How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

A little while later.

“You have a point.”

The first to speak in response to Aiden’s proposal was Ricardo.

Though he had been barely conscious due to dehydration symptoms just moments ago, he seemed to have recovered significantly, slowly raising himself up.

“We’ve come this far. I’d rather not die from a gunshot here.”

“That’s… true.”

Ivan chimed in agreement with his words.

Camila, who had been quietly watching her companions, let out a short sigh.

“Are we really going to meet them?”

“We need to get back the supplies they stole, don’t we?”

At Ricardo’s words, Camila snorted.

It was too optimistic a thought.

“Ha, you think they’ll just give them back if we ask?”

“If they won’t give them back, we’ll have to take them by force. After the conversation ends, going back with guns has nothing to do with this junk dealer.”

Ivan said this while looking at Aiden.

Aiden certainly didn’t want the situation to unfold that way, but Ivan was right that he couldn’t interfere beyond this point.

All Aiden could do was open the channel for negotiation.

After the negotiation broke down, Aiden would have no justification or reason to intervene.

“But… it’s not a trap, is it?”

“If it was, there would have been no reason to keep us alive. See that gun?”

In front of Camila, who still couldn’t shake off her suspicion, Ivan pointed to Aiden’s weapons.

All sorts of armaments with nowhere else to store them were hanging from various parts of his body.

“Military rifle, large-caliber pistol, and even grenades. If he wanted to kill us, he could have done so easily already. This junk dealer is the real deal. Watch what you say.”

Did he have some knowledge about weapons?

Ivan saw through at a glance that Aiden’s weapons were no ordinary ones. And also that Aiden was no ordinary junk dealer.

Camila, who knew Ivan’s discerning eye well, nodded with a sigh.

“Alright, I get it. Let’s meet them once.”

Even Camila, who had been expressing concern all along, accepted Aiden’s proposal.

Finally, the opinions of the three were gathered.

Ricardo looked at Aiden.

“So you’ll guide us there?”

“That’s right. Follow me.”

Aiden gestured with his chin to indicate the direction and led them to the cabin on the rocky mountain.

* * *

A short while later.

Ricardo’s group was finally face to face with Zaid.

Zaid was surprised at first to see those who returned with Aiden, but after hearing Aiden’s explanation, he nodded with a grim face.

“Let’s talk inside first.”

So they all gathered inside the small cabin.

Zaid and Ricardo’s group, as well as Aiden’s group.

The not-so-spacious area was packed with eight people.

There was a table in the cabin that could seat exactly 4 people.

On one side sat Zaid and Linda, and on the opposite side sat Ricardo and Camila.

Aiden leaned against the wall of the cabin, staring intently at the table.

A tense atmosphere hung between the people sitting across from each other.

Only Arian seemed uninterested, staring blankly out the window next to Sadie.

Aiden initiated the start of the conversation there.

He explained why Ricardo’s group had chased Zaid.

“They say you stole supplies from their camp.”

Ricardo’s group’s camp was in a warehouse building on a shallow mountainside.

In a narrow sense, it was a similar environment to this cabin.

However, the surrounding mountain range was quite wide, so at the time, Ricardo’s group had gone out hunting animals to supplement their scarce food supply.

Ricardo’s group claimed that during that time, Zaid had come to the camp and stolen their supplies.

“That’s… correct. I certainly did take supplies from that camp at that time.”

Zaid answered like that.

He had admitted outright to the theft allegations claimed by Ricardo’s group.

“…”

Ricardo’s group stared at Zaid expressionlessly.

It was as if they had expected this response.

“But didn’t you say you had no idea about this?”

“That’s also true. I didn’t know those supplies had owners.”

Zaid made that excuse in response to Aiden’s questioning.

Meanwhile, Camila scoffed at Zaid’s words.

“Ha, does that make sense? There were only food and water in an empty building?”

“That place, like here, was passed through by many people heading to LA. I thought someone among them might have been unable to take their supplies due to unavoidable circumstances. Such thinking isn’t that strange, is it?”

Zaid answered calmly to Camila’s irritated question.

Since his words weren’t logically wrong, Camila couldn’t refute and just let out a hollow laugh.

At this, Ivan, who was standing behind, opened his mouth.

“So you judged there was no owner, is that it?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t have left supplies just sitting there and gone outside if it were me.”

Camila’s eyebrows raised at those words.

It was essentially saying it was their fault after all.

Her voice, continuing immediately, became a bit rougher.

“So you just take whatever has no owner?”

“Isn’t it more unreasonable to leave it behind?”

“That’s-“

“Enough.”

Ricardo stopped Camila, who was about to argue further.

Camila looked at him as if wronged, but Ricardo shook his head.

“We were careless… it’s true.”

Ivan said that too.

Ricardo nodded and continued speaking.

“I think so too. So I won’t argue about the theft. Just return the supplies you took.”

At this point, arguing about who was right or wrong was meaningless.

After all, this was what was important.

However, at his demand, confusion appeared for the first time on Zaid’s face, which had maintained composure until now.

“Even if I want to… the truth is, there’s not much left.”

“What?”

The amount of supplies there wasn’t much to begin with.

It was obvious if you thought about it.

How much food and water did they think just three people could carry across this desert?

So it was only the minimum amount to eat and drink for 3-4 days at most.

And that small amount of food was already less than half gone after the recent chase.

“Is this all?”

“This is all we have.”

What Zaid produced was just a couple of canned goods and one container of drinking water.

Ricardo’s face crumpled upon seeing this.

“…We can’t last long with this.”

It takes more than two days of walking through the desert to reach the nearest village from here.

Moreover, there’s no certainty that there will be food and water in that village either.

It would take nearly a week to completely leave the desert, but this amount of food wasn’t enough for three humans to survive.

The moment this was realized, the atmosphere in the cabin became heavy.

Camila glared at Zaid as if she wanted to kill him, and Ricardo lightly bit his lip.

Ivan’s hand, which had been crossed, naturally moved towards the pistol on his waist.

Zaid watched their reactions, and fear settled on Linda’s face as she sensed an impending fight.

Amidst this, the first to speak was… an unexpected person.

“Aiden.”

As if a ray of light was shining into the gloomy cabin, a clear voice was heard.

It was Arian.

People’s gazes turned towards her.

Arian was still staring out the window.

“What is it?”

“Zombies.”

Ivan’s hand, which had been fiddling with his pistol, twitched.

The others also couldn’t hide their bewilderment at this unexpected variable.

Amidst this, only Aiden’s monotonous voice continued calmly.

“How many?”

“A lot. They’re coming in a horde from the desert. It seems to be a swarm.”

“We’ll have to avoid them. Let’s move.”

Aiden’s group’s decision was quick.

Aiden picked up his rifle and immediately left the cabin.

Arian also followed Aiden, taking Sadie with her.

“W-Wait a minute! Is it true? Zombies?”

Camila asked from behind Aiden.

The zombies weren’t even visible yet.

This was because, although the rocky mountain wasn’t very high and trees didn’t grow on it, the view was blocked due to the terrain’s elevation differences.

So Ricardo rather turned a doubtful gaze towards Aiden.

“Junk dealer. If you’re playing some clumsy trick now-“

“If you can’t believe it, don’t. I don’t particularly care.”

But Aiden didn’t try to persuade them.

At this resolute attitude, Ricardo clicked his tongue as if displeased.

However, Zaid and Linda were different.

Knowing that Aiden was skilled in zombie hunting, they followed Aiden without hesitation.

“Hey, we’re not done talking yet!”

Camila shouted, watching Zaid.

Zaid turned back for a moment and let out a short sigh.

He spoke to Ricardo’s group, still in a polite manner.

“Let’s escape from here for now.”

“What?”

“It’s not like you lose anything by moving a little. Hurry!”

At Zaid’s urging, their expressions changed.

The tone and atmosphere seemed so urgent that it didn’t seem like poor acting.

“Let’s get out of here for now. I have a bad feeling.”

Ivan said this as well.

Camila didn’t seem to object either, quietly waiting for Ricardo’s decision.

“Damn it, what’s going on…!”

At this, Ricardo, who had been sitting at the table until then, stood up.

They followed Aiden up towards the top of the rocky mountain.

The peak of the rocky mountain they reached was just a hill about a few dozen meters high.

A place where you could see at a glance the small mountain ranges that rose sparsely like waves on the flat terrain of the desert.

“There they come.”

Standing there, Aiden said, looking in the direction where the cabin had been.

The others who arrived late looked down, panting.

There was a swarm of about a thousand zombies that had gathered, now pitch black.

“Holy sh-!”

“It was real!”

Ricardo and Camila were shocked to see this.

The small cabin where they had been staying was engulfed by the raging zombie horde, and was being smashed to pieces as if crushed by heavy machinery in an instant.

Zaid and Linda also watched the scene with pale faces.

Meanwhile, Aiden was looking for an escape route while examining the scale of the approaching zombie swarm and the terrain.

Fighting head-on against a zombie swarm of that size would be reckless and foolish.

So the best option was to use the characteristic of the swarm sweeping through in one direction.

To completely move out of the path where they were passing through.

But that’s not always as easy as one might think.

Above all, the zombie swarm was already too close.

Even if they fled desperately, they ultimately couldn’t escape from the zombies’ sight.

In other words, it meant they couldn’t completely avoid combat.

“We’ll have to run from here.”

Having finished his calculations, Aiden gestured to Arian.

Arian, who immediately understood his intention, lifted Sadie up.

Arian, now carrying a large bag on her back and Sadie in front, looked very uncomfortable just from her appearance.

However, Arian herself didn’t flinch at all, and only Sadie, who was suddenly picked up by Arian, opened her eyes wide.

“I, I…”

“There’s no time.”

Aiden spoke quietly to Sadie, who was about to say she was fine.

If they were going to avoid those things, a child’s running speed wouldn’t even come close to being enough.

At this, Sadie bowed her head as if ashamed.

And she whispered quietly to Arian who was holding her.

“…I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

While Arian was taking care of Sadie like this.

Aiden glanced once towards Zaid and Ricardo’s group.

“What are you doing standing there blankly?”

Aiden said, looking at them.

Only then did they come to their senses, belatedly trying to grasp the situation by looking around.

“This way.”

Aiden, who had spoken quietly to them, immediately kicked off the ground and ran.

Arian ran alongside him.

“L-Let’s go too!”

“Move!”

Zaid and Ricardo followed a beat late.

The wave of zombies that had swallowed the mountainside was rising towards the top of the shallow rocky mountain.