Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I went back to my room to wait for the broadcast and I pulled out my Glock 19 from my holster. I removed the attachments after clearing the barrel and removing the magazine. I cleaned it for a short while and placed it back in its respective case.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Kaley finally came back and she laid her guns in the table while I looked at my collection.

"I'm looking for a new pistol to use." I replied.

"A new one?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of using the Maxim 9. Using one thing for too long will get me too accustomed to it and would make using new stuff a bit weird for me." I replied.

"But wouldn't it be weird to use new stuff too? Like when I switched to this CZ from the Beretta?" she asked.

"Yes and no. I've shot at least a few thousand rounds for each gun I could get my hands on. I could operate everything based on memory now and what I'm avoiding is the time when you switched the M70 for the AR-15." I explained.

"Oh, when I'm reaching for the bolt…" she remembered.

"Yeah, muscle memory sometimes kicks in and it could be dangerous on certain situations if you do the same thing over and over. However, in your case, you don't always have to switch weapons. Master a few of them at a time and when you feel that you're getting too comfortable, just tell me and we'll find another to switch it with." I explained.

"Sure, but what is that Maxim 9? That sounds like a sexy magazine." She replied, chuckling.

I opened two cases and it shows a black pistol though the part where the muzzle is located seems to have a huge compensator beneath it. It looks slick and almost futuristic like the Steyr Aug I lent to Earnest. I only added a flashlight and a red dot sight and Kaley's eyebrows scrunched up. I smiled faintly as I saw her reaction.

"This thing has a suppressor integrated to the gun. It's super quiet and the suppressor being integrated into it makes it handy since the overall length is vastly different from a normal pistol that has a suppressor on it." I said.

"Really? It looks much cooler than the ones we're using. Do you have an extra? I kinda want to use one…" she said though the last bit, she hesitated.

I opened two more cases and I let her choose between the longer one that I picked and the shorter one. I then explained to her the pros and cons of using this gun.

"As you could see, the triggers for these are not the same for the ones you could see on the original one. I'm just telling you in case you get your hands on another one and you wonder why it's different and feels off. It uses the same magazines for the Glock 17 and same sights for the same brand though we replaced the sights with a red dot. It has an issue of the frame starting to get hot on the place where you would place your other hand to hold the pistol with. It starts getting hot when you start to shoot close to a hundred rounds with it in succession. But in our runs, we rarely shoot that many and we use our rifles if they increase in numbers so it's not much of an issue. Also, due to the features of this gun, we may need to clean it more times than usual with the other guns but we always clean them more than usual so it's no problem. And then…" I explained a few more things like it shoots like a .22 since it uses subsonic ammo and the slide is half the size of a normal one. The gun still uses 9mm ammo and it is the first of its kind to have and integrated suppressor.

I noticed that she's smiling after my explanation and now I'm the one who has his eyebrows scrunched up.

"What?" I asked after I handed her new pistol to her and taking care of her old one.

"In short, I don't need to worry about anything since all the issues are taken care of. *chuckle*" she said.

"Erp, well, the more you know, I guess…" I replied weakly.

She laughed heartily as she tried to familiarize herself with her new gun. She would attempt to draw it as quick as possible and acquire the target then holster it in place. We spent a few more moments doing simple drills with each other.

Before 6:00 PM, I radioed everybody to gather at the compound for the broadcast. It was more progress reports on their end and reminders that the power would get cut-off at the end of the week at the earliest. One of the reports is that they found an irregular sprinter that would crawl on all fours but the parts of it where the ground faces is mangled to bits so capturing it made easier since it's just dragging itself mostly. Another irregular that they found is a sentry where it looks around like a stand fan after pressing the button at the back.

They've captured it and aside from them confirming that it could guide zombies to whichever direction it was looking at, this one emits a faint buzzing noise from its mouth. However, aside from turning its neck, it can't seem to move its legs still.

"So, did they really miss that ability from the first ones that they captured?" I said to myself.

The broadcast also mentioned that there are several people from all over the world going to places like the Philippines where there is less population or less land to cover to make it their temporary base and work with the country to fight this thing that we're facing. Several countries are now unresponsive leaving their people to depend on themselves.

"Well, I find it surprising that some countries have the time to communicate with each other. I thought it would be like the movies where the governments would collapse on the early days." Marco said.

"To be fair, this is real life. Call it what you may but the government would be the ones of the few to be the last stand for humanity like our place here. The writers for shows just makes a hero of a normal civilian so that people could relate to them but if he is not prepared like us, it's a miracle that they would be able to survive like us." Oscar said.

"I agree. They have the most guns and they have the power to mobilize a lot of troops to defend everything. There's only a few select people like us that could survive like us in this scenario." I said.

"Hmm, well you could be prepared and all but it takes more than that." Johnny chimed.

"We need to be lucky too." Russel said.

"Luck is good but we shouldn't always rely on that. You'd be like an MC that has a ton of plot armor. I'd rather be someone who finishes all the side quests first and having everything ready before going through the main quest just in case I miss something important." I replied.

"Can't you just speak normally and avoid a few references that normal people don't know about when everyone is present?" Matthew was shaking his head.

"You're just too old dad." Olivia chimed.

"Why are you taking his side?! I thought you were on mine!" he retorted and everyone gave a few chuckles.

The broadcast ended shortly and I started a new class that would focus on their movements. The classes I teach at would focus on one thing at a time and gradually rise in difficulty while Oscar would teach them everything in a single day and repeat. Tatiana on the other hand would train everyone in a group but what she's making them do is different from person to person and based on what she thinks they need to improve more of.

"The thing we did on the covered court isn't ready yet but we could make use of a few things here in the gym before we move over there." I thought to myself.

I laid out small cups, rope ladders, and cones on the floor in a simple pattern. I made the people attending the class to run in the treadmills for a while to get their initial sweat for the exercises that I would be making them do.

I first demonstrated how to do the ladder exercise slowly. I made different variations to make them aware how important foot placement is in how quickly you could maneuver in every direction.

The cups I placed in the middle are three in number but you would pick one up, place it in the Southeast a few paces and come back to the remaining cups until you manage to place them all. The catch is you still have to be facing North so you could move your foot in different directions not just facing in the direction you place the cups in and just simply moving forward. They would continue to do that until they reached each direction of the compass and bringing it back in the middle.

I then pulled out a timer and threw it to Chris.

"Time me first and let's see how everyone fares after me. I'll give the people who beat me something special." I said as I stretched my whole body.