How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“There’s a person?”

Inside the abandoned school building of the base that had fallen into silence, Susan’s eyes widened at Aiden’s words about a survivor remaining.

“Yes, outside the barricade.”

Aiden pointed in that direction.

As he said, beyond the windows, a residential area could be seen several hundred meters away.

However, it was too far to spot a person with the naked eye.

So Susan asked:

“How do you know?”

“…By chance.”

Aiden mumbled his response.

Before Susan could ask her question, he continued with his next statement.

“So I’m planning to make contact with that person.”

“Of course we should. I also need to find out what happened here. But since it’s dangerous, let’s leave the children here first-“

“No, Arian has already gone to meet that survivor.”

“What? Alone?”

Susan’s tone was a mix of surprise and consternation.

For the not-yet-adult Arian to go alone to make contact with a potentially dangerous survivor, and for Aiden to have permitted it – it was an act beyond recklessness, verging on peculiarity.

However, Aiden lightly disregarded Susan’s dubious gaze.

“So we just need to wait a bit.”

Before departing for the residential area where the unnamed survivor was located, Arian had left them with the instruction to wait only 5 minutes.

If there were any unseen issues there, she would return within 5 minutes.

Otherwise, she would directly subdue the survivor and wait for them at that location.

Aiden had agreed to that simple yet sufficiently safe plan.

If there truly was only one person as Arian had sensed, no matter what weapon they possessed, they wouldn’t be able to withstand her.

And if there were more people hiding, Arian would have detected it in advance.

“How long do we have to wait?”

“…It’s almost time now.”

Soon, the promised duration had passed.

Arian’s presence still hadn’t returned, which likely meant she had successfully subdued the survivor without incident.

Aiden decided to move towards the residential area where Arian would be waiting.

“Let’s go slowly.”

Saying that, Aiden boldly exited the building.

Sadie immediately followed behind him.

While still seeming doubtful, Susan didn’t try to contradict Aiden’s decision as she held Theo’s hand and trailed after them.

A short while later, they arrived at an ordinary house with a black roof and white walls.

Aiden briefly had Susan and the children wait outside before entering through the already open door.

In the living room, a man and Arian were standing face-to-face.

The man was a rugged-looking Caucasian, over 180 cm tall, with a rather unsavory appearance.

“You’re here?”

Arian reacted upon seeing Aiden.

At that, the man fixed an antagonistic gaze towards Aiden’s helmeted face, his demeanor as if he might charge at any moment.

Faced with that impending hostility, Aiden momentarily halted in place.

He then looked towards Arian.

“Didn’t you say you would have him subdued?”

“Don’t worry. He’s not dangerous.”

Only now did Aiden notice Arian’s backside, where a rifle, knife, and other weapons were visible.

She must have already disarmed the man.

If so, Aiden had no complaints, but for some reason, the man’s apparent hostility seemed too pronounced.

Sensing that dissonance, Aiden continued his questioning.

“Did you not explain anything to this man at all?”

“Nope. Talking wasn’t my responsibility.”

Arian shrugged her shoulders in response, and Aiden let out a brief sigh.

In that case, the man’s hostility was understandable.

If an unknown person had approached, disarmed him, and tried to subdue him without any explanation, anyone would react that way.

Aiden looked at the man again.

It seemed he would have to start the conversation from here.

He first introduced himself.

“I’m Aiden Lee, a junk dealer.”

Aiden then began explaining to the man the circumstances that had brought them here and their reasons for finding him.

* * *

Some time later…

“So… you came all this way looking for people, is that it?”

The man Arian had apprehended, River Evans, asked that question.

While his face was still tense, his posture leaning against the window frame had somewhat relaxed.

Not completely, but his wariness had significantly eased compared to earlier.

Perhaps it was due to Aiden’s thorough explanation of the situation.

Or maybe he had judged they weren’t plunderers after Susan and the children had belatedly joined them.

In any case, it was a positive development.

Aiden nodded at River’s words.

“That’s about right. So if possible, I’d like you to explain what happened here.”

“I can do that much. But before that, who are you looking for?”

At that question, Aiden looked towards Susan.

As if waiting for it, she responded.

“Xavier Nelson. He’s in his 60s and of the same Northeast Asian descent as me. Do you know him?”

“Ah… that old man. Of course I do. The one who loves his drinks, right?”

River slightly smiled as he spoke.

However, Susan tilted her head in confusion.

“Huh? After the surgery a few years ago, my uncle hasn’t been able to drink alcohol.”

At that, River immediately wiped away his previous smile and continued speaking.

“I see. Since I hadn’t heard about you being his niece, I was just testing the waters. But it seems… you really do know Xavier.”

River said that while looking at Susan and then Theo behind her.

Faced with the imposing gaze of the intimidating middle-aged man, Theo hid behind his mother.

Observing River’s behavior, Aiden spoke.

“Then answer my question now. What happened to the group that was here?”

“Isn’t it obvious from the state of things? The base was demolished, and the people scattered.”

“How did that happen?”

“It started because of one dumb mutant bastard.”

River rambled about the mutant he had witnessed.

It was a type even Aiden had never heard of before.

“The thing had a body larger than any other zombie. Over 3 meters tall, and its grotesquely swollen muscles made its physique like a basketball.”

River called that mutant a Rhino.

A name derived from how it would charge like a rhinoceros, using its body as a battering ram to smash through everything.

“It was a real monster. The bullets just bounced off its rock-hard muscles, and a single strike from it brought down the barricades. And that wasn’t all – it turned the inside of the base into a mess too.”

So that was the reason for the barricades being breached in multiple places that Aiden had noticed earlier.

Aiden furrowed his brow as he recalled the state of the abandoned base he had previously passed through.

“We barely managed to drive it out of the base after a hellish struggle. But by then, after the overnight battle, many of our people had already died. But… that wasn’t the end of it. Soon after, those gang bastards came pouring in.”

“A gang? The ones nearby?”

“Yeah, the ‘Iron Sight’ ones. The guys who had been occupying the city center. Naturally, they weren’t on good terms with us.”

“How many of them?”

“A bit over 500.”

After roughly grasping the situation, Aiden nodded.

In the end, it seemed River’s group had been swiftly overwhelmed by an unexpected mutant attack, followed by an assault from hostile forces taking advantage of the situation.

Compared to the remnants of the base Aiden had surveyed, there was no reason to doubt his testimony.

“Then where did the survivors go? Surely there must have been some who made it out alive.”

At that question, River gritted his teeth.

With a fierce gaze, he glared outside through the window, towards the direction of the city center.

“Half of the survivors were taken by Iron Sight.”

“Taken?”

It was a puzzling statement.

In this world where even securing food for themselves was difficult, for one organization to forcibly take the defeated remnants of another after their conflict…

Could it be an attempt to use people as resources, like cultists or cannibals?

However, when Aiden voiced that doubt, River shook his head.

“It’s not like that. They probably intend to use them as slaves.”

It was a concept Aiden couldn’t comprehend.

Even if they truly did employ slaves, a minimum infrastructure would be required.

They would need some sort of primitive farm for the slaves to work and generate resources through their labor.

In this world of scavenging abandoned supplies amidst the zombies, the concept of slavery didn’t seem feasible.

“It might not make sense if you came from another city, but… there’s a reason for it here.”

As if guessing Aiden’s thoughts, River continued speaking.

“This has been a place of relentless warfare for the past 3 years. For over 2 years, gangs consisting of the military and civilians, combined with zombies, fiercely battled each other.”

Originally a major city with a population exceeding 2 million, River said most of Houston had now been completely destroyed by that prolonged conflict.

“The city center was hit the hardest. All those high-rise buildings and structures that had stood there were utterly demolished. But here’s the interesting part. Along with those collapsed buildings, an incredible amount of resources were also buried.”

“…”

“Thanks to that, this city became a strange place where digging into the ground yields resources. So here, slaves hold value. Without even needing to deal with zombies, just doing some digging can unearth food.”

So there was a reason like that.

After hearing River’s explanation, Aiden could understand the gang’s actions.

Naturally, his interest then shifted towards the existence of this man named River.

“But why were you here?”

“To keep watch.”

“Over who?”

“Those Iron Sight bastards. That demolished base was part of their patrol territory.”

From River’s words, Aiden quickly grasped a certain fact.

“…Seems you weren’t alone.”

“That’s right. I mentioned earlier that half the survivors were taken, right? Some of the remaining half just left for other cities. But on the other hand, there were also people who gathered for revenge.”

And River added that he was one of those people.

Vendettas and cycles of retaliation between survivor groups were all too common tales in this world.

So Aiden calmly nodded, but there was someone who couldn’t simply overlook that information.

Susan.

“Then what about my uncle? Was he there too?”

“No, he wasn’t. From what I know, that old man was likely taken by Iron Sight.”

Those words cast a shadow over Susan’s face.

Not only was she worried about her uncle, but the long journey she had undertaken to receive news of him now seemed like wasted effort.

It was a lamentable situation, but there was nothing Aiden could do about it.

It was at that moment, as Aiden was thinking that way…

“So, junk dealer. Won’t you help us? I want to hire you for a request.”

River made that proposal.

However, the content of the request he mentioned was all too obvious.

Which was why Aiden immediately shook his head.

“I refuse.”

His intention was resolute.

For a junk dealer to intervene in conflicts between gangs was akin to gambling.

The requests such people entrust to junk dealers are invariably the most dangerous or unsavory tasks in combat operations.

Yet even so, the path to receiving that compensation was treacherous.

After all, if by any chance the gang that had hired him was defeated in battle, the employer would simply vanish.

“Is that so? But it’s already too late, my junk dealer friend.”

In response to Aiden’s refusal, River ominously smiled and only said that.

Sensing the ominous undertone in his attitude, Aiden glared at him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I told you, didn’t I? This is those bastards’ patrol territory.”

At those words, Aiden clicked his tongue in realization.

It meant Iron Sight had already detected Aiden’s group’s presence.

“And it’s not just here. Those guys are monitoring all the major routes in this city. All to capture junk dealers and wanderers like you and use them as slaves.”

Inside his helmet, Aiden’s brow furrowed deeply.

If River’s words were true, they had already fallen into danger.

Having a similar thought, Arian abruptly posed a question.

“Wait. Then what about our vehicle?”

“You had a vehicle? Forget about it. They’ve probably already seized it. And they’re on their way here to capture you.”

River tapped the window facing the base with his finger.

The view of the devastated base visible through the breached barricades was still a gruesome sight.

However, in that distant part of the scenery, there did seem to be moving shadows.

While Aiden’s eyes couldn’t discern what they were…

Arian’s vampiric vision was accurately detecting the minute movements of humans, appearing no larger than dots.

“It’s true. Three… no, four armed guys are coming this way. And there might be more behind them.”

At Arian’s words, Aiden let out a sigh.

An unexpected situation.

However, he showed no signs of panic.

Aiden simply considered the viable countermeasures one by one.

“Should I go?”

Arian then asked that.

Of course, deploying her was one possible method.

Regardless of how many were approaching, she could potentially wipe them all out.

But that wouldn’t be a complete solution.

The real issue was their vehicle.

Not only the supplies and weapons they had accumulated so far, but the vehicle itself was a means of transportation they couldn’t easily abandon.

So if possible, they needed to recover it, but the fact that those men had advanced this far likely meant their vehicle had already been seized.

Ultimately, to retrieve the vehicle, they would need to make a move against Iron Sight’s base.

Simply eliminating the men here would be meaningless.

So Aiden shook his head and looked at River.

“Did you know this would happen from the start?”

In response to that suspicious question, River shook his head.