How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“…”

Aiden’s somber gaze observed the corpse.

The body, even more emaciated than a zombie, was almost completely decomposed, leaving only the skeleton.

However, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the skeleton.

Judging by the absence of any weapons… Could have it been a disease or maybe starvation?

There were no other peculiarities.

At best, the only noticeable element was a shiny platinum ring on one of the corpse’s fingers.

However, even that held little meaning. In a world that had fallen apart, where precious metals like gold or diamonds had no value.

Aiden, who had been observing the corpse, soon stepped back.

A skeleton that doesn’t turn into a zombie or become infected with pathogens is just a skeleton.

It didn’t harbor any dangerous potential unless one entered the room.

“It’s okay. Doesn’t seem to be a problem. We can spend the night here.”

Aiden conveyed this to his colleagues who were waiting outside.

Arian nodded calmly, but Sadie displayed a slightly frightened expression. To a child, a lifeless body, as unfamiliar as zombies, was equally terrifying.

“Really? Then I’ll check the upper floor.”

“I, I’ll come too.”

Arian and Sadie ascended the stairs to the second floor.

Aiden, after seeing them off, proceeded to inspect the remaining rooms on the first floor.

However, the other rooms and the kitchen were all empty.

The only room with some furniture was the one with the corpse.

So, Aiden returned to that room.

While surveying the surroundings, he soon discovered something.

“This is…”

On a small desk, there was a note with someone’s writing.

Could it be from the deceased woman?

Aiden unfolded the note and read a few pages.

From the contents, it seemed to be someone’s diary. The dates written were about three years ago. It was a time shortly after the appearance of zombies, just a few months into the calamity.

The diary indicated that the person who wrote it was surrounded by zombies, isolated and in danger.

“Hmm…”

Aiden, while certain that this was the diary of the deceased woman, chose not to cover it.

It might be considered disrespectful to the deceased.

Moreover, the record of the person who lived here could be useful information for Aiden, visiting this place for the first time.

So, Aiden continued moving his gaze, which had momentarily stopped.

The woman in the diary was aware that her remaining time was short due to an illness.

So, she had almost given up on living longer, but until her death, she worried about only two things.

One was her cat, Kety, which was probably the black cat Aiden had seen earlier.

The other was her husband.

According to the diary, the woman’s husband had gone to the central hospital for medicine and food for his wife but never returned.

“A hospital…”

Confirming this, Aiden’s eyes lit up.

If there was a hospital nearby, there were essential items he wanted to secure, especially clean syringes for blood collection.

Moreover, the location of the hospital mentioned in the diary wasn’t far from here.

With still some time before sunset, Aiden could explore the hospital alone.

It was essential, especially since he had used about half of the syringes to receive blood from Victor and his group yesterday.

Making use of the remaining time to replenish them would be ideal.

“Not bad.”

Compared to precious metals like gold or diamonds, syringes were generally considered less important.

So, even in a hospital that had probably been looted several times before, Aiden could expect a decent harvest.

“Are you done checking?”

Just then, Arian and Sadie descended from the second floor after completing their investigation.

According to them, there seemed to be no significant problems on the second and third floors, including the attic.

So, Aiden entrusted them with preparations to stay here, while he decided to head towards the hospital.

“Is it okay to go alone?”

“No problem. I’ll be back before sunset.”

In response, Arian nodded as if understanding, and Sadie conveyed words, hoping for a safe return.

Leaving them behind, Aiden, as usual, gathered a few weapons and set out from the temporary shelter.

The location of the hospital was within the city center of Mansfield, where Aiden had turned the vehicle.

He walked through a dense road leading from a small forest to the city.

After about 30 minutes of walking,

“Ugh…”

Gray figures of zombies lurking on the street appeared before him.

The first thing that caught his eye was a spacious parking lot.

Inside an abandoned car, a zombie was left restrained by a seatbelt. The black belt had penetrated the decaying flesh of the zombie, showing how long it had been in that state.

Aiden glanced at such a zombie for a moment and continued walking.

Connected to that parking lot was a professionally owned job introduction office.

Aiden briefly glanced inside.

As expected, several zombies were standing motionless there, staring into space.

The door was broken, and most of the windows were shattered.

It didn’t seem like a place where supplies were hidden.

And moving one block further, he found a fire station this time.

Inside, there was an abandoned firetruck, but it didn’t seem like it would work. However, Aiden recalled that firetrucks often stored various items like fire axes, hammers, ladders, and ropes.

Intending to check, Aiden approached the firetruck, but, again, the interior was completely looted.

“…”

He reluctantly turned back.

Moving one block further down, he found a somewhat different building.

Compared to the size of the building, there were few windows facing outward, and those were small.

Moreover, each small window had iron bars affixed to it.

Aiden heightened his vigilance while looking at the building.

Because it was a typical prison building.

After the zombie outbreak, abandoned prisons were one of the particularly dangerous places.

Most of the prisoners there had turned into zombies due to the lack of proper handling immediately after the incident.

As zombies roamed around inside, often in dense numbers, encountering mutated variants wasn’t uncommon.

“For a ghost town, it’s quite a dangerous place.”

Aiden muttered to himself.

It was indeed the right decision not to venture into such a place.

After memorizing the location of the prison, Aiden hurried his steps towards the hospital.

He passed through a dense residential area beyond the prison, where trees grew lushly. There, a large hospital made of orange bricks was situated.

“Is this it…?”

Aiden surveyed the hospital grounds.

The scale of the hospital was more extensive than he had expected. Not only was the site spacious, but the hospital itself was divided into several buildings.

Aiden stepped towards the entrance of the largest building.

Then,

“Ugh…”

Zombie moans echoed unmistakably even within the hospital.

Although the immediate visible number was not high, it seemed like there was a considerable number of zombies hiding throughout the hospital.

Perhaps it would be better not to go too deep.

Thinking so, Aiden checked the map in the hospital lobby.

Several places seemed suitable for storing syringes.

Among them, excluding locations too deep inside the building or in the basement… the closest one happened to be a staff corridor.

Originally blocked for patient access, most of the remaining medical supplies in the hospital were stored in such areas.

Aiden entered that staff corridor.

Then, he first encountered offices used by doctors or nurses.

However, the scene in those offices was slightly different from what he had expected.

Bullet holes were vivid on the walls and ceiling, and the desks that should have been in the office were all makeshift barricades lying on their sides, behind which several skeletal remains were visible.

And among those remains, there were individuals in white coats like Aiden.

“…”

A corpse dressed in white gazes at a white skull.

Even though a long time has passed, dust had settled on it.

Yet, even with that, the vivid misery, which had not been erased from Aiden’s eyes, was still apparent.

He briefly reminisced about the events of the recent past, the time when the existing order had just collapsed after the emergence of zombies.

People who were ordinary citizens until recently had turned into gangs, wielding weapons and storming hospitals.

Those who were once doctors and nurses in the hospital had to kill them with guns and knives instead of saving them.

Perhaps similar events had occurred here as well.

“…”

Aiden, bypassing such an office, entered a small storage room inside.

As expected, there weren’t many resources left.

Most of the medicines had been looted, and consumables like bandages were not visible either.

But fortunately, the syringes he was looking for were wedged into the bottom drawer along with other odds and ends.

Aiden carefully selected the usable ones among them.

There were several syringes, but unfortunately, not all of them were useful.

Some were already contaminated because their packaging had been removed, and others were too small for blood collection.

Aiden sorted through them and carefully gathered the ones that were still usable.

A total of six.

Not many, but it was a worthwhile harvest.

With the syringes in hand, Aiden stepped outside the hospital.

Going deeper inside would undoubtedly yield more resources.

However, Aiden didn’t let greed take over and turned his steps back.

There were quite a few zombies in the hospital. In other words, there might be mutants hiding somewhere inside.

Since it wasn’t a matter related to the mission, there was no need to take on such risks.

Outside, Aiden looked up at the sky.

The signs of sunset were not yet visible.

There was plenty of time to return.

So, instead of retracing his steps, Aiden chose a different route.

The original path had a dangerous prison along the way. Walking a different path might lead him to places where he could explore for more supplies.

Aiden set a new direction and walked.

Then, residential areas, a beauty salon, and a laundromat appeared.

Since it didn’t seem like there would be useful materials, he passed by them.

Next was a clothing store.

And come to think of it… Were Sadie and Arian’s clothing sufficient?

Aiden now wondered why he hadn’t paid attention to their clothing, having focused on immediately essential resources like food and blood until now.

Moreover, thinking back, Arian and Sadie hadn’t changed their attire since leaving Pittsburgh.

However, even to avoid infection, they needed to continuously wear clean clothes.

With that in mind, Aiden gave up neatly on clothing matters and exited the clothing store.

And when he walked a few more blocks.

“That’s…”

Finally, a suitable place appeared.

A fairly large grocery store, separated with its own extensive parking lot, was in view.

Although the entrance was shattered into pieces, showing signs that someone had already entered, it was worth checking at least.

Aiden entered the interior of the store.

Zombies were lurking around the empty shelves, standing near them.

And apart from those zombies, there were also corpses on the floor that had died a long time ago.

It seemed like a battle had taken place inside this grocery store as well.

Aiden thoroughly searched the grocery store.

There was nothing to see on the empty shelves.

So, he went to the warehouse behind the store.

But there, too, nothing remained except empty boxes.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be no items left in this place.

“…Can’t be helped.”

Aiden sighed, expressing his disappointment, and straightened his waist, which had been bending towards the floor.

For him, or rather, for everyone in this world, making mistakes during exploration was more common than expected.

So, without a hint of disappointment, he was about to leave the grocery store.

However… a corpse right in front of him caught his attention.

It was a corpse leaning against the wall, dressed in a brown coat.

There were clear traces of gunshot wounds on that coat.

This was undoubtedly one of the victims of a battle that had taken place here sometime.

But what caught Aiden’s eye was not such common traces.

It was one finger of that corpse.

The ring worn there gave him a feeling of deja vu.

Aiden thought curiously, and gently wiped the ring, which was dirty with dust and grime.

Then, the platinum gleam hidden inside was revealed again, and Aiden could identify the identity of that feeling.

This was undoubtedly an item similar to what that woman had, who died in the temporary shelter.