How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

The next day.

Aiden’s group set out in the morning for exploration.

Grants was such a small city that it was difficult to obtain related information even in Albuquerque. So even Aiden only knew of the city’s existence, without having a single map.

“So you don’t know at all what is where?”

Arian asked after hearing about this situation.

To put it bluntly, that was correct.

However, there were things that could be known even without a map.

“The shopping district will be to the south. In small cities like this, the shopping district forms along the main road connecting to the outside.”

“Ah… now that you mention it, I saw it yesterday too. There was a supermarket building and a cluster of motels at the southern end.”

Aiden nodded.

The shops along such roads are mostly motels or restaurants.

While it’s difficult to expect a lot of supplies, there’s a good chance of finding a few canned goods.

It was a decent choice for Aiden, who was looking to replenish the food they had consumed.

“Then let’s search the south first. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Aiden’s group moved to the southern part of the city.

From Aiden’s temporary base to the southern end of the city was only about 2km. It wouldn’t take even 30 minutes to get there.

Having quickly arrived at the shopping district, Aiden looked around.

A street lined with five not-so-large motels, one supermarket, and a few restaurants scattered about.

Perhaps because there were no people, zombies were hardly visible either. The autumn morning sunlight peacefully shone down on the quiet road.

“…”

Aiden directly looked at the red-roofed inn closest to them.

Some windows were broken, and the door was open.

However, apart from that, only traces of time remained, with no particular signs visible.

This meant that not many people had passed through here, and the possibility of mutants hiding was also not very high.

Judging it to be relatively safe, Aiden began to carry out a full-scale exploration.

“You two take care of the motel across the street. I’ll search the supermarket area.”

“Got it.”

“Yes!”

So Aiden’s group spent the morning searching the shopping district in the southern part of the city.

During that time, Sadie and Arian found some bullets and drinking water in a corner of the motel.

Aiden forcibly opened a closed warehouse at the back of the supermarket, discovering some canned salmon and ham inside.

“This is decent enough.”

Aiden muttered as he organized the gathered supplies in front of his reassembled companions after finishing the search.

It was exactly the outcome they had expected, neither more nor less.

“Where do we go next then?”

Arian said.

The time had just passed noon and entered the afternoon.

It was too early to return and rest just because they had achieved their goal.

“Well… it’s not a very large city, so it wouldn’t be bad to search inside the residential area.”

It was when Aiden said this.

Arian, sensing a faint presence from afar, turned to the side.

At the end of her gaze was an animal just crossing the road.

“Oh? That dog again.”

At Arian’s words, the group’s attention turned in that direction.

The dog, dozens of meters away, was oblivious to this and had its nose to the ground.

“…”

Sadie’s gaze filled with peculiar interest.

On the other hand, Aiden still watched the dog’s movements with an indifferent gaze.

Arian, who had been looking at the dog, opened her mouth as if something had occurred to her.

“Ah, if we don’t have anywhere to go, how about following it?”

“The dog, you mean?”

Aiden asked back in a negative tone.

He thought there was nothing to gain from following the dog.

But Arian’s thoughts were different.

“Maybe there’s someone taking care of it.”

“Hmm…”

Aiden let out a thoughtful sound as he considered Arian’s suggestion.

It wasn’t an impossible idea.

Aiden had worried that the dog might be part of a pack of strays, but.

The dog was alone not only today but yesterday as well.

Then… since they didn’t have a clear objective anyway, wouldn’t it be fine to track the dog?

Having thought that far, Aiden nodded.

“Alright. We have nothing to lose.”

“Okay. I’ll take the lead.”

Arian approached where the dog was with steady steps, and Aiden and Sadie followed slightly behind.

When their distance had narrowed to about 20 meters.

“…!”

The dog raised its head abruptly upon hearing the footsteps.

Looking closely, the dog’s breed was a Golden Retriever, and as a large dog, it was quite big.

Perhaps it had been someone’s pet in this city.

Meanwhile, the Retriever that had spotted Arian stared at her intently, as if observing.

Its tail at the back wagged.

However, when Arian took a few more steps towards the dog.

Swoosh!

The Retriever quickly turned and ran towards the residential area.

The dog’s figure soon disappeared, hidden by buildings.

“Can you track it?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Arian answered as if it was obvious to Aiden’s question.

Her senses clearly detected the presence of the dog panting in some house’s yard.

“This way.”

Arian led the group.

The street they arrived at following her was a quiet place befitting a small town’s residential area.

A yard painted in bright brown like the desert was visible inside an iron fence. Behind such a yard sat a modest, not-so-large house with a simple design.

It would have been a quite peaceful scene if not for the garbage and junk piled on top.

Aiden’s group walked through this residential area.

The distance to the Retriever quickly narrowed.

Seeing Arian suddenly appear from around a corner, the dog was startled and ran again.

Arian, who was about to leisurely chase the dog, raised her eyebrows slightly as she noticed something.

“There are some zombies around here.”

She said, looking around the residential area.

The presence of zombies could be felt inside some buildings.

However, their numbers were not many.

At most, one or two were wandering in one out of every five houses.

“Where?”

“There’s no need to fight. We can easily avoid them.”

Arian said this to Aiden, who was immediately taking a combat stance.

They continued to follow the Retriever. The dog just stared intently at Arian’s figure before running away again, so the distance didn’t narrow, but it didn’t matter much.

They weren’t tracking to catch the dog anyway. They just wanted to see if there was an owner.

“Hmm…?”

At that moment, Arian, sensing the Retriever’s presence, tilted her head.

In this residential area, the Retriever had always moved across roads or between houses.

But now the Retriever had just entered some building.

Could there be an owner there?

Arian approached the building the Retriever had entered. It was an unremarkable one-story house made of red bricks with an olive-colored roof.

“The dog is inside there.”

Arian said, pointing to that place.

Aiden fiddled with his helmet and asked.

“Anything else?”

“Doesn’t seem to be.”

Hmm- Aiden let out a thoughtful sound at the answer.

He wasn’t sure if this was the dog’s territory, but it didn’t seem to be a place with an owner.

“Let’s go in.”

The door of the red house was wide open.

Arian entered the house with light steps.

The Retriever was inside the house.

“…”

Arian and the Retriever faced each other at a much closer distance than before.

Again, the Retriever’s tail wagged.

Did it like people?

Just in case, Arian tried to pat the dog’s head.

But before she could take even a few steps closer, the Retriever turned again and went out through the back door.

“It doesn’t seem to dislike people… why does it keep running away?”

Arian tilted her head.

As she was about to chase the Retriever again, it was quiet behind her.

Turning around, she saw Aiden standing still in front of the house’s yard.

Arian approached him.

“What are you doing?”

“There’s something like this here.”

Aiden pointed to a corner of the yard.

There was a typical dog house made of gray plastic. Under its roof, a bone-shaped nameplate attached to the space had the name ‘Louie’ engraved on it, and the floor was covered with old cloth.

Also, its size was quite large. Just right for the Retriever they had seen earlier to use.

“Could it be that dog’s house?”

“It might be.”

Aiden turned away from the dog house.

He entered the house.

The inside of the house was a mess due to the door being open for a long time.

But Aiden carefully observed the inside of the house as if examining it.

Soon, something caught his eye.

It was a small frame on top of a cupboard.

Aiden wiped off the dusty, opaque surface with his clothes.

“This is…”

It was a photo.

A picture of the Retriever they had just seen and some unknown old man smiling brightly.

Was this house indeed where that dog had lived?

Just as such certainty formed in Aiden’s mind.

“Woof!”

A loud bark stimulated Aiden.

The Retriever, which had somehow returned to the house, was barking at Aiden.

“Grrrr…”

Moreover, the Retriever was growling, baring its teeth as if about to pounce at any moment.

The impression of the dog that had just been cute until now clearly changed.

Faced with this clear hostility, Aiden cautiously confronted the Retriever.

“It doesn’t like you. Does it know you’re a zombie?”

Arian, who had approached from behind, said.

Indeed, with a dog’s sense of smell, it could probably see through Aiden’s identity no matter how much he covered himself.

But even so, the Retriever didn’t attack Aiden.

It just barked fiercely, trying to drive Aiden away.

“…It’s well-trained.”

“Trained?”

“It knows zombies are enemies but doesn’t bite. If it was a dog that immediately attacked zombies, it would have already become a Beast.”

Aiden, standing in front of it, calmly praised the dog’s behavior.

It was a dog-like wisdom for surviving in this world overrun by zombies.

“Woof! Woof!”

However, they couldn’t let the dog keep barking like this forever.

Even a dog’s barking is noise.

It could attract nearby zombies at any time.

So while Aiden was pondering how to make this Retriever quiet.

Arian suddenly snapped her fingers and spoke.

“Ah, I get it now.”

“Get what?”

“You were the problem.”

Arian pointed her finger at Aiden.

Aiden’s brow furrowed slightly at those incomprehensible words.

“What do you mean I’m the problem-“

“That’s enough. You, go over there. A bit far.”

Arian said, gesturing outside the house.

Aiden couldn’t understand her intention in saying this, but he moved outside the house following her words for now.

* * *

And some time later.

Aiden was sitting in front of another house about 20 meters away from the red brick house.

What he was watching, leaning against an old white plastic chair under a blue roof, was the sight of Arian, Sadie, and the dog named Louie.

“Hmm…”

Aiden let out a short sigh as he watched his companions playing with the dog, letting out bright laughter.

The Retriever they had been chasing, Louie, was a dog that really liked people.

Enough to play without hesitation with two girls he had just met.

Although one wasn’t a human but a vampire, from the dog’s perspective, it didn’t seem to feel much difference.

“Wow! It really caught it!”

Sadie exclaimed as she watched Louie beautifully snatch the frisbee she had thrown in mid-air.

Arian had found the frisbee abandoned in the house and thrown it just in case.

Louie caught it skillfully, as if he had often played with it before.

Sadie patted Louie as he brought back the frisbee.

Louie responded by wagging his tail vigorously.

“It must have been three hours already, they’re playing well.”

Aiden said, looking at the sky.

The sun that had been overhead was now significantly tilted to one side.

But Aiden wasn’t in a hurry.

He didn’t feel like it was a waste of time at all.

For both Sadie and Arian, this time to relax was rather precious.

Mental stress that doesn’t show on the surface could be a bad variable that even exceeds Aiden’s expectations.

Also, Aiden hadn’t wasted his own time during this period.

While his companions were with Louie, he had explored this residential area as well as a grocery store a bit further away, and now the fruits of that were beside him.

What he found there was, as expected, some food.

But today there was something a bit different too.

It was dog food cans.

The amount of canned food Aiden had brought was quite a lot.

These days, food has become so scarce that many people eat even such pet food without discrimination.

But those who had last looted this grocery store must have still had the luxury of being picky about food, as cans with dog pictures on them were left on the shelves as they were.

Aiden called Arian and handed over those cans.

Sadie gave them to Louie, and watched contentedly as the dog ate.