Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The only thing different with our group now is that Tatiana is not with us and she made another group for going runs outside with a few people that Oscar would sometimes take out. They're also properly equipped though Jared is with us for now.

I was with Kaley, Jared, Zardon, Dong and Mark while Tatiana is with Lois, Marco, Nicole, Kris and Alex. She would be leading them to start on simple runs that won't stretch too far out our place and will be close to Jay's own group in case of emergencies.

I decided for us to go towards the Pulo area where my group went to a portion of earlier. We're passing several streets and intersections but Kaley is wondering for why we're not opening some of them up or entering them.

"It's because most of the places there are residential areas. There's only a few stalls there where we could get more supplies and I doubt we'll find something substantial." I explained.

"So why are we going to this direction then boss?" Mark asked.

"This is gonna be more of a scouting run. I'd like to see for myself the situation in other places. There's a couple of camps when we went to the Bulacan area and I'd like to see if there are more here." I explained.

We continued on driving forwards but we would make occasional stops on shops that are unopened and we would do our usual procedure. We would get a lot of yield for the places that we've broken into to add to our reserves.

"Boss, can we make a stop to Borris' house? He's quite near in the public market in the Pulo area and if he's not there, I figured he might leave some of his animals in his house." Mark said.

"Oh yeah, he takes care of pigeons and chickens. I guess he would be willing to part with some of them if we trade a few items we collected here." I said.

"We're not taking him with us if he's there?" Dong asked.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Oh, right. Nevermind." Dong shook his head.

"Wait, what's up with the Borris guy?" Kaley asked.

"He's a pretty chill guy but a huge conspiracy theorist. He's been always talking about the end of the world and all our food is poisoned and will eventually kill us all. He has a small apartment building at the back of the public market where he takes care of small animals he uses for business. That guy only trusts himself but we made friends with him. If he's ever alive, he'd rather be in his home than the DDR camps." I explained.

We continued on driving the truck towards our destination and we made a stop for another Alfa Mart to gather a few more boxes of supplies. The yield is fewer than when we first went out before but it's only for the food. The other products are still abundant and it filled the truck pretty nicely.

Jared carefully made his way to the counter and immediately placed his hand under it but he gave a disgruntled expression after.

"No gun?" I asked while smirking,

"Shut up bro!" he grinds his teeth while looking at me.

"Don't worry about finding more guns we still have a lot at home." I replied.

"But it's an awesome feeling finding one in a scavenging run!" he replied.

"Well, yes. That is actually real. I may have a method in the future that will allow us to have a high percentage of getting guns." I said.

His eyes lit up, "How?"

"It's in the future. You'll know then. We'd need more trained people though in order to pull that off." I explained.

"Is that why you get all of those trainees? I was surprised you took some of them. The big guy I think I wouldn't get along with." he said.

"Hmm, after Oscar is done with them, I think you'll get along just fine. Sometimes first impressions are wrong. You don't know how good a person is until you meet them but that guy is kind of an asshole I guess." I said.

"Did you just contradict yourself and made my first impression of him right, then?" he asked.

"Well um- just giving an example. He fights dirty but who doesn't need an extra advatage to win nowadays? There's no rules in fighting now more importantly." I explained.

He nodded pensively and we passed a small bridge towards the Pulo area where different shops are located left and right. A huge contrast from what we're driving in earlier where we keep on passing houses. There's a salon, barbershop, bakery, bank, retail stores, LPG Store and etc. A few of them are already broken into and we just drove past them.

"There's a few we could take in here but we need space for the animals." I thought to myself.

We made a turn on the small park after this place's barangay hall and we're greeted by tight clumps of the dead walking around aimlessly. I told them that we'd clear them first but when Jared and Kaley were about to climb the roof of the truck, I stopped them.

"I'll be the eyes for today. This is a good place to practice with your weapons more. Don't worry, I got your backs." I said as they looked at each other.

They agreed with the notion so I stood up on the roof with the Tavor on hand. The four of them went down while my uncle and I are at the truck. What's different with them now is that Mark and Dong have the same Riot Shields that my uncle has. They are in front of either Kaley or Jared since they are tasked to hold a few of them in place while Jared and Kaley would deliver the final blow.

Mark's technique was very straightforward. He would attract a few and he would make them lose their balance by smashing the shield forward. As the zombies fall down, he would work with Jared to stab them in the head with their Fire Axe and Cavalry Sword.

Dong on the other hand would stay close to a wall then angle the shield diagonally and forwards so he could place them in a line so that Kaley would almost always face a single one. He would thin a few with his machete but Kaley moves much faster than him so he would just push them to make the rhythm in harmony.

*psshew*

I would immediately kill the ones that are offset from the push or the ones that are not knocked down by their shields to make their encounter with them a tad easier.

"Hey, we should have a group of people with shields in the future." My uncle said.

"I agree. Bing is also carrying one when they go out and all the shields are the same size so we could make some sort of Phalanx. We'd need longer weapons with reach though to make the shields in a tight formation." I said.

"Well that is true. I also want a deep hole where we could kick bad people into too." my uncle replied.

"..." Him and I.

"HAHAHAHAHA~!!!" we laughed heartily.

"Boss!" Mark shouted.

The repeated tapping sounds came from a distance and we immediately know what they are. There's eight in the immediate vicinity and the figures are heading straight for us. We pulled our guns and started on shooting at them though I commanded the people below to get up in the truck first while I make the first shots.

I killed half of them already before Kaley or Jared even managed to take their shots at the ones approaching us at great speed. They are now down to three but one of them immediately stopped and suddenly turned around after taking a glance at his fallen comrades. The last two got killed by Jared and Kaley though the last one turned into a corner and disappeared from view before I managed to aim a shot properly. I only grazed its shoulder as a small spray of blood gushed out but it continued to run.

My uncle drove the truck forwards for a chance to see that one again and we actually did. It's about a few meters still running at incredible speed. My uncle quickly maneuvered the truck in order to chase after it while I watch out for any surprises on some blindspots.

It turned its head around us when I thought he heard the truck approaching but it got peppered by bullets on its head. Bits of flesh and brain matter sprayed on the floor as it fall lifeless on the ground and unmoving. I approached it slowly and I sunk the katana once more on its head to be sure.

"What the fuck is this thing?!" the others exclaimed.

"That's a first." I said.

"First what?" Jared asked.

"The first one we witnessed to turn around and save himself." I said.

"Is it another trait of the irregulars?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, a bit more different than the usual irregulars though. That is almost... intelligence." I said.

The group on the truck are now silently staring at me when I said the words.

"Isn't that too fast then?" Kaley asked.

"A bit, yes. This is alarming. Let's check out Borris' house fast and watch out for more of that one. It suddenly got more dangerous to go outside if we're facing more of those. If you can't make sure it would hit the head aim for the feet to have a chance of disabling it. We need to take care of those things fast." I said.

The group nodded and everyone has wary gazes all around.

"Just when I thought it was getting easier. I hope that one was a rare case. We'd need to increase on clearing them to avoid more of those in the future." I thought to myself.