Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Our short maintenance session was paused as I stood up to check on their faces. Alexei is the most beat up one while Ilya is the complete opposite. Aurora is looking at me like it's her fault but by the way Ilya and Nikolas are walking apart, I could mostly guess what happened.

Alexei's right eye is swollen and there's a few bruises on his cheek and arms. His nose is also busted and his lip has been chipped. Blood seemed to have stopped flowing and I think it was taken care of yesterday after they fought. Nikolas' nose on the other hand is the only thing that's busted but there's definitely more hidden and I doubt it would be safe to take them outside.

"You tried to break them up, didn't you?" I looked at Alexei.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Alexei exhaled.

"Well, for starters, you should've let them!" I opened my eyes wide.

"What?! Then-" I cut him off.

"Then we'd have less injured soldiers. Sometimes you just have to let this things happen." I said.

"I should've followed you back since you can't didn't manage to break their fight." Tatiana is shaking her head.

"Hey! I'm the long shooter not the up close and personal specialist like Ilya! I was receiving hits from both sides so this is bound to happen! Well, it's partly your fault since you're not there! You know it's about to get bad and you hang back!" Alexei defended himself.

"You're blaming me?" Tatiana had a glint in her eye.

"If I say yes?" Alexei returned her look.

"You know that only Artem managed to beat me in our team, correct? Do you want Vera to take care of a cripple? Huh?" Tatiana stepped forward while smiling and Alexei instinctively took a step back.

"Hey! Easy! It's bad enough I'm down two soldiers, you also want one to be like Lieutenant Dan?" I stepped in the middle of them.

"Who?" they all asked except for Jared and Kaley turning around to hide their laughter.

"What? I thought you- Okay, Lieutenant Dan~ Lieutenant Dan~ Ice Cream~ Ring a bell?" I said after waving my hands around.

I saw Aurora covering her mouth to chuckle and I gave her a thumb of approval. They're all still staring at me in confusion so I gave up the attempt and just reminded myself to let them watch that film in the future.

"Okay, you two will stay here and guard the S-76." I ordered.

"Hey, I can still move." Nikolas approached me.

"Really?" I suddenly jabbed his abdomen. His body croaked and right when I was about to do the same thing to Alexei, he backed away.

"We'll be fine. I'll take Ilya instead. Going against those two and leaving with just a black eye should make up for those two's absence. Up for it?" I looked at Ilya.

He looked at Irene carrying a radiator hose and Aurora looking worried first. Irene nodded at him then he assured Aurora that he'll come back. He gave a huge exhale before approaching me.

"You have a spare gun I could use? I don't know if they told you yet but I've lost mine." he said.

I smiled and said, "Come with me."

I got him geared up with a Mini-14 chambered in 5.56 with a folding stock, pistol grip, 3-9x40mm scope, 20-round magazine, suppressor, and an M7 bayonet. It has a black finish all over though the sling is dark-gray in color. I only brought one extra magazine for this gun but he accepted it nevertheless. My mood was good until I touched a Hi-Point C9. It's fresh out of the box but nothing was added to it. It's chambered in 9mm and it uses a 10-round magazine without any extra aside from the ones inside the others.

"I deeply apologize." I said before handing one to him.

"Nah, it's all good. I was hoping for an AK but this works. I have a bolo here and a butterfly knife so I'm set." he said after wearing soft armor and finger cut gloves that I gave him.

I carried a few more items with me before we left the annoyed faces of Nikolas and Alexei.

My group is now composed with me, Kaley, Jared, Tatiana, and Ilya while Irene's group is composed of three other people who are named Ed, Edd, and Eddy. It was a funny coincidence but they don't look like their other counterparts. However, they call Edd 'double d' like in the show and that's it. Irene and her group's carrying firearms that are a little worse for wear but still workable. Irene is the only one carrying a shotgun while the rest have different kinds of handguns. Eddy's eyeing our equipment and I know what he's thinking though I just waited for him to start a conversation.

Irene told Ed to drive at the outskirts of the city where we last saw the group she's talking about.

We're passing farmland, rustic houses, and a few rundown tractors. Every place we passed was broken into and the presence of the dead here is abysmal compared to our place.

"Irene, have you ever encountered sprinters in your runs? You know, the ones that really run fast?" I asked.

"Sprinters? Running fast?" she was confused.

"Really? How about..." I told her about the other specials and irregulars we encountered. The gatherers, the fat fucks, the sentries, and a few irregulars that's been stuck in our minds.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Edd was also in disbelief.

Jared gave an annoyed look and he pulled out his phone.

"Here. Knock yourselves out." he said after handing it.

The color on their faces disappeared when they started to browse the things we documented. It even included the video of the little kid who spoke and several images of the sprinter that killed Cruz and the rest.

"This is happening at your place?!" Irene was shocked.

"..." Edd was speechless.

I glanced at Ilya and it seemed that he also didn't encounter the ones we did.

"Yeah, you've been in the city too so I'm asking if the same situation is happening here. We have a contact in Mindanao and it's the same over there. It's either the ones at the rural areas haven't evolved much or it's the other thing." I replied.

"Other thing?" she asked.

"The other video then?" Edd asked.

"Yeah, it's possible that they're gathering someplace else and their numbers are now staggering. Tell me, how far have you gone inside?" I looked at Irene.

"We've just been making steady progress but we've never been in the central part and the other estates and the air base. There's the country club too but we need to pass through the central part of the city before we manage to reach that place and the others." she replied.

"Why do we need to pass through the central part of the city first?" Tatiana asked.

"There's no proper roads leading to those places and it's either we make our own or fly through the mountain to get to those places." Edd replied.

"Okay, since we're just going for the outskirts first, let's tackle that other problem later. If my hunch is correct, we need to steer clear of the central part of this city if we're just using this truck. I'm regretting not flying lower so we could have a general idea of this place when we flew here yesterday. However, if there's no presence of those things at this place, then we're in for a treat." I replied.

We're driving straight and we made a left turn after reaching a mill that produces feed for various farm animals. There're several mills erected close to each other and there's a gated community that hasn't been finished yet at the right. The number of the dead got bumped by a miniscule amount but there's still no signs of anything special.

We passed through a rundown elementary school that has its gate bent in a gruesome fashion. There are several little houses made with light materials at the back of it and each house has a little well next to the front door. The dismembered bodies sprawled some of the houses dictates that some action has occurred here. The truck slowly lost speed and it eventually came to a halt.

"This is where we last saw them." Irene replied.

"What are you guys doing at this place? There's barely anything to get here aside from that gasoline station across the street." I asked.

"We're trying to pick up relatives of one of our resident but we were late. It seems that they have moved to someplace else since their house over there is already empty. They took their pictures too so I'm sure that they are someplace else." Irene replied.

"And where were the people you saw when you're here?" I asked.

"They're at the gas station as you said and they're taking what they could from the pumps. After that, we saw them drive further outwards where a farm for chickens and even game fowls are located. Well, there's none over there now but it used to be like that. Furthermore, if we drive around, there's a few barangays I think they might be staying in. We haven't drove that far yet when this thing started but I've been to those places before." she replied.

"Okay, let's start from that- what's that sound?" I looked at the direction where a well covered by a wooden lid is.

I'm hearing a faint echo and low growls so I approached it. I took off the lid and the horrid smell immediately assaulted my nose.

I looked down and it's a sorry sight. It's several feet below and there're figures moving below.

A bloated and discolored body is inside covering the whole area of the well by its body alone. However, there's two little kids that are just stepping over the bloated body and their little hands are bloody from trying to claw their way out probably when they were still alive. The little ones are carrying bags and their feet would sometimes sink if the flesh they're stepping on is too rotten to have a stable footing.

I was about to end their lives but Irene saw their faces.

"Jesus fucking christ..." she muttered.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"They're the ones we're looking for." Irene bitterly replied.

"Then we have trouble. The well is covered and there's no signs of a bite from the two. Only thing I'm seeing is a head injury. Someone placed them there. Who are they related to?" I stated.

"Remember the guy who's vomiting when we saw that thing yesterday? He's the uncle of these kids." Irene replied.

"Lester." Jared muttered.

"Tell me, were the ones you saw looting the gas station here first when you arrived or you were the ones here first?" I asked.

"They were here first. Oh god, were they the ones who did this?! I- I should've checked the- dammit!" Irene kicked a few pebbles off the ground.

"Wait, why didn't we hear them last time if they're alive? We should've at least heard them shouting, right?" Edd asked.

"But their hands! Why are they looking like that if they didn't struggle to get out?! Did the noise from the engine prevent us from hearing them?! You! What do you think?!" Irene is pissed.

I looked at the scene and I tried to play different scenarios in my head.

"Okay, here's what I think..." I trailed.