How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Aiden faced the zombies rushing towards him in the parking lot.

The number of zombies was five in total.

However, coming from different directions one by one, the zombies couldn’t maintain any advantage in numbers.

Thud! Thwack!

Aiden, wielding a metal bat, swung it around like batting away flying balls, smashing the heads of the approaching zombies.

The five zombies soon fell to the ground with shattered heads.

The dull noise of the battle echoed like ripples on a lake, attracting more zombies.

It was as Aiden had anticipated.

If the zombies were scattered in a spacious area, it was easier to lure and eliminate them with melee weapons than using guns.

Ordinary zombies, devoid of intelligence, only recognized the presence of the enemy and attacked in a sluggish manner.

However, amidst the melee, something unexpected happened that Aiden hadn’t foreseen.

Some zombies, reacting to the noise, looked around and discovered not Aiden but Arian, Victor, and Sadie.

“Kieee!”

In an instant, the zombies rushed towards them.

The number was only three.

“They’re coming…!”

While not a large number, Victor, seeing this, tensed up, holding a rifle with a sword attached.

They couldn’t afford to waste ammunition on such a small group when they might need it later.

However, relying on the two girls next to him wasn’t an option either.

One was just a 10-year-old child, and the other, though slightly more mature, wasn’t even an adult.

So, he stepped forward.

In that moment of decision, the approaching zombies seemed to get closer.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, with just a blink, Arian’s jungle machete sliced through all three zombies at once.

“Hmm…?”

Victor widened his eyes.

Had he gotten old and senile?

The scene before him lacked a sense of reality.

It felt like he was dreaming.

But then, the mutilated bodies of the zombies wriggling on the ground, and Arian starting to dismember their heads one by one, painted a vivid picture of reality in the next moment.

Victor’s mind was filled with confusion.

If Arian had just fought well beyond her appearance, there wouldn’t be much surprise.

However, it wasn’t just a matter of fighting well.

Chopping off a zombie’s waist with a machete, even if it was a decaying corpse, was an unbelievable feat.

Moreover, it wasn’t the neck, but the waist, done with just one swing of the jungle sword.

Seeing this, Victor stared at Arian in astonishment.

“…”

Arian, finishing off the last zombie’s head, scanned the surroundings with eyes sharper than usual.

She hadn’t forgotten Victor’s presence, but she made no effort to hide her strength.

In a world where there was no need or obligation to hide her power, and with Sadie right behind her today, Arian agreed with Aiden’s suggestion to teach Sadie how to fight.

But that didn’t mean she would just leave the zombies approaching Sadie alone.

Her source of power had just been replenished with blood yesterday, right?

Facing the madness of the zombies oozing filthy saliva, experiencing it vividly on the spot, would be a great learning opportunity for Sadie.

So, today was more than enough for a field trip.

With that thought in mind, Arian shook off the rotten blood on her machete and approached Sadie again.

In the meantime, Victor, with a weird feeling, looked away from Arian’s crimson eyes.

“Why?”

Arian asked with a sharp voice.

But her tone and gaze clearly warned him not to ask anything.

And Victor, being quite perceptive for an old man, said:

“No… It’s nothing.”

Saying that, he avoided Arian’s red eyes.

Feeling somewhat creepy, he shook his head.

Then, looking at Aiden fighting in the parking lot, Victor couldn’t help but admire.

“Huh…”

Arian was impressive, but this man Aiden was formidable too.

Although his skin didn’t seem muscular, every time he swung the bat, the zombies’ skulls shattered like plaster.

Having crushed the heads of nearly twenty zombies, Aiden soon returned to the group.

“Any problems?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Watching them casually chat as if nothing had happened, Victor’s emotions became complicated.

He had only thought of Aiden’s group as ordinary junk dealers when he asked for this request.

However, for some reason, their capabilities far exceeded his expectations, to the point where Victor felt a sense of crisis, even though he didn’t realize it himself.

Of course, having strong allies was something to be happy about.

But whether it was before or after the world collapsed, humans were just as dangerous as zombies, if not more so.

Who could guarantee that they wouldn’t change their minds after seeing the stored supplies there?

“…”

Suddenly, such concerns flashed through Victor’s mind, but he just let out a bitter sigh.

Worrying was pointless now, and there was nothing he could do at this point.

So, maybe he should have been a bit more cautious from the beginning.

No, even regretting that wasn’t suitable for the current situation.

In just three days, they would run out of food.

If Victor refused to cooperate with Aiden’s group in this situation, the one in trouble would be Victor himself.

So, even if he had known about Aiden’s group’s capabilities before requesting their help, he would have made the same choice anyway.

Therefore, Victor steadied his resolve.

Regret and preparation were both too late now.

So, it was better to focus on what was happening right in front of him.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the zombies in the parking lot, let’s go inside.”

Meanwhile, regardless of Victor’s thoughts, Aiden continued with the operation.

More than half of the zombies scattered in the large parking lot had disappeared, creating an open path to the entrance.

Aiden’s group walked straight toward the entrance.

In the meantime:

“Why are you like this?”

Aiden asked Victor, who was staring intently at the fallen zombies in the parking lot.

In response, Victor, with a bitter expression, muttered as if to himself.

“Why, you ask. It’s because I might know someone.”

“…”

“But it seems like they’re not here. Don’t worry about it; let’s go quickly.”

Saying that, Victor took the lead and walked inside the entrance, where metal plates were haphazardly placed instead of a pretty glass door.

The first thing they saw was a spacious lobby.

And directly in front of them was an escalator leading to the second floor.

Centered around this escalator, there were openings all the way up to the third floor, and each store was arranged in a large circular pattern, a typical structure for a shopping mall.

There was also a large skylight extending from the ceiling to the entrance on the first floor, allowing sufficient visibility inside the building without the need for artificial lighting.

“Hmm…”

Entering this place, Aiden first cautiously surveyed the surroundings.

Circular sandbag-like structures were set up around the entrance, probably created by past survivors who tried to make this place a base.

“What’s here?”

There were no zombies immediately visible near the entrance.

So, Aiden asked Arian about it, and Arian nodded.

“To the left, and a bit in front of us. And further inside, there seems to be more.”

“I’ll take care of the left and front.”

“Is there a need for that? We can go straight to the second floor.”

They had already heard everything about the way from here to Victor.

This large store is largely divided into three areas: a shopping mall area, a mart area, and a warehouse area.

Among them, the place where the supplies were stored was on the first floor of the warehouse area.

Nevertheless, the reason they entered in the direction of the shopping mall was because this was the only one of the many entrances that wasn’t blocked.

Also, from here, they had to go through the second floor to the mart area, and from there, they had to go back to the warehouse area.

Those who wanted to use this place as a base deliberately left only a long and complicated one-way road to protect the supplies in the warehouse.

So Arian suggested going straight up to the second floor, but Aiden shook his head.

“They might hear the sound and react. When you step on a broken escalator it makes a loud sound. From here, we must proceed as quietly as possible.”

“Hmm… Then there’s nothing we can do.”

Arian readily accepted Aiden’s words.

He also was concerned about Victor, who was carrying multiple weapons with his old man’s body.

“I’ll take care of the front. You take the left side. And Sadie…”

Aiden’s eyes turned toward Victor.

Upon seeing that, Victor nodded, understanding what Aiden wanted to say.

“Yeah, I’ll handle it well here.”

Victor decided to stay near the entrance of the building with Sadie.

So, with this plan in place, Aiden and Arian each entered different stores.

Seeing their backs, Victor swallowed his saliva.

Compared to the place where Victor was waiting, the inside of the store was dark.

Moreover, it was filled with fallen mannequins, scattered debris on the dirty floor, and empty display shelves.

Various miscellaneous items obstructed the view, making it impossible to see the interior clearly.

“Kik!”

In the darkness and silence, only the sound of a short zombie’s death throes echoed.

Victor looked at the child who was now with him.

Perhaps this child also had special abilities like those two.

But after seeing Sadie’s eyes, Victor quickly let go of such thoughts.

The child was clearly afraid.

She just didn’t show it.

Sadie, startled even by the faint sounds of zombies from a distance, turned her trembling gaze in that direction.

No matter how comforting Victor tried to be, Sadie could feel her trembling through his hand.

He naturally placed his hand on Sadie’s head.

“It’s okay, little one.”

Victor could feel the child trembling under his hand.

He gently stroked her hair and continued speaking.

“Don’t worry. Those two are stronger than you think.”

In response to his words, Sadie nodded slightly.

No further reaction.

But thankfully, her trembling gradually began to subside.

And not long after, the two returned.

Aiden confirmed the safety of the group and then turned his gaze to Victor.

“Do we need to check the corpses?”

He was referring to the zombies in the store.

Victor clapped his hands.

“Enough. If you can see them on the way, that’s fine. No need to go out of your way to check.”

Aiden nodded at Victor’s words.

Then he turned to the group.

“Let’s move to the second floor. We’ve dealt with the zombies, but be careful not to make any noise.”

So, they went up to the second floor of the mall.

The second floor wasn’t much different from the first.

Circularly arranged stores and miscellaneous items inside were similar.

However, on the second floor, as Victor mentioned, there was a door between two stores leading inward.

It was a door leading to the mart.

“Be careful. There might be something inside.”

Staring at the tightly closed door, Arian spoke.

Upon this, Aiden briefly held back the group.

Then, he carefully turned the handle of the door to prevent any noise.

A long corridor leading to the mart was revealed.

In that place, no longer touched by the light from the mall skylight, only a few thin rays of light pierced through small windows in the corridor, breaking the darkness.

And among those beams of light, there was something.

It was a zombie holding a rifle in one hand.

Standing in the middle of the corridor as if it were the gatekeeper, its appearance didn’t seem to be a mutant.

If it were an ordinary zombie, it wouldn’t be a cause for concern.

However, Aiden didn’t miss another figure hiding in the shadow next to the zombie.

What lay on the floor beside the zombie, crouched down, wasn’t human.

A large dog with a thin, long body, a Greyhound breed.

Upon sensing Aiden’s presence, it raised its head.

Before it could react, Aiden quickly closed the door.

“Why did you do that?”

“It’s a Beast. There’s a zombie with it.”

Unable to advance with a Beast, treated as a mutant, guarding the corridor, they couldn’t proceed as it was.

So Aiden decided to deal with it and turned his gaze to Victor.

It was for gathering information.

“A man in a blue jacket with a green hat, and the Beast is a large dog of the Greyhound breed. Do you know anything?”

Victor’s lips trembled upon hearing this.

He nodded heavily.

“…Yeah. I know that person.”

Victor washed his face with one hand and continued speaking.

“Peter… he was a hunter. He used to bring some animals from the nearby forest. And the one lying next to him, that was the hunting dog he raised. Its name was Buddy.”

“Did he raise only one dog?”

“Worried if there’s another Beast? I don’t think so. Besides that guy, none of us raised any animals.”

It was somewhat fortunate.

Limiting the Beasts to one made dealing with them not so difficult.

So Aiden intended to handle it himself.

“I’ll go. It’ll be faster.”

Arian, who had been listening silently, stepped forward.

Without much thought, her suggestion made perfect sense.

In this place where firearms were limited, Arian’s power was undoubtedly higher than Aiden’s.

Moreover, Beasts, who could distinguish ordinary zombies from Aiden, wern’t affected by sneak attacks.

So, in this situation, Arian’s side was a much safer choice.

“Got it. I leave it to you.”

So, Aiden accepted her suggestion.

Arian nodded and immediately moved.

As she went, Victor threw a request to her back.

“Can I ask for one thing?”

Arian turned back with a puzzled look.

“What is it?”

“The hat that Peter is wearing. Please try not to damage it.”

She wondered what he was going to say, but it was a somewhat strange request.

But it wasn’t a difficult one, so Arian nodded.

She opened the closed gray door and went inside.