Aiden was only able to arrive in front of the research facility late in the evening.
Although the return journey was smooth, he took a slightly detoured route to find more supplies.
Thanks to that, he was able to obtain about two days' worth of supplies.
"With this, we should be able to hold out for an additional 2 weeks, right?"
There would be even fewer supplies around than now.
The reason was simple. Because he had seen the appearance of armed survivors at Walmart.
With that level of armament, they would soon advance to the area where the research facility was located, then supplies would gradually disappear more.
-Uhhh...
A faint zombie cry was heard in front of the research facility's iron door, where darkness had deeply set in.
Click.
Aiden quickly shouldered his submachine gun.
"I'm sure I cleared the front of the research facility?"
Aiden, who quickly hid his body, quietly looked at the front of the research facility's iron door.
The darkness concealed the zombies, but vaguely, the swaying movements of 4 or 5 zombies could be faintly seen.
However, darkness doesn't just conceal zombies.
Moving quietly and stealthily, he took out his dagger and plunged it into the head of a zombie slightly separated from the group.
Thud
The blade of the dagger, extremely sharpened to pierce a zombie's head in one go, shows its effect perfectly.
Like that, Aiden slowly hunted the zombies one by one in the darkness.
After dealing with all the zombies in front of the door, Aiden exhaled the breath he had been holding for a long time.
"Phew, seeing how this has become natural, maybe my true calling was something else."
After neatly cleaning up the surroundings, Aiden knocked on the iron door.
Thump thump! Thump thump thump!
After a moment, the sound of the iron door's lock being released was heard.
Creak
The iron door opened carefully and Jane poked out just her face.
"A-Aiden! You're back?"
'Ah, that's Jane's expression when she's done something.'
Aiden stared at Jane's face.
Finding it cute, Aiden smiled slightly.
"I'm back, Jane."
"Yeah!"
Thud!
The iron door closed firmly and all locks were locked again.
"There wasn't much of a haul, but I found survivors."
Aiden said as he put down his bag.
Then Jane looked at Aiden with a very troubled face.
"Th-that! I also... found survivors...?"
"Oh? But why is the last part a question?"
"Haha... hahaha. Shall we go to the second floor first?"
Jane picked up the bag and headed for the second floor.
As Aiden followed Jane up to the second floor, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
'Could it be...?'
The first thing that caught Aiden's eye when he arrived on the second floor was a small girl lying on the sofa.
And next to her, a man and woman who looked like a couple were looking at Aiden with anxious eyes.
Seeing the couple and child, Aiden instantly grasped the situation.
And he stood in front of the anxious couple.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Aiden."
Aiden extended his hand first.
"I'm Sean."
"I'm Lyla, his wife. And this is our daughter, Liv."
Sean shook hands.
Then Jane, standing behind, added:
"They came from Brooklyn."
"Brooklyn?"
Aiden couldn't help but be surprised because there was quite a distance from Brooklyn to Queens where the research facility was located.
Their meager luggage was placed next to the sofa, and there didn't seem to be any weapons visible.
It was amazing that they had arrived here alive.
"Why here of all places..."
"Apparently, quite a number of survivor groups had gathered in Brooklyn."
Jane began to explain what she had heard from Sean and Lyla.
After the zombie outbreak started, Brooklyn faced the worst situation, they said.
It had the second-largest population in New York and high density itself.
Therefore, the rate of infection was the fastest, they said.
Just a week had passed, but countless zombies were wandering around residential areas and roadsides to tear apart living humans.
The police had established the Barclays Center as the final line of defense and accepted survivors, they said.
In a way, it was like Brooklyn's last stronghold, but supplies were always scarce due to the countless survivors pouring in, they said.
After barely holding out for about a month like that, the Barclays Center collapsed instantly from the inside.
Survivors who had hidden being bitten by zombies transformed simultaneously.
It was dawn. The catastrophe that started from the center of the field spread quickly like fire, and they couldn't offer any significant resistance, they said.
Sean and Lyla's couple were located closest to the center's entrance, so they escaped the center along with others nearby.
Afterwards, they headed to Brooklyn College where another survivor group was said to be gathered, but half of their number was sacrificed to zombies while moving, and after many twists and turns, the college they arrived at had already become hell due to zombie attacks.
Like that, they barely moved from Brooklyn towards Queens, clinging to life.
They said they arrived in Queens the day before.
Sean's family and some survivors met a group of survivors armed with guns and trucks after arriving in Queens, but Sean's couple felt an inexplicable fear at their appearance and refused to join, while the survivors who had fled together moved with them, they said.
Then, chased by zombies, the place they arrived at was here.
That is, the research facility.
"There might be far more survivor groups than we thought. And that armed group seems to be the one I saw at Walmart today."
That was the first thing Aiden said after hearing Jane's explanation.
They were just continuing research for a vaccine inside the iron-clad research facility, and even going out was only around the facility.
"Really? Did you talk to them?"
"No, Jane. I saw them from afar, but I didn't get a good feeling."
"If Aiden says so, it must be true. Anyway, um... I'm sorry I accepted these people without any discussion."
Jane couldn't hide her apology.
Looking at Jane like that, Aiden could only smile.
"No, there's a child too, I can fully understand Jane's feelings."
"Thank you!"
Jane finally smiled.
Aiden, looking at Liv who had fallen asleep at some point, said to Sean:
"For now, rest today. I'd like to have a serious talk about the future tomorrow."
"There's an empty research room over there with a bed, so please rest there."
Jane said, pointing to the remaining room.
Sean and Lyla thanked Aiden and Jane and entered the room carrying Liv in their arms.
After watching Sean's family for a moment, the two went up to the third floor.
They needed to have a conversation just between the two of them.
"Was there some harvest?"
"No, I barely found enough for the two of us to last about 2 weeks, but with additional people, I can't guarantee."
"Haah... Is this not a situation where we can focus only on vaccine research?"
"Still Jane, you focus on the research. I'll somehow manage the rest."
"But... I'm always leaving dangerous tasks to you."
"Don't worry, Jane. I won't overdo it."
The two talked for a long time.
The problem of increased numbers.
Future policies.
Other survivor groups.
What to do if someone else comes here.
They spent the night discussing such topics.
* * *
After Sean's couple joined.
Aiden and Jane's daily life changed greatly.
It was no longer just getting up in the morning, having a simple meal, and being cooped up in the lab doing vaccine research.
Aiden and Sean go out to search for supplies in the morning.
Then Lyla takes care of Liv while looking at the city situation from the rooftop with Jane and selecting places where supplies might be through the map.
And in the afternoon, Jane goes into the lab for vaccine research, and Lyla and Liv take care of Aiden and Sean who have returned.
At first, when they told Sean's couple about Jane's vaccine research, they were surprised.
But Aiden and Jane honestly said they hadn't figured out anything yet and that they would continue research steadily until their lives were in danger.
Hearing this, the couple said they would help as much as they could and became members of the research facility.
Also, Aiden hid the location where weapons were stored from Sean and Lyla. He agreed with Jane's words that they should have trust, but he couldn't give them weapons.
He just told Sean that the weapons he and Jane currently had were all, and there were no others, not disclosing the spare magazines stocked.
He seemed to understand to some extent.
In a zombie situation like this, finding weapons wouldn't be easy even in America.
Still, the research facility that had been lonely and quiet brightened up thanks to Sean and Lyla's daughter, Liv.
At first, she was shy during the day, but she soon seemed to adapt, often sticking close to Jane and Aiden, and singing songs she had learned in kindergarten.
Time passed quickly like that.
* * *
5 months had passed since the zombie outbreak.
It had been about 3 months since Aiden, Jane, and Sean's couple started surviving together.
Supplies around the research facility had long run out, and occasionally other survivor groups visited the facility for barter, and the initially chaotic zombie situation began to show some stability.
However, that didn't mean humanity's problems were solved.
Zombies were still dangerous beings, and due to the lack of electricity caused by the destruction of power plants, and the shortage of various supplies, survivors were decreasing even more than before.
The biggest problem was the absence of hospitals and doctors.
Even small illnesses that could have been treated if there were just hospitals or medicine now became fatal deaths for survivors, and if they caught a serious illness, they were immediately expelled from survivor groups and became food for zombies in the current situation.
Like that, humanity was gradually walking the path of decline.
Aiden was able to obtain information by going around various places to search for supplies with Sean and meeting survivors.
New York Queens seemed to be currently composed of 3 groups.
The first was, of course, themselves at the research facility.
The research facility was guaranteed safety unless a tank came to attack, and it was thoroughly equipped with defense facilities to the extent that it couldn't be easily invaded.
It seemed like many survivors would come and go because of the research facility's strong defense, but surprisingly, it was a place survivors avoided, they said.
The second was the armed group located in eastern Queens.
They call themselves simply Survivors and are said to have the strongest military power among the existing Queens groups.
It's said to be a group formed by former military and police personnel.
The third is the Plaza group in western Queens.
This is a survivor group located at Queens Plaza station, an ordinary group that continues to survive using the subway station.
And between these two groups, excluding the research facility, the emergence of a job called junk dealer, who receives requests and handles various tasks on behalf of others, also occurred.
Aiden was interested in this newly created job of junk dealer, but judging that they could be dangerous beings close to drifters if looked at easily, he avoided contact.
Based on the information obtained like this, the Queens area was showing signs of stabilization.
Even so, they wouldn't be able to return to their previous lives, but some sort of system was being established.
However, the day that would take everything away from Aiden was approaching silently.