How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

The next morning, Aiden and Susan arrived in front of a nursing home in the northern part of Fairfield.

A sturdy building made of light brown bricks with a reddish roof.

It was considerably larger in scale than an ordinary house.

According to Susan, there was even an indoor garden space inside.

Aiden looked at the nursing home.

Apart from the many windows, it seemed sufficient to serve as a group’s base.

“Grrreee…”

However, in the flat parking lot in front of the nursing home, abandoned vehicles and zombies could be seen together.

Their number was only four.

Not a lot.

But since there were likely many more inside the building, they needed to be dealt with carefully to avoid provoking them.

“Will the children be alright?”

Susan abruptly asked that while observing the zombies.

Her son Theo was currently with Arian and Sadie at their temporary shelter.

And Aiden was well aware of Susan’s concern, having nearly lost her son just a few days ago.

Perhaps she was worried about leaving the two children in the care of Arian, who wasn’t even an adult.

However, Arian was more trustworthy than anyone else present here.

So Aiden shook his head firmly.

Unnecessary worries would only hinder their upcoming operation.

“There’s no need for concern. The shelter is safe enough. Instead, focus on the situation here. If anything, we’re in far greater danger.”

“…Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

Susan let out a short sigh.

Shaking her head to brush aside her concerns, she opened her mouth again.

“Should I go first?”

In Susan’s hand was a spiked mace.

A weapon that could have been seen in a museum, momentarily drawing Aiden’s gaze.

It was a thin steel pipe with a fist-sized steel ball welded at the end, leaving the interior hollow.

Although a far cruder implement than the antique artifacts, it seemed to have been specifically made for hunting zombies, like the axe Aiden was carrying.

“Where did you get that?”

“This? I took it from a plunderer.”

But she added that she didn’t know where or how it had been made.

Aiden nodded and inwardly assessed Susan’s capabilities.

Judging by her lack of excessive fear when facing zombies, she seemed quite experienced in combat.

It made sense, considering Susan had the feat of walking hundreds of kilometers across various cities while accompanied by a child.

So Aiden decided to regard her as more capable than an ordinary survivor when engaging in combat.

“Let’s take them out simultaneously. I’ll handle the two on the right.”

“Understood. Then I’ll deal with the rest.”

The two, who had been hiding behind the abandoned vehicles, split up to the left and right.

Aiden fluidly approached one of the zombies he had turned his back on. The moment the zombie sensed the abruptly approaching presence and tried to turn its head…

Sploosh!

Before it could even look back, Aiden’s axe was embedded in its skull.

The corpse standing on the asphalt collapsed to the ground, as if returning to its original place.

“Kiiik!”

At the same time, another zombie nearby turned towards Aiden.

But before it could let out a shriek, Aiden’s blood-stained axe blade had already sliced through the air.

Shhaak – accompanied by the sound of the wind being cut, the merciless strike tore through the zombie’s neck.

“Geeeh-“

The impact caused the zombie’s body to stagger.

A wheezing sound escaped from its severed trachea.

However, the zombie still reached out its arms towards Aiden in that state.

Its gnashing teeth drew dangerously close, as if about to tear into his flesh.

Aiden swiftly kicked the zombie’s torso. The zombie staggered backwards from the blow to its chest.

Crack!

Aiden then brought his axe down, crushing the head of the zombie that had just regained its footing.

The axe blade struck at an angle, shattering the skull and putting the undead to eternal rest.

After confirming the zombies’ silence, Aiden turned his gaze towards Susan.

Wielding her spiked mace, she had already smashed one zombie’s head and was facing the second.

“Kieeee!”

The zombie charged towards Susan in a frenzied rush.

But even faced with that manic charge, Susan didn’t flinch.

She simply kept the mace slung over her shoulder, then brought it down with perfect timing.

Crunch!

The steel ball at the end struck the zombie’s head squarely, pulverizing its skull and brain.

Indeed, it was a calm and composed response.

Exactly as capable as Aiden had expected.

So Aiden decided to proceed with their search.

“This way.”

Beyond the parking lot where the zombies had fallen was a white door leading into the nursing home.

Aiden peered through the gaps of the boarded-up windows, surveying the interior.

The lobby connected directly to the entrance.

As Susan had warned, there were quite a few zombies inside.

“…”

Aiden gestured to Susan.

Having spotted the zombies herself, her expression stiffened as well.

Susan’s gaze swept across the area.

The number visible at the moment already exceeded 10.

Directly charging into the nursing home and engaging in a frontal assault would be reckless.

“It’s better to lure them here and guard the entrance.”

So Aiden made that suggestion.

Unlike the stores or government offices, the nursing home’s entrance had only a single small door.

A narrow entrance compared to the size of the building, which could be advantageous.

By defending just this entrance, they could significantly mitigate the disadvantage of being outnumbered.

“Are you sure? Even with that advantage, the numbers are still too high.”

Even so, Susan answered hesitantly.

She must have thought that even with the geographical advantage, just the two of them would still be insufficient against such numbers.

However, after intently observing the zombies inside the building, Aiden soon spoke again.

“…It will be fine.”

“On what basis?”

“Those aren’t normal zombies.”

Susan tilted her head in confusion.

To her, they didn’t seem any different from other zombies.

So Aiden added one more remark.

“Just use that if it seems we’re being overwhelmed.”

At those words, Susan nodded her head.

The remaining shotgun shells numbered only eight.

Not a lot, but not an insufficient quantity to deal with this number of zombies either.

“Alright.”

With their plan decided, Aiden carefully opened the nursing home’s door.

Kreeee- The sound stimulated the previously quiet interior.

A few nearby zombies turned their heads.

“Ki-“

It was only a matter of time before they noticed Aiden and Susan.

The starved corpses that had found their prey let out shrieks akin to cheers of celebration.

The zombies inside the dim, cave-like building surged towards the entrance in a dark mass.

“…!”

At their sheer number and frenzy, even Susan seemed a little unnerved.

But Aiden, devoid of any emotion, swung his axe at the foremost zombie that had burst out of the entrance.

Crack!

With an unerring strike, the zombie’s body fell backwards.

In the bright morning sunlight pouring onto the concrete, for a while, the only sound was the grisly cracking of shattered corpses.

* * *

A while later.

“Phew…”

Standing amidst the remains of the zombies, Susan let out a heavy sigh.

Over twenty zombies were lying fallen at the entrance they had been guarding.

However, during that time, Susan hadn’t fired her shotgun even once.

It was because Aiden had been able to hold the entrance far more firmly than she had expected.

“As you said… those zombies were a bit strange.”

Aiden’s performance had exceeded Susan’s expectations.

Simultaneously wielding an axe and a military greatsword, he fought fearlessly without hesitating to grapple, like an action movie star.

In contrast, compared to Aiden, the zombies’ movements were remarkably clumsy.

Their speed wasn’t as fast as expected, and some even mindlessly struck walls instead of the door.

It was sufficiently strange, if not more so.

However, Aiden showed no reaction and simply urged Susan onwards.

“More importantly, let’s start searching.”

At this, Susan nodded her head.

While the zombies were strange, it wasn’t that important of an issue.

They began thoroughly searching the interior of the nursing home.

In the modest lobby, Susan first entered the nearby reception area and the small office connected to it.

Inside was a dusty space with only two desks and a small cabinet.

It seemed to have been neglected for quite some time.

Only the areas touched by the sunlight seeping through the boarded windows had turned pale.

Carefully to avoid raising dust, Susan rummaged through the desk drawers and cabinets.

However, all she found were a few miscellaneous items and documents.

The only decent find was a lighter with some fuel remaining.

“There’s nothing much here. But…”

Susan trailed off as she exited the office holding the lighter, noticing Aiden was already searching the fallen zombies.

Generally, rummaging through the corpses of dead zombies in search of items was both dangerous and of little value.

It wasn’t impossible for zombies to occasionally carry useful supplies, but such cases were rare.

Most were people who had died in combat, so they wouldn’t have pocketed food, water, or other provisions just before their deaths.

At best, the only expected items would be guns, magazines, or melee weapons.

But even those would be immediately noticeable if the zombies were carrying them, without needing to thoroughly check inside their tattered pockets like Aiden was doing.

So Susan asked:

“What are you looking for?”

“Keys. The door leading further inside is blocked.”

Aiden gestured with his chin towards the door connected to the lobby.

As he said, there was a solidly closed brown wooden door.

Susan approached it and turned the handle. But as expected, since it was locked, the handle wouldn’t turn further, and the door couldn’t be opened.

“But would the zombies have keys?”

“They might. Look at their clothes.”

Susan examined the clothes of the zombie Aiden had been searching.

Soiled with dried blood and torn to the point where the original form was barely recognizable.

Even so, Susan could immediately identify those clothes.

They were called scrubs – the attire worn by nurses.

“These are… ah…!”

Realizing this, Susan quickly caught on to something.

She then carefully observed the other fallen zombies around them.

Only then did she fully grasp the meaning behind Aiden’s earlier words about the zombies here being abnormal.

While a cursory glance hadn’t revealed anything, upon closer inspection, some of the zombies were unusually emaciated, with bent spines and legs.

Moreover, the faded hair remaining on their heads was clearly the white hair of the elderly.

Noticing this, Susan frowned deeply.

“These people… don’t tell me…”

“They were probably the elderly residents and nurses who lived here. So the keys to get further inside are likely carried by the nurses.”

At Aiden’s words, Susan could only stiffen her expression.

She didn’t want to know the true identities of the corpses she had just smashed.

“Here it is.”

However, Aiden paid no heed to Susan’s reaction and eventually found a set of keys in a nurse’s clothes.

The rusted keys fit into the keyhole of the closed door.

Click-

The sound accompanied the unlocking mechanism.

With the door handle in his grasp, Aiden looked back at Susan.

“Be careful. There must have been a reason they locked this area.”

Even without Arian’s presence, it was clear that the interior posed a danger.

Susan nodded her head in response.

And the door opened.

Creeeeak-

Beyond the door was a long corridor.

A desolate yet mystical scene with sunlight pouring through windows connected to an indoor garden.

However, in the middle of that corridor were over 10 zombies.

“Kiiiiik!”

“Kiee!”

The zombies immediately charged towards them.

In that unobstructed space without any cover, upon seeing the onrushing zombies, Aiden and Susan felt a sense of bitterness rather than impending danger.

The zombies in this corridor were in even worse condition than those in the lobby.

Only grisly shrieks echoed through the empty corridor.

More than half of them couldn’t even stand properly.

Even those that managed to remain upright simply staggered in a frenzy before collapsing like dominos.

Some crawled using their hands despite having intact legs.

Their emaciated arms moved slowly, and their pitiful flailing wasn’t the least bit threatening, even for zombies.

“…”

As Susan blankly watched those invalid-like zombies, Aiden took action first.

His axe systematically shattered the heads of the immobile corpses one by one.

After quickly clearing the corridor, Aiden surveyed the surroundings.

While there was nothing visible, zombie cries could still be heard from somewhere.

Aiden followed the source of those sounds.

Their origin was one of the small rooms connected to the corridor.

Inside the broken doorway was… as expected, a zombie.

It lay on a bed like a patient, only able to move its head as it cried out.

“…”

Seeing this, Susan covered her mouth with her hand.

She must have inwardly guessed the condition this zombie was in.

“Normal nursing homes aren’t places where healthy elderly people gather. It seems even after becoming zombies, they couldn’t overcome their senility.”

Aiden muttered those words.

He drew his sword and finally granted eternal rest to the zombie unable to support its own body.

With that, silence returned to the corridor once more.

“Are you alright?”

Aiden asked Susan, who had been tense ever since earlier.

With difficulty, she tore her gaze away from the zombie that had died on the bed.

“I’m… I’m sorry. It reminded me of my mother who was bedridden…”

Susan wiped her dry face with one hand.

However, the nightmarish scene carved into her mind didn’t disappear so easily.

“My mother was also in a nursing home, you see.”

“…”

“But it’s alright. Fortunately, she passed away five years ago.”

Under normal circumstances, one might question what was fortunate about that, but after witnessing this scene, even Aiden couldn’t argue against her words.

Judging that any consolation or empathy would be inappropriate, Aiden simply stated their next task.

“We should search the patient rooms now. Will you be able to?”

“Yes. I was just startled since it was my first time seeing zombies like this. Let’s start right away.”

Susan, having barely regained her composure, answered that way.

Her expression had relaxed considerably compared to earlier.