Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Ben lit a cigarette of his own and puffed a smoke first before replying, "She is, trust me. There's a few things you don't know about her yet but the moment the two interacted could tell you a bit about her. Why do you think she's so fucking expensive? The answer is very simple but you must be familiar with this place to know."

"Well, that didn't give me much..." Jared said, scratching his head.

"Is she really that important for us to figure that out?" Irene added.

"Well, we're waiting for the next game. Just take it as a little brain teaser." Ben replied.

"But you already said we need to be familiar with this place to know." Kaley added.

"Well, if you can read between the lines, you'll get the correct answer." Ben shrugged his shoulders.

I then began thinking about all of the things about her that I've witnessed personally. The group also gave guesses but they were all wrong answers according to Ben. I can't for the life of me figure out the correct answer but Ben revealed it after several wrong answers from the group.

"Okay, first things first. Can you explain why someone like her in that line of business looked like a mess after 30 seconds?" Ben started.

"Isn't she just really turned on by Tatiana?" Jared replied.

"No, she's only allowed to have sex twice a month. One from a rich investor and one from her own choosing. I learned that juicy info from one of her colleagues. To increase her you know... 'quality', Mr. Cuervo placed a lot of strict rules for her to look like that. Well, she's already beautiful like that but with the program she went through, she looked even better. Exercise, diet, a few lessons on acting, etiquette, and a few other things but never on the real thing. She's really young too. I think she just turned 19 before this thing started. The number of times she actually did it with someone is really few compared to the others so that adds a lot more value for her time. However, I've talked briefly to one of the people that acquired her for the night and they said the experience was something completely mind-blowing. The amount they had to bring to solidify their time with her got astronomical each month." Ben explained.

"And they just casually told you that and you believed them? The only thing I believe from that story is that she received some sort of training." I was suspicious.

"Every regular here knows that story. I even heard whispers that she was already getting trained even before she was eighteen. The moment Mr. Cuervo revealed her to the customers last year, his earnings from each game increased and increased." Ben replied.

"How could you even make someone follow strict rules like that? Did they own her illegally or something?" Kaley asked.

"Well… about that… it's a bit complicated you see…" Ben scratched his head.

"What? Run out of bullshit to tell?" Jared taunted him.

"What?! No! It's not bullshit, I tell you. Well… from what I've heard, she was actually… *looked around nervously* Mr. Cuervo's illegitimate child..." Ben whispered really quietly.

Everyone was shocked except for Jerry.

"Do you even have proof from what you're saying? I find it hard to believe that, you know?" I replied and Ben started to stammer.

"I have proof but I ain't gonna tell you." Jerry suddenly interjected but his expression changed as if he made a mistake speaking up.

"What?! You actually have?!" Ben looked at Jerry.

"Yep. W-well, I could be bullshitting. It's just your word against mine. We never know." Jerry puffed out a huge smoke.

"Nah, man. I doubt you know anything about her." Ben shrugged.

"He's telling the truth." Kaley interjected.

I looked back at Kaley and she's just looking at Jerry's weird expression. I really can't explain how Kaley could be so sure when reading people but this time, I think she's spot on because of Jerry's reaction when she spoke up.

I'm not one of those people that's interested in gossip but I was already invested in Cynthia when I saw her fluid movements earlier. Now I'm determined to know the proof that Jerry's talking about.

"How much?" I went for the easiest form of persuasion, bribery.

"No." he flatly replied.

"Please?" I then went for the most pathetic form of persuasion, begging.

"You gave up easy, eh? What happened to the 'I'm gonna give you an offer you can't refuse.' earlier?" he chuckled.

"Pretty please?" I tried something much more pathetic.

"..." everyone else.

"Hmph! It's not like I begged you to tell me or something..." I then called forth my tsundere persona but Kaley immediately attacked me.

"What the fuck was that?" Jerry was confused.

I tried plenty more pathetic ways to get him to tell us the proof but he never budged. I really wanted to have something like him as an ally if he could keep his mouth shut like that. I think it was only a mistake of him telling us he knows something earlier because of the amount of booze in his system. I was about to bust out the big guns but we were surprised to see Tatiana and Cynthia walking back to us. Tatiana was now wearing her combat gear while Cynthia was wearing a mini skirt and a turtleneck sweater.

"Aren't they a little too… quick? Nevermind..." I thought to myself.

"Hi everyone, my name is Cynthia…" Cynthia shyly introduced herself.

"That tall guy on the roof is Jared, that hot guy with a katana is Sky, that hot girl with big tits is Kaley, that- that cueball is Ilya, and..." Tatiana introduced us.

Cynthia made a little bow and she sat with us inside the truck. The atmosphere is slightly tense not only because we were talking about her earlier but also because of the number of eyes fixated on our truck. I thought we all telepathically agreed to drop the subject but we forgot about Tatiana.

"Hey, I just noticed. You kinda look like Mr. Cuervo, don't you? Are you two related?" Tatiana casually said.

Almost all of us in the truck had a mini heart attack.

"What? Mr. Cuervo? Oh, I'm not so sure about that..." Cynthia replied weakly.

"SHE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW!!!" I shouted in my head and I think that's the same thing everyone's thinking.

I looked at where Jerry was seated but he's already gone. Ben is like a stone statue from oversharing a very delicate subject.

"No one ever told you that? You two look kinda alike. Well, if he loses the mustache though, haha." Tatiana asked innocently once more.

"Yeah, no one ever brought that up with me. I wonder why..." Cynthia chuckled as well but she began to think by tilting her head sideways.

"IT'S BECAUSE OF- FUCKKKKK WHAT DID WE GET OURSELVES INTO?!" I had another breakdown.

Tatiana dropped bomb after bomb of questions towards her but luckily Cynthia's oblivious to connect the dots herself. It's a good thing that Jerry didn't tell us the proof that he knows and he fled the scene or else something bad would have happened if the secret he's holding onto were to be revealed. Tatiana sensed something was going on from our expressions and she decided to stop asking Cynthia personal questions. She gave us a short glance first that meant she needed to know the reason later before changing the subject. They're now talking about random things but I formed a question in my head.

"Does Mr. Cuervo knew the truth though? Also..." I had another thought.

I'm starting to form more questions inside my head but the players for the next game were being told to listen to the rules. I glanced at the playing area and now it looked like an old school thermometer from cartoons since the huge circle now has a long runway extending up to the gate's entrance.

While the rules were getting explained one by one, the smile on my face was starting to get wider and wider. This time, male and female participants were free to join and everyone was allowed to bring one melee weapon.

What I would be bringing was pretty obvious but the rules for clothing was still the same.

Tatiana and Ilya jumped down the truck after getting ready and Cynthia said that she won't be participating at this game. Tatiana brought her bastard sword with her while Ilya borrowed Jared's cavalry sword. I had my katana fastened on my hip while Kaley showed her wakizashi to Cynthia. Tatiana and Ilya started walking towards the announcer but right as I was about to follow them, Edd stopped me.

"Hey, how will I distribute the bets? Do you want me to distribute them equally in three parts or do you have something else in mind? The rules this time might affect your winnings later." he asked.

I wrote the distribution on the piece of paper and when he saw it, he shone it against the light to check if what he was seeing was real.

"A-are you sure about this?" he tried to confirm.

"Just do it." I chuckled.

He was still waiting if I got the timing wrong on my joke but I pushed him with Ben that's still trying to not let Cynthia know of his presence. Kaley was looking at me curiously but I just winked at her and mouthed, "Watch me."

The bet distribution was there's nothing on Tatiana and Ilya since everything we have, not only the winnings, we're placed on me. They'll still get something if they scored some points but none from the bets. If I lose this game, we're all going home naked. What I'm attempting to do was pretty dangerous but this was the time to make a proper impression.

I'm slowly walking towards the announcer near the stage where Mr. Cuervo, his wife, and the rest of his guards were located. The entrance inside the circle was near the same place and every participant was gathered in the same location.

Each participant brought their own weapons and I thought the one the three of us were carrying would stand out. Turns out, a few participants have their own collection of weapons and I'm dying to know if they could actually wield it.

I started to control my breathing and sweat started to appear on my body each time I exhaled. I could hear the container vans and the cargo trucks driving into position while I heard the announcer calling for my name.

"HEY YOU! SAMURAI BOY! YOU'RE FIRST IN LINE! HOW MUCH?" he said through the megaphone.

I nonchalantly entered the cage and said with a devilish smile, "All of them."