How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

Ross Preston had become a zombie over three years ago.

Shortly after that inexplicable and deadly pandemic began spreading from the easternmost point of the continent, New York.

That catastrophic disease eventually reached even LA on the opposite west coast, thousands of kilometers away.

The situation back then was so dire that ‘worst’ would be an understatement.

There were infected corpses rampaging madly in the streets. Yet the police and military forces meant to protect the citizens couldn’t even properly subdue those corpses.

It was only natural.

Back then, no one truly understood whether they were already dead bodies, or simply delirious patients afflicted by the disease.

However, amidst that chaos, there was someone who boldly authorized firing upon the zombies.

It was the Mayor.

The actual Mayor of LA whom Ross was serving under.

Declaring she would take full responsibility, she even went so far as to wield a gun herself and open fire on the zombies before the hesitant military and police forces.

As a result, not just the city’s military forces, but even armed civilians could at least establish basic guidelines for dealing with the zombies.

Combined with the Mayor and administration’s desperate efforts, LA seemed to barely regain a semblance of order.

However, their permitted defiance only went that far.

Just as the military had secured the downtown area with City Hall, an unprecedented monster emerged from the residential districts.

A zombie, but far larger and more powerful than any ordinary zombie.

It was a mutant, a fact they only learned later.

But at that time, they had no such knowledge, and naturally, no one among the people knew how to confront it.

In the end, everything the people had built was effortlessly torn down by that single mutant, like a sand castle washed away.

The Mayor was no exception.

Ross vividly remembered that mutilated face of the Mayor after she had been mauled by it.

Bang!

Even back then, inside this very LA City Hall Mayor’s office, Ross had been forced to put a bullet in her head.

The demise of the woman he had served for years was far too abrupt.

And Ross had thought his own end would be the same.

He simply sat down in that chair the Mayor had occupied.

In that place overlooking LA’s downtown, Ross let out a hollow laugh.

The year the zombie virus first spread, Ross had only just turned thirty – a rookie politician.

Although only an aide, he had aspired to become the Mayor one day.

To attain even greater heights beyond that position.

But such dreams now seemed utterly lost.

Because in this world, there was nothing left but corpses.

Having resigned himself to await death, he quietly held a gun to his own head, ready to pull the trigger at the slightest hint of his zombification progressing.

Yet, for some reason…

It was not until a full day had passed that he realized something was amiss.

Even after being bitten by a zombie, he found his faculties still intact the following day.

That was not all.

Despite the Mayor’s clearly visible bite marks on his arm still oozing fresh blood, his heart continued beating and body temperature remained.

Only then did he realize something unprecedented had occurred.

Unlike the Mayor and others, Ross had not turned into a monster.

He was an immune.

At first, Ross merely thought this miracle was simple good luck.

With the zombie virus already coursing through his veins, he had no need to fear zombies.

And the zombies too, as if sensing something from him, regarded Ross with puzzlement yet didn’t outright attack him either.

He alone was free in this world overrun by zombies.

A sense of liberation that only he could experience.

So Ross could dream again.

If he utilized this ability, he believed he could revive LA and become its leader.

However, as time passed, Ross’s rosy outlook gradually changed.

While searching for LA’s survivors, a conversation with someone he shook hands with made Ross realize his body temperature was fluctuating uncontrollably.

Afterwards, Ross hurriedly acquired a thermometer to measure his temperature.

29 degrees Celsius.

Though not a doctor, Ross knew that was not a body temperature possible for humans.

But he felt no pain or discomfort.

Which only made it more unsettling.

The next day, his temperature had spiked to 40 degrees.

A dangerously high fever that should have been life-threatening.

Still, he experienced no agony whatsoever.

And from that day onward, he could no longer sleep.

No matter how long he lay with his eyes closed, his consciousness never faded in the slightest.

Even forcing himself to remain lying until sunrise, he felt no fatigue at all.

It was merely a tedious passage of time, staring up at the starless night sky.

Then at some point, he lost his sense of taste as well.

Finally, Ross felt his heart slowly, steadily stop beating.

Only then did he comprehend his situation.

He was not a zombie virus immune.

He was simply becoming a zombie at a much slower rate than others.

From that point on, Ross moved urgently.

Not just for his own dreams, but because he needed others’ aid to cure this affliction.

Those knowledgeable about the virus, doctors who could restore him to his original self.

But in this devastated LA, even if such people existed, there was nothing they could do for him.

So Ross rebuilt LA.

He simply gathered the scattered survivors together.

Braving any dangers, Ross took the lead and guided them.

It was around then that he discovered a certain ability too.

At some point, the zombies that had merely observed Ross with puzzlement began moving according to his will.

Those frenzied living corpses came when Ross beckoned, and went where he commanded.

An unexpected boon he could never have imagined.

After gaining that ability, everything progressed swiftly for Ross. He drove all of LA’s zombies out into the desert and, in that interim, the LA survivors swore allegiance to Ross as their Mayor. And eventually, a research facility was established in LA.

Though his heart was almost stopped by then, Ross spared no expense investing in that research facility until the very end, never giving up hope.

On the eastern side, a massive wall was constructed too.

Not for Ross’s own sake, but to reassure the citizens and attract more people he would need.

Until that point, Ross had been brimming with hope.

Everything seemed to be going well.

He even found someone he wished to rely on – a woman named Scarlet.

She had been a trustworthy comrade by Ross’s side ever since he began leading the people of LA.

Ross and Scarlet were mutually attracted to each other.

So once LA stabilized, it was Scarlet who first confessed her feelings to him.

Upon hearing her confession, Ross agonized over it for several days.

Whether to accept her love and reveal his secret to her.

In the end, his decision was affirmative.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have, but Ross had grown weary of keeping this inexpressible secret to himself.

That fatigue and loneliness shook his judgment, and he ultimately opened up to Scarlet about his feelings and his secret, fully expecting her to accept him.

But she did not.

Scarlet’s face turned deathly pale at the revelation that Ross was a zombie.

Claiming to be too shocked, she asked for some time to think, but Ross already knew then.

Having known Scarlet for so long, he realized it was her way of rejecting him.

Still, Ross understood her decision.

Zombies were truly that much of a threat to humans.

Even with most zombies having left the city, the remaining few alone led to soldiers perishing on expeditions day after day.

Ross had merely hoped to continue their comradeship as before.

Trusting her, he gave Scarlet that time to think.

However, that trust was soon betrayed.

Scarlet divulged Ross’s secret that he was a zombie to others.

Specifically, to those in charge of governing LA at the time – the very people who had built LA alongside him.

Though skeptical of Scarlet’s claims, they demanded the truth from Ross.

Saying they could not remain with him if he truly was a zombie.

They aimed their guns at Ross.

It was a situation where Ross would either die or be exiled.

But Ross too had made preparations.

Keeping in mind the lethal implications if his zombie status was revealed, he had always been ready for such an eventuality.

Bang!

With a thunderous boom, one wall of the Mayor’s office was blown apart.

From there emerged a mutant that had been kept imprisoned, scurrying out like a sewer rat.

There was no time for anyone to even scream.

In an instant, it slaughtered everyone who had come for Ross.

With the sole exception of Scarlet.

“Why did you do it?”

Ross asked her, demanding to know why she had betrayed him.

But Scarlet’s answer was succinct.

“Because I knew you would do this.”

“Brazen wench! You were the one who started this. If you had just kept my secret, I would never have-“

“That’s not the issue here. Don’t you understand?”

Scarlet gestured around at the bloodbath surrounding them.

Where a monster clad in the blood of former comrades stood.

“In the end… even if I had accepted you, you could kill me like this at any time, right?”

Ross fell silent.

And Scarlet too perished there.

After that, LA’s leadership underwent a major restructuring.

New people were brought in, and even evacuees rose to governing positions in the city.

Though some of them viewed Ross unfavorably, it didn’t matter.

For he already had countermeasures in place.

However, despite retaining the Mayor’s seat, Ross couldn’t muster the same drive as before.

The woman he had loved was gone.

As was the LA he had cherished, and that coveted Mayor’s position he had so yearned to attain.

No matter what position he held, no matter who he acted alongside,

Ross had to face the truth that he was utterly alone.

From then on, Ross’s goal became singular:

To escape this solitude.

But to achieve that, he couldn’t remain a zombie. Because no human would ever trust a zombie like him.

The only ones who could trust a zombie were other zombies.

Yet zombies were beings without reason, unable to even speak.

So Ross wished to become human again.

His lneliness was all due to becoming a zombie.

Had he remained an ordinary human, he would never have been betrayed by anyone.

But time only further cornered Ross.

The sluggishly beating heart finally stopped completely.

And it was around then that his largely undecomposed body began rotting away too.

Frantic, Ross poured all resources into the research facility, even recklessly.

But nowhere could a method to revert him to human be found.

The facility’s director, a woman, even stated that turning a zombie back into a human was impossible.

Ross didn’t take kindly to such definitive claims.

Moreover, the facility continuously produced only the worst results.

Those steadily accumulating research data on zombies led to them eventually developing a zombie virus vaccine.

Disastrous news.

If such a zombie vaccine were ever distributed, letting all people become unafraid of zombies, then there would truly be no place for Ross left in this LA.

So recently, Ross had abandoned even that research facility of his own accord.

Cutting off his last lifeline, but he had no choice.

Of course, that decision didn’t come without severe repercussions for Ross.

Those dissatisfied with him grew more numerous, and now aimed to topple his position.

A prospect Ross found utterly unacceptable.

For these people, who hadn’t even been present when LA was founded, to behave like overlords after learning he was a zombie – despite unhesitatingly aiming guns at him – was sickening.

As such, while Ross had no attachment to this position, he had no intention of relinquishing it meekly either.

His countermeasures were already in place.

All he needed now was an opportune moment.

Amidst that, a certain report reached Ross’s ears.

During a military operation, there had been a girl possessing extraordinary abilities.

By a fortuitous chance not long after receiving that report, Ross encountered the girl Arian herself.

At that time, Ross harbored a glimmer of hope.

That perhaps this girl was an existence in the same predicament as himself.

However, that hope was ultimately dashed.

A simple blood test showed not a trace of the zombie virus in the girl.

There were also the doctor’s remarks about some anomalies in her test results, but Ross had already lost interest and disregarded them.

And now, having returned from the hospital where that hope was crushed.

An unexpected spark had reignited it.

“…”

Ross stared wide-eyed at the screen of a CCTV monitor.

It showed the image of a single zombie.

A zombie with a disfigured, rotting face – unmistakably one of the undead.

Yet that zombie’s behavior was unlike anything Ross knew.

In that grainy footage, the zombie wore a soiled white coat with a rifle and assorted weapons slung across its body, even using a flashlight to survey the sewers.

Though those sewers concealed Ross’s secret, he was oblivious to any risk of its exposure.

Ross was simply elated.

His chances of reverting to human were so slim.

So in a sense, he had resigned himself to being alone forever.

But not anymore.

If there were others like Ross in this world, then he wouldn’t need to become human again in the first place.

Would his kindred not genuinely understand Ross’s plight and trust him as he was?

Finally seeing that hope, Ross’s lips curled into a crescent moon smile.