Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"...these are called speedloaders." I replied.

"What? Are those special kinds of magazines where you could load them easily?" Kaley asked.

"What? Uh, no. These are tools used to load the magazines much faster. Give me your empty magazines so I could show you how this works." I replied.

She handed me one which is completely empty and one which is missing a few from her rifle. She replaced it with a new one from her plate carrier after she locked the bolt. She chambered a round first before looking at what would I do next.

"You're getting faster doing that." I remarked.

I then opened the ammo can for where the 5.56 ammo are located and I lined a few of them towards the speedloader. I filled it to the brim and I pushed it against the receiver of the magazine in which all the rounds are quickly dispensed inside. Kaley looked with interest and I saw her almost stopping me when I was about to fill the speedloader to the brim again.

"Just watch." I said.

I pointed it towards the magazine again and when I pushed it inside, it stopped right at the middle still with the remaining bullets still inside. I then pulled out one of my empty magazines and placed the remaining bullets inside. Of course, it's not the exact amount so I continued on replenishing the empty magazines we have using the same speedloader.

"Isn't it much faster when we just reload them manually? It feels like twice the time would be passing since you would still be arranging it at that loader thingy." she asked.

"Not quite. What if we load all of these in the magazines here? It will shave us a few seconds so in the long run it would be much faster. I have these at the armory too but since we only fill up a few at a time, I rarely use it. This could help greatly in reloading large amounts or if your hands have arthritis or something. There's different kinds too but this ETS Loader is a tad faster than most ones out there. Some would even have one for different calibers but it's nice to have one that could accommodate almost everything. Some people with weaker hand strength would appreciate this because when the magazine is almost full, it starts to get harder to place more because of the tension in the spring. Also, it could help in avoiding calluses if you're that meticulous." I replied as I tapped it against my hand a few times to make sure all of it is backed up to avoid feeding issues.

"Hmm~ okay. Do we leave those here first or we call a few here to help in hauling it?" Kaley asked.

I then decided to leave it here for now and would remove the safe from this house to be delivered to mine. However, I brought out one of the AR-15s to give to one of my group. We caught up to the group slowly making their way towards the houses.

"Max! Come here for a sec." I shouted.

Max was one of the soldiers we trained that shows a bit of skill.

"Sir?" he said walking towards us pointing the M1 Garand down that Oscar gave to him.

"He should've given you a Mosin or something but here, take this. Return that to Oscar after we're done here." I handed him the AR-15 that has some wear on it. It only has simple attachments, a suppressor and a scope though not as high-end as what Kaley and I use. He was surprised to receive it first but he was delighted regardless. He started to check the AR-15 first and I was looking at what he does and when he aimed at the sights, his eyebrows slightly crunched up.

"..." he was silent but he gave me a glance.

"That's why I gave it to you, you have good eyes. I thought it was only Marvin but yours reach farther. His eyes are for more up close and personal fights not long ones. I think you already know how to sight them, right? It's a bit off but if you're not shooting that far, I think it would be fine for now. Just sight them properly after we're finished here. I notice things from everyone. Remind me to get you a sling for that when we get back yeah?" I said as I tapped his shoulder.

He kept silent but he's smiling faintly. He joined the rest of the group then jealousy ensued.

"The fuck?!"

"You have two guns now?!"

"...he told me to return this one to Oscar..."

"Fuck's sake!"

"What did you do to get that?!"

"I'm fucking jealous!"

"It looks a bit worse for wear though."

"It's still mine! Back off!"

"Perform well and you'd receive your own. I'd give you a suitable weapon too. Could be guns or anything. Finish everything here so we could go home." I said to them.

My words were like a gallon of water in the scorching rays of the dessert since they all moved much more in order and enthusiasm, even Brian.

"Smooth." Kaley remarked.

"Heh. Let's check the other houses. Hope our luck doesn't stop there. The way they keep their own stashes makes me think there's more where that came from." I said.

Kaley and I went to one of the bigger houses again to see if we could find more stuff.

We proceeded with a few others inside a house which is three stories high and has a mix of paint that complements the color scheme of all the houses in this gated community. Even if there's a few signs of a break-in, we found out that no one was inside after a thorough check of each room. We were checking each one of them and I happen to stumble into one of the closets that has several items stored within. I saw a particular item inside and I started to chuckle.

"HAHAHA!!!" I exclaimed.

"What?! You found their stash too?!" Kaley exclaimed.

"Look! The hidden 'stache!" I said as I turned facing them with a fake mustache. It's thick and brown looking extremely out of place from the rest of my face.

Kaley immediately threw towards me a small chair while half of the soldiers with me started to groan while the rest started to laugh. I caught the small chair while neutralizing the spin it made when Kaley threw it.

"Be serious! I thought you really found something!" Kaley exclaimed.

"Okay, hi Kaley! I'm Serious." I replied immediately.

Kaley almost shot me while the rest proceeded with the same reactions.

I kept the mustache on me to tick Kaley off even more while we started to search this house. Like the earlier one, this place is also stocked to the brim with supplies of food though not as many as the first one. Like the closet I opened earlier, it also contained several costumes for theater play like wigs, make-ups, clothes, shoes, and etc.

Kaley and I found more jewelry and fancy clothes in this house and I could see Kaley wanting to try a black dress in front of the mirror in one of the bigger closets. She's placing it in front of her trying to outline her body despite the several equipment already on her. I was simply looking at her and she caught me staring at her.

"STOP WEARING THAT MUSTACHE BEFORE I ACTUALLY SHOOT YOU!" she bellowed.

I laughed heartily and said, "So, you like that dress? Oh! The tag is still on- HOLY FUCKING SHIT! That thing is expensive! Take it!"

"Isn't this just more of a luxury item? We should be getting the essentials first, right?" she fidgets.

"What? I already took all the jewelry from each house we went in, see? You should spoil yourself from time to time. Everything we could lay our sights on is ours for the taking! What's wrong with a couple of fancy clothes? The shoes too... their hmm... FUCKING CHRIST THE PRICE ON THESE THINGS!" I showed her my front pack full of them while Kaley nabbed the fake mustache.

She started to smile and I saw her take a few more dresses from the closet she's looking at. The boxes of shoes she can't fit on her bag she wrote down a huge text saying that those are hers in capital letters.

"We'll be coming back for the other things, remind me!" she looked back with a smile.

"Of course, your highness!" I replied with a bow.

I then heard Tatiana's voice from our radio.

*bzzt*

"You two, can you come here at the third house on the left numbered 3357? We've found something and I'd like you to check it. You know a lot about swords, correct?"

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

"What? Swords? Yeah! We'll head there! Wait! What did you find? Rapiers? Messers? Longswords? Arming Swords? Gladius'? Katanas? Hook Swords? Zanpaktous? Sabres? Falchions? Jians? Daos? Samehada? Kubikiribōchō? Excalibur? Lightsabers? Kusanagi? What? I could name a few more! What? What? What? Tatiana? Hello~?"

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

"Uhh, just go here. I'm afraid I might say the wrong thing. Are the ones you even said real? I bet some of them aren't, correct?"

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

"What? Of course, they all are, *chuckle* wait for us!"

*bzzt*

Kaley and I went down with the rest and I'm almost speed-walking because I'm excited to see what Tatiana found. I saw Marvin entering one of the houses next to the one Tatiana pointed but I also brushed past them.

"Hey! The swords are not going away! Tell me, you have a huge collection of guns at home but on swords, you have only three at home. Is there a reason why?" Kaley stopped me for a moment.