By the afternoon, the area returned to its usual calm. Yet the mark of failure was etched in the hearts of everyone involved.
They gathered in a small room, their somber eyes glued to the map spread on the wooden table.
Dmitri leaned over, his lungs heaving deep breaths.
"Zolyah, have you traced the zombies' retreat?" He opened the discussion.
"I did," Zolyah stepped forward, fingers drawing a circle on the map. "They went here, to the east."
At the center was a small industrial area. Fish ports were situated nearby. Warehouses inched adjacent to them.
From the above, it formed an enclosed ecosystem—harvest, processing, storage, and transport.
The succeeding rows of buildings imitated its structure.
"It's a fish processing plant that migrated south," Yunera recalled. "The city's northern area was polluted. They didn't want to become jobless, so they went here."
