How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“The things I’ve brought are for you anyway. They’re yours.”

Arian said to Sadie.

But Sadie only gave a wry smile in response, as if she found such words burdensome.

At this, Arian looked at Aiden with an awkward expression.

Aiden wasn’t as devoted to Sadie as Arian was.

However, he too didn’t consider the supplies he had obtained as his own.

“The group’s supplies are ultimately shared belongings for all. It doesn’t matter who brought them.”

Aiden added that anyone in the group could make suggestions on how to use the supplies.

In fact, it was a common mindset among many survivor groups and gangs.

While someone goes out to scavenge for supplies, someone else has to guard the base.

Of course, there was an underlying assumption that everyone had to do their part, but Aiden had never thought that Sadie was not pulling her weight.

“But if we end up helping them, you’ll be the one most at risk. Are you still okay with that?”

Aiden double-checked with Sadie once more.

Food supplies were a more crucial resource for the human Sadie compared to zombies or vampires.

Zombies could survive for months without any food at all, and while not to that extreme, vampires could last much longer than humans as long as they had blood.

So if their food supplies decreased here, the one who would be most affected was Sadie herself, who had proposed this idea.

“…Yes.”

As if she had steeled herself for this, Sadie nodded firmly, showing a resolute attitude that she didn’t mind going hungry for several days if needed.

If that was the case, Aiden had nothing more to say.

His gaze turned towards Arian.

“Arian, what’s your opinion?”

“…I’m in favor.”

Though she may have opposed out of concern for Sadie, Arian unexpectedly agreed after a brief moment of contemplation, seeming to prioritize Sadie’s strong will over her own worries.

“Understood.”

With two members of the group having agreed, the fate of their supplies was essentially decided, regardless of Aiden’s opinion.

Aiden took another look at Zaid and Ricardo’s group.

Perhaps due to the distance between them, they seemed to have not heard Aiden’s group’s conversation at all, their gloomy atmosphere persisting.

“…We’ve arrived.”

Before he knew it, the faint outline of a road could be seen in the far distance.

It was at this road that Aiden’s group would part ways, heading south, while the others would go north.

If they were going to share their supplies, now would be the right time.

However, before unpacking his belongings, Aiden posed one last question to Sadie.

“Sadie, why did you make that decision?”

Deep down, Aiden was concerned about Sadie’s choice.

If her reasoning stemmed from simple pity, he thought it might end up becoming a shackle for her someday.

But Sadie’s following response was different from his expectations.

“Well… because you would have done the same, Uncle.”

“Me?”

After a momentary hesitation, Sadie countered by asking if Aiden wouldn’t have made that very decision.

Aiden tilted his head at this.

He couldn’t recall a single instance in his memory where he had made a choice like Sadie’s.

“When have I ever done that?”

“Just a little while ago, when you were fighting the zombies…”

However, Sadie trailed off as if finding Aiden’s reaction strange.

As she said, Aiden had indeed fought at the most dangerous rear position to protect the others when the zombie horde attacked.

If it had been solely to protect himself or his companions, there would have been no reason for him to do that.

That was the point Sadie was making.

“That was…”

The words Aiden intended to say, that it was merely to improve their overall survival efficiency as a zombie, got stuck in his throat.

Because by that logic, this act of sharing food with the others was also improving their survival efficiency.

But in the end, Aiden’s actions were for his own sake.

He was a zombie, but he couldn’t survive without humans.

So it was only natural for him to be concerned about the survival of people other than his own group.

That’s why Aiden didn’t think Sadie needed to learn from his actions like that.

“…”

And yet, pointing that out would be a foolish thing to do.

So Aiden ended the conversation in silence, and Arian gently stroked Sadie’s head beside him.

“You really are kind, Sadie.”

Arian seemed to find Sadie admirable.

But for some reason, Aiden found Arian’s expression unfamiliar.

It was a world where the word ‘kind’ had come to mean the same as ‘foolish.’

That kindness may have suited a child like Sadie, but at the same time, it seemed all too precarious.

“…”

Watching the child give a faint smile at Arian’s touch, Aiden tightly sealed his lips.

A memory from the past surfaced.

A memory of a woman who used to smile as purely as this child – his fiance, Jane.

She too had been someone who maintained her kindness in this ruined world, like Sadie.

And because of that, she ultimately died.

She wasn’t the only one.

Aiden had witnessed many instances where misguided compassion put one’s own life at risk. He had also seen countless humans turn their blades on those who had shown them kindness.

That’s why Aiden couldn’t simply find Sadie admirable.

But he couldn’t deny her either, for her choice was undoubtedly the right one.

Amidst this contradiction, Aiden could only hope that someday, Sadie would be rewarded for her kindness.

“Just a moment, is this alright?”

Upon reaching the road, Aiden called over the other two groups for a moment.

People with puzzled expressions approached Aiden.

Without a word, Aiden held out food supplies to them.

The minimum amount needed for the five of them to make it out of the desert.

Their eyes widened at this.

“Sadie told me to give this to you.”

“That child…?”

“It would be best if everyone here considered themselves indebted to her.”

Aiden said to them.

His manner made it seem like he was saying he would definitely collect on that debt someday, causing the people to nod in tense silence.

* * *

A few days later.

“Mountains again?”

They had barely managed to escape the endless desert two days ago.

But Aiden’s group still hadn’t reached Phoenix or encountered any other people.

This was because there was a vast mountain range covered in forests, large enough to be designated as a national forest, between the desert and Phoenix.

“Just a bit further. If nothing happens, we should arrive within 3 days.”

“We have to travel for 3 days through these pathless mountains?”

Arian complained.

Aiden’s group was no longer following the roads.

The roads running through these forests were even more dangerous than the desert.

“But can’t we just take the road? You saw what was on it too.”

The roads through the empty forests were lined with as many zombies as the hordes roaming the desert.

It was clearly an abnormal situation from a normal perspective.

There was no reason for zombies to gather on roads where there were no human prey.

However, this national forest was one of the habitats of the mutant known as Fear, which they had heard about from Albuquerque.

As such, Aiden couldn’t easily predict what might happen, nor how to deal with it.

That’s why Aiden’s group decided to completely avoid the roads and instead forge their own path through the vast national forest, relying on a compass and map.

“Still…”

At Aiden’s words, Arian let out a sigh and glanced to the side.

At the end of her gaze was Sadie.

It went without saying how arduous this mountain trail must be for the child.

Moreover, Sadie’s food rations had decreased recently too.

Their supplies had dwindled due to the kindness she had shown.

And they had not found much of a harvest in the small towns they had passed through along the way either.

So for Sadie, climbing these mountains was likely far more taxing than crossing the desert, but…

“…”

Even so, Sadie persevered silently and resolutely.

Arian looked at her with a sympathetic gaze instead.

It was more concerning to see her enduring without a word, rather than if she had at least voiced her weakness.

“Hmm?”

As she was watching Sadie, Arian suddenly tilted her head.

Her eyes turned towards the dense trees beyond.

As if she could see right through them.

“Zombies?” 

Aiden opened his mouth familiarly.

That was Arian’s typical reaction when she detected something.

And in these forests, the only thing they were likely to encounter were zombies.

In fact, they had already engaged in combat with zombies several times since entering the forest.

But Arian shook her head at Aiden’s words.

“There’s one, just a single one.”

“Could it be… a mutant?”

“Not a mutant. And it seems like there might be a corpse nearby too?”

Aiden’s brow furrowed at Arian’s words.

“A corpse…”

It seemed there had been others trying to pass through this forest towards Phoenix besides Aiden’s group.

And one of them had ultimately met their demise.

“Let me go check it out first. Where about is it located?”

Arian gave Aiden the approximate location.

Aiden headed in the direction she had indicated.

After moving about a hundred meters, he soon came upon a small clearing surrounded by trees.

There was someone’s campsite.

A tattered makeshift tent was fluttering in the wind, and beside it were the remains of a campfire.

“This must be it.”

Aiden muttered as he looked at the corpse in the center.

His brow furrowed ever so slightly.

The condition of the corpse was severely disfigured.

Aiden approached closer and crouched down to examine it.

The person seemed to have died no more than two days ago.

Yet one arm and leg were missing, and the head was smashed.

The abdomen was also more than half torn open, the insides completely hollowed out without any organs remaining.

Such gruesome damage was not caused by scavengers.

The corpse was not cleanly cut, but covered in mangled, shredded wounds.

More than anything, the distinct tooth marks left here and there made the cause of death clear.

“…Not regular zombie teeth.”

As he inspected the severed leg, Aiden came to that conclusion.

The owner of this corpse was an unknown adult male. But his thick femur had been perfectly shattered and severed.

No matter how strong, a regular zombie’s bite force couldn’t break a femur.

In other words, whatever had torn off this man’s leg possessed jaws far sharper and more powerful than a human’s – a mutant.

Mutants Aiden knew of flashed through his mind.

But no immediate answers came to him.

Of course, there were many powerful mutants capable of easily shattering a human femur, but those were typically highly muscular types.

A species with such pronounced, well-developed jaws leaving distinct bite marks like this… at best, it could be a Bigfoot or a Hedgehog.

However, this forest was far too cramped for such massive creatures.

More importantly, if those behemoths had moved through, there would certainly be traces left amidst the densely packed trees around them.

“Kiiiii…!”

At that moment, something inside the tent let out a shriek upon seeing Aiden.

It was the single zombie Arian had warned was present.

Aiden immediately drew his axe, but quickly relaxed upon seeing the zombie’s state.

“Kiiik!”

The zombie crawled out of the tent, using its arms to drag its body along as its lower half below the waist was missing.

With only its upper body intact, it desperately crawled out, but upon seeing Aiden’s decayed face, it seemed to lose interest and turned its gaze away.

“…”

Aiden had initially wondered if this was perhaps one of the creatures that had attacked this place, left behind.

But after seeing the zombie, he shook his head.

It seemed this zombie too had been one of the victims.

It had likely had its lower body devoured, but unable to die peacefully, it had turned into this zombie instead.

Twack!

Aiden swung the axe he was holding, striking the zombie’s head.

Brain matter that hadn’t even fully dried in just two days’ time spilled out from the shattered skull.

“Rest in peace.”

Aiden wished a peaceful rest for someone’s remains and retrieved his axe.

But at that moment, he noticed something clutched tightly in the zombie’s hand.

Aiden plucked out the object from the zombie’s rigidly clenched fist.

It was the much stiffer fur of some animal.

“This is…”

He immediately stood up and surveyed the area around the campsite.

He had thought footprints would be more visible in the damp forest floor rather than the dried, hardened ground inside the campsite.

And his expectation proved correct.

Animal footprints could be seen all around.

Moreover, their numbers were staggeringly high.

At least 10 animals seemed to have raided this campsite.

“Hmm…”

Aiden studied the footprints intently.

Although he had no expertise in hunting animals, he vaguely remembered learning how to distinguish footprints from an elderly hunter in a small town for a short while.

According to what that old man had taught him back then, these were undoubtedly…

“Wolves… perhaps.”

Aiden could finally identify the creatures that had attacked the campsite.

Zombified wolves, more than 10 of them forming a pack.

Caught off guard by this unexpected threat, Aiden narrowed his eyes.

Even a single Beast was considered a mutant-level danger.

For a pack of them to be roaming together wasn’t something to be taken lightly, even with Arian present.

“We need to hurry.”

Aiden intended to immediately return to his companions and inform them of this.

But just as he was about to shift his gaze from the wolf tracks, another set of footprints amidst the numerous animal prints caught his eye.

These were clearly human footprints, distinct from those of animals.

The faint tread pattern of a ridged sneaker could be seen, and the prints led away from the campsite.

Could someone have managed to escape just before the attack?

With that thought, Aiden looked towards the forest where the footprints trailed off into.

Only a chilly breeze quietly passed through the still green trees.