Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Hearing the guy's words, I glanced at Irene first and looking at her face tells me that she doesn't know a thing about what's going on at this place. Instead of letting my silver tongue out to lie through my teeth, I decided to use it to fish for information.

"We actually came several kilometres from the South, I heard another group talking about this place but they wouldn't say anything about it. They just told us to drive on the outskirts of Lipa City and we'll eventually find this place. We're actually about to head back but we heard the gunshots, so… we got lucky I guess. By the way, what do you mean by just watching or participating? Those guys never really said anything but they're all smiles when they're talking about by themselves." I started.

"Ah, no worries friend. You're just a bit early for the real party though. Well, we only do this once a week so better early than late, eh? A few bangers here would come for the early games but when the sun goes down, the games here now would feel like shit, I tell ya. Oh yeah, sorry friend, your question, if you just want to watch the real games later, I'm gonna need an entrance fee of some kind. It could be anything from guns, food, pussy, drugs, alcohol, anything! Part of it would be added to the prize pool. You could also bet with those things later and get something on equal value, it depends. However, if one of you is gonna participate in the 'games', we could waive the entrance fee a bit. So, what do you think?" he said but looking at him closer tells me that he's stoned.

The other guy holding a bottle half-full is just smiling at Kaley and Tatiana. He's waving like an idiot but he suddenly dropped on the ground unconscious after taking a swig. The person we're talking to saw him and he started pissing on the guy trying to wake him up.

"Hey~ Wake up vato! Ey~! Rico~ Wake the fuck up puto! Hahahaha~!" he started to laugh.

The people in my group looked at each other, confused at what's happening.

"Better get more information while he's high. Is he Latino or something? Well, the name of this place kinda hinted on it." I thought to myself.

"Hey! That sounds fucking awesome, what are these 'games' then? If it's exciting enough, I might join them myself." I tried to get his attention.

He just raised his index finger, hinting that he needed to finish pissing first. It took him a moment and the guy he's pissing on is still unconscious.

He finally turned around and said, "You sure ese- ah, friend? Well, we do cowboy stuff, chicken stuff, knife stuff, cage stuff, you know... lots of stuff! There's one for ladies too if the hermosas you brought want in on the fun too~" he started raising his eyebrows up and down.

"Well that didn't tell me much and what the hell is that chicken stuff?" I thought to myself.

"If we're just watching, can we join at the last minute? You know, if we're interested in the game? We're really not familiar with how things work yet, is that okay?" Tatiana jumped down from the truck.

"Oh, well hello there beautiful~ Well, you could hermosa, but the deposits can't be returned and the buy-in from that would be extra expensive, sorry. Rules are rules. We don't want to piss off Mr. Cuervo, he's a man of rules you see..." he raised his hands up.

"Question, will our guns be allowed inside? I already heard gunshots, so it's allowed, right?" I interjected.

He looked at me first with an eerie smile and said, "Of course friend, everything is allowed inside. There's no rule for that. I could see you brought some- ehh~ kinda serious hardware there but ah- we have visitors that brought more ah~ let's just say a little more bang-bang. We've had some troubles but blood gets paid with blood here if anything happens, friend. But don't worry, Mr. Cuervo is a fair man."

It seemed that his earlier actions were just an act after replying. It was only for a moment but he came back to his goofy self. I pretended to not notice so I also jumped down to negotiate more comfortably.

"How does that entrance fee work? If any of us participate, will the others be free to enter? Also, can we choose which 'game' we participate in? I'm not great at everything so I might be at a disadvantage on other games." I asked.

"Easy there, my friend. Let me think… Hold up, who would participate first? Is it just you? You'd have higher chances the more people participate, right?" he replied.

"You haven't told me yet if we could choose which 'game' we're playing in on." I reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. As long as you play on one it's good, I guess. Well, most of the players play in everything that's why we have no rule for that. Don't worry friend. The games here are not as dangerous if that's what you're worried about. Except when you're stupid, everything would be dangerous." he smiled once more.

"If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough." I replied.

"Hah! Nice one vato! That's a good way of putting it. Anyway, just to sell it to you, the games are just a way to know who's the better man. Well, women too, of course. Also, just putting it out there, if you win all the games, a bottle of Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario will be given to you by Mr. Cuervo himself! Even I joined a few times but failed miserably. But this vato will join again later! That Jose Cuervo is something I haven't tasted but it's something I craved so much." then he looked back at Tatiana.

I glanced first at Kaley and she's just staring at him. When she saw me looking at her, she gave me a look that the guy we were speaking to is mostly genuine. I looked at my watch and it's already past noon and we still haven't got any clue as to where are the people Irene is talking about. We could simply turn around and look someplace else but the information we could gather from this place may not only include clues about the people Irene is talking about but many more. Having a gathering like this got me interested so I made a decision that involves a bit of risk.

"Okay, I'll join the games. The rest will-" then Tatiana interjected.

"I will join the games too." she declared.

Ilya and Kaley were about to say that they would also participate but I stopped them at the right second. Last thing I want is getting matched up against my team and be included in the top 10 anime betrayals. Besides, I would make the group do something while all the eyes are on us.

"Perfect! Let's see here… two participants and seven onlookers. You give me something and I'll decide if it's enough for them to enter. You'll be negotiating for five people only since a participant can grant another person free entrance. Let's see what you have, friend." he started.

First thing I did was pull out the C9 from Ilya's hip to test the waters. I cleared the chamber and removed the magazine and looked at his reaction.

"Hmm, this is good my friend, but it's not enough. You don't have any idea how lucrative the games are. This thing could barely grant access to a single person. I need more, friend." he said after briefly looking at it.

Second thing I did is I pulled out one of the used med packs we used to help Michael back home.

"Hmm... " he trailed before rummaging through it. He took a look at the bottle of painkillers and the little dosage of morphine we had on it first before placing it back on the pack.

"If you have one more like this I'll consider everything on the table for two people. Some of it's bloody though, something happened?" he smiled.

"Something like that. I'm sorry, we need the other one for emergencies." I replied.

"Okay, keep them coming, my friend. I understand." he rubbed his palms together though he's looking at Kaley's AR-15.

Third item I brought to the table is the Mini-14 but this time, I sold it as hard as I could and I even tapped the roof of our truck before I started my pitch. I showed him all the features of the gun first and explained that the fixed gas piston system used by the Mini-14 allows it to have less fouling, jamming, and I added other 'imaginary' problems I made up on the fly to lessen the value of the AR-15. I could feel the energy Kaley's leaking out so I tried my best to avoid giving away her rifle.

"Is that so, vato? I see, this thing here is much better than that, eh?" he nodded pensively.

"It's much more expensive compared to the AR-15 too." I bent the truth since if we combine all the things done to Kaley's rifle, it would be the complete opposite.

"Okay, okay. I'm sold but you add that extra mag and you're almost through." he replied.

I started to regret letting Irene bring more people so I started to think of something that this guy would really want. I contemplated for a while then it hit me.

"Hey vato, how about this?" I said with a devilish smile.

"What's that?" he asked while not looking at me.

"Porn." I said flatly.

"...!!!" my group.

"Okay, you may enter." he quickly replied.

"...?!?!?!" my group.