Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Hearing me say that, Mr. Garciano stifled a laugh before he nodded a few times and looked back at me. He seemed to be altering his initial thoughts of me just from this exchange but it didn't take long before we made our way to Mr. Crisologo's ex-property. From the looks of it, Mr. Garciano's soldiers worked well with mine to ensure that all the civilians were made aware of the current situation.

However, they couldn't contain their anger and grief the moment they discovered that the one who caged them in this place was still alive in the back of my truck though they were a little taken aback from seeing his injuries.

I'm pretty sure that they all wanted a piece of Mr. Crisologo right now but I still had some business with him, to say the least, though I was surprised to see that a few civilians remembered me from my last visit months ago:

"H-Hey! Y-You're that kid! Y-You're the one that—"

"I REMEMBER YOU! YOU'RE THE OEN WHO KILLED ALL THOSE ZOMBS BEFORE!"

"YEAH! I REMEMBER NOW, TOO! H-He saved us again!"

"B-But what's gonna happen now?! A-Are you gonna leave us a-again?"

"Please! We've suffered long enough! We need a—"

I waved them off before I spoke with a clear tone:

"Alright, one at a time but before you say anything, as of right now, Mr. Crisologo and his minions won't be leading this place anymore. Instead, you'll be given a few choices: First, you can leave now and go wherever the hell you want and we're not gonna stop you. Second, You can sign up with me and live a new life—and even though I'm not yet familiar with the things Mr. Crisologo put you through, I'm not a pushover and I'll still put you to work to earn your keep. That's just the way things go but third and final: you can sign up with Mr. Garciano— Hmm? Why do you all look like that— Ah…"

'Figures…'

Hearing Mr. Garciano's name, even if his soldiers did help them in their predicament, it was also true that they followed Mr. Crisologo's orders to do whatever he wanted them to do so it was pretty obvious that they had this aversion to hearing his name and even interacting with his guards at the moment. However, to everyone's surprise, Mr. Garciano stepped up and gave everyone a deep bow as he apologized:

"First and foremost, I understand the reaction towards me because I did work with him for the past few months but like all of you here, I unfortunately owed him as such and I'm deathly afraid of the guy and his friends… Not only in what they could do to me but what they could also do to my family. It was a coward's choice, that I admit, but my family comes first every single time and I'd also advise all of you to work with this young man because he was also the reason I was back up to my feet… Though unfortunately, it— N-Nevermind that part… I owed him a lot just as much as you all do but I'd be willing to help for as much as I could within my power…"

'Did he allude to me helping him also helped Mr. Crisologo's revenge plot? It's true in a sense but a sly way of hiding the truth… Fuck it—'

As I decided to have the truth come out from me instead, even if it was superseding his choice to hide it, I noticed the faint smile on Mr. Garciano's lips when he figured out what I was about to do.

Though I ignored that particular choice of action before I addressed everyone once again:

"Here's the whole truth though before you all decide to do anything. Mr. Crisologo's reign over you guys is over but there's this little detail that you have to know before you decide to sign up with me: In an indirect way, my party's also to blame for what happened because as I helped Mr. Garciano back up to his feet, it indirectly helped Mr. Crisologo to have a much better noose around your necks. But ultimately, that fucker should've used the blessings he received for good, and with all of that said, don't expect an apology from me."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The crowd had never worn so complicated expressions but I continued:

"I never intended for any of this to happen but—"

Then the first round of resistance never arrived so fast:

"No intention and apologies?! Like at all?! D-DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WE BARELY S-SCRAPED BY B-BECAUSE YOUR GROUPS TOOK EVERYTHING?! WE BARELY HAD ANYTHING TO SCAVENGE!" this middle-aged woman screamed at the top of her lungs while in tears.

Then her husband(?) tried to shush her, "B-Brenda! Now's not the time and the place!"

"T-THEN WHEN'S THE RIGHT TIME?! T-THESE… T-THESE PEOPLE WERE THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR SUFFERING AND HOW DIFFERENT WOULD IT BE IF THEY HAD PART OF THIS ALTOGETHER?! THINK, JOHN! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF—"

I suddenly cut her off with a clear voice, "Alright, mark those two off to be sent elsewhere. Mauricio might take them. If you're gonna blame me and everyone else that happened besides yourself, I don't have time to argue with you."

The John dude tried to salvage the situation, "W-WAIT, PLEASE—"

But the Brenda dudette had more opinions to throw around, "THEN WHO'S TO BLAME THEN?! WE DIDN'T WISH FOR ANY OF THIS?! WE DIDN'T—"

Then I argued:

"Exactly, bitch! We didn't wish for any of this to happen! Who would fucking want a zombie apocalypse to occur?! Who would want to babysit a whiner like you?! We're out here working on a plan to move forward from all of this and you start yapping about the first chance you got! Who'd fucking take you at this point?! HUH?! ANSWER!"

"A-AN APOLOGY WOULD'VE BEEN NICE!"

"Fine! If that's what it takes! I'm so~ fucking sorry for everything that's happened to you—" then I turned to Vera with a simple report of this place's operations, "What did she do here again?"

Vera answered promptly, "Grew vegetables."

I almost laughed out loud before I turned back to our little 'victim', "Right! I'm sorry you had to grow fucking vegetables for months— I thought you were actually scavenging outside as you said, but that was a lie, huh?"

"I-I was just—"

"Just what, hmm?"

"I-I was just g-giving an example, my husband is—"

Vera cut in, "He was tasked on runs outside with a few others…"

I turned to this John guy, "Good shit, bro," then I turned back to Brenda, "Have you heard your husband complain? I think he's quite grateful, no?"

"That's…"

As I was about to answer, Kaley just gave me a look before I had a small realization:

'Right… I need to calm the fuck down…'

So, I let out a deep sigh before I continued, "Look, you're frazzled just as much as the next guy because a lot of things have happened this couple of hours but it's gonna be different, alright? And if you still think otherwise, pick option one, what's the problem? I'd even give you two a vehicle and a starter pack for your trip."

"..."

"And yeah: I'll apologize again, and much sincerely, because I really don't have any idea about what you guys went through but you gotta have an idea of what we went through as well. It's the only way for us to see eye to eye and the only way for us to move forward. But the thing is, we'll be building up this community to something much better but if you don't want any part of it, as I've said for the third time, you can go."