Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Right now, we were only a few facilities and homes from the canal system and luckily for us, the cadets stayed at the same place Artem and the rest were. They just didn't know where to go at the moment but funnily enough, Kuzma came with them and was more excited for the tour than everybody else.

Besides that, Mimi already told me that Ben and Cass met with her in this place's DDR Camp to take up some jobs though she did leave a little early because of our introduction to Amy. Furthermore, a few of our Russian friends were accompanying Alexander in the hospital and they were just letting him sleep for the moment before Marisha dropped by.

We can't just start his therapy of sorts while he was still like a bruised hotdog, so it was better for him to get enough sleep and nutrients before anything else.

In any case, we introduced the people with me to Amanda who was our resident mushroom farmer, Derek who was the guy who takes care of our animals, Juan who was our resident DJ from the radio station, Unc Zeidrick who just happened to be fishing in our fishing ponds and was just whatever about seeing me back, and a few more others along the way.

But yeah, the cadets never looked so excited from seeing the covered court that we turned into a place where we could do parkour, our indoor gun range that was behind it, and our recently built gym for the public's use. We actually built a few gyms here and there but it would be much better to make the biggest one with the space provided so it could house a lot of exercise-minded people.

I wouldn't mind sharing my gym on the third floor but we can't house a few thousand all at the same time even if we give them 2-hour timeslots.

Besides, I need to be a little more selfish regarding my home because not everyone should just come in and work out if they wanted to. With friends and family, sure, no problem, but strangers that came in for the first time in my fold? Not a fucking chance because I would just tell them to do bodyweight exercises or run laps around my territory.

JP then turned to me, "The gun range… Umm… How many times in a day could we use it?"

Chloe also followed excitedly, "I-I wanna know too! You said you'll teach me, right?!"

I chuckled, "Hmm~ You can use it pretty much once every single day but you'd have to be mindful of the bullets you're using. Aside from picking up the cases not only from using the range but also from our runs outside, you'd also have to help out all around because even though I could make bullets, the materials for them are getting harder and harder to find. We still have a pretty good stock but even I go through a box of ammo like that *snaps fingers* if I get too into it."

The cadets exclaimed at almost the same time, "You can make b-bullets?!/ WHAT?!/ For real?!"

Rin interjected, "That reminds me, the president sent us more raw materials to process and a press they acquired for us to make our own casings but so far, I've only tumbled all of our used ones and asked Oscar to make the projectiles. Unfortunately, a few casings for our 9mms and .22 LRs are cracked so they couldn't be used anymore…"

I nodded pensively, "They finally sent us the press I asked for? Where is it?"

"It's still wrapped inside the workshop— well, I wrapped it twice because Oscar tried to run it but he can't seem to make a proper one without the uh… 'Kid's Magic' as he said."

"Alright, alright… we'll check it out later… Oh! Let's see if Faith's awake."

Quinn tilted her head, "Who?"

"Before you say anything, no, she's not 'acquainted' with us but you'll be in for a little surprise."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, let's hope Daisy's over there too."

At this point, we made our way to the very end of the road where our canal system with a nice docking area was located, but our main purpose was the house the very first group I took in from the outside chose to live in.

Funnily enough, Zeus called over Boxer, who was Jay's dog from behind their gate to inform us of our arrival and it didn't take long before a woman not only covered with tattoos but also had this freshly-dyed hair that had different hues of blue came up with a huge smile on her face:

"Woah! You got a crowd here! Are you all trying to get tats?! It's my day off tomorrow but you can all choose the designs for now or you can just give me the outline and I'll work it in a way to fit where you want it put."

I chuckled as I waved her off, "I dunno about them but we just dropped by because I wanna introduce our new people joining us today. They came from a faraway place—"

"Aw~ shucks, for real?! That's great!" Daisy exclaimed as she surprisingly just saw Quinn among the crowd, "WOAH! Didn't see you there, I'm Daisy by the way— Fuck, we shouldn't be too loud because Faith's still sleeping—preggy, sorry—b-but it's almost lunch, right? Can I eat at your place?"

I nodded, "Sure."

Quinn muttered from behind, "She sounds fun. I probably need a few retouches too—"

Daisy then turned to her, "You got ink, ma?"

"Did you just call me—"

"Ma? Yeah? You're very momma-coded so— Ah. I'm sorry—"

"Nah. I kinda like the sound of that. Less creepy than mommy."

"Hah! Riiiight~" Daisy trailed as she glanced at me for a moment, "Anyway, do you just want a retouch or do you want something new?"

"What do you got though?"

"Oh? I got a few portfolios but you can just look at me."

At this point, Daisy just unzipped her hoody and showed them the rest of her vibrant tattoos that definitely made Chloe and Megan eager to have one done on their unblemished skin. However, I did promise Daisy that Kaley and I were supposed to have matching tattoos done by her and we pretty much avoided her advances to ink our bodies.

Though Kuzma already thought of a design for himself:

"Can you do wings on me?"

Daisy turned to scan Kuzma's whole body before nodding, "I haven't seen you before but yeah, I can do wings. Just on your back or—"

"Can it start in my back and end by my wrists? Also, I don't want feathers. Can you make them assorted blades or just pieces of metal that form the wings instead?"