Though Zane had guessed that the government backed Safe Zone had likely rapidly deteriorated into a hellhole, one that was already on the brink of collapse. He had no way of confirming this. After all, though, a week may seem like a short amount of time for the nation's foremost super power to damn near completely collapse on itself.
One also had to remember what kind of apocalypse they were dealing with. Overnight, the world became infected by a virus that turned people into cannibalistic undead monstrosities. But these were not your garden variety zombies from fiction who were slow, and only really capable of catching you if you ended up surrounded by them.
No, these mother fuckers could sprint, and they never got tired. So you absolutely could not outrun them. Because sooner or later, a living being would tire and slow down. When that happened, it was over.
The transmission of the virus rate was also extremely fast, and while it varied depending on how fast it hit the bloodstream, at most somebody would turn in an hour, and at the least only a few seconds.
This meant that people were rapidly turning into undead, where they would then ruthlessly pursue the living either to kill them and devour their flesh as a means to evolve into something far more frightening, or to simply spread the infection and create more of their kind.
This all happened in a constitutional republic, which took time to gain approval to order men into position to defend the nation. Because of this, many cities were overwhelmed before the military could even effectively deploy to counter the rising tide.
This didn't even take into account how quickly the low level Walkers, who were already terrifying enough as is, were evolving into more dangerous varieties of undead. Some of which could withstand ATGMs and other higher end military weapons.
In fact, the more powerful an Undead became, the more resistant it became to humanity's weapons. The most effective counter to these monsters would be a high level awakened survivor, specifically his or her skills. But most of humanity was not even aware of the existence of blood crystals, despite it already being a week into the apocalypse.
Zane, of course, did not know all of this, but he also understood the fact that he knew very little about the threat which humanity was facing. A threat which only emboldened those more vicious aspects of humanity to lash out against each other.
With some effort, Zane and the girls cleared the building of the undead. Harvesting their blood crystals, before ultimately setting up some form of defenses. Primarily in the form of makeshift barricades. Whether it was boarding up the windows, or blocking the doors, Zane and the girls made do.
Once they were finished, Zane decided to go smoke. Though his body no longer required sustenance, nor could it become addicted to any substances. Zane could still enjoy the effects of food, drinks, drugs, et cetera. And in a moment like this, he needed tobacco to help calm his nerves.
Since Zane first gained himself a carton of cigarettes from his first looting experience, he had been rationing cigarettes to one a day. Thus, he did not need to go scavenge for more, at least for the time being.
However, after standing outside the building and lighting the cigarette, Zane attracted unwanted attention. The flickering flame in the darkness caught the sight of a nearby scouting party. One that immediately pulled up on Zane with their guns drawn.
Without even realizing it, Zane had found himself surrounded by government forces. All of which demanded his compliance.
"Put your hands up!"
"Don't move a muscle!"
After hearing conflicting commands, Zane spoke as loudly as possible, making sure to alert to girls inside their temporary shelter to his predicament, as he chastised the soldiers for being idiots. But only after taking a large drag from his cigarette.
"So, which is it? Do I put my hands up? Or do I not move a muscle?"