How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

A few days later.

Having completed the request, Aiden had returned to Huntington Beach.

Passing through the ever-raucous pub, he entered his room.

Setting down the bag and rifle he had been carrying all day, he didn’t remove his helmet.

There were still other people just beyond that thin door separating him.

Fortunately, he didn’t feel overly stifled by it.

Wearing the helmet all day long wasn’t an issue for him either.

If he were human, the helmet would likely start reeking of sweat and odor.

But his dessicated, sweat-free skin remained dry no matter how long the plastic helmet clung to his bare skull, only faintly carrying the smell of a zombie’s natural decay.

“…”

As he leaned back against the door that evening, Aiden took out a notebook from his belongings.

A recent acquisition, it contained the detailed information he had been gathering meticulously.

He had to meet with Arian tomorrow.

But the information Aiden had gathered until now left him rather unsatisfied.

Over these past few days, he had been blatantly gathering data about LA’s mayor and the city government he led.

Going so far as to request compensation from the Huntington Docks for such information, or trading with the junk dealers frequenting this very pub.

And the result was… not as dire as Aiden had been concerned about.

First, the information about LA’s mayor had been largely negative overall.

But that was only natural.

Those who gathered in this Huntington Beach area were individuals who had left LA, whether voluntarily or by force.

So the image of the mayor leading LA could only be portrayed in the worst possible light here.

Whenever Aiden inquired about the mayor, the responses were mostly just slander and derision.

But the actual substance behind that slander was essentially hollow.

They simply disliked being expelled from LA, or disagreed with its societal structure.

It wasn’t a matter of there truly being any glaring flaws with the mayor or his government that warranted criticism.

As such, the evaluations varied wildly from person to person, making it difficult for Aiden to discern any underlying truth amidst them.

The information provided by the Huntington Docks itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy either. They had simply offered slightly more detailed accounts about the mayor’s background and the composition of the city government.

Was his investigation still insufficient?

Or was there truly no issue to be found with LA?

Whichever it was, Aiden needed to reach a conclusion by the end of today.

“It seems to be about that time.”

Aiden muttered those words under his breath.

Fortunately, there was still one more story left for him to hear.

Perhaps thinking the information they had provided wasn’t sufficient compensation, the Huntington Docks had offered to introduce a man who claimed to have ties with the former mayor.

Thump! Thump!

It was then that someone knocked on the door Aiden was leaning against.

Too forceful a motion to be considered a mere knock.

When Aiden opened the door, a middle-aged man with a scruffy black beard stood there.

“The man in the black helmet. You were the one asking about me, weren’t you?”

He addressed Aiden in that manner.

The ‘black helmet’ had long since become a moniker referring to Aiden in this Huntington Beach area.

Aiden responded to the man.

“That’s right. Have a seat first.”

Rather than inviting him into the room, Aiden guided the man towards the pub area instead.

He figured it would be easier to converse there.

The man nodded curtly with a stiff expression before taking a seat at one of the small two-person tables in a corner of the pub.

“Whiskey fine with you?”

“Heh, I’d prefer vodka.”

Aiden ordered a bottle of vodka and a single glass from Adam, the pub’s owner.

Seemingly delighted that this helmet-headed fellow was finally purchasing alcohol, Adam even provided a small plate of cheese cubes as a complimentary side.

After bringing those to the table, Aiden continued speaking.

“Aiden Lee.”

“…Oliver Wilson. You’re not drinking?”

“I’ll pass.”

With that, Oliver silently uncapped the vodka bottle and poured himself a glass.

After downing that first serving in a single gulp, letting the alcohol work its way into his system, he let out a deep exhale.

His gaze, now tinged by the liquor’s effects, slowly turned towards Aiden.

“So what did you want to ask?”

“About the mayor. Were you well-acquainted with him?”

Oliver let out a derisive snort of laughter.

“Me? I was that bastard’s bodyguard. Stuck by his side for half a year, I was.”

It was an intriguing statement to Aiden.

Among all the people he had contacted until now, Oliver seemed to be the one who had been closest to the mayor himself.

“What kind of person was he?”

“Well… he was a real piece of work.”

“I’ve heard plenty of that already. Anything else?”

“Anything else, huh… ah, right. That lucky son of a bitch.”

“Lucky?”

“Yeah. Lucky. People go on and on about how he built up LA, but that was just pure chance, you know what I’m saying?”

Oliver said that much before taking another swig of vodka.

His words continued.

“Sure, he had some political savvy. He used to be an aide trailing after the former mayor’s ass, after all. But the things he accomplished, the successes he achieved… they were just too bizarre. It was like the goddamn zombies roaming the city were actually helping the bastard out.”

Oliver spoke with a mocking laugh.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about LA’s walls. You’ve seen them too, right? Ridiculously tall, aren’t they? Any idea how long it took to build those things?”

“…”

“Over a year. And during that entire time, not a single zombie managed to infiltrate LA. Does that even make sense to you?”

Aiden tilted his head slightly.

“Explain further.”

“What more is there to explain? LA spent over a year constructing those walls with only a single small river separating them from the zombies. And yet during that whole time, the zombies stayed quiet as if they had made a pact.”

“But doesn’t that just mean they managed the surrounding area effectively?”

Aiden pointed out Oliver’s apparent oversight.

Even now, LA’s soldiers periodically cleared out zombies in the vicinity of the walls.

Wasn’t that the very reason this Huntington Beach area they were in was also relatively secure?

But Oliver shook his head adamantly.

“Impossible. This used to be a metropolitan area with a population of 14 million, you know. Of that, only about a million survivors gathered in LA’s downtown core. You know what that means? The rest had all turned into zombies roaming the city.”

Oliver insisted that LA could never have cleared out the zombies from the very start.

At this, Aiden let out a short hum of realization.

His point did make sense.

Unlike other cities like Pittsburgh that had seen massive evacuee outflows, LA’s situation was different.

This was one of the last major cities hit by the virus outbreak in America.

So while evacuees had poured in, the population drain hadn’t been as extreme.

In other words, if viewed objectively, LA should have been swarmed by more zombies than anywhere else.

“Then where did all those zombies go?”

“Where did they go, you ask? You must have seen them yourself on your way here – Fear’s hordes.”

Oliver stated that the vast numbers of zombies Fear had led were mostly drawn from LA itself.

“…I see.”

Aiden nodded in understanding.

The zombie horde Fear had commanded certainly numbered in the millions at the very least.

But even that was only what Aiden had directly witnessed himself.

Considering he hadn’t even seen the full extent, if those hordes had blanketed the entirety of Phoenix, their true numbers could have easily exceeded hundreds of millions in reality.

And that was a scale that couldn’t be gathered merely from scattered zombies across the desert, no matter how widespread.

Numbers that staggering could only originate from a major metropolitan area.

So Oliver’s claim about Fear mobilizing LA’s zombies did hold credibility.

At this point, Oliver’s voice continued.

“The weird part is what happened after that. Fear just so happened to show up right when LA needed it most. And then it took pretty much all of LA’s zombies and led them out into the desert. Without ever actually attacking LA itself.”

It was only after hearing that much that Aiden understood the meaning behind Oliver’s words about LA being ‘lucky.’

Fear had used its abilities to lure LA’s zombies away into the desert, but it had never directly invaded the city itself.

As a natural result, LA’s citizens were able to remain relatively safe from the zombie threat, giving them ample time and resources.

According to his words, LA had effectively been half-rescued by Fear’s actions.

“So that’s what you meant by them being lucky?”

“Yeah! You’re finally getting it. That incompetent mayor bastard didn’t actually do a damn thing himself. It was all just sheer dumb luck.”

Oliver punctuated those words by slamming his palm down on the table with a resounding bang.

It was quite a loud noise, but amidst the rowdy atmosphere of the pub, that sound was immediately drowned out by the laughter emanating from the other tables.

Only Adam, the pub owner, cast a concerned glance their way, as if worried the table might get damaged.

Aiden posed another question.

“So then how did you end up in this place?”

“…”

For a brief moment, Oliver fell silent.

In that interlude of silence, his face gradually contorted.

Soon after, he gestured towards the glass of liquor cradled in his hand.

“Because of this stuff. Damn it, I came to this cesspit of a place because of alcohol, and I still can’t seem to quit it.”

Oliver downed his drink before rambling on incoherently.

“In LA, we only got one day off per six-day workweek. Just a single goddamn day to rest in an entire week. Isn’t that insane? So on that one measly day off, I’d get completely plastered… and that’s when the accident happened.”

“An accident?”

“Suddenly, being inside those walls started feeling suffocating, you know? So I went outside. Felt like I could finally breathe again. And that’s how I ended up wandering around beyond the walls.”

At that point, Oliver’s gaze dropped downward.

He stared off into the distance, as if recalling that past incident.

“While I was out there, I ran into some muggers at one point. Even climbed up to the mountains in the north area. I really wanted to see that big rocky hill with ‘Hollywood’ carved into it, you know? But then I must have dozed off somewhere along the way. Next thing I knew, it was already nighttime when I opened my eyes again. Gave me quite the scare. So I started hurrying back, and that’s when I encountered the zombies.”

“…”

“And it wasn’t just one or two of them, either. Dozens upon dozens, lined up in a long trail. I thought I was a goner for sure. But want to know the weirdest part? Those zombies didn’t even seem to notice me at all.”

Oliver let out a mocking chuckle.

Aiden simply listened to his words impassively.

“They were just lining up like people and heading into the sewers, can you believe that? Thinking back on it now, it sounds ridiculous… but at the time, I saw it with my own two eyes. Clear as day. So when I returned to LA and tried to report it, of course no one would believe me.”

Oliver laughed self-deprecatingly.

“In the end, all they knew was that I had wandered outside the walls without authorization. Well, the rest was pretty obvious after that.”

Oliver downed the final glass of vodka.

Now, only the empty bottle and glass remained in front of him.

“And where exactly was this place you claim to have seen the zombies?”

“You believe that drunkard’s ramblings? It was obviously just my imagination, brought on by the alcohol.”

“Well, we can’t dismiss it entirely, can we?”

Oliver’s gaze turned towards Aiden, as if testing whether he was being sincere or not.

But that gaze, obscured by the dark helmet, simply drifted aimlessly before dropping back downward.

Towards the small cube of cheese Adam had provided as a complimentary side.

Oliver popped it into his mouth with his bare hand as he continued speaking.

“It was along the Los Angeles River upstream from the walls at the front entrance. The stretch running alongside the mountain range. I’m sure about that much.”

“…I see.”

After that, Aiden asked a few more questions to Oliver, but gained no further noteworthy insights.

Soon after, Oliver took his leave.

Left alone once more, Aiden returned to his room to organize his thoughts.

Objectively speaking, the information he had heard from Oliver held little significance beyond what he had already known.

The only substantial detail was the claim that Fear had inadvertently aided LA’s establishment.

As for the comments about seeing zombies in the sewers, there was no proper evidence to substantiate it, and the content itself strained credibility.

“…Is this as far as it goes?”

Aiden let out a brief sigh as he muttered those words under his breath.

Despite investigating this far, he hadn’t uncovered any notable issues within LA.

Which meant LA was indeed a suitable place, just as it appeared.

In that case, there was no cause for concern on his end either.

At long last, the longest-running request he had undertaken was finally reaching its conclusion.

“…”

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, a sense of strange emptiness fleetingly crossed his mind.

Had he grown too accustomed to having company, in a manner of speaking?

Clicking his tongue briefly, Aiden opened his notebook.

Inside, he jotted down the location of those sewers he had just heard about.

If tomorrow, Arian also failed to uncover any issues. Then investigating those sewers would be the final step in examining LA.

* * *

The next morning.

From the early hours, Arian was heading to the military unit where she worked each day.

Wooong-

The bus she was aboard lumbered along the roads at its usual leisurely pace.

The scenery visible through the windows didn’t seem out of the ordinary at a glance.

But as the bus drew closer to downtown, an unexpected sight came into view.

“Hmm?”

At the end of the road, too far for most others to discern clearly, a large crowd of people had gathered in protest.

Their grievances were directed at the mayor, demanding his resignation.

It was in response to the recent announcements made by the city government.

Not only had there been a fire accident at the research lab, but there were warnings that citizen rations and electricity supplies could be disrupted moving forward.

It seemed the citizens’ dissatisfaction over those events was now surfacing.

After briefly observing that protest, Arian let out a concerned sigh.

Soon after, Arian arrived at her workplace.

A few soldiers she had grown familiar with waved at her in greeting.

Arian responded with just a slight nod of acknowledgment.

“Everyone, attention!”

Not long after, Ava, the unit captain, gathered the soldiers together.

As was customary, it was time to brief them on the day’s schedule.

But today was somewhat special.

Instead of the usual menial tasks, they would be deployed for combat operations.

“Today, we’ll be securing part of a route. We’ll send out an advance team first, then return ourselves.”

Ava explained the operational details to the soldiers.

They would be venturing outside the walls, heading north to secure a certain road path.

For Arian, this was her first such mission.

And its contents aligned with what she had overheard at city hall.

About securing oil production and refining facilities.

It seemed Arian’s unit would also be participating in that operation.

“Our unit’s full-scale deployment for this operation will begin tomorrow. Once deployed, we won’t be able to return to LA for over a week. Keep that in mind.”

At those words, Arian’s brow furrowed slightly in concern.

It meant Sadie would be left alone during that period.

But as a member of this unit, it was an unavoidable circumstance.

At the very least, she was fortunate that her scheduled reunion with Aiden was tonight. So she could pass on all the information she has collected.

Thinking this, Arian quietly focused on Ava’s words.

Her calm voice, meticulously explaining the operation, penetrated Arian’s consciousness.