Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Long story short, the four of us finally finished our shower peacefully and managed to finish each other off while the two were sent off to do this monumental task Kaley put up to them. It was this no-nut-while-we-were-away challenge of sorts and the reward was that the two could be alone with me for a night if they ever succeeded but the punishment was no night with all of us for a month if they failed.

I was laughing my ass off internally because we guys would always make shit up like that, and it was a thing for everyone in November.

In any case, it didn't take long before we finally set off outside, and ignoring the guards and their families I was punishing for real, we did stop by our recently claimed gated community and checked on them.

'So far, so good…'

There was only so much work they could do in the time we'd left them so after making sure that everything was fine and dandy, we continued our drive till we reached the Intercity.

Compared to when we left it before, Mauricio was now the sole owner of the whole thing—after buying off everyone with their stocks—because unless they had ongoing supplies coming in from the outside and farms to keep the ball rolling, it wouldn't take long before they just had a huge storeroom with nothing on it.

They could turn it into a trading hub or a servicing area but Mauricio also had his claws on that particular venture.

That resulted in Mauricio not only giving him but also me, the biggest share out of the pot because they either had to sell everything outright or if they did have farms outside, they'd have to hire us for protection among other things.

'Unlimited rice~'

Doing that didn't mean we drove them away—though some found solace elsewhere—but they just downgraded from being business owners to our workers.

But yeah, the reason I had a large share from Mauricio's profits wasn't only because the soldiers guarding the Intercity were more inclined to listen to me, but also—before anyone else forgets—was because I helped in bringing back Catherine's eyesight.

It was a routine operation done on his wife that only needed a donor but in the zombie apocalypse, it was really hard to get an eye doctor of which I had two. Solving that problem of his and also taking care of his estranged family way back then put me in a position where I could simply ask him a favor and the answer would almost always be yes.

With that said, Kaley and I were back in their same old room with the same old CD Radio playing the same songs from the same artist but now, Catherine, or "Cathy" was serving us a glass of lemonade with her new eyes—still wearing special glasses though—while we were ignoring the acid burns on her face.

It actually didn't matter if she had them or not because of the way she looked at everything curiously like Mimi was cute in a way, and to add some context, she didn't want them fixed even though we had a doctor that could do plastics as well.

'Looked metal as fuck though… No one's gonna mess with her with that face…'

Mauricio then opened up the conversation:

"You brought a lot of stuff. Your workers here still have plenty— Or is that for the place Oscar was rushing to?"

"The latter."

"Ah. I heard you finally took care of that asshat. The ones I sent said they weren't even needed…"

"I don't want it to be a close fight, no?"

"Hah! That's true… Anyway, what's the purpose of your visit?"

"Do you know Mr. Christian Felix Garciano?"

"I might've heard of him… Why?"

On that note, we spent an hour discussing specifics before deciding on an official date we'd sit with our new guy to discuss a more friendly partnership. I myself wouldn't mind sharing some of the resources we had in exchange for construction materials because we had more than two sources of food and we were just stockpiling what we could and switching them around when their due date was about to come up.

We eventually said our goodbyes before we drove further North and it didn't take long before we were met with a familiar smell due to a bunch of zeds clumping up when left for too long.

Aside from the obvious entrails exposed on the asphalt, it was pretty obvious that the circle that encapsulated Mauricio's domain with the others around the area had some holes or they were just feeling each other out as to who would do the heavy lifting. Because if they weren't as proficient in fighting them up close and personal, clearing a horde or two required bullets, gas, or other building materials that would act as traps.

But yeah, this type of thing was pretty normal with my crew and as soon as we left the cadets and the trainees with my six-wheeler, Artem and I just picked a side to wreak havoc with just our handheld weapons. Sure, Kaley and Jared would supplement our charge with their guns when it was really needed but it was barely 7 AM and we could be a little frugal with our bullet expenses.

I obviously picked a side that could give me a lot of experience points and my first victim was a deadhead adhered to a bicycle before I claimed the life of another that had a STOP sign driven straight to its stomach.

It didn't stop me from surgically placing the edge of my blade by its right cheek and slicing up to carve off a fourth of its head before I simply chopped and pulled on the next one that saw me kill off their brethen wearing government property. I would've fanned to the side at this point but since Tatiana and Ibarra were right behind me, the ones I beheaded didn't even hear me coming because half of their heads slid just by their ears.