Meanwhile, at the western edge of NYC's industrial zone, near the fishing area by the river, a refrigerated truck pulled up. Inside the vehicle was a group of young women, laughing and chatting. In the passenger seat sat a girl named Bianca, the youngest of the group.
She had once proudly claimed that Zack had single-handedly wiped out hundreds of millions of zombies. Bianca, full of dreams and youthful energy, often fantasized about getting closer to Zack. "Ah, I'm so happy!" Bianca exclaimed with a dreamy smile. "Last night at the dinner party, Sir Zack smiled at me! Did you see it? He smiled at me!"
The other girls giggled as they reminisced about the celebration and the few fleeting moments they'd caught glimpses of Zack. The road ahead was empty, and with no traffic to worry about, their chatter filled the air.
The once-congested streets of NYC previously cluttered with abandoned vehicles, were now completely cleared. Thanks to the recycling department, those rusting cars had been melted down and repurposed as raw materials for steel production. The city was almost unrecognizable from the desolate wasteland it had once been. "If I'd known Sir Zack was going to visit the farm during the harvest, I would've applied to work there," Bianca sighed wistfully, resting her chin on her hand as she gazed out the window.
Their job, however, was fishing—though not in the traditional sense. The traps and bait had already been set by a team of men. The girls' task was simply to check the traps daily, collect the catch, and transport it back to the canteen for processing. Any surplus fish were stored in the refrigerated truck. Fish and other aquatic creatures had become the primary source of meat for the NYC base, replacing the livestock that had either mutated or gone extinct in the apocalypse.
"Here we are!" called the eldest of the group, a woman old enough to be the mother of the others. She pulled the refrigerated truck to a stop by the riverside. "As always, each of you is responsible for a bridge," she instructed. "If you find fish, pull the rope."
The women exited the truck and walked toward the river. Several reinforced concrete bridges extended a few dozen meters into the water. These bridges weren't meant to connect to the opposite bank—they were specifically built for fishing, a feat of engineering created by Annie. Beneath the bridges were automated fishing traps. All the girls had to do was pull the ropes, and the mechanical devices would haul up the nets, depositing the catch onto conveyor belts that ran along the bridges. The girls then loaded the fish into trolleys and transported them back to the truck.
"These ten traps are mine!"
"I've got six here!"
"Empty bait on this one… Looks like the guys were slacking off again!"
The girls laughed and teased each other as they checked the pressure gauges attached to the traps. The gauges displayed whether or not the traps had caught anything.
"Wow! This one's loaded!" Bianca exclaimed as she reached her section of the bridge. She eagerly pulled the rope, and the sound of machinery hummed beneath the water.
Moments later, a steel fishing net emerged, glistening in the sunlight. Dozens of strange, wriggling fish flopped within its confines. These were tiger shrimp fish, a mutated freshwater species. Unlike most other mutated creatures, tiger shrimp fish were both edible and safe from the Zeta virus. Their meat was highly nutritious and had become a crucial part of the survivors' diet.
However, tiger shrimp fish were dangerous predators in their natural habitat. Known for their rapid reproduction and aggressive behavior, they could strip a person to the bone within minutes if someone fell into the water. Still, with proper precautions—like the fishing bridges at NYC—they were a renewable and abundant source of protein. "Wow! Come help me; I can't push all of this by myself!" Bianca shouted gleefully as fish spilled onto the conveyor belt.
The eldest woman walked over to help, and together they loaded the tiger shrimp fish into the truck's refrigerated compartment. "Hah! We've definitely caught more than Jane's team this time!" Bianca said proudly, wiping her hands.
Like the other teams, they had a friendly rivalry, competing weekly to see who could bring back the largest haul. "Alright, that's everything here. Let's head to the next spot," the eldest woman said, clapping her hands.
Just as the girls climbed back into the truck, a shrill scream echoed from the riverside. The sound was chilling—high-pitched and desperate, like that of a woman or child in distress. "Did someone fall in the river?!" Bianca gasped, her eyes wide with alarm. Without a second thought, she flung open the truck door and sprinted toward the source of the cry.
Bianca jumped out of the truck and hurried along the riverbank, her heart pounding. "Ahhh!" The shrill screams echoed through the air, sharp and piercing like nails on a chalkboard. The sound was unnerving, sending chills down her spine.
"Hold on! I'm coming to save you!" she shouted, summoning every ounce of courage she had. Her pace quickened despite her fear.
Soon, she spotted a dark figure lying in the reeds by the river, its upper body on the surface and its lower half submerged. "Someone really fell into the river!" Bianca gasped. Without hesitation, she grabbed a long bamboo stick from the roadside and ran toward the reeds.
"Grab this! I'll pull you up!" she yelled, shoving the stick into the water. As she pushed the reeds aside, her blood ran cold. The figure wasn't human at all. Emerging from the water was a grotesque creature with a human-like upper body and a lower half resembling a mix of fish and shrimp. Its mouth emitted the horrifying, high-pitched scream she'd been hearing.
What made the scene even more terrifying were the two mangled bodies lying next to the creature, half-eaten. Bianca recognized one of them—it was Jane, her friendly rival from another fishing team. The confident, competitive Jane was now an unrecognizable corpse, nothing more than prey for this monster. "Ahhh!" Bianca screamed as the creature turned its attention to her. It let out another ear-piercing shriek and began to move.
Panicked, Bianca swung her bamboo stick at the monster. The makeshift weapon struck its carapace with a loud clang but didn't even scratch its tough shell. "Ahhh!" The creature screamed again, launching itself out of the water. Its sharp fangs glinted as it lunged at her.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out. The bullet hit the monster's carapace, bouncing harmlessly off, but the impact threw it off course, causing it to miss its target. "Run!" shouted the older woman, holding a pistol with trembling hands.
Workers like them, even within NYC's borders, were issued small self-defense weapons for emergencies. Without a second thought, Bianca scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward the older woman. "Ahhh!" The creature let out another shriek, angrier and louder than before. It scuttled onto the shore, its multiple legs propelling it forward with horrifying speed.