The phrase
"nearby zombies" refers to zombies that are close by or not far away from a particular location.
Full definition
The alarm will be attracting a large number
of nearby zombies to the store in the next few seconds, and the player can opt to lock the front door.
By pressing in the analog stick, you'll unleash a ping to reveal and mark the location of
nearby zombies as they are highlighted in red.
This is the sort of standard stealth action we've seen in many games, but with a slight twist — when he manages to trap one enemy in a beartrap, their screams
alert nearby zombies.
Cunning, agile killers that leap from above to tackle their prey, howl to
enrage nearby zombies, and hold their attacks until victims drop their guard.
Sound effects include the pulsing of a tracker reminiscent in style to Aliens, growls
from nearby zombies, sparks, distant screams, firing weapons, reloading, using special abilities and ambience such as the ESS Meridian's nearby generators; which is complimented by an original classical and dramatic score.
Cars can be looted from the trunk then shot to set off the alarm which
attracts nearby zombies and explodes moments later.
Aiding you is a device that can ping the environment, registering
any nearby zombies as a little red blip on your mini-map, although sometimes it doesn't seem to pick enemies up correctly and I'm a little unsure if that's deliberate or a small glitch.
When you first got a gun in Dying Light, using it came at the cost of alerting
all nearby zombies.