Rokville was a village about 130km away from the camp where Aiden stayed.
It was much smaller than the small towns Aiden had passed through so far.
It would take only about 20 minutes to walk through the village’s main road.
But even so, it was a suitable place to spend the night today.
Vroom!
With the low engine sound, Aiden’s vehicle passed the outskirts of the village, where he could see an old factory and entered through its entrance.
Starting with a house with a red roof and white walls, houses and shops lined up along the road ca into view.
A quiet, tranquil, peaceful scenery.
However, not long after, Aiden detected an unfavorable signal within that scenery.
“That’s...”
In front of a building with a black roof adorned with star-shaped decorations, there was a figure sprawled on the ground.
A zombie.
Not just any zombie, but one with its head smashed as if hit by sothing, and it wasn’t moving.
Aiden got out of the car and examined it closely.
The bodily fluids were not even dried yet, probably no more than 2 or 3 days had passed.
Aiden turned his head to look at the road.
But there were no traces of vehicles on the road.
It could either an that wandering travelers had passed by on foot, or soone was still living here.
“It seems like soone is there.”
Aiden, who returned to the car, inford his companions.
Then he assigned Arian to monitor the surrounding movents and had Sadie hide safely under the seat.
Continuing to move the vehicle, he decided to hide the car in a safer place.
Moving the vehicle into the village without knowing if there were people inside was a risky move.
However, leaving the village was also uncertain. Because camping outside where a zombie horde road wasn’t an option.
So Aiden put on his helt and decided to hide the vehicle first.
If there were wanderers staying in a place like this without a vehicle, there wouldn’t be many of them.
So, even if he had to fight with them, he judged that he could handle it.
“...”
So he passed through the entrance and went inside.
But due to the small size of the village, he couldn’t see any suitable place to hide the vehicle.
There weren’t many abandoned vehicles to begin with, and parking lots were scarce.
Leaving it between buildings would be too conspicuous.
However, soon he found a suitable place on the opposite side of the village.
It was an old car repair shop that had closed down a long ti ago.
In front of it, there was a large parking lot, and fortunately, there were many other vehicles, making it suitable for hiding.
When Aiden parked the car in the repair shop, sothing caught his attention.
“Wait, there’s sothing.”
Arian said, pointing beyond the repair shop.
Although it was hidden by trees, it seed to be the beginning of a small shopping district.
“Zombies?”
“No, it looks like a person?”
“How many?”
“Just one.”
Just one.
Perhaps a lone wanderer.
Aiden imdiately picked up his rifle and bat.
“I’ll go check.”
Leaving Arian and Sadie in the car, he went outside.
When Aiden looked in the direction Arian pointed, there was a restaurant.
The logo of a once-famous hamburger brand was prominently displayed on a large sign.
Aiden observed the interior of the restaurant.
Behind the broken glass door, the figure of a man was visible.
The man seed to be rummaging through the interior of the restaurant without any hesitation.
“...”
Aiden pondered for a mont on how to deal with the man.
The safest way was to shoot the man in the back.
That way, Aiden could cleanly eliminate the threat, and he might be able to get through the day without any trouble.
But that was against Aiden’s principles.
The man was not yet aware of Aiden’s presence.
He was not an identified enemy.
The man might be part of a group of wanderers operating separately.
Aiden decided that killing him without any reason wasn’t an option.
Besides, the man’s comrades might not be visible right now.
It wasn’t worth creating unnecessary resentnt.
Then... should he try talking.
Thinking so, Aiden was about to reveal himself when he noticed sothing.
“That’s...”
On the opposite side of the wide four-lane road.
Behind another shopping mall building, the figure of a zombie ca into view.
With its characteristic staggering walk, a zombie was approaching from that side.
And behind that one, more zombies began to appear, one by one.
From one to five, and from five to over twenty in an instant, a rapidly growing horde of zombies.
Here as well, was there a zombie horde?
Aiden furrowed his brow.
The man was still engrossed in exploring, unaware of Aiden’s presence.
At this rate, he would likely be surrounded by the zombie horde.
Aiden, acting deliberately uncharacteristically, lightly tapped the ground with the tal bat, creating a small noise.
Clang.
At the sudden sound, the man was startled and turned around.
Aiden discovered the man’s presence before he noticed Aiden and aid his gun first.
Even though Aiden was holding a rifle, instead of pointing the muzzle directly at the man, he silently raised his finger.
The direction from which the zombie horde was approaching.
The man glanced in that direction, and as soon as he saw the approaching zombie horde, his face stiffened.
However, he couldn’t move easily.
He had to escape from the zombie horde, but Aiden was in that direction.
“...”
Aiden gestured for him to co over.
It ant that Aiden wouldn’t be hostile, and he should co this way.
But the man hesitated.
It was a natural reaction if it was natural at all.
In this world, anyone who easily trusts people is probably already dead.
“Kiik...!”
However, the man’s suspicion didn’t last long.
One of the zombies at the forefront had co across the road and reached near the restaurant.
And that zombie finally spotted the man.
“Kiaaaa!”
The zombie scread, and the man’s face turned pale.
Late to react, the man rushed out of the restaurant towards Aiden.
But behind that man, zombies followed.
The speed at which they were chasing was so fast that the man, who had started to run, looked as if he had stopped.
Panic-stricken, the man was about to turn the muzzle backward just before the zombies caught up.
“Don’t shoot!”
Aiden said firmly, cutting off the sound.
Aiden ran towards the man.
The tal bat he was holding shattered the head of the zombie rushing towards him.
And then, another zombie that followed.
Thunk!
He cleanly snapped its neck with a powerful swing.
Breathing heavily, the man, who stood watching the fallen zombies, finally looked at Aiden.
“Phew... thank you...!”
Now that Aiden properly saw the man’s face, he nodded once.
Perhaps of Indian-Arican descent.
Also, he seed to be in his early thirties.
“Is there a safe place to go?”
Aiden asked, looking at the approaching zombies.
Although they had dealt with the two, more than ten zombies were now aware of the disturbance and were converging.
The man’s face turned blue as he saw the horde of zombies rushing towards them.
He barely nodded.
“Then go that way. Run!”
The man, who led the way, ran ahead.
Aiden followed, fending off the pursuing zombies.
The direction the man was heading to was where Aiden had hidden the vehicle.
So, Aiden gestured for them to co out when they reached there.
Then Arian and Sadie ca out from the car.
Arian had already noticed the presence of zombies and was preparing to go out.
“Who are these kids, huff...?”
“They are my companions.”
The appearance of Arian and Sadie surprised the man, but he didn’t stop.
anwhile, two zombies caught up with the group. Aiden skillfully dealt with one of them.
Swish!
Arian’s machete struck the neck of another zombie that was following.
“Hoo...!”
The man, now with a mont of respite, took a brief breath. There were still fewer than 10 zombies pursuing.
Fortunately, it seed that the entire zombie horde hadn’t yet noticed the man’s presence.
However, there was no ti to waste.
The zombie horde was approaching the village.
So, the man continued running, while Aiden and Arian dealt with the pursuing zombies.
After a while.
“Huff... huff... It’s here.”
The place the man led Aiden’s group to was a small inn.
The location was near the courthouse in the center of the town, where Aiden had passed by.
“...It’s an unusual place,” Aiden remarked, surveying the exterior of the inn.
He had been concerned that the man’s hideout might be in a vulnerable place, but unexpectedly, it was well-secured.
The walls and pillars were made of sturdy bricks, strong enough that unless mutated, it couldn’t be easily broken. The entrance and windows were made of steel, with grid-patterned prison doors.
In other words, every door of the inn was a double-door structure, with a regular door behind a door made of iron bars. It explained why the inn’s sign hanging on the old signboard read ‘The Old Prison.’
It seed like they had converted an old prison building into an inn, intentionally leaving traces of the prison to create a unique atmosphere.
However, now it wasn’t just about the atmosphere; it directly contributed to their survival.
“Honey, hey, it’s !”
The man knocked on the inn’s door.
Soone behind the iron bars opened the door.
It was a xican-looking woman of similar age to the man.
“Who are these people...?”
“For now... huff, let them in. There are zombies coming.”
At the urgent words of the man, the woman, although with a troubled expression, nodded.
Aiden and his group entered the inn this way.
The interior wasn’t very spacious, but being an inn, it was divided into several rooms.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s a zombie horde. They’ve appeared again. Let’s go upstairs for now.”
“Got it.”
“Oh, what about the kid?”
“She’s fine. She’s sleeping now.”
The sounds of the man and woman conversing reached Aiden.
They seed to be a married couple, and having a child here, too, was unexpected.
Aiden thought about that while ushering Arian and Sadie into one of the rooms.
Then, the couple looked at Aiden’s black helt with subtle suspicion.
A faint sense of wariness and doubt pierced Aiden with their gaze.
It wasn’t an unpleasant treatnt.
Becoming raiders from wanderers was a matter of a mont.
Aiden wanted to explain and foster mutual trust, but unfortunately, there wasn’t ti for that.
“Please stay on the first floor. We’ll be on the second floor.”
The man told Aiden that way.
Aiden nodded and followed his instructions.
The couple went up the stairs.
The hallway leading to the stairs also had a grate door, and the man ticulously locked it.
“Uggrh...”
Then, the groaning corpses revealed themselves on the street.
Aiden pressed against the wall, cautiously observing the outside without showing himself.
The imdiate number of visible zombies was dozens.
Considering the limited field of view, this zombie horde was almost a hundred in number.
“There are so many this ti. It could have been a big problem.”
“Hush! Be quiet!”
The conversation of the couple from upstairs could be heard.
When the man made an idle comnt, the woman was giving him a warning.
“Um...”
“Shh...”
Dozens of zombies passed around this small inn.
So zombies even pounded on the iron-barred door blocking their path, but, of course, the robust door remained shut.
Eventually, even the zombies causing a ruckus left the inn.
It took another hour for the entire zombie horde to leave the vicinity of the inn.
Silence finally returned after the eerie wailing sounds in all directions.
What broke the silence was the long sigh of the man.
“Phew...”
Aiden glanced at his group.
Sadie was sitting quietly on the bed with Arian.
Whether hiding like this was familiar to her or not, fortunately, Sadie didn’t seem fearful.
A little more ti passed.
Once Aiden felt reasonably safe, he approached the stairs leading to the second floor.
The front of it was still blocked by iron bars.
But instead of trying to open it, Aiden spoke.
“Thank you; we owe you.”
If it were Aiden and Arian, fighting against a horde of a hundred zombies was manageable. However, in the current situation, just fighting itself was a loss. Even if they won, the supplies they used wouldn’t co back. Ultimately, thanks to this couple, unnecessary bloodshed was avoided.
So, Aiden expressed his gratitude.
It was to emphasize that, despite narrowly escaping zombies together, there was no intention of hostility towards them.
Soon after, the man descended from the stairs.
He awkwardly smiled and replied:
“No, not at all. You were the ones who saved first. Oh, I’m Nairik Rao. And this is my wife, Mariana.”
“I’m Aiden Lee, and over there is...”
So, the two n introduced themselves and their respective companions. However, until then, the tal bars between them didn’t open easily.
It was understandable.
Entering his hideout was inevitable due to the danger of the zombie horde. However, from Nairik’s perspective, bringing unknown wanderers this far was an unreasonably risky move.
During that brief and awkward silence, Sadie peeked her head outside the room she had been staying in.
Nairik’s tension eased a bit as he looked at her. He inquired:
“Is she your daughter?”
“No, not at all. Just a traveling companion.”
Following Sadie, Arian also stepped into the hallway. Although not as young as Sadie, she appeared to be in her mid-teens, prompting Nairik to ask:
“And her?”
“...Not her either.”
“I see...”
Nairik scratched his head with a wry smile. After all, Aiden’s group might seem like an unusual combination when considered in a normal way. To avoid unnecessary questions, Aiden shifted the topic.
“Rather than that, it seems like you also have a child.”
“Huh? Oh, did you hear? His na is Zaid. He just turned ten months.”
“A baby that young...?”
Aiden couldn’t help but be surprised by the information. He expected a child but didn’t anticipate one so young.
“Do you really have a baby?”
Perhaps reacting to the word ‘baby,’ Sadie asked Nairik.
Nairik confidently nodded his head.
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