How Zombies Survive in the Apocalypse

“Sa…Sadie…?”

Regaining her senses, Arian’s eyes snapped open wide.

Grasping the situation, she raised her fallen upper body and stared at Sadie’s hand with a look of dismay.

“Sadie, this…”

It wasn’t just the sight of blood flowing from that small hand.

Ever since deciding to embark on this journey together from Pittsburgh, Arian had sworn never to drink Sadie’s blood specifically.

Regardless of whether by Sadie’s own will or not, Arian had now violated that solemn vow.

“I’m alright.”

Sadie reassured the conflicted Arian.

The child’s eyes, a mixture of concern and relief, gazed up at her steadily.

“This was what I wanted. So please, don’t worry about it.”

“Sadie…”

Hearing those words, Arian’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she tightly embraced the girl.

Though she deeply cherished and doted upon Sadie, there were scarcely any instances where Arian was the recipient of such reciprocation from the child.

For neither did Arian herself seek such recompense, nor could this powerful, fearsome vampire truly be aided by a young girl under normal circumstances.

So it was with uncharacteristic fervor that Arian stroked Sadie’s head for a few moments before regaining her composure to ask:

“But how did you come to be here?”

Sadie then explained the circumstances that had led her to this battlefield.

How Aiden had found her, entrusting her safety to Luna and Taylor before the three of them traveled together to reunite with Arian here.

“…I see.”

Having heard full story, Arian turned her gaze toward the distance behind them.

Taylor and Luna, who had escorted Sadie, still lingered at the far edge of the battlefield.

Though Arian wished to express her gratitude, the bizarre scene seemed to instill trepidation in the father and daughter – their sights fixed warily in this direction.

“So… what do we do now?”

Sadie asked that question.

The implication behind her words was clear – regarding their final unmet companion, Aiden himself.

And the answer was self-evident.

“Of course, we go to him.”

Arian rose from the ground where she had been sitting.

However, her current state was far from optimal.

Even Sadie could see Arian’s legs trembling unsteadily.

“Are you alright?”

Having expended so much of her blood reserves, Arian’s vitality and stamina alike had been depleted.

Still, she managed a reassuring smile for Sadie’s sake.

Waving off her concern dismissively, Arian turned toward the direction of City Hall where Aiden awaited.

“That Mayor… if he prepared something like this here, he undoubtedly has more surprises at City Hall too. Aiden may struggle alone against that. We should hurry.”

Thus, Arian prepared to step in yet another imminent battlefield.

But Sadie firmly grasped her hand to stop her.

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

The abnormal pallor of Arian’s complexion, the involuntary tremors wracking her legs, the intermittent twitching of her fingers.

Even Sadie could understand Arian’s current unfit state for combat.

“I’ll try finding someone to help.”

Saying that, Sadie surveyed their surroundings.

But this area had only just concluded its harrowing ordeal of warfare.

Casualties were innumerable, injured survivors staggeringly plentiful still.

So the scant few individuals regaining their senses only barely managed feeble movements to tend to the aftermath.

Moreover, the extraordinary power Arian had just demonstrated would undoubtedly instill profound fear in any observers.

“No, there’s no need for that.”

So Arian gently dissuaded Sadie from that course.

Not because she truly lacked any need for aid. But because Arian understood with certainty that no one here possessed any willingness to help her at all.

But Sadie shook her head adamantly, positioning herself before Arian.

“Please help!”

The child raised her voice toward the surrounding battlefield.

Declaring her need to rescue her unstable companion, pleading for anyone to accompany them to City Hall.

Unsurprisingly, Sadie’s call found no willing respondents initially.

Rather, those who met the girl’s imploring gaze instead averted their own with visible discomfort.

Even so, Sadie didn’t give up.

It wasn’t that Sadie failed to comprehend Arian’s perspective, after all.

Those present were individuals who had just narrowly escaped the grip of death themselves.

How many would heed the entreaties of an unknown child under such circumstances?

But despite anticipating such callous indifference, Sadie persisted nonetheless.

Because she still recalled words once imparted by a particular survivor they had encountered during their long journey.

That someday, Sadie would find her own way to support her companions.

And surely, there existed deeds only she could accomplish that they couldn’t.

Sadie believed this was precisely that promised time.

And this selfless imploration was the sole deed available to her here.

So the girl raised her voice boldly, disregarding any shame or impudence.

Most initially ignored Sadie’s calls, just as she had expected.

For a while, only Arian regarded the child with a sorrowful, sympathetic gaze.

But across this vast battlefield, there existed those who couldn’t dismiss the girl’s pleas so readily after all.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the little princess.”

The first to approach with a rasping chuckle was Maria Roberts.

Having jointly handled a commission alongside Aiden’s group back in Albuquerque, she readily stood beside Sadie despite an utterly exhausted countenance.

Arian stared intently at this unexpected arrival.

Seeming slightly awkward under that scrutiny, Maria averted her gaze as she continued speaking.

“Can’t say I’ve forgotten how this kid here killed that zombie trying to gnaw on me with a slingshot back then. So… no need to read too much into this.”

At those words, the corners of Arian’s lips curved upward faintly.

For even this sole individual heeding Sadie’s efforts felt immensely gratifying.

But Maria was not alone in that regard. A few more figures emerged from behind her as well.

Ricardo, Ivan, Camila.

And Zaid with Linda too.

“You all…”

“Back then, Aiden told us we owed this girl a debt. Seems we finally get a chance to repay it.”

Zaid’s words drew nods of affirmation from the others.

Each of them had once been indebted to the young Sadie for their very lives at some point.

Small, simple acts of kindness she had shown during their travels together.

Favors and considerations finally reciprocated in this pivotal moment.

One by one, people began gathering to Sadie’s side. Though their numbers remained modest, to Arian it felt as reassuring as being granted a personal army.

“Then we’d best get moving quickly. The sun’s already risen.”

Taylor’s voice rang out, the man having approached unnoticed.

It seemed he intended to join their party as well.

Regarding that heartening development with appreciative fondness, Arian prepared to set out once more.

“Alright then…”

But then another voice called out from the side.

“Over here.”

It was Ava.

The very woman who had already sustained an injury to one arm now sported further wounds to her remaining hand as well.

So instead of verbal explanation, she simply gestured with her chin toward one corner of the battlefield.

There stood a military transport truck.

“I can’t come along, but I can at least loan you that truck. Take it and go.”

“…Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. You saved my life twice over, after all.”

Arian didn’t refuse Ava’s kindness.

The truck carrying their party then set out, speeding toward LA’s downtown core.

* * *

Within that expansive underground cavern beneath the sewers, the battle between Aiden and the zombies had just begun.

Bang!

Aiden first flung flashbang and smoke grenades toward the two mutants charging his position.

An intense flare temporarily blinded them before thick, vision-obscuring smoke rapidly filled the entire space.

“…”

Taking advantage of that intermittent disruption, Aiden swiftly maneuvered out of the mutants’ predicted trajectories.

Though spacious, this cavern lacked any genuine cover for concealment.

So Aiden decided to create his own improvised smokescreen instead – the very tactic he had just employed.

“You wretched rat!”

Ross’s voice echoed out furiously.

But Aiden paid it no heed, calmly focusing his senses to detect any surrounding movements instead.

The codenames Aiden had assigned these two mutants were ‘Skulls’.

A fitting moniker, as both sported pronounced skeletal protrusions resembling exposed skulls.

Moreover, their arms had been evolved into makeshift bludgeoning weapons.

One wielded spiked protrusions like a morningstar flail.

While the other’s entire limbs had elongated into hooked spear-like lances.

Their sheer physical prowess and defensive capabilities already seemed markedly superior to even Brutals.

Engaging them directly would be extraordinarily dangerous.

As Aiden contemplated alternative strategies to exploit-

“Do you truly think you can keep scurrying about like a rat forever?!”

Ross’s taunting voice rang out once more.

But contrary to that blustering tone, Aiden swiftly detected Ross’s voice growing more distant.

Was the Mayor truly intending to abandon the zombies here and flee?

That contemplation furrowed Aiden’s brow deeply.

Because Ross wasn’t someone who could be permitted to escape so readily.

So Aiden set his concealed body into furtive motion once more.

Fortunately, he had firmly committed this cavern’s layout to memory during his initial discovery. Particularly the fact that only two paths led outward from this subterranean expanse. One of which lay tantalizingly close to Aiden’s current position.

If Ross intended to slip away, only that single remaining exit was a sole option.

Ping!

Aiden pulled the pin from one of his grenades.

Then lobbed it unerringly toward that same egress tunnel.

Booooom!

The grenade’s detonation drowned out Ross’s pained grunt of surprise.

So his suspicions had been correct, it seemed.

But immediately after, one of the Skulls charged through that billowing smoke straight toward Aiden’s position.

It must have pinpointed Aiden’s location from the direction that grenade had flown.

Woosh!

The Skull that engaged Aiden directly was the one whose arms had elongated into twin bladed lances.

Sweeping those deadly points horizontally, they came within a hair’s breadth of impaling Aiden as he twisted evasively – the razored tips instead punching through the solid concrete floor itself.

The undead creature’s spears had bored through that surface like compacted sand.

Tadatadatada!

In that same window, Aiden answered with his assault rifle.

The custom armor-piercing zombie rounds he had procured in LA drummed against the Skull’s cranium at over 800 rounds per minute.

However-

“Kwoooohhh!”

Even those hyper-velocity armor-piercing incendiaries, potent enough to shred most mutant strains’ ossified muscle and bone, failed to penetrate the Skull’s skeletal density.

Only scratches marked its exterior the creature’s bone structure proving astonishingly resilient, deflecting all bullets Aiden poured at it.

“Tsk…!”

With an annoyed click of his tongue, Aiden swapped out the spent magazine.

These Skulls were excessively durable, and he lacked the luxury of time required.

Already, more zombies stirred within the smoke, converging toward this location.

Shhaak!

It was then that one of the Skull’s lances lashed out with blinding speed.

An unearthly swift, unerring straight impalement strike – far too rapid for even Aiden to evade fully.

Pwuk!

The creature’s bladed limb skewered straight through Aiden’s flank.

Though his expression remained stoic, Aiden felt no pain from that grievous wound.

As a zombie himself, such internal trauma held no meaningful debilitation for his kind.

Instead, Aiden focused his attention on the Skull’s embedded arm itself.

The hooks attached to thick lances.

Originally designed to render even more catastrophic trauma by snagging and tearing apart the impaled victim’s organs and flesh.

It was to those very same hooks that Aiden secured his own payload – a brick of C4 military plastique explosive.

Woosh!

The hooked lance that had just impaled Aiden retracted, now bearing that attached bomb charge back toward its host.

Propelling himself away, Aiden struck the ground in a controlled fall as the Skull belatedly noticed the device affixed to its own limb – frantically trying to dislodge it, but far too late.

Boooooom!

The tremendous explosion consumed the Skull.

That C4 charge, designed for breaching even reinforced vault doors, effortlessly shattered the steel-like bone and musculature of the mutant.

Its upper body and head disintegrated into shredded chunks raining across the floor.

“One down, then…”

He had neutralized one of those ridiculously formidable mutants in the blink of an eye.

But Aiden could afford no reprieve from that small victory.

The smoke screen was already rapidly dissipating in effectiveness.

Moreover, the explosive backblast had scattered that obscuring haze even further – threatening to leave Aiden completely exposed within moments.

His concealed position amidst that cover would soon be laid bare to their sights.

“You…!”

Ross too had spotted Aiden’s figure.

Even before Aiden could raise his firearm toward that man, the remaining Skull charged recklessly at him instead.

Bang!

The morningstar flail attached to its arm glowed threateningly.

Aiden attempted to atop its relentless advance through every means, but to little avail.

Because not just the Skull, but surrounding lesser zombies converged as well. The sheer numbers overwhelmed his efforts to neutralize any single target.

Moreover, Aiden’s own arsenal had already begun depleting rapidly.

The excessive ordnance expended against those consecutive formidable mutant engagements left even his backup contingencies and ammunition dangerously low.

It was amidst that steadily worsening situation that-

Kwaduk!

The Skull’s flail finally found its mark against Aiden’s body as he desperately evaded their encirclement.

Though not a direct impact, that glancing blow alone pulverized Aiden’s left arm into mangled shards of bone.

The same force flung his entire body upward to slam against the cavern’s far wall with bone-jarring impact.

“Kuk…!”

Aiden immediately tried to rise, but his left leg refused to support any weight.

Though he could feel no pain, it seemed that collision had badly fractured the limb as well.

Losing the use of both his left arm and leg simultaneously.

A dire predicament indeed.

And toward Aiden’s crippled form the remaining Skull advanced menacingly.

Determined not to squander this opportunity for a lethal strike, that wicked morningstar flail descended with meteoric force.

Bang!

But the only thing that bludgeoning weapon managed to pulverize was Aiden’s now useless rifle.

The Skull proceeded to systematically demolish each of Aiden’s handguns and other arm in turn.

Until only a single functional arm remained to the utterly disarmed Aiden.

“Hah…!”

It was at that precise moment Ross finally reappeared before him once more.

The Mayor regarded Aiden’s prone, defenseless form with arrogant expression.