At least one night had passed while he was unconscious. During the night, the zombies lurking in the street-side shops would come out to roam. Alto felt a quiet sense of relief that he had locked the supermarket door with his key before falling asleep. This had prevented any wandering zombies from breaking in and biting him while he was vulnerable.
The fact that he had slept for so long was likely related to the injury on the back of his head. With a dizzy head and an aching skull, he tried to recall the moments before he drifted off. He had felt incredibly tired before he finally lost control and fell asleep. Perhaps it wasn't that he couldn't stop himself from sleeping, but rather that he had simply blacked out.
He couldn't stay here long. The entire front of the shop was made of glass, which meant the security was quite poor. If he lost consciousness again, he might not be so lucky. If the nocturnal zombies broke through the floor-to-ceiling glass, they would likely devour him in an instant while he was unconscious. He had to leave immediately and find a more suitable hiding place.
Beyond that, he needed to find reliable teammates he could trust to watch his back. In his current state, trying to survive solo was out of the question. When he thought of people he could trust, three names immediately came to mind: James, Felix, and Lucas.
These three were his roommates, and they were all his closest friends. James was a childhood neighbor he had grown up with. Although they had chosen different majors in college, fate had somehow placed them in the same dorm to continue their friendship. Felix and Lucas were his college classmates. Besides playing basketball together, they often wandered over to the nearby teachers' college. Alto felt that their reasons for going there were better left unsaid.
With the threat of fainting at any moment hanging over him, only these three would help him unconditionally. Alto was certain of this. His friendship with James went without saying; they had been swimming in rivers together since they were toddlers and had saved each other's lives multiple times. Felix was from the Northeast and shared a deep bond with Alto. He was the type of person who wore his heart on his sleeve. He was innocent and direct; if he liked someone, he liked them, and he never put on an act.
With a timid and insecure nature born from middle school bullying, Lucas was a bit of an outlier. With a submissive and hesitant attitude, he had approached Alto on their first day in the dorm. However, Alto had greeted him with a smile, shook his hand, and shared some local snacks with him. From that day on, he had been fiercely loyal to Alto, which led others to joke about his devotion. To Alto, it was just a small kindness, but to Lucas, it meant everything. It was the first time a classmate had treated him with such warmth.
Overall, their dorm was incredibly harmonious. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if a war broke out, their group would be as solid as a bronze wall. In this world overrun by zombies, Alto only felt safe with them. He knew they wouldn't leave him behind even if he collapsed in the middle of a horde; they would carry him out of danger.
The question was how to find them. Summer break had just started, and none of them had been in a rush to go home. If this disaster hadn't happened, they would likely be at an internet cafe near the school or playing basketball. Alto decided to head toward the school, operating on the hope that they were still there. He assumed the school would organize some kind of survival effort for the students rather than leaving them to their fate. Regardless, he had to go back and check. Even if he couldn't find James and the others, he might run into other schoolmates. Strangers might not help, but there was usually some sense of camaraderie among alumni.
Getting back to the school wouldn't be easy. It was over an hour's bus ride from his current location to Zenith university, and Alto didn't have a vehicle. Walking back was possible, but he wasn't familiar with this area and didn't know the way.
"It looks like I need to find a detailed city map!" Alto said to himself. While he planned his next move, he walked toward the shelves to find food and water. After filling his stomach, he began packing his black backpack. The bag was just a standard backpack, about the size of a school bag, so its capacity was limited. Since he didn't know how long it would take to reach the school or if he would find more food along the way, he had to be efficient and save space for food, water, and essentials.
He chose his food carefully, prioritizing items that were small, high-calorie, and nutritious. Alto grabbed some authentic beef jerky, pure cocoa butter chocolate, vitamin candies, and some crackers. The supermarket had compressed biscuits, but a quick look at the ingredients made him laugh. These compressed biscuits were a total scam. The ingredient list was even more complex than regular crackers, filled with nothing but industrial additives and artificial fillers. They offered less nutrition and satiety than regular crackers, making them total fakes.
He wanted to take some nutritious cans, but they were too bulky and heavy. In the end, he only packed one can of beef. For water, he chose small bottles of mineral water. Large bottles were hard to carry and didn't pack as easily as small ones, which could be tucked into gaps like building blocks. Furthermore, once a bottle was opened, it needed to be finished quickly to avoid bacteria. Normally he wouldn't care, but with medicine and medical care so scarce, even diarrhea could be fatal. He had to be careful.
Once the food and water were ready, Alto also took two sun-protection masks. They wouldn't stop a virus, but they would protect him from the sun and block some of the stench. Unfortunately, there were no flashlights in the supermarket, which meant he would be blind if he didn't find a place to rest by nightfall. He found a roll of rope in the corner, likely used by the owner for bundling goods, and stuffed it into his backpack. Rope was versatile and worth taking.
The backpack was soon full. Alto also kept the items the owner had left inside, such as the windproof lighter, a pack of bandages, and a folding knife. After checking the aisles twice to make sure he hadn't missed any essentials and confirming that the bag could hold nothing more, he picked up the dry hospital gown from the shelves and put it on.