Zombie Apocalypse: Am I Counted As 10 People?!

Austin regretted not turning on the air conditioner inside. Although it wasn't very hot outside, the doors and windows were always closed, and it was burning hot inside.

Despite this, he insisted on keeping his leather jacket on.

When he turned his head and looked to his left, he saw Elura, the love of his life, who had been with him for three years.

With her shoulder-length blonde hair, fit body, and tough temperament, Elura was the perfect match for someone as soft-spoken as Austin.

He was planning to marry her the following summer... but that remained just a plan.

How could he have known that on the day he proposed, all of his biker friends would turn into zombies and start attacking them?

Austin still remembered the day they fled very clearly.

Their escape from Gravemont, south of New Telludure, had not been easy.

Fortunately, they were both skilled motorcyclists, and the highway was not very crowded.

Thanks to their small motorcycles, they had managed to escape to New Telludure easily from the empty highway where the accident had occurred.

At first, they wanted to enter the city, but when they heard the sounds of fighting, saw the zombies, and finally saw three helicopters taking off from the northeast of the city, they gave up completely and decided to go around the city and head north.

This place had become their supply point. It was a perfect opportunity to rest for a day or two and stock up on fuel. 

When they arrived, everyone was already dead, and all they had to do was kill two zombies lying in wait inside the gas station.

Austin was staring admiringly at Elura when suddenly Elura's hair stood on end. 

Before he had a chance to ask, "What's wrong?", he heard a sound coming from the door. An unexpected sound.

"Knock, knock, knock!" 

Austin's hand immediately reached for the machete on the table. 

He hadn't killed many zombies, but he had managed to earn some system coins. 

He had invested most of that money in leather armor and weapons. 

He gripped the machete tightly in his right hand, nodded at Elura, and stood up. He approached the door as quietly as possible and listened.

It was as if he wanted to determine whether the person behind the door was a zombie by listening to their breathing.

There was no sound for a few seconds, but Austin remained silent, showing that he was more patient than the person outside. Finally, a voice came from outside, a young voice that was not alarming.

"Hey... is anyone there?" 

Austin turned his head and looked at Elura. He had long since stopped making his own decisions because he had found true happiness in not thinking, but simply doing what his girlfriend said without question.

Elura thought for a few seconds. Then she put her hand to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

She then ran to the back, climbed onto the safe, and opened the small square door leading to the roof. She looked carefully at the roof. Seeing no one, she climbed onto the roof and carefully scanned the area. 

She then locked the roof and climbed back down. She then checked the windows and small gaps to look outside. 

Just as she was about to nod to Austin, a voice came from outside.

"I don't want anything from you. Just show me or tell me how to use a motorcycle. That's all." 

Austin shook his head again and asked quietly, "What should we do?" 

Elura didn't have much of an idea either.

This person outside was the first human they had encountered. Both were familiar with the clichés from zombie stories. They were aware that such encounters might not end happily. 

Finally, the voice outside gave them an ultimatum whether they liked it or not. 

"Friends, I don't care who you are. I'm going to a shelter a hundred miles from here. I have an extra radio, I can give it to you if you want. All I want is a vehicle to get there faster, I never learned because I'm young, please help me."

Austin and Elura remained silent again, but the voice outside was beginning to sound convincing.

At that moment, a frightening sound was heard. 

A dagger was stuck in the thin metal shutter outside. Then it slowly cut through it as if it were cutting butter and formed a circle. Then the person using the dagger used a finger to knock the round piece of metal to the ground. It revealed the young face of the person on the other side.

"As you can see, my level is much higher than yours, and rest assured, I don't care what you have..."

Austin was forced to open the door and the shutter.

Elura agreed.

"I'm sorry for doing this..." William apologized with a smile.

Using the difference in level between them as an element of fear had worked, though. 

Even though he could see that the couple was scared, he needed to do this. 

At least learning to ride a motorcycle wouldn't be a bad thing. 

That way, he could reach his goal a little more easily. 

"It's okay... come in..." Austin and Elura were still distant, but it didn't take them long to realize that William was just a young survivor. 

In fact, William was perhaps more experienced than them, after all, his level was higher than theirs.

William was not a very shy, innocent, or timid person. In fact, he liked to show his feelings as they were sometimes.

"Don't you have any plans? William spoke as he entered. His first priority was to explore the interior and see if he could find something to eat. 

The gas station was more crowded than he had expected. Except for a few ready-to-eat meals that Austin and Elura had eaten, almost nothing had been touched. 

William's mind immediately went to Hugo. 'I wonder if they have enough food?'

William shook his head. He could find out via radio, but he would be there by evening anyway. So he didn't care. 

"No, we're just trying to survive for now." Austin shook his head.

They had found a safe shelter and had enough food to last them for months.

So it was better to wait for help to arrive.

William nodded.

Then he took out his radio and showed it to them.

"There is a shelter seventy miles north and thirty miles west of the city. I spoke to them and they said it was safe. I think it's a military base."

"We can go there together if you want." William offered them a choice.

They could live here for a long time, yes, but William had now learned that this place was a safe food supply. 

When William went to the shelter, the location of this gas station would be revealed, and Austin and Elura would either have to join the shelter or be forced to leave their homes. 

They had two choices: kill William and live happily with the food here until they found another survivor, or join William now, share this information with the shelter, and increase their chances of survival by helping everyone.

At first, Austin thought William was just someone who came looking for help and would come and go, but now what he said made him think a little.

What William said made sense. A safe environment was important for Elura and himself.

So he nodded.

"I don't need to teach you how to use the motorcycle; we can go together." 

Austin hadn't consulted Elura, so she immediately reacted and pulled his arm.

The two went to a corner and whispered. Elura did most of the talking. 

"What do you mean we can go together? Didn't we decide to go to my aunt's mountain house?"

Austin knew he had made a mistake, but William's offer made more sense to him.

"But honey… we don't know what we'll find at the mountain house. We don't even know if your aunt is still alive… We last contacted her five days ago… This… This is the only option for our child…" He placed his hand on Elura's stomach and looked into her eyes with puppy dog eyes.

Elura sighed helplessly.

Austin was right. Her aunt's mountain house sounded like a dream. She remembered the way; they had gone there last summer. A quiet, peaceful wooden building by the lake. 

It seemed perfect for shelter after the disaster, but it wasn't very realistic. 

Water was a problem; the only water sources were two small streams flowing into the lake, and they were far from the house.

And as far as she knew, her aunt wasn't a farmer. At least, she had never seen her do any farming.

Gritting her teeth, she made her decision.

"Okay... All right." Elura put her hand on her stomach. They had found out she was pregnant just before the disaster began. 

She couldn't go to the doctor or do anything else… 

Normally, she would have wanted to abort it, but she didn't know if she could find a doctor in this disaster.