A few days after leaving Grants.
Aiden’s group had finally crossed the border into Arizona and was walking across the vast expanse of desert.
Arizona had always had a strong image of being a desert.
Perhaps that’s why – the scenery visible to Aiden’s group had been the sa for several days now, no matter where they looked.
The sight of tumbleweed sprouting sparsely like weeds on the ochre sand, rolling around here and there with the arrival of autumn.
It’s similar to the desolate backdrop of a Western movie they had seen once.
The only difference from that movie was that instead of cowboys riding horses across the desert, there were living corpses.
Crack!
One of those zombies had its neck severed by the rciless blade of a machete.
The cleanly cut head floats in the air for a mont before falling to the ground with a dull thud.
But even so, the decaying head doesn’t die.
The severed head opens its mouth wide as if to scream, but with no lungs or vocal cords left, all that cos out is a deflated sound.
Soon, an axe handle falls on it this ti.
The rotten skull shatters spectacularly like a waterlon dropped on sumr ground, finally bringing peace to the undying corpse.
“Phew...”
Having taken down a group of zombies encountered in the middle of the desert, Arian let out a short sigh.
Her expression showed clear fatigue, unlike usual.
“Are you alright?”
Aiden asked Arian.
Even Sadie, retrieving arrows nearby, was looking at Arian with worried eyes.
Arian appreciated her companions’ concern but gave a bitter smile.
“Yeah. For now, at least.”
It was already their third day in the desert.
To avoid getting lost in this vast desert and to et people, they were following the road.
But the road crossing the desert wasn’t as quiet as they had thought.
Above all, there were more zombies lining the road than expected.
Probably those who had died here on their way to LA before Aiden’s group arrived.
And that wasn’t the only obstacle.
There were also zombie hordes of hundreds or thousands roaming freely across the desert plains.
While it was fortunate that there were no mutants thanks to the terrain with nowhere to hide, the numbers were too great for combat.
Aiden’s group actively avoided battle whenever they encountered such hordes.
Thanks to this, they had been able to conserve their strength so far.
But there was another problem.
As they kept moving in odd directions to avoid the hordes, they ended up still wandering in the middle of the desert without reaching their destination.
As a result, Aiden’s group naturally experienced a shortage of blood.
It had been a long ti since they encountered cannibals who tried to ambush Aiden’s group but were defeated instead.
The appearance of cannibals stopped abruptly as they crossed the Arizona border, and because of that, their blood reserves had long since run out.
In the midst of this, they had to engage in small battles they couldn’t avoid, so the burden on Arian was accumulating.
“It’s better for you to stay out of combat now.”
Aiden said, looking at Arian.
Arian had always had pale skin, but her complexion was even paler than usual.
Perhaps because her condition wasn’t good, Arian nodded to Aiden’s words without protest.
“Can you hold out for three more days?”
“That long...?”
Arian’s face clouded for a mont.
But soon, having made up her mind, she nodded.
Hadn’t she already prepared for this before entering this desert, before leaving Albuquerque?
“But is there sothing in three days?”
“We should be able to reach a town called Holbrook by then at the latest.”
Aiden answered, looking at his map and compass.
The desert they had been wandering through had no morable terrain or anything to gauge their position.
So it was just an estimate based on Aiden’s map-reading skills, but it was all they had to believe in now.
“...Will there be people there?”
“We can only hope.”
It’s a village so small it can hardly be called a town.
But it was the only village within a radius of dozens of kiloters in this area, so if there were any people who had drifted into this desert, they would have no choice but to gather there.
So it was the most likely place to et people in this desert, but conversely, there was no certainty of that.
Arian nodded as if she understood.
“Alright. Let’s keep going then.”
Aiden’s group started walking again.
Autumn sunlight poured down on the wasteland, and a gently cool breeze blew, kicking tumbleweed at their feet.
They walked for a long ti.
But the scenery of the road stretching across the desolate desert still didn’t change.
It was enough to make one feel like they might be going in circles.
But before they knew it, the sun that had been overhead was tilted, and the sky was dyed red.
It was ti to rest now, not move.
When Aiden looked back, not only Arian but also Sadie looked very tired.
It wasn’t strange.
Aiden’s group had been walking for over 10 hours, and it was hard to believe that such a young body could keep up with such a forced march.
So Aiden looked around to find a place to rest.
Although this was a desert with nothing in it.
As they followed the road, there were occasional side paths, and at the end of those paths, there would sotis be a solitary building.
Most were abandoned small factories, warehouses, or farm buildings.
So of them had zombies hiding inside, but securing such a place was much better than sleeping in the open desert.
“This way.”
For this reason, after walking for about 30 more minutes and finding a side path, Aiden changed course towards it.
It was in the direction of a low rocky mountain extending from the desert.
The side path led up to that rocky mountain.
Looking at the location, it wasn’t a place for farm buildings.
Then... could there be a warehouse or campground?
Just as he was thinking that either of those would be fine.
“Wait.”
Suddenly, Arian raised her head.
Her eyes were glittering ominously.
“What’s wrong?”
“...People.”
At Arian’s words, Aiden felt a faint surprise and relief simultaneously.
To think there would be people in a place like this.
“How many?”
“Two.”
“They don’t seem to be... cannibals.”
Aiden muttered, twitching his eyebrows.
It made sense that they were hiding in the mountains, but this rocky mountain wasn’t very high or wide.
It was just like a hill rising from the desert.
Also, the number was small, and it was too far from where other cannibals had been.
“...We’ll have to confront them directly.”
After considering various possibilities, Aiden finally ca to this conclusion.
Arian imdiately reacted.
“I’ll go.”
“No, I’ll go. You’re in a dangerous state if you get injured now, aren’t you?”
Aiden said.
The reason he usually sent Arian in first was that she could recover instantly even if shot.
However, that magical recovery was only possible if she had enough blood.
Now, with blood shortage, it would be taking unnecessary risks.
“It’s better to approach first.”
Aiden said, putting on his bulletproof helt.
They continued along the side path.
At the end, a small cabin appeared. An old building with nothing special about it. But there were already occupants inside.
A gun barrel protruded through a broken window.
Soone was aiming a gun at them.
Aiden confird this, hid his companions in a safe place, and then obediently exposed himself towards the gun barrel.
“I’m Aiden Lee, a junk dealer. I don’t want to fight you. I want to trade.”
Aiden said this with his hands raised and looked at the cabin.
Aiden had done this kind of approach several tis before, but this ti, even Aiden needed to prepare himself.
Above all, this was in the middle of a desert with few people.
The situation was completely different from contacting a gang settled in their base.
Aiden couldn’t know what situation these wanderers or potential cannibals were in.
If they had no resources to trade right now, there was a possibility they might shoot first and ask questions later.
So Aiden was waiting for the response of the people in the cabin while ntally preparing several response plans, but.
“...Aiden, you say?”
The response from the other side was beyond all of Aiden’s expectations.
What flowed out in response to Aiden’s words was a woman’s voice.
However, the woman aiming the gun was focusing on that na rather than Aiden’s appearance.
Could it be soone who knew him?
Just as that speculation flashed through Aiden’s mind, the other party confird that suspicion.
“That’s right! That helt.”
A man’s voice was heard, and Aiden tilted his head slightly.
It was a voice he rembered hearing sowhere.
Just as Aiden was trying to trace that mory, the gun barrel imdiately disappeared inside the house.
Then with a clatter, the cabin door opened.
What ca out was an Indian man.
That face... was definitely in Aiden’s mory.
“Zaid...?”
It was Zaid Karem, whom they had t in Snyder.
At this, Arian, watching from behind, opened her eyes wide.
She rembered that man too.
And for good reason, as that man was the leader of the small survivor group who said they would repair the train in the small town.
“You rember .”
Zaid said with an awkward smile.
Having parted on good terms at that ti, he showed no signs of wariness towards them.
Aiden lowered his raised hands and calmly spoke.
“I didn’t expect to et you in a place like this.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
Zaid said with a hollow laugh.
eting Zaid here was unexpected, but certainly not a bad thing.
Noticing the clearly relaxed atmosphere, Arian soon joined them along with Sadie.
* * *
So ti later.
Inside the cabin, Aiden’s group was exchanging stories with Zaid and his companion, Linda Green.
“So you really ca to Albuquerque by train?”
“Yes. That was the plan. Well, we were quite lucky too.”
It seed Zaid had reached Albuquerque much earlier than Aiden’s group in terms of schedule.
The railway of the train he said he had repaired really did connect safely from Snyder through Lubbock to Albuquerque.
“But that luck only lasted until Albuquerque. After that, the tracks were damaged, and it was impossible for the train to pass through.”
“That’s understandable. Even cars can’t pass through.”
Aiden nodded at Zaid’s words.
It was obvious.
From the west of Albuquerque, especially all roads and railways in Arizona were thoroughly blocked and destroyed.
“So you’re walking now?”
“Yes. We’re heading to Las Vegas. We should be able to find another train there to go to LA.”
Las Vegas is a city in Nevada, which borders northwest of Arizona.
It’s a bit further than Phoenix where Aiden was trying to go, but if they wanted to use a train, they had to leave Arizona, so it was an unavoidable choice.
“By the way, you’re amazing too. I didn’t expect you to co this far with two children.”
Zaid looked at Arian and Sadie.
Needless to say, Arian was fine, and even Sadie was in good condition.
The presence of a child without a scratch on a journey where even adults had to risk their lives was surprising.
“Speaking of which... it seems one of you is missing.”
Aiden said, looking at Zaid and Linda.
He clearly rembered that Zaid’s group had one more person besides these two.
It was Nabin Kanna, who had been hiding in a building with an injured leg when he was discovered by Aiden’s group, leading to their eting with Zaid.
“Ah, you an Nabin.”
At those words, Zaid’s expression hardened.
Linda also lowered her head with a gloomy face.
From this, Aiden could guess the circumstances of that other person, and it was soon conveyed through Zaid’s words.
“He died on the way. Just before we reached Albuquerque, our train was attacked by a horde of zombies. Sohow the train broke through them, but in the end, one of them that had climbed aboard...”
“That’s... regrettable.”
Aiden said, offering condolences for Nabin.
anwhile, Arian sighed at the news of Nabin’s death, and Sadie’s eyes filled with tears.
In this subdued atmosphere.
Aiden opened his mouth to change the subject.
“More importantly... I’d like to trade. Would that be possible?”
Aiden carefully brought up the main point.
Aiden’s group was glad to et Zaid and Linda not just because they had reunited with people they had t before.
At this, Zaid made a slightly troubled expression.
“We’d like to as well, but we’re short on supplies... By any chance... are you still accepting blood?”
Zaid said, recalling past mories.
The shortage of supplies seed quite desperate, as there was no suspicion about the reason for still accepting human blood as compensation.
That desperation was, fortunately, a good thing for Aiden’s group.
“Of course.”
“Ah, that’s a relief. Then we actually have sothing we’d like to request.”
Aiden thought they would ask for food or water in exchange for blood.
However, what Zaid brought up was a request.
In other words, instead of food, they had sothing that needed to be resolved.
“A request?”
“Actually, we have a problem.”
Zaid looked at Linda.
“Recently, there have been people chasing us.”
Linda continued with a worried face.
Aiden nodded towards her, as if telling her to continue.
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