When people grew old, the most typical sign was the deterioration of the five senses, with eyesight and hearing being the most obvious.
As Old Mike was tidying up the sign outside the door, he heard movement behind him. When he turned back toward the street, he saw several zombie creatures resembling Lockjaw about a dozen meters away.
These walking corpses had blood and foam spilling from their mouths. As they ran, they shook their heads wildly from side to side. If nothing else, they had certainly maxed out the disgust factor.
Especially since these zombies had been human not long ago. They wore human clothes and at least still looked somewhat human. A few even had Apple wireless earbuds in their ears and shattered phones clutched in their hands.
But the more human a monster looked, the more terrifying it was. That was called the Uncanny Valley Effect.
Fear had seized the old man's mind. Though he had reacted, his limbs simply would not obey him, as if his body had short-circuited. All he could do was let a terrified expression rise uncontrollably onto his face.
Only then did he realize how terrifying zombies were. Monsters could kill people, certainly, but they were enormous and would not deliberately slaughter humans. At most, they caused collateral damage while destroying buildings.
Zombies were different. Countless movies and TV shows had made that clear: they were after human flesh and blood.
Old Mike collapsed to the ground in despair, eyes wide and hands raised before him. He could only feel that he was about to die here.
But just then, the head of the zombie that had leaped at him burst open. One after another, almost simultaneously, they were all shot dead on the spot.
The headless bodies crashed onto the still-damp