zombie soon!”

“No, he won’t.”

Sadie denied his words.

Miles looked at her as if she was pitiful.

There were too many people who couldn’t admit that their comrades turned into zombies until the very end.

So, Miles and Maverick thought Sadie was one of those people.

However, Sadie’s following words were slightly different from those of others.

“He was originally a zombie.”

“What?”

Miles asked in confusion.

Then Arian, who was standing next to them, interrupted Sadie’s words.

“What she said is true. Well, you might not believe it.”

“What are you talking about now?”

Maverick asked with a frown.

Then Arian sighed deeply and gestured to Aiden.

“It can’t be helped that it turned out like this.”

At Arian’s words, Aiden nodded.

He took off the helmet he was wearing.

“What…!”

The survivors who saw Aiden’s face hidden inside the helmet were all shocked.

It was an unmistakable zombie face.

The gun Maverick was holding trembled slightly, as if a scream would burst out of Aiden’s mouth at any moment.

“Put the gun down and let’s talk.”

But there was no scream coming out of Aiden’s mouth.

With the same expressionless voice as when they first saw him, Aiden demanded a conversation.

Maverick hesitated at Aiden’s emotionless face, clearly different from the madness-filled zombie.

He cautiously took a step back.

Claire carefully took the gun Maverick was holding.

“First, let’s hear what he has to say.”

Maverick slowly lowered the gun at Claire’s words.

The three survivors looked at Aiden.

As if asking for an explanation.

So, Aiden let out a short sigh and briefly explained his situation to them.

It was a simple explanation that he had turned into a zombie for over two years but still maintained his sanity.

“I needed blood. That’s why. Do you understand?”

He also added details about the antidote.

Just to gain some minimal trust with this unbelievable story.

But the survivors’ expressions were not bright at all.

Merely speaking wasn’t enough to deny deeply ingrained common sense.

“I… can’t believe it. How can a seemingly normal zombie exist?”

Miles said.

Aiden pointed at his face in response.

“Look at me. Does this look like the appearance of an infected person bitten just a while ago?”

The time it takes for a person bitten by a zombie to turn into one ranges from a few minutes to a few hours.

But even so, their appearance doesn’t change drastically in just a few minutes or hours.

On the contrary, right after turning into a zombie, their appearance is not significantly different from that of a human.

Aiden’s appearance was by no means at that level.

The survivors’ pupils were filled with confusion.

“How…?”

No one spoke easily.

Thus, a brief silence passed.

Arian broke the silence.

“Well, actually, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe us.”

Arian looked around at the survivors.

A faint threat was contained in her sharp, bright red eyes.

“But Aiden has been our companion from Pittsburgh until here. So… don’t be too rude.”

Maverick, who had aimed his gun at Aiden, coughed helplessly.

Meanwhile, Claire looked at Sadie, who stood in front of Aiden.

“Is it really… okay?”

At her question, Sadie nodded firmly.

Then Claire sighed deeply and stepped back.

“Well, then, I have nothing more to say. Maverick and Miles, let’s stop here.”

“What?”

“Actually, it’s none of our business, right? We’re not going to keep hanging out with those people.”

“Um…”

Miles closed his mouth at Claire’s suggestion to keep a reasonable distance.

It wasn’t a wrong statement.

They were just junk dealers who worked together on today’s request. Even that request was already completed.

Whether that junk dealer turns into a zombie or not, there was nothing more to see. Maverick was only concerned if Aiden turned into a zombie, but even if his comrades turned out like that, Maverick’s kindness would be nothing but a nuisance.

At that moment, Claire, who suddenly remembered something, spoke up.

“Wait a minute. But didn’t you extract our blood yesterday?”

“That’s right.”

“Then we all should be infected…”

“If that were the case, would you be fine now?”

It had been close to 24 hours since Aiden extracted blood from them. If they were infected, a considerable amount of time had passed for them to turn into zombies. 

So, the fact that they were unharmed was evidence that they weren’t infected.

Still, Claire couldn’t shake off her suspicions, so Aiden quickly added.

“Enough. Let’s go back and get the reward for the request. It’s better to tidy up and leave, and it might make you guys feel more comfortable too.”

“That’s true, but are you still going to draw blood today?”

“…”

“No, today I’ll do it. Is that okay?”

Arian intervened at the right time.

However, Miles, who had to draw his wife’s blood, still had an uneasy expression.

So Arian added.

“Well, or you guys can do it yourselves.”

“…I’ll draw my wife’s blood.”

As expected, Miles said that.

Next, Arian looked at Maverick.

Since Maverick’s blood was included in today’s reward, Arian thought Maverick would draw his own blood himself, since Miles had rejected it.

“I will… leave it to Mr. Clifford.”

Unexpectedly, Maverick volunteered to draw his blood for Arian.

Arian nodded.

Afterwards, the group resumed their movement and soon reached the entrance of the barricade.

“Back already?”

At the entrance, Miles’ wife, Hailey, was standing guard with a gun.

Behind her, Emerie was also visible.

Aiden was already wearing his helmet again, so there was no surprise at their appearance.

“Hmm? What about Joseph?” Hailey asked.

Miles briefly explained Joseph’s situation.

Then Hailey sighed deeply, and Emerie bit her lip, holding back words.

In that gloomy atmosphere, Claire spoke up first.

“Then I’ll bring the gasoline.”

Saying so, Claire went inside the barricade.

Miles also took Hailey inside, and the guard duty of the gate was left to Emerie for a while.

While Arian took out a syringe when Maverick approached.

“…”

Staring at Aiden fiercely, who was on guard duty, Emerie did not say the sharp words she usually did.

Perhaps because Sadie was present.

The awkward time passed.

“Huh, here you go. Is this enough?”

Claire soon came out holding gasoline.

The amount of oil in the large plastic container was sufficient to be the reward for the request.

However.

“It seems a bit discolored.”

The quality wasn’t that great.

It wasn’t unusable, but to be honest, it was borderline.

Upon this, Claire raised both hands and said.

“That can’t be helped. This is the best we have.”

Humming, Aiden nodded his head.

“Probably, this is the only gasoline we could find while just exploring the empty city. It’s too much to demand high standards for that.”

Aiden accepted this as compensation and spoke.

“Now what?”

“Well, we should leave, of course.”

Aiden’s head turned briefly towards Emerie.

She, who had been against moving from the beginning, still seemed unswayed.

Perhaps because of this, Emerie, who had kept her mouth shut, finally spoke.

“You still haven’t given up?”

Emerie said, annoyed, as if scolding Claire.

In response, Claire’s voice raised.

“There’s no way we’ll give up.”

“Even though Joseph died because of that?”

At the absurd remark, Claire glanced at Emerie.

“You’re babbling on your own. We’re leaving.”

“…”

“You’re going to stay here alone. What stubbornness, when you’re about to die.”

Claire muttered.

Emerie then placed the rifle in front of her and turned back.

“…Wait for a moment.”

Aiden caught Emerie with words as she tried to walk away.

Emerie looked back at Aiden with a stern expression.

“How about exchanging information with us?”

“Information?”

“Yeas. I have some useful information for you.”

“Well, that sounds good.”

While Claire accepted Aiden’s offer.

“Ha…!”

Then Emerie, as if feeling ridiculous, let out a bitter laugh.

“I think I don’t need to listen.”

“No, it’s worth listening to.”

“…”

“Emerie, anyway, let’s share information. That’s what I’m saying. I’ll call people.”

Soon Claire explained the situation to others and gathered them around Aiden’s group.

“Is it okay to talk like this?”

Claire asked, sounding slightly apologetic.

After all, blood sampling was done, and rewards were received.

Therefore, although there was no wall between Aiden’s group and the survivors, there was an iron bar-like door.

But Aiden seemed to be indifferent, raising his head as if to say it was convenient.

“Isn’t this more comfortable? Don’t you think so?”

The survivors couldn’t say anything.

Aiden spoke first.

“Let me ask first.”

He asked for information he needed about the overall situation in this area, the existence of survivor groups, and information about mutants.

Miles was the one who answered.

“It seems like you came looking for a gang. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find an organization worthy of that name around here.”

“Aren’t there enough people?”

“Look around this Paducah. The city is completely empty. Just a year ago, there were quite a few people, but that was the problem. Supplies were scarce compared to the number of people.”

Having roamed around this area since the beginning of the zombie outbreak, he added a bit of the past to his story.

At first, battles between gangs took place over the remaining supplies. However, when supplies ran out, the gangs themselves disintegrated. People left for other places, and now only a handful of people, like them, remained.

“What about the big cities? The ones in the south?”

“If you’re talking about cities in the south from here, it’s either Nashville or Memphis. I don’t know about others, but Nashville is similar to here. I’m from there. And as for Memphis… anyone familiar with it?”

Miles looked around.

Claire raised her hand.

“I know. It was where there was a temporary military base.”

“A military base?”

“It was created just after the zombie outbreak. When the government was still around, they tried to gather troops there, right?”

“…Good chance it didn’t end well.”

Aiden muttered, seemingly familiar with it.

Since it was right after the zombie outbreak, at that time, they didn’t know about the incubation period of the airborne Beta virus.

So, when they urgently gathered military forces, what happened to those forces afterward was predictable without seeing it.

“Yeah, after that… it turned into a city swarmed with zombies wearing military uniforms. Some people went there, thinking there might be supplies left, but I don’t know what happened.”

Aiden, who had the next destination set for Memphis, paused in thought.

If it was an abandoned military base, there would undoubtedly be resources worth scavenging – military rations, water, and an ample supply of weapons to replenish the bullets and grenades used today.

However, the risk was significantly high compared to the potential gains.

It had been a long time since the zombies had been roaming, so there could be many mutants. On the flip side, finding people might be impossible, making Arian’s abilities less effective.

“So, um-“

Continuing, Aiden asked a few more details.

Deeming that enough surrounding information had been gathered, Aiden changed the topic.

“Alright. Now, let’s talk about mutants.”

“…I’ll answer that.”

Maverick, timidly, stepped forward. Aiden first laid out all the mutants he knew, and Maverick, seemingly struggling to remember Aiden’s words, slowly provided additional details.

“…That’s all. Did I miss anything?”

“Yes. Fortunately, there’s one more. It’s called a Tracker.”

Maverick proceeded to explain about it. A mutant with highly developed hearing, able to locate people through sound and create loud noises to attract zombies.

“Sound? Is it like a Siren?”

“It doesn’t attack people with the sound like a siren. It’s just loud. However, the problem is that the sound attracts zombies.”

“And its appearance?”

“It’s easy to distinguish. It has large ears shaped like fans. However, it moves around mixed with zombie crowds, so if it is in between, you might not notice it.”

Aiden etched Maverick’s words into his mind. It was valuable information.

“Now, it’s my turn to answer. Do you have any questions?”

“Yes. You said you came from the north, right? How is it there?”

Claire asked, as if she had been waiting.

Aiden conveyed everything he had seen and heard in Springfield – gangs that had settled there, their numbers, and even the fact that radiation had leaked.

“R-Radiation?”

Claire and the expressions of the survivors, who had planned to leave this place for the north, stiffened. The only one who had been silent and now opened her mouth was Emerie.

“I knew it. What did I say? Leaving here is dangerous.”

She, who had been the only one opposing leaving Peducah, said so assertively. Miles countered her.

“But isn’t it dangerous here too if there’s radiation?”

“No way, it wouldn’t have reached this far. How far is Nebraska?”

Emerie promptly replied.

However, Aiden shook his head.

“It’s not that simple.”

“What do you mean?”

“Danger isn’t just radiation. By now, the gangs there have probably noticed the presence of radiation. Do you think those guys would stay quiet knowing that?”

“Then…”

Aiden’s words were understood by Emerie, whose face turned pale.

“Yeah, soon, marauders will flock here. Staying here isn’t a wise choice.”

To this small group of survivors, Aiden’s words were like a declaration of a bomb. 

Amidst the silence, Aiden turned back.

“Well then… We’re leaving. Good luck.”

Aiden’s group left the small group of survivors behind.

The survivors just stared blankly at Aiden’s group as they left.