“...”
Arian walked through the dark hallway.
Even with the light streaming in from the windows, it was impossible to illuminate the entire corridor, but that wasn’t a problem for her.
Because with a vampire’s eyes capable of piercing through the darkness, she could clearly see the shapes of the zombies and a Beast that Aiden had ntioned.
As Arian revealed herself in the corridor, the Beast imdiately detected her presence.
The creature, previously sitting, stood up, revealing its fangs.
It was a gray, cadaveric dog with sparse fur
The left ribcage, with decaying flesh, gruesoly protruded outward.
The face, with over half of its skin peeled off, resembled almost a skull.
Thinking that the Beast would charge at her, Arian stopped and raised her machete.
But...
“Krrr...”
The Beast didn’t move easily from its spot. It just emitted low growls towards Arian, remaining cautious.
In response to the Beast’s growls, the zombie reacted.
The corpse of the man nad Peter tilted his head and looked at Arian.
“Kiiii!”
The zombie that spotted her scread.
Upon this, the Beast finally charged at Arian.
Tap-tap!
The dog ran through the dusty corridor, its speed much faster than an ordinary dog.
Zombies, not knowing how to protect their muscles, always exerted themselves, sprinting until their bodies wore out.
However, Arian calmly lowered the blade, even at the sight of such a creature.
And when the creature approached.
Swish!
The extended blade slashed its head off.
The beast that was rushing towards her passed by, stumbling backward.
“Kieee!”
The zombie that witnessed this howled.
For so reason, the sound felt like soone’s scream to Arian, and she furrowed her brow.
A beat later, the owner of the dog arrived.
But the man’s teeth, just a regular zombie, didn’t reach Arian.
“...”
In the darkness, Arian’s blade flashed, and the zombie’s head fell off.
While the detached head rolled on the ground, the zombie’s headless body seed to glare at Arian.
A strange, insect-like noise, as if bugs were crawling, emanated from its mouth.
In response, Arian picked up only the fallen hat from his head.
Squelch!
She thrust the blade into the zombie’s head, finally bringing silence to the bizarre sounds.
In the now quiet corridor, Arian felt no more presence.
So, she threw her voice behind.
“It’s done. You can co in.”
At her words, the closed gray door reopened, and Aiden, Sadie, and Victor entered the corridor one by one.
Aiden glanced at the corridor indifferently, Sadie looked sympathetically at the fallen dog, Buddy, on the floor.
Victor, alternately looking at Peter and Buddy, sighed, tongue clicking.
“Poor guys...”
Wearing thick gloves, he started cleaning up the fallen bodies.
Aiden also assisted in the cleanup.
Although it was called cleanup, it was only about laying Peter and Buddy side by side in a corner of the corridor.
Victor finally exhaled a deep sigh when the task was done.
“...Thank you.”
After gazing at the face of the deceased for a while, Victor finally opened his mouth. He received the green hat from Arian and cherished it in his embrace.
“This guy is, in fact, Emily’s son.”
“Emily?”
“The old lady from yesterday. She was always worried about her dead son here, thinking he might have turned into a zombie.”
“...”
“But... now he can rest in peace.”
He, who was squatting, stood up.
And after taking another deep breath, he urged Aiden.
“Let’s go. The journey isn’t far.”
Aiden nodded, and the group resud their movent.
Passing through the corridor, a wide space with collapsed shelves erged.
It was the mart area.
However, since the entrance to the mart area was thoroughly closed, there was no light at all.
Aiden turned on the lights to secure visibility. Then, it revealed that the entire floor was filled with high shelves.
Originally, this place displayed various items from the mart. However, now the shelves were empty, and so even collapsed like dominos, blocking Aiden’s group’s path.
“We need to go down the stairs on the other side... This is bad.”
Victor sighed in dismay as he looked at the blocked path.
Aiden examined the obstacles with light, but due to nurous large shelves stacked in succession, it was impossible to clear a path.
So, Aiden turned to Victor.
“Is there no other way?”
“Hmm... wait a mont.”
He muttered for a mont, searching through his mories.
“There are a few offices on the opposite side. Probably where the store employees worked. So, from there, you could go back and forth between the store and the warehouse. However, there’s a problem.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I rember they blocked the door leading to the warehouse. It’s not a sturdy door. They just put wooden boards or sothing. Breaking through it would be much better than clearing this path and moving forward, but...”
Aiden fell silent at Victor’s words.
Even he couldn’t say for sure yet.
First, they needed to check the situation on the spot.
Aiden’s group decided to head for the offices, traversing the dimly lit store.
However, perhaps due to the lack of an entrance to the mart area or the zombies having gathered more here than in the mall, the number of zombies here seed even greater.
Arian, who was leading the way, smirked briefly.
“There are quite a few of them nearby.”
“Try to go around as much as possible. If that’s not possible, I’ll personally clear the way.”
Aiden instructed, and Arian nodded in agreent.
Subsequently, the group encountered not just a few zombies.
There were more than dozens of them in this mart area.
Even though Arian, with her ability to pinpoint zombie locations even in the dark, could sense them, Aiden had to step forward multiple tis to silently assassinate the zombies.
The office they arrived at had a spacious room that extended lengthwise. Inside were office desks and chairs, but they had already been cleared away by soone, not obstructing the passage.
Victor, who had entered the innermost part of the office, pointed to a door.
“Here, it’s here.”
Just as he ntioned, it was the door blocked by crudely placed wooden boards, just like he had said.
Aiden closely examined it.
Fortunately, the door was made of plastic and wasn’t very sturdy. Even without tools, it could be broken down quite easily.
However, it wasn’t weak enough to be shattered in one blow. It would take several hits, maybe even with a construction hamr, but the crucial factor was the noise that would be generated during the process.
That sound would attract zombies both inside and outside the door.
“Is there a quiet way to break through?”
Aiden asked Arian, just in case, but she shook her head.
In that case, there was no other option.
Ultimately, the choices were either to give up here or to take the risk.
“Can we at least know what’s on the other side of the door?”
“No, I can’t sense any movent right now.”
His worry deepened with that response.
Breaking through the door forcibly wasn’t impossible considering the effort it took to get here.
However, Aiden was concerned about the considerable number of zombies that had been in the mart area outside the office.
They were scattered all over the unsealed mart area.
If those zombies sensed the noise, they might rush in like a horde.
Furthermore, the sa would apply to the zombies that might be on the other side of the door.
In other words, while breaking the door, they would have to face both enemies coming from behind and those in front at the mont the door finally broke open.
Could they handle that with the people they had here?
“Why the hesitation?”
Arian asked Aiden, who was staring at the door.
To this, Aiden expressed his concern to her and the rest of the group.
While Arian seed to understand his concerns, she gave a different response.
“It’s uneasy, but it’s not like there’s only a downside.”
Arian said so.
No matter how spacious the mart was, the entrance to this office was limited.
“To co in here, they also have to break through walls like those things can’t.”
Arian gestured towards the door leading to the warehouse.
Just like Arian had to break through to the warehouse area, the zombies in the mart area would also have to pass through the door leading to this office.
It could be considered a terrain advantage.
However.
“Well, I don’t think that door is that sturdy.”
Aiden said, pointing to the entrance of the office.
The door was made of the sa material as the one Arian had to break.
Moreover, it had a square window in the middle, making its durability even more uncertain.
No matter how much effort was put into locking and defending the door, if it broke or the latch fell off, it wouldn’t hold up for long.
“It’s obvious we can’t just block it. We’ll have to use guns. Since we’ve co this far, we have to use everything we’ve got, right?”
“Hmm...”
Aiden nodded in agreent with Arian’s statent.
It made sense.
Even though they had been saving ammunition, using it now might be beneficial.
Using the bullets to shoot through the window in the door would be useful for safely reducing the zombies crowding around it.
“It’s risky, I get that. But can we just turn back from here?”
Even Victor, who had been silent, spoke up in agreent with Arian.
If those two were in favor... Aiden had no more reasons to object.
It was sothing worth trying.
“Alright. Let’s give it a shot.”
With the decision made, Aiden’s group imdiately got to work.
They solidly blocked the door leading from the mart area to the office.
They didn’t just lock the door; they piled makeshift barricades behind it, using office desks and chairs.
The brief operation was completed quickly.
“Preparations are done.”
“Good. Then... let’s begin.”
Aiden nodded and, along with Victor, stared at the door leading to the mart.
anwhile, Sadie positioned herself a bit behind the barricade they had set up.
Seeing her, Arian, instead of using her machete, approached the door leading to the warehouse area with a large fireman’s axe in hand.
This was a weapon originally brought by Victor, and it was much better for breaking things than a machete, making it a tool he willingly handed over.
Arian raised it high.
And...
Bang!
With a loud noise, the wooden board blocking the door fell off.
Also, a large hole appeared in the door.
However, that was it.
The door didn’t open imdiately, and Arian seed to have to continue.
However, from the mart side, reactions were already coming.
“Kiii!”
“Kie...!”
Zombies, alerted by the noise, raised their heads and wandered around, seemingly startled by the sudden sound.
And once again, a burst of screams erupted.
“Kiiii!”
Those who were convinced that it wasn’t just corpses began to rush towards the origin of the sound.
Aiden aid his pistol at the door, and Victor also loaded his rifle. As Arian’s axe struck the door for the third ti, she exclaid:
“It’s here!”
The first zombie thrust its head into the door leading to the office. However, imdiately after, the zombie was easily pierced through the head by Aiden’s shots and fell backward.
That was the beginning.
“Kiaaaa!”
“Kiiiii!”
Zombies began to swarm in earnest. As expected, their numbers were outrageously large.
Although it wasn’t clear due to the blocked door, judging by the echoing screams, there were at least dozens.
Bang! Bang!
As a result, Aiden’s pistol continuously spat flas.
He wanted to save ammunition, but there was no room for that.
Thud!
The door blocked by the barricade shook heavily under the weight of the approaching zombies.
The montum of the incoming zombies was indeed beyond expectations.
Thankfully, there seed to be no mutants, but perhaps due to being neglected here for a long ti, hunger had intensified. The madness of those who discovered prey was more intense than that of ordinary zombies.
Snap!
In the chaos of gunfire, Aiden’s ammunition was unexpectedly depleted.
Frowning, he reached for the shotgun he had saved. However, just as he was about to retrieve it, Victor threw sothing to him.
“Take this.”
It was an ammunition box. Inside the box, slightly larger than a palm, were 9mm bullets, just over half-full.
This ant that Victor didn’t have a significant amount of pistol ammunition, likely excluding the rifle rounds he used.
Aiden accepted it without hesitation. Quickly extracting bullets from the box, he skillfully loaded them into the pistol.
Then, he resud shooting. Amidst the pouring gunfire, the zombies’ montum slowly waned.
In the anti, thud!
A large zombie forcefully pushed the door, causing the entire barricade to shake, and the latch above the door popped out. It seed the door wouldn’t hold up for long.
“Is it still far!?”
Aiden shouted towards Arian.
“It’s almost done!”
But her situation wasn’t favorable. Although the door was almost broken, zombies were still swarming from the other side.
“Kiiii!”
With a disturbing cry, a rotten arm protruded from the broken gap in the door. Arian struck that hand with her axe and stepped back slightly, preparing for the final blow.
She judged that she could handle the zombies behind on her own.
That was her decision.
However, just before that, Arian sensed sothing approaching from a distance and paused.
“There’s a mutant near the warehouse! It’s coming this way!”
Arian’s voice and intuition warned Aiden.
It was troubleso. Of all tis, a mutant now.
Aiden, who was dealing with the zombies pouring in from the front, shifted his gaze backward.
Here, he needed to support Arian rather than guard this door. The presence of a mutant was as dangerous as dozens of zombies.
However, leaving only Victor was still uneasy.
Unlike Arian, Victor was just an ordinary person, an old man at that. Aiden was about to leave, considering the situation, but Victor spoke up.
“Go! I’ll handle it here!”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t have many bullets left! There’s no point in staying here!”
Seemingly making the sa judgnt as Aiden, Victor pushed him away. Therefore, Aiden nodded and, grabbing a bat, ran towards Arian.
In the anti, he checked Sadie, who was holding a gun behind the barricade. There was no need to move her position. No matter how uneasy Victor was, on the opposite side, there was a mutant.
The danger posed by it was incomparable.
So, Aiden nodded, hoping that Sadie could be at ease, and turned his gaze forward.
“Tsk...!”
There was Arian, struggling with an axe in hand. The door she was trying to break was about to fall apart, but Arian couldn’t easily tear it away.
Because the door was holding back the zombies pushing forward, and a considerable figure erged from behind.
It was undoubtedly the appearance of the mutant that Aiden knew.
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