“We should stay here for today.”
Several days after leaving Ballinger...
Upon arriving in a town called Snyder, about 160 kiloters away, Aiden muttered those words.
Snyder was a small town that had barely reached a population of 10,000 even three years ago, located precisely halfway between Ballinger and their next destination, Lubbock.
“Here? What’s here?”
As the vehicle exited the highway encircling the town and headed into the city interior, Arian asked that question.
It was still broad daylight.
Even with their subpar vehicle, if they persisted, there would be enough ti to reach the next small town.
However, Aiden’s decision to establish a temporary base earlier than usual stemd from a simple reason.
“We’re out of gas. We need to refuel in this town.”
Not only incapable of maintaining decent speeds, but also prone to overheating and engine failures, this vehicle’s fuel efficiency was naturally poor as well.
So the gasoline consumption had exceeded Aiden’s expectations, eventually depleting their supply entirely.
“Is Lubbock, or wherever, still far away?”
“It would seem so.”
Arian let out a brief sigh.
The reason Aiden’s group had set Lubbock as their destination was due to the information purchased from Eli.
According to him, starting from Lubbock and heading north along Interstate Highway 27, there were survivor groups in Abernathy, Tulia, and the larger city of Amarillo.
Although that information was from two years ago when Eli had been active in the area, it was the only reference Aiden’s group had to work with.
anwhile, the other small towns they had passed through were desolate to an extre degree.
Not completely devoid of life, but any inhabitants were rely unruly plunderers with whom conversation was impossible.
And this town seed to be similar in that regard.
The area Aiden’s group had entered was a residential district.
However, its appearance differed from the nurous other residential areas they had traversed.
Perhaps due to the encroaching desert, the roads were coated in thick dust.
Beside them stood wooden utility poles that leaned precariously, their installation date indiscernible. The few power lines that had once been strung across them now lay scattered on the ground, severed. Above all, the completely unmaintained wooden structures seed exceptionally aged.
What few buildings remained stood sparsely separated, dilapidated fences crumbling between them.
Was this... a backdrop befitting the Old West?
With just a bit of maintenance, it could easily pass for a scene from a Western movie.
“This area seems to be completely deserted.”
Observing Snyder’s desolate streets, Arian spoke those words.
The residences untouched for so long had turned a sickly yellow hue from the incessant sandstorms.
There were no zombies present either.
Only the endless road seed to beckon them to depart under that clear autumn sky.
Screeeech-
As they traveled along that road, Aiden parked the vehicle beside an abandoned motel near a church.
A single-story building with a red roof, stretching in a long C-shape.
“Wow... I’ve only seen places like this in dramas before.”
Remarking on the motel’s appearance, Arian spoke up.
It was the archetypal ‘inconspicuous rural motel’ frequently used as a backdrop for drama protagonists constantly on the run.
Even Sadie, with her lack of dia exposure, showed keen interest in the unfamiliar building structure as she looked around curiously.
“We’ll use this as our temporary shelter.”
Those were Aiden’s words regarding that motel.
While dilapidated, the building itself was solidly constructed with bricks.
Above all, it had nurous available rooms, which could prove greatly useful if the need arose.
“Alright. Then we should clean the inside first.”
At Arian’s suggestion of cleaning, Aiden quietly raised his weapon.
“Are there zombies?”
“Not many. Around 10 or so? And they’re scattered across different rooms, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Then let’s deal with them swiftly.”
For a brief mont, Aiden’s group eliminated the zombies lurking around the motel building. Not just Aiden and Arian, but Sadie also utilized her crossbow to take down the corpses.
Dispatching the scattered zombies was a simple task.
Afterwards, Aiden searched the motel office and procured a few room keys.
Unlocking a suitable room, they unloaded their belongings to set up a temporary residence.
“It’s been roughly cleaned up.”
Having even finished properly tidying the room, Arian smiled with satisfaction.
With that, securing their shelter for the day was complete.
Now was the ti to venture out and search for gasoline.
“You ntioned finding fuel?”
“Yeah. There’s a gas station nearby. But... actually finding gas at the station itself will be difficult. Anyone looking for fuel would have the sa idea, so we should check other locations as well.”
Aiden’s group exited the motel.
They walked along the main road that bisected Snyder from east to west.
While Arian’s senses detected so zombie presences in the vicinity, their numbers weren’t high.
“Over there.”
As they followed that road, an abandoned gas station soon ca into view, just as Aiden had said.
A small-scale station with only two faded blue-logo pumps remaining.
The pumps themselves were intact.
Apart from being coated in dust, there were no signs of damage or disconnection.
Observing them, Arian tilted her head doubtfully.
“I wonder if these pumps would still work?”
“Unlikely.”
“Then how do we extract the gas?”
In response to Arian’s question, Aiden pointed towards the ground.
“We’ll need to directly access the underground tank. It’s probably located below.”
“Underground?”
“I’ll locate the tank and its entrance. In the anti, you two should search over there.”
Aiden gestured towards a building near the gas station.
As was common for Arican gas stations, there was a convenience store structure adjacent to it.
“Understood. But be careful. I’m slling the scent of rotten corpses nearby.”
Leaving that warning, Arian entered the convenience store with Sadie.
After witnessing Arian swiftly dispatching the zombies inside while Sadie finished them off with her crossbow, Aiden turned his attention elsewhere.
He carefully examined the gas station’s ground area.
While unsure of the exact location, the tank’s entrance would undoubtedly be aboveground.
And just as Aiden had expected, he soon discovered what appeared to be the fuel tank’s manhole-like entrance in a corner beside the gas station.
Two of them, to be precise.
However, it seed soone had already passed through, as they were both open.
“...”
Aiden turned on his flashlight and peered inside.
The first tank was nearly empty.
There was so liquid reaching about ankle height, but... unfortunately, it was rely rainwater that had seeped in through the open manhole, not gasoline.
And in the second tank-
“Kieeeee!”
Along with waist-deep liquid, there were three zombies subrged.
Witnessing that, Aiden frowned deeply.
This tank had contained a considerable amount of gasoline, but even disregarding those zombies, it had already been contaminated by the rainwater, rendering it unusable.
“...Can’t be helped.”
Aiden clicked his tongue and stood up.
The other two had just exited the convenience store at that mont.
“Did you find anything left?”
“No, it was completely cleared out. Nothing at all.”
Arian responded with a sigh.
Well, considering the state of the underground fuel tanks, it was no surprise the aboveground convenience store had been stripped bare.
“We’ll check elsewhere.”
And so, Aiden’s group set out again.
However, even after walking along the main road and searching the shopping district, the surrounding area remained desolate.
Buildings taller than two stories were nearly nonexistent, and most structures visible appeared to be nondescript offices or warehouses.
While there were a few places that seed to have once been restaurants, their interiors indicated they had closed down even before the zombie outbreak.
Any stores that remained relatively intact had clearly been looted long ago.
“Hmm...”
The scavenging proving more challenging than expected, Aiden let out a contemplative hum.
He had anticipated that at least so supplies might remain in this sparsely populated small town, but an unexpected number of people seed to have passed through.
In the midst of that, sothing finally caught Aiden’s eye.
It was... an auto repair shop.
“Let’s stop by there for a mont.”
Not just a space for repairing vehicles, but it also appeared to sell automotive supplies and products.
“I don’t think we’ll find gas here?”
Arian voiced that thought.
Of course, she was correct.
However, gasoline itself wasn’t what Aiden was searching for.
“Instead, we might find a way to obtain gas.”
What Aiden soon discovered there were thin rubber hoses, a hand pump, and appropriately sized fuel canisters.
“With just these, we could siphon gas from vehicles.”
As he said, those were tools used to extract gasoline in reverse through a vehicle’s fuel inlet.
Observing them, Arian nodded, while Sadie also studied them with keen focus.
For Sadie, even such trivial items could beco valuable knowledge that might aid them one day.
“So we’ll be able to get gas right away? There are plenty of vehicles around here, after all.”
At Arian’s words, Aiden shook his head.
However, it wouldn’t be that simple.
“Not just any vehicle will do. Ones that have been abandoned for too long will have degraded gasoline. It needs to be a vehicle that soone used and discarded more recently, not since three years ago.”
It was a rather strict condition.
Arian frowned slightly.
“Will we be able to find a vehicle like that?”
“The likelihood is high. This is a repair shop, after all.”
Aiden stated that flatly.
It was a place people would have frequented in the past to acquire parts or tools for repairing faulty vehicles. And if the repairs failed, they would have simply abandoned those vehicles here, which was precisely what Aiden intended to look for.
Seemingly a plausible explanation, Arian nodded.
“Alright. Then I’ll search for such a vehicle too. What should I look out for?”
“First, check the tires. For vehicles that have been parked in the sa spot for an extended period, the weight causes the tire bottoms to beco compressed. So-“
Aiden provided Arian and Sadie with a few indicators to identify recently abandoned vehicles.
Afterwards, Arian and Sadie took the right side of the repair shop, while Aiden handled the left, beginning their search for suitable vehicles.
Scattered around the repair shop premises, including the road, were dozens of abandoned vehicles.
Most had been discarded during the initial zombie outbreak three years ago.
Likely vehicles that had been left at the repair shop in that condition and never retrieved.
Of course, there were also so exceptions.
Among the vehicles abandoned on the road, so bore clear signs of being attacked by zombies, like heavily cracked windshields.
“Kieee...!”
There were even cases where zombies were still trapped within, bound by the driver’s seatbelt.
Aiden approached those vehicles one by one, ticulously assessing their condition.
“This one...”
After inspecting nearly twenty vehicles, he finally discovered one that seed promising.
Checking the instrunt panel, it still contained a considerable amount of gasoline.
Aiden opened the fuel inlet and imdiately began siphoning out the gas.
The gasoline trickled through the hose, gradually filling the container.
While its color had slightly discolored, it didn’t appear to be severely degraded.
Fortunately, it still seed usable.
“This should suffice.”
Once he had finished extracting all the gasoline from that vehicle, Aiden spoke those words while observing the partially filled canister.
Even for their fuel-inefficient vehicle, this amount would be more than enough to reach Lubbock with plenty to spare.
Although they had wandered a bit, the objective of today’s scavenging had been achieved.
It was just as Aiden was coiling up the hose that...
“Hmm...?”
The sound of approaching footsteps caused him to turn his head.
There, Arian and Sadie were hurrying towards him.
Had they also found a suitable vehicle on their side?
However, upon closer inspection, their expressions seed sowhat tense.
Just as Aiden was about to ask Arian the reason for their urgency as she approached, Arian blurted out that response before he could inquire:
“Aiden! We found a person!”
An unexpected result.
He hadn’t anticipated encountering anyone in this desolate area.
“A person?”
“Yeah. Over there in that building. Do you see it?”
Aiden nodded.
In the direction Arian was pointing, there stood a white container structure.
At first glance, it resembled a large warehouse, but the vehicles lined up around it suggested it wasn’t rely a storage facility.
“That place is...”
“A truck repair shop. So we went to check, just in case.”
Arian provided that supplentary explanation.
Aiden nodded as he continued his questioning.
“How many people are there?”
“Just one.”
“Only one, huh...”
Aiden’s eyes narrowed slightly.
That large warehouse had its main entrance wide open.
Sowhat dubious as a proper base location.
For there to be a solitary survivor in such a place...
Perhaps that person was also moving about for scavenging purposes?
Various possibilities surfaced in Aiden’s mind.
In the midst of that, Arian spoke up again.
“But... that person seems to be injured.”
“How so?”
“Their breathing is unstable. I can also sll blood, faintly. And when I observed for a bit, they didn’t move from that spot at all.”
Hearing that, Aiden briefly contemplated their next course of action.
In truth, there wasn’t any particular reason to contact soone right away.
Even after leaving Ballinger, Aiden had engaged in battles with marauders and managed to secure enough blood.
However, if the other person was alone and injured, there was reason to make contact, not just for the blood.
The main reason for avoiding contact with people was the inherent risk during the first encounter.
With soone like that, the risk was significantly lower.
So if the conversation went well, he could obtain useful information with a little help.
If not and the person acted uncooperatively, he could simply leave them behind.
For Aiden, it was a situation with no significant loss.
“Then I guess we should have a chat.”
With that, Aiden spoke.
He put on his helt and walked towards the building Arian had ntioned.
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