How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“That room. There’s one as soon as you enter, and another one farther inside.”

Arian whispered, pointing at a slightly open door that led off from the hallway.

Nodding, Aiden approached the door and lowered his voice.

“Got it. I’ll take the one in front.”

“Alright, then I’ll handle the one in the back.”

The door immediately opened, and simultaneously, the spinning axe blade struck the zombie’s head.

Without even letting out a scream, the zombie collapsed, and Arian swiftly followed inside.

“Kri-“

The zombie, just about to turn its back, had its head launched into the air.

Thus, the two zombies that had been trapped in the small office room fell like rotten pieces of wood.

Aiden looked at the faded police uniforms the zombies were wearing and spoke.

“Next?”

“Hmm… none. That was the last one on the first floor.”

At Arian’s words, Aiden nodded his head.

“Okay, then… let’s go to the warehouse.”

While clearing out the zombies, Aiden and Arian had already found the police station’s armory located in a corner of the first floor.

Although it was locked and they hadn’t checked inside yet, now that all the zombies on the first floor were cleared, it was the first place they needed to visit.

The two immediately headed towards the armory entrance.

The armory door had a double door structure, with metal bars in the front and a wooden door behind.

It was a fairly robust security measure, but Aiden’s group didn’t need to bother finding a key.

Arian could easily cut through the metal bars alone, and the wooden door behind it would be no problem.

“I’ll cut it then.”

Arian’s crimson blade sliced through the bars.

The sharp tearing sound echoed through the quiet building.

Zombies on the upper floors responded with eerie screeches, but the staircase leading down was still quite far away, so it ended as a momentary commotion.

Arian used the same method to cut through the other wooden door as well.

After opening the door, they entered the armory, but…

“What, there’s nothing here?”

The place was completely empty.

The only things left were flares used as signal lights and non-lethal rubber bullets, just miscellaneous items.

There wasn’t a single usable weapon in sight.

Arian frowned in disappointment.

“Now what?”

In response to her question, Aiden silently looked around the empty armory.

From the fact that it was locked from the outside, and the traces left in the building, it didn’t seem like someone had already looted it.

Yet, for the weapons to have disappeared without a single one left behind, it was hard to assume they were simply consumed during combat.

Then… it was more likely that the weapons had been deliberately relocated somewhere beforehand.

“Seems like the weapons were moved somewhere else. We should search the surrounding area first.”

“Alright, I’ll check over there then.”

Aiden and Arian began searching through the dusty, corpse-filled interior of the police station.

While Arian checked the opposite side of the hallway, Aiden entered an office.

It was a typical office space with rows of desks and chairs arranged at a fixed distance.

Aiden first scanned the desktops.

A few yellowed documents caught his eye.

Looking at the contents, it seemed to be a document sent from some government office three years ago.

The content itself was meaningless, so Aiden brushed it aside and looked at the bulletin board. There were names, photos, and phone numbers listed, along with records of crimes under investigation.

He then opened the drawers under the desk.

Inside were candies or chocolates, still wrapped in their pretty packaging, reflecting the sunlight peeking in from outside, though it was impossible to tell when they were purchased.

They looked beautiful, but after being left at room temperature for over three years, they had undoubtedly spoiled, so Aiden easily ignored them.

In this way, he moved from desk to desk, searching one by one.

When Aiden reached the desk farthest back…

“…”

He discovered a skeleton lying behind it.

It was undoubtedly a police officer.

The completely skeletonized remains were still wearing a police uniform.

Judging by the skeleton, it seemed to be a man who had taken shelter under the desk before breathing his last.

Although only bones remained, his cause of death could be clearly determined.

Not only was there a penetrating hole through his skull, but more importantly, the handgun still clutched in his fingertips provided the decisive clue.

Aiden carefully retrieved the gun from his hand.

As he did so, the finger bones, barely supported by leaning against the gun, crumbled and fell.

It was one of the standard 9mm pistols commonly used by police officers.

A few rounds were still loaded inside, and since it had been kept at room temperature without getting rained on, the condition of the gun wasn’t too bad.

It was definitely usable.

With that judgment, Aiden took the pistol for himself. After all, the man no longer needed a gun.

Aiden stood up.

He intended to search this desk where the man had been hiding and then leave the office immediately.

But then…

“Hmm…?”

Aiden’s eyes caught a familiar word as he glanced over the documents on the desk.

Zombie.

A word that couldn’t be found in any government documents before this virus appeared.

In other words, this document was created after the zombie outbreak.

Aiden immediately skimmed through the contents.

It was a report written by the police.

The author’s name was… Amelia Johnson.

It contained an account of the events that occurred in this city of Tyler during the early stages of the zombie outbreak, and the struggle of law enforcement against the zombie virus.

“…”

Aiden calmly read through the faded letters, discolored by sunlight.

Eyewitness accounts of the first sightings of the ferocious monsters.

The horrific damage inflicted by being attacked by those monsters.

Yet, according to the government’s announcement, it was all just violent delusions caused by a contagious virus.

The report then detailed the police’s anguish over whether they should shoot and kill all those infected patients.

Written in a stiff tone, listing the facts and opinions the author had witnessed, the chaos and fear it contained were vividly conveyed to Aiden as well.

How could he not understand it?

Aiden himself had gone through the same era and process to reach this point.

Rustle-

Aiden turned to the next page of the report.

It concisely summarized the subsequent situation.

The police seemed to have tried various means to confront the zombies, but in the end, the city of Tyler, like many others, was eventually devoured by them.

And this police station appeared to have been the last bastion for the remaining survivors at that time.

“Hmm…”

Aiden let out a sigh, recalling the scene he had witnessed in the hallway.

Those barricades and corpses were likely remnants of their final struggle.

Turning to the last page of the report, Aiden finally found the clue he was looking for.

“So they moved the weapons at this time.”

The report also mentioned that the police had planned to barricade themselves inside the station, gathering all available manpower, and as a precaution, they had moved all usable supplies to the third floor.

Aiden immediately found Arian and shared the information he had discovered, and they decided to go up to the third floor.

“There are zombies on the upper floors too. Less than the first floor, but still some.”

“Understood. We’ll clear them out as we go.”

The two carefully began dealing with the zombies on the second floor.

On the second floor, there were not only offices but also interrogation rooms.

As Arian sliced through the zombies, she cast a curious glance at the bare light bulb dangling in one of the interrogation rooms.

Noticing her intrigued gaze, Aiden asked:

“Why are you looking like that?”

“It’s my first time coming to a place like this. Isn’t this where the police and criminals used to sit face-to-face? I’ve seen it in movies before.”

Arian spoke while looking at the table in the interrogation room.

Aiden seemed to understand what she was referring to.

Interrogation rooms like this were a staple in many popular crime and investigation movies that were once big hits in America.

“I see.”

“What, have you been here before?”

“Of course.”

Arian’s jaw dropped at Aiden’s nonchalant response.

“Why, did you commit some crime?”

“Not as a criminal. But this isn’t the first time I’ve searched a police station.”

“Ah…”

For some reason, Arian let out a slightly disappointed sigh.

The two then passed through the interrogation room and climbed the stairs leading to the third floor.

“…”

At first glance, the scene on the third floor didn’t differ much from the first.

Barricades piled in the hallway, traces of countless bullets grazing the walls, and scattered corpses on the floor.

It was identical to the first floor where combat had taken place.

It wasn’t surprising.

According to the report, three years ago, the police had planned their last stand here.

Moreover, after moving all their supplies to this top floor, this place must have become their final line of defense.

But for some reason, the number of corpses seemed oddly low.

More importantly, there were hardly any corpses wearing police uniforms.

Then did that officer named Amelia, who wrote the report, manage to achieve her goal?

While Aiden was having these thoughts-

“Look over there.”

Arian, who had also been observing the surroundings, pointed to a nearby room with a slightly ajar door.

Inside… were weapons.

Although not in huge numbers, there were about ten rifles placed on racks, and a few ammunition boxes were visible nearby.

Aiden immediately approached the rifles.

Painted in black, they were all military-grade automatic rifles.

Moreover, they were from the same lineage as the U.S. military rifles, similar to the ones Aiden had been using.

Although their condition wasn’t great due to being left unattended for a while, and not all ten were in working order, Aiden could still obtain usable rifles without any trouble.

“How is it? Seems okay?”

“Yeah. This should be enough to take a breather.”

Aiden took out the three rifles in the best condition and leaned them against the wall separately.

Next, checking the ammunition boxes, he was able to recover around 200 rounds for the rifles and 100 rounds for pistols.

It was a bountiful harvest, more than enough to accomplish their purpose for coming here.

Afterwards, Aiden and Arian briefly checked the rooms connected to the third floor, just in case there were any other supplies stored.

However, apart from this armory, the rest were just regular offices with no notable supplies.

“Should we head back with these then?”

Arian gestured towards the rifles.

With the search of all floors completed, there was nothing left to do in this building.

So Aiden was about to nod in agreement when he suddenly noticed a shadow outside the window.

He went over and opened the window.

There… was an emergency staircase leading up from the third floor to the rooftop.

“…Let’s check up there as well.”

After carefully checking the condition of the stairs, Aiden spoke.

The two climbed up the creaky emergency stairs and reached the rooftop.

However, the rooftop they had struggled to reach was completely empty.

“It’s super clean.”

Arian muttered in apparent bewilderment.

As she said, there wasn’t a single piece of debris on the rooftop. Only a clean gray concrete surface covered the area, as if no one had ever set foot there.

“…”

But Aiden was finding the answer to the curiosity that had been nagging him.

Protruding from the flat rooftop were a few vents and structures.

And on one of them, someone had tied a rope.

Aiden approached and examined it closely.

Although somewhat worn, it was a typical fire escape rope.

Moreover, it reached all the way down to the ground, making it obvious who had installed it and for what purpose.

“…”

Aiden silently nodded his head.

He felt like he had finally confirmed the conclusion to the report he had found.

Of course, Aiden had no way of knowing what happened to them afterwards.

But he was satisfied with the fact that, at the very least, they hadn’t died here.

“Ah, this is…”

Arian, who had belatedly noticed the rope, muttered.

She too seemed to have reached the same conclusion as Aiden, alternating her gaze between the rope and the ground below.

In the meantime, Aiden straightened his body, which had been bent over towards the rope.

“Let’s head back.”

The sky was already dyed in the colors of sunset.

It was time to return.