Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Hearing Kuzma's suggestion, it made Daisy inspired and excited in a way before she suddenly ran back to their house and then came back with a few portfolios, but it was then that she pulled a large rolled-up piece of paper that seemed to be her current work in progress and showed it to us:

"This is so sick! Did you know that I just started making this a week ago?!"

Kuzma's eyes just widened, "What. The. Fuck. This is what I had in mind!"

In any case, even I was excited from such a design because instead of just a pair of wings that would start from his back and end on his wrists, there were two other smaller pairs where the first one would wrap around his abdominals while the other would go straight down and finish by his quads.

It was a fucking metal tattoo that had literal metal instead of feathery wings and it was a little homage to Kuzma's side job from the cockpit arena.

For some reason, the rest of us were already being ignored but this was just too much of a coincidence to act like it was nothing.

'If something sparked between the two, it would be just icing on the cake…'

Kuzma barely knew people from our fold and even though he was a solid member of Artem's group, he needed more people to be acquainted with so he wouldn't be as isolated in the first few days or weeks for being the new kids in the block. However, it was also important to note to not force out interactions but what's happening right now was just the right amount.

But yeah, it didn't take long before we made our way back to the compound because some of us literally missed breakfast, but for some reason, we didn't feel that hungry. However, it was a pretty common custom in this country to prepare a little overboard with highly-palatable meals when we have visitors or in everyone else's case, new people in our growing community.

Tatiana was just gone in the blink of an eye the moment she saw the spread, and she already had two plates full of food when the kids just managed to hand us our utensils.

And of course, we have Jalapeno pepper bombs, deep-fried pork chops with extra gravy, collard greens, a vegetable medley, spaghetti with little cuts of hotdogs, chicken adobo with pineapples and potatoes, and most importantly, steaming hot and fragrant rice to eat everything with.

As always, there was a little corner where chili oil, soy sauce, or any other condiments and seasonings could be used, and on the other side of the table was a jug of iced tea and ice-cold water.

It was pretty obvious with our bites as to who hadn't taken a bite yet ever since we woke up but Tatiana and Quinn among others just had no difference, except for the actual volume of food they were eating.

But yeah, I took it upon myself to formally introduce everybody since most of them were present and I was glad that some of them were already a little familiar or just a straight-up meeting with old friends.

It was because Ken and Allan though not actually in the same friend group—or should I say not in the same wavelength or particular closeness—with Ben, Cass, Andy, and Mimi, they were all my college friends and they also knew Chloe and Dr. Nichols from the same university.

A lot of stories and catching up were absolutely in order but the thing I'm worried about the most regarding our new people was between JP and Brian.

Their little mud fight at Cuervo Heights was just quickly swept under the rug and wrapped up because of our supposed rush to get here as quickly as possible but it seemed we should've taken a bit of our time because Oscar had already taken care of most of the important bits regarding our guests from the other side.

On the other hand, most of the cadets and our trainees were gelling together pretty well—Isaac included—so I just decided to only interfere if they don't sort out their, JP and Brian's relationship, like fucking adults should.

Johnny then approached me with a glass of water, "Kid, are you gonna follow after Oscar later or what?"

"Is that an offer for driving the ship again—"

"Hah?! We just got here and you wanna make me leave again?!"

I chuckled as I shook my head, "I thought so. But to answer your question, I gotta settle in a bit more and see Rin and everybody else's reports before I organize a party to go over there. Have you talked to the old man, at least?"

"Didn't I tell you about it last time—"

"Last time? You mean the time you're drunk on—"

"Ah, fuck. I forgot about that. I was just in a high that time and—"

"In a high or high—"

He loomed a little closer with a threatening aura, "Don't make me beat you up with my prosthetic leg, you fuck. Haa… But to get back to that subject, apparently… not only did we have our retired troops' boats, fishing vessels, and whatnot visit besides the coming ship carrier but a few civilians found out about that base location and tried—no, some of them already made it while a few are presumed to be trying to get to that place. So, who's to say we wouldn't end up with more visitors messing up the roadmap if they docked elsewhere?"

"Fuck… That's true… It's gonna create some friction for sure if they're not that cooperative but why bet on a long cruise instead of just getting into a remote island somewhere South of the US?"

"Well, for starters, you two fucks—no, wait… we three fucks decided to live here and you do know about your people's hospitality among foreigners."

I nodded pensively, "That's true too but time's changed as of late… it's not gonna be the same but there would still be a few people willing to lend a hand."

"Who?" he asked earnestly.

I looked at him like he was a fucking idiot, "Me? Who else? I lend a hand to you and your family and I got a captain, who wouldn't want that?"

"You—"

"And you just get headaches from talking to me from time to time, win-win, no?"

"..."

"Johnny?"

"Nice talk. See you later, kid," Johnny just said with a deadpan expression though I did hear a small snicker once he thought I was out of earshot.