Forest

Checking the area more he quickly found that there was nothing else he could eat. He could only leave and continue checking the area.

As he checked the area he didn't realize he was slowly moving in the direction of where the military base now was. So slowly but surely the one man was rapidly approaching the area where the military was searching and clearing.

***

A group of four in military uniform were making their way through the streets. They were clearing the road while driving a military vehicle at walking speeds.

"Why do we have to be the ones who scout the area? I mean this is still basically the edge of the city. There weren't many people here in the first place, so how many zombies do they expect to find?"

"Our main goal is to investigate what types of buildings are over here. We need to find the solar panel factory and get it running or take everything they already have. Although electricity is working for now we need sustainable power that can always be relied upon."

"Yeah I get all that, but why not just do it with everyone here? It's not like there would be any difference whether we look at it or not."

"It is just one of the stupid tasks that sometimes get passed down."

All the men just sighed as they all simply nodded hoping this mission would be fast so they could go home sooner.

***

Max was slowly walking as he did his best to find something worth it to explore. After all, he had searched many places not having much hope, but now that his stomach was screaming at him he gave up searches with high chances of finding nothing.

It was only now at noon he saw several restaurants all near each other. Seeing guaranteed food made his stomach growl as he didn't even care as he saw a minimum of twenty zombies blocking his way. Holding his survival knife he slowly drew the attention of a single zombie at a time and slowly but surely killed the zombies.

Just as he was about to reach the first restaurant the sound of a car quickly caught his attention. Then gunshots...

They were attracting many of the zombies out of their buildings and to them, which would be good in most cases, but as he was in the middle of an unclear street Max knew he was in even more danger. Without hesitation, he quickly tried to make it back to where he had cleared the area before.

Very quickly he did his best to hide in some random corner. He waited and watched... Nearly twenty minutes later a military vehicle stopped near the ally he was hiding in.

"Hey, we finally reached the snack street. No wonder we got such a huge influx of zombies coming at us... Alright! Get off here and start collecting! We need to have someone to go get more help! We strangely haven't found any survivors so I expect there might be some stuck in these buildings so you two come with me to search around.

Feddy, you drive back and tell them where we are and to bring more transportation. I don't want anything to go wrong so make sure you stay alert!"

Soon the car slowly drove away while the three men started moving together to search nearby restaurants. Max on the other hand knew none of this could go well so he could only turn back and leave his knife in his boot in case they find him and want to take it from him.

Just as he left and watched them enter a nearby building, he let out a sigh of relief as he slowly limped away. As if by fate a nearby back door suddenly swung open! The two men pointed their guns at him without hesitation. Cursing his luck Max only lifted his good hand and shouted, "I'm human!"

They stared at him for a good minute before putting their guns down letting Max breathe a sigh of relief. At this moment the last man walked out from behind the pair, "Found someone?"

Then as if Max was the most dangerous man alive, the man pointed his gun back at him without any hesitation, "Looks like I finally get to meet the scum for myself!"

Hearing that the relief he had just felt washed away completely as he looked down in sadness. "So you are one of those who stupidly believe I did this?"

"Just shut up scum! Go! I was given orders to let you leave, but now this area belongs to the people! Not trash like you! If I see you again I will shoot on sight!"

Seeing the man stare at him with utter disgust and anger Max could only sigh as he slowly walked away and left.

"Who was that? Why are you acting like he killed your kin?"

"That scum was the one who started the world you see around you now."

The two men stared at the disappearing Max with newfound disgust as they proceeded to ignore the trash and leave the area to search for other survivors.

All Max could do was keep searching the area for anything he could possibly eat, but despite finding some water on his first day of searching.

***

As the sun set Max could only stare at the sky in a daze. He had not eaten anything in three days. Even water was a rarity having not drunk anything from a pipe in fear of it being polluted.

Tired he could only sleep in some random corner near dead bodies.

***

Alex had joined the military camp without much trouble and was enlisted to help with the water collection project. Ellena and Willow also joined and started helping with any project the military set up.

"Do you hear they will move many of us back to the city?"

"What is the point of taking us all the way out here if they are just going to send us back?"

"Well, I heard this area has a warehouse with many supplies so that is why they originally built the base near here. Now that they are saving people they need a place to take them so sending them to the city with already built buildings is the best choice."

"I understand all that, but isn't this just a pain?"

"I think this is the smartest thing to do if they want people to be sort of comfortable."

"Oh shut up already..."

***

The morning of the fourth day the government finally hit a roadblock.

"What do you mean a 'wall of meat' is blocking our path?"

"Sir, you know how we were mostly focusing on clearing the edge of the city right? It turns out that when we were trying to move closer to the center of the city, we found a huge pile of dead bodies. Although that is weird, it isn't as strange as the fact that the dead bodies seem to be fusing together.

And if that isn't enough, the wall is hard to cut through due to the bones while at the same time, it is letting off a stench that is so strong making it hard for anyone to hold their food. I suggest we change plans and try to move around it or try and find a way through the buildings."

"Fine. I understand the situation. Make plans to go around. Though we should also check the buildings more carefully. Also how high is the 'wall of flesh'? Why can't we just go above it?"

"Sir... The wall is 5 meters tall... and almost a meter thick..."

"Fuck... Have we thought about simply blowing the wall up?"

"We have... Honestly, we don't know if we should or not. It is very disturbing to see the wall move as if still alive. The human body parts that move are anything whether it is a chest breathing or an eye blinking. We have also seen that the arms sometimes grab things that get too close which has led to many fear of the wall in general."

"Check how fast we can get around the wall first and if it is too big a detour we will just blow it up."

Soon everyone got back to work.

***

Hearing his stomach growl Max could only stare at the edge of the city in sadness. He could feel his strength rapidly decreasing and if he can't find food within a few days he probably wouldn't even have the strength to kill another zombie.

"Well, I guess I have nothing to lose now."

After only a moment of hesitation, he left for the forest just past the city. Living next to a protected national forest, Max had a whole forest with the possibility of food being anywhere. Now with the Blood River nearby, he could get good water with less chance to be diseased just by wanting to drink.

The river got its' name from when it was discovered they had found an area with dark red rocks at the bottom of the river and called the entire river Blood River. Now it was just a tourist destination that brought many people to walk the forest.

***

"Is this going to be where we stay?"

"Yes, please choose an apartment at random. We hope those that stay here will help with clearing the city of the deceased and clearing the roads of cars."

Many nodded and just started flooding the apartment complexes that were designated as safe. Most were happy to move out of tents and into actual buildings. Not to mention there were beds kitchens and bathrooms that all seemed to still work along with electricity.

"Hey Willow why don't we test out our new bed?" Alex smiled happily thinking about how great it would be to have privacy along with the comforts of modern life all over again.

Willow on the other hand only had two friends and although she felt uncomfortable after what Alex had done to a stranger, she couldn't just leave. They were her only support even if they weren't the best. "Alex, please no."

"Tch- bitchy..." Alex only cursed her under his breath while leading the way to a random apartment.

Ellena on the other hand was even happier than Alex. "Hehehe~ Alex why not try the bed with me?"

Alex smiled evilly before stopping and whispering in Ellena's ear, "Sure when night hits let's do it."

Alex had tried many times to get into Willow's pants, but as her boyfriend always felt like it was only a matter of time before he got what he wanted. So before this, he was always waiting patiently, but now with the collapse of past society, he felt that as someone who can fight, it has now become his right and the strength to get what woman he wants. As for the military men with guns? He knew bullets were temporary and soon they would need his 'expertise' to fight close range.

***

Max soon saw the world darkening as the sun slowly set and he reached the edge of the forest. Something he could have done with ease before, but now injured and tired with rapidly draining energy, he could barely take half a day before barely reaching the edge.

Although he was tired and just wanted to pass out and sleep, hunger and thirst pushed him forward. The river was usually an hour on foot from the edge of the forest, but as he hadn't drunk anything in days he could care less about it and kept walking.

Time passed quickly as the darkness enveloped everything. The trail path that he had found could no longer be seen as only the shadowy shapes of the plants could be seen.

1... 2... 3... 4 Hours passed as something finally changed. A clearing appeared in front of him where the moonlight eliminated everything.

"A campsite..." So tired he didn't care and walked through the campsite without care. That was until a big shadowy figure covered his vision.

"A bear?"