Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

There was a series of shuffling sounds that finally entered our ears that broke out the silence but it was a welcomed experience from the things we experienced earlier.

"Sky… Kris… he's not like that before, right? He's watching two guys getting it on…" Kaley whispered.

"Yeah, that was a surprise. I had my suspicions before but I didn't expect to discover it this way. I saw him with several women before and this was a first. Maybe he's just hiding it or he's trying to discover new things, we never know." I replied.

We heard a huge stumble and the headphone jack must've been disconnected.

Huge grunts were heard from the door and it silenced after a shriek from the inside.

"Kris! Are you still trying to finish? We're still outside you know!" I shouted while Kaley was holding her laughter.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHUT UP SKY!" we heard him shouting.

*bzzt*

"Earnest, Kris is here. He's alive and very much enjoying his time."

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

"That's great! Wait, why is he enjoying his time?"

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

"Hah! Let's see if he'll tell you later. Come inside and let Tatiana, Juan and Jared guard outside for the moment."

*bzzt*

Earnest's family eventually went inside and Kris finished a quick shower and told us to keep quiet about what we saw.

Kris is taller than me and a bit above Jared. He has short hair, large eyes and slightly brown skin. He's wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans but there's a holster on his right hip.

I glanced at his gun and I chuckled.

"Pfft!" I can't help myself.

Everyone suddenly looked at me.

"What?" Kris was confused.

"IS THAT A FUCKING HI-POINT?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry *snort* I can't help it *cough* *cough*" I started to die.

"W-what's wrong with a Hi-Point?!" Kris exclaimed.

"Nothing. Just obligatory bashing is needed." I replied as my laughter was now contained and did a 180 in expressions.

"That is so weird when you do that dude." Earnest chimed.

"So what are you guys doing here? I'm fine on my own. Never had an incident but thanks for the visit." Kris said.

"You're not coming with us?" Earnest asked.

"You need to stay at my place dude. It's dangerous here solo. You have a gun but that can't last you long. I even entered your house easily. If that was any other person with malice, you'd be dead already." I said.

"I have something that could defend myself more than guns dude." He smiled as he ran upstairs.

We were confused but when he went down, he's carrying a katana and my eyes shot up. However, when he drew it, the light on my eyes dimmed.

"Cool, huh? This is the same as what you're carrying." He proudly said.

He handed it to me and I inspected it. The blade is not true and I could see a few dents and this is definitely not heat treated and quenched properly. This would make the steel be very prone to breaking and dangerous to the one wielding it.

"This's fake. I bet you haven't used this. You haven't gone out yet, I could tell. This thing would break on first contact." I replied.

"W-wait! This thing is fucking expensive you know that?! I definitely went out a few times and this thing hasn't chipped on the number I've killed." his expression turned sour.

"Wanna test it? It would break when it meets mine. Try testing it on one outside." I replied.

We went outside and he saw the vehicles we brought and the other people outside. We found one in a small corner and I pointed at it.

"Try it. I'll be cover just in case." I said to him.

His hands slowly shook and his breathing became ragged. After three steps, I grabbed his collar and said, "Stop, I already know dude. Stop pretending. That thing would instantly snap when it hits bone and you will die immediately after since you haven't gone outside and have no experience in dealing with them. Don't worry dude, I won't judge you for that."

"I want to try though." He replied after a sigh of relief.

"Now that's good." I thought to myself as I smiled.

I instructed him the correct positions and movement and I let him borrow my katana. He admired it and he managed to kill one but he immediately puked after. We gathered at his house once again and we prepared lunch since it's 1:03 PM already. We took from his stock and he agreed and helped me cook. We gave food to the three guarding outside while we have our meal eaten at his house.

"You got me dude, alright I'll come with you. It's been almost two weeks, what made you come for us at this time? I thought I would face this thing solo." he asked.

"As I was about to say earlier, we have a place. We've been working on it for a while…" I then started the whole story for him to hear.

"Then let me pack for a bit you're going to where everyone is, right? Is Darelle even in his house with his wife? It's been too long since we last met him, he couldn't possibly be there. They would always go on trips around the world." he said.

"Hey, we went here thinking you were dead. But there you are having the time of your life. You're lucky that this house you're at is a bit obscured or people would have come to this place already and looted it. People are slowly losing resources dude. I need all hands on deck, not on your di-" I was about to continue but he shushed me.

"Atititi, don't continue that dude, I get it, I get it." he replied with a flustered look.

"Kris is a good guy but he's always worried about what other people might say to him. He always have 'modes' he shows other people but we his friends already know him well. Well, that's what friends are." I thought to myself.

He brought everything from his house and he placed it on his Civic. All the essentials and all his tech are on it. The cargo space is full along with the backseat.

After checking everything, we drove deeper in the Bulacan area once again and passed the Public Market in one of the barangays.

That's where I saw another one of what I saw near Jollibee.

One of them is just standing in a corner... eating himself. Its arms are devoid of flesh but blood is still trickling down from the shoulders but it continued on munching on his own body. I dismissed it as an irregular though Kaley saw it and she took a shot.

"What was that Sky?" Kaley asked.

"I think another irregular. Like the one in the bakery who looked back to the one you shot." I replied.

"What are irregulars now?" Juan asked.

"I classified them as ones who still exhibits behavior from humans that shouldn't be done by zombies anymore. The only thing in their heads right now is to infect other people but there were cases like before that they shouldn't be doing. That one is just weirder since it's eating itself. It could be different things though. I really hope that what I've observed is what it is, if not, it would be hard." I explained.

We continued to drive around but we would occasionally clear a few on a tight street when there are a lot of them. Earl tried to learn to shoot but his aim is off so I told them to stay put in their vehicles for now since we might miss them when we're killing a few on the street.

Kaley and Jared are keeping a good eye on the corners while Tatiana and I would take care of the normal ones. This would be a long trip and we need to save bullets since we would be going to two more locations and we don't know what we'll face in each one. The two of us are only using melee weapons and we're hacking and slashing on the bloody figures that approach us.

We would rarely notice the irregulars since we'd only notice their behavior when we observe them and not kill them. We might be encountering them a lot but we might have already killed them before we discovered that they are one.

"Well, irregular or not, you'd only need to destroy the brain." I thought to myself.

I was holding my katana with my right as I deflect the attacks from my left with the scabbard as always. Bodies are hitting the floor and we're slowly making our way to Darelle's house. It is located at a place like Woodlands but a bit smaller. We're now driving at the walls of the place coming near to their compound's gate and we saw that it is open wide and seems to be overrun.

"Are we going inside?" Jared asked.

"Of course." I replied.

We drove near and as soon as we went inside there are several dozen around the place roaming aimlessly. I'm estimating and there are probably around a few dozen in the immediate vicinity. Darelle's house is near the end of this place and I surmise we would face more.

"Are we really gonna go inside?" Jared asked again.

"Of course. Here's the plan... Project Infinite Loop." I said.