Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Even if it looked like a reverse roadkill since the parts that are mangled are below, I carefully approached it since it is still flailing its arms around. I can still remember the strength it exhibited when it smashed the normal zombie to the ground.

"KID! ONE MORE SECOND AND IF YOU'RE NOT HERE, I'M CHARGING OVER THERE!" Oscar shouted from the earpiece again.

"Go ahead old man, we've already killed the one on our side. How's going there on your side Kaley and Tatiana?" I said from the earpiece.

"What?! You already killed them?!" Oscar shouted.

"Same here." Kaley said from the earpiece as well.

"Oh. Good job, I was worried since I can't see what was happening." Oscar said.

"What? Aren't you with Jared controlling the drones?" Kaley asked.

"Yeah. The feed is still showing the end of the Public Market where the small pool is at." he replied.

"Well, didn't you think of driving it?" I asked.

"Bro... Oscar is holding both of the controllers... he won't hand them to me since he's looking intently at the screen..." Jared trailed from the earpiece.

"Pfft! Old man! I really need to teach you how to operate those things! Good thing that we are facing zombies, not cyborgs from the future. You'll die first if that ever happens." I said.

"Bah! A slug could always solve my problems!" he rebutted.

"Apparently a slug can't teach you how to drive a drone..." Jared chimed.

"Shut up you little shit! I nearly fell off the truck when I was trying to go there earlier! You didn't even help me! Good thing I still got my guns!" Oscar said as he flexed his biceps.

"I was laughing! What would you want me to do?! You're not even blinking when you were trying too hard to hold into the sidings! At least blink with Morse Code so I could do something!" Jared exclaimed.

Several chuckles from the earpiece resounded.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING?!" Oscar exclaimed.

"Really? You almost fell? Can you do it again? I didn't see it when it happened." I replied.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted again then several more chuckles followed.

"Enough talk, some of you grab the Jerry Can from the truck and hand it to Mark. Some of you go with him to the generator near Tatiana's Path to light up this place since it's clear now. If you want to see the huge one up close, I've left one alive so we could capture it in video. I wish I could've recorded it when it smashed a zombie to the ground. I would place a small camera on my vest from now on after this thing, everyone else too." I said.

A few moments pass and the people that went with Mark stood guard where the generator room was located and they told me that there are also several zombies at the other side of the gate where the school and the apartment building are located. I instructed them to clear the ones that they could without opening the gate and stay put for now. Oscar slowly made his way towards my direction as I heard him say from the earpiece.

"Don't get too near it old man." I said to Oscar as he approached from behind.

"Ah, this is some fucked-up shit kid! What did you do to it?" he asked.

The huge figure was still flailing its arms around trying hard to drag itself to reach us but to no avail. I then told him how it went down and Kaley grimaced when she also saw the sight. Every time it moves, a few bloody bits still inside it would somehow escape from that flesh enclosure. The mangled parts that would escape are so sticky and slimy it makes a moist sound each time the huge figure moves.

"I thought they were three?" Kaley asked.

"Yeah, it's on the far side. It crashed into one of those counters and got immobilized so I just shot it after dealing with these ones here." I replied.

They shone their flashlights over and it is several meters far. They gave me weird looks as their flashlights move back and forth between me and the huge figure in the distance.

"What? Forgot I'm OP?" I said cheekily.

"Kinda difficult by not using a scope though... hmm... maybe I'll use the canted red dot and attach a scope later. But it makes the gun look unbalanced visually speaking. However, the options I could do would be increased. What to do, what to do." I thought to myself.

They never said anything and they just kept on shaking their heads in amusement. The drone slowly flew towards us and it hovered around the huge one in front of us as it continues its struggle to move. The lights for the Public Market eventually turned on and it gave a better shot of capturing the huge figure in every angle. It also allowed us to see the Public Market in full view and the mess we made here is just straight from a movie.

"Alright, some of you start to drag the bodies near the entrance so we could burn them. I would hate it if this would be a fucked-up slip and slide while we're taking everything from the shops around here." I said.

"How about this big one kid?" Oscar asked.

*stab*

I sunk my blade into its head and the hands that were flailing around halted as it dropped on its own bits and juices.

"I got enough information. They have a few more quirks than the ones we faced but I think the ones at the People's Park are still the bigger threat. We never know why they are doing what they were doing earlier but I think it's enough for now to know 'what' they could do aside from 'why' for now. Heck, we don't even know 'why' those sprinters run like the Italian dude when you hold 'B', we just know that they do." I said.

"I see what you did there bro." Jared chimed from the earpiece.

It took us a bit of time to haul the bodies outside but we did finish it eventually. Oscar made a controlled fire to burn them though there is still the blood splatters across the place.

"Want us to check Milan now? We could get a lot from that place if it's not looted yet. It's just a huge warehouse, not a shop." Mark said.

"Maybe later. We'll do things one at a time. Let's take everything from this place first." I instructed them.

I pulled out my lockpicks and Oscar almost loses it. He actually managed to find a crowbar in one of the shops and almost everyone from my group celebrated since they could open the shops at a faster rate.

"You barbarians! Don't know the meaning of finesse! Amateurs! Amateurs I tell you!" I muttered silently though Kaley heard it.

"Well, you really do take a bit of time taking the locks off using those lockpicks." Kaley said while giggling at me.

"I guess so. I just hate it when the locks get destroyed. Well, me could melt it and turn it to something new but it would take a bit of time." I replied.

"Why are you speaking like Jar Jar kid?! Hah!" Oscar chuckled.

The supplies that we could use are mostly located on the first half of the Public Market since they are comprised of canned goods, liquid cleaners, dried pasta, sacks of rice, sacks of sugar, sacks of salt, cans of cooking oil, containers of soy sauce, bottles of vinegar, different kinds of seasonings, sachets of soap, sacks of detergent, insect repellants, school supplies, rolls of fabric, and etc.

"Oh yeah, check the small entryway towards the attic-like entrance there. Almost all of the shops here use those as their storage area and definitely people who have tried to scavenge here before missed them." I said to Marvin and the rest who don't know the ins and outs of the shops here.

"Damn, there really is! We should've checked this place much sooner!" Carlo exclaimed.

"Hah! If you did, you'd still miss that place if I didn't tell you." I replied.

The other half of the Public Market has everything there that could be eaten has become rotten since the power went out a week ago. Several pieces of meat that are either on their huge freezers or just hanging above the metal hooks on some of the stalls has already discolored and has several bitemarks. A few pieces have maggots crawling onto them in different directions and they are full. However, there are several tools that we could make use of like their different kinds of knives, scales, lights, containers, sharpening tools, and etc.

We gathered everything to the entrance and we called home to bring the Cargo Truck. The haul we got is coming from several shops and we haven't even finished on clearing the apartment building, the school, and Milan.

"Milan is a bit dangerous since it is enclosed and only has one entrance inside. I think we head towards the apartment building and the school first and head to Milan last." I thought to myself.

"Okay kid, we got everything important here. What do we do next?" Oscar asked as everyone was idling about.

"Important? You're sure you got everything? Hmm?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"What? We got all the food and other supplies. Are there any hidden entrances we didn't get to yet?" he asked as the group grew confused.

I pointed on the floor and said, "The casings. Let's start on picking everything up. Don't miss a single one or we'll come back here with a metal detector!"

"..." Everyone else.