Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I'm still looking at the sign and I'm trying hard not to laugh but my face is already giving it away. The truck Jared is on top of drove a little closer and he managed to catch a glimpse of it.

"Hah! Bro! See that shit?!" Jared slapped his thighs, laughing.

"Sir? I can't..." Cruz is scratching his head.

A few more soldiers came down and when they saw the sign, a select few gave reactions.

"Cruz, seriously?"

"What?"

"You haven't watched The Pacing Unliving?"

"I did.."

"Forgot the hospital sce-"

"Oh! Fuck me! Hahahaha!"

"Be serious guys, a few are already approaching from behind."

"Yeah, this shit is still funny though."

"Well… it really is..."

Five soldiers wearing their military uniforms came up to us and started a short conversation. They meet the standard physique for being in the military and they seem to have the control to fool around and be aware at the same time. Not to mention they know what I'm laughing about so their fate is already sealed. The other soldiers at the back chopped down the few following behind us and I made a short conversation with the five before getting back on business. Kaley is giving a faint smile watching me talk about the show for a short moment.

"This five, with Cruz, Mando, Marlon, and Mike… they're coming with me back home." I thought to myself and they shuddered when they felt my gaze.

"Bro, I'll bet a slap at the back a hand wi-" Jared was about to tell the scene after the protagonist from the TV Series we're referring to saw pale hands coming out of the gaps but in our case, a hand really came out with long nails, well mostly.

The pale hand is stained with darkened blood and missing a few digits but it almost copied the scene perfectly. It started to clutch the chains that are keeping the door shut but the joints in its knuckles popped to the opposite side when it tried to use more force. It made a small cracking sound which is not as loud but that happening made the ones who saw and heard what happened give out a solemn expression.

"Did it just?" one of the soldiers that has a nametag of 'Salazar' muttered.

"Yeah, it made a noise as if it got hurt when its knuckles got bent. It also pulled its hand back as if it's scalded by hot water." I replied.

All of them let out noises. It's usually a low growl or someone almost choking but this time, after it got injured, it let out a shriek as if it's in pain. It's faintly distinct but you'd feel it's different the first time you hear it. I've cut them down without killing them outright multiple times but I've only heard that noise when they're about to chomp down on my neck or dive in head first. I've never heard or saw them like that when that happened before.

The way it suddenly pulled its hand back is sending flags in my head.

"If possible, we need to take it back… alive if possible." I thought to myself.

"It's… feeling pain?" Kaley asked.

"It seems like the one child that retained some of its human features, correct?" Tatiana added.

"We'll see about that." I replied and I slowly approached the door.

When I drew nearer, they seem to have caught my scent since several dozen hands tried to reach for me. There's also a few popping out from the windows but it's futile. Huge wooden planks are hammered in the windows to keep them inside even if they managed to break the window glass down. A few fingers managed to wiggle out but it's just a sight to keep some people awake at night.

I drew my katana and I chopped an arm off.

The arm I lopped off does not belong to the one I saw earlier but I want to feed my curiosity. The moment the forearm I cut made a small dust on the ground, its remaining parts are still moving around like it's nothing. I chopped a few more and now there's several stumps waving their arms around. Their blood seemed to be too sticky to fly around when they wave their hands so that's a plus. The dismembered pieces are on the ground and it made a small pile where some of them have the bone almost slipping off.

The one earlier I can't spot. I remembered its features but none of the sort appeared when I approached the doors. I even checked the pile on my feet in case I missed it but to no avail.

The owners of the stumps slowly flailing by the doors are now blocking it and I don't want the soldiers to accidentally kill that special or irregular one when we open the doors so I have to change it up.

"Yank the planks of that window so we could let out a few at a time. Let's open one for now since we don't know how much would spill out if we yanked more. I remember a crowbar in one of the toolboxes we took." I ordered the soldiers and they followed.

They started to rifle through the toolbox for a time so I lent a hand. A small perimeter is always erected every time we make a stop.

"It's in the yellow one with a CAT logo." I said and they were in disbelief when they found it.

"W-we're gonna open it now s-sir samurai..." one of the soldiers said.

"Samurai?" I looked back at her.

"Umm, ah- some of us can't pronounce your name Ish- Ishi- that properly so we used a codename… is that fine? The president sometimes calls you that if we're talking about you." She seemed fidgety and it's a huge contrast from her build. Judging from her uniform, she seemed to be from Rod's group.

"Sure… the president calls me that sometimes, huh? I guess it's better than getting called 'kid' all the time." I replied, almost smiling.

"I thought you said you're not one, huh?" Kaley chuckled.

"Well technically, it's just a nickname not a title so… loophole!" I replied and she's shaking her head in amusement.

The soldiers have placed the crowbars perfectly and they're just waiting for my signal to yank the concrete nails that we're used to hammer in the planks through the wall. When I gave them the signal, they quickly applied force and the planks were quickly removed. The glass behind it is already broken but there's still jagged pieces remaining. It didn't matter as much because what mattered is that we need to be systematic in dealing with the ones that are starting to spill out.

"Kill." I said at the first one I saw.

The crowbar the soldiers were holding found its place inside the bloody figure's head. Its flat side went straight through from its right ear to the left ear and brought a few bits and pieces when it exited.

"Kill." I said the same thing for the second one.

The hook part of the crowbar entered the second one's eye and it stopped moving immediately. Having it hinged in that place makes dragging it to the side easier.

It continued on for a while because of their numbers though I'm making a swift decision if the one that jumped out would be disposed of or not. I'm quickly identifying them and if it's not what I'm looking for, its head would be either cracked open or bore a hole into and be dragged to the side for the next one. The first one who came through were the ones that weren't able to squeeze their hands through the gap in the door and still have their bodies intact. The small bottleneck made by that window is enough for us to manage the ones that are coming out. The most that could come out at once are two but they would immediately tumble when they fall down.

"Sir, this small operation is going smoothly, can we open another window?" Cruz asked.

"Well it is too easy doing this, it's almost illegal. Okay, go ahead." I'm scratching my head.

"..." everyone else.

"Yank open the one close to it but listen close to my commands since we need the one earlier to be left alive. You could hook its body with the crowbar but don't aim for its head. You could also dismember the arms and legs so transporting it would be easier." I said.

They eventually followed my orders and opened up another path for the zombies to come out. The ones with the stumpy arms followed and they didn't need my instruction to know that they were not the ones I'm looking for. We eventually opened up two more windows since we could still manage it and we significantly reduced their numbers. We had to honk the horn a few times to attract the ones that are still inside.

I'm listening for noise from the second floor and there's a few muffled sounds I could still hear but not as loud compared to earlier when there was a mass of them inside. We started to notice a few coming from the second floor but I saw them falling down the stairs for an unknown reason. It almost sounded like they're slipping at each step or missing the steps completely and falling down. Aside from them, if anything, there could still be a few trapped inside the offices and it could easily be taken care of. However, despite all that, the one I've been looking for still hasn't come out.

"It's still playing hard to get, huh?" I said.

"We should go inside. I think most of them are gone now, correct?" Tatiana asked and I nodded.

I called for Kaley, Tatiana, Nikolas, Mando, and Cruz and I led them inside the police station. I picked the lock first and removed the sign and turned it around so it wouldn't distract me. The moment I opened the doors, I started to think twice if we'll proceed or not. The flooring is just a bloody slip and slide of different kinds of fluids meshed together. The sight of it could make anyone with a weak stomach immediately throw up and that's not the worst of it. The smell and warmness it is wafting towards us is making a few soldiers gag. It's not as worse when they are coming from the windows since we still have some distance but the moment we drew closer is like using a shoe of a guy with several foot infections as a face mask.

"Do we still go inside? Our footing would be impeded." Kaley said.

I looked around the neighborhood and my eyes landed on a particular place. Everyone followed to where I was looking at and they looked back at me in confusion.

I had a thought and said, "Heh. Let's go there first."

"Bro, can you tell me why?" Jared said, confused.

"Seriously? You've known me since birth and you don't know what I'm gonna do next?" I was acting like I was exasperated.

"But bro..." he trailed.

"C'mon already! We're wasting time here!" I then marched to the store a few meters away from us not minding the looks I was being given.

"What exactly are we doing there?" Kaley also asked.

I turned around and almost sang, "It's a hard knock life~"