Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Kaley was dying laughing from Cynthia's expressions and she choked when I pretend to hand Cynthia my M134.

"Here, press that and fuck everything else in front of it." I said with a serious expression.

"W-What?!" Cynthia was back and forth, looking at me and Kaley.

"Sky! Stop! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" Kaley coughed a couple of times while Cynthia wasn't sure if I was being serious or not.

In the end, Cynthia came down with her Rapier, CZ 457, and her S&W M&W 2.0 with an extra box of .22 LRs because the CZ 457 only had a 5-round magazine. I also gave her a war belt and it had a couple of magazines for her pistol.

We headed down and Lois' eyes lit up when he saw another .22 rifle. He gave Cynthia a thumbs up before we rode the 8-wheeler and the HUMVEE. Matthew was driving the HUMVEE while my Unc Zardon was driving the 8-wheeler. I placed a few portions of cured meats in the truck for Borris once we reach their place but there's a separate one for our lunch in case we took longer than expected.

The other clearing groups had already left but we saw them killing a few biters on a street a couple of blocks away. We drove past them and we eventually reached where Borris' place was.

It was still the same as before.

We didn't see any upgrades to his place but I surmised it's because he wanted to maintain its hidden look. A couple of walkers were coming from the other direction but Jared and Lois immediately dispatched them with their 10/22s before Lawrence managed to raise his rifle.

"1-1 bro. Let's see who'll kill the most later." Lois chuckled.

"Heh, extra points for specials and how long or difficult the shot was." Jared added a few to their rule.

"You two need to be serious outside." Lawrence reminded them.

"Yeah, nice talk from a soldier losing to a high schooler." Lois remarked.

"The fuck did you-" Lawrence looked at Lois but Jared cut him off.

"What? Are you gonna whine because you're slow or are we gonna make the score 1-1-0? You're a sniper, right? Let your kills do the talking." Jared stood between them.

"Hmm! Sure." Lawrence stood guard on the opposite side but the two brothers were smirking when Lawrence turned his back.

"Oh, Lawrence is doomed because of that." I thought to myself.

"Ehem! 6,690… Ehem! Damn, my throat's itchy..." I muttered.

"Show off..." Kaley was shaking her head, carrying her own rifle.

My BCM was hanging from my shoulder and I picked up my radio to call Borris.

-

*bzzt*

"Borris, you there?"

*bzzt*

-

No answer.

-

*bzzt*

"Borris, you there dude?"

*bzzt*

-

Still no answer.

-

*bzzt*

"Wait a sec, we're coming out."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"I was about to counter a few theories of yours but-"

*bzzt*

-

I stopped when I saw the trap door flipping open.

Borris and Cyrill came out covered with a cloak. Borris' hair and beard grew significantly compared to our last visit while Cyrill started to gain some muscle though he still looked skinny. They were holding a pointed wooden spear though I could see a few things located on their belt.

Cyrill looked at our vehicles and the people with me before he momentarily stopped to look at his dad. Unc Zardon was emotionless all throughout and I decided to proceed with what we came here for.

Borris and I just greeted each other before I turned to Cyrill, "They said you were looking for me? Why?"

"The thing I've told you before when I came to your place. Umm- I slipped by a few of them when I was out." Cyrill said.

"The people you used to buy from?" I tried to confirm.

"Y-Yeah." Cyrill said dejectedly.

"Where?" I asked with a different expression.

"Just by the border of Malabon, going to Navotas… I'm not sure where they are located but I recognized a few of them while I was scavenging." Cyrill replied.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Weapons?" I asked.

"What?" Cyrill asked.

"What weapons were they using when you saw them? Are they on foot? On a vehicle? If so, what kind or even the color?" I tried to elaborate.

"Ah, umm- some of them were using shotguns but I think they're using an Armalite of some sort. You know, something like that but this thing at the front is a little round. No silencers too." Cyrill pointed at my gun, not sure about the right terms to use.

"Okay, you heard them fire it?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fucking loud." he replied.

"What I meant was are they using automatics or not?" I asked.

"Oh, ah- yes they do. I don't know about the shotguns though." he replied, half-sure.

"Their vehicle?" I asked.

"Oh- ah… ah… it's… it's a large black van? I'm not sure what's the make but it's one of those where you could peek your head at the roof." Cyrill tried to remember.

"Hmm, that's not much to go on but that will do. Anything else?" I said.

"N-No… wait- have you guys found who killed mom?" Cyrill asked.

"Specifically? No. But we found their general location of a group of people that might have done that. Let's just say that something's gonna happen where they need their fucking god if they want to survive." I replied.

"J-Joana, have you seen her at least?" Cyrill asked.

"No. Any more questions?" I looked at him.

"Can I come?" he said.

"Come where?" I replied.

"When you murder those motherfuckers." Cyrill's demure expression from earlier changed.

"The best thing you could do is stay here and not mess up my plan. I won't hesitate to shoot you if I see you lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity at revenge, messing up my plans in the process. Unless you want to wear a vest full of C4, talk to me." I stared back at him with a much darker look but my lips were smiling.

"S-Sure… I- Nevermind." he replied though I believe he had other plans.

"Okay, don't blame me if something happens to you. Borris, thanks for the time and we brought some food for you. It's native, don't worry. Just radio in if anything happens yeah?" I said then I gave them the sack.

"Okay, thanks. Say hello to Mark and Dong for me." Borris waved us goodbye.

Cyrill waited for us to be out of view before he started to walk back to their hiding spot. Unc Zardon already knew where to go so I let him follow his own route because the way the roads were setup going there would involve a lot of turns. Even Matthew followed his lead and he got behind the truck.

Silent pops filled the air because the two brothers got into a shooting contest and they involved Lawrence. The score grew steadily but Lawrence found a fatal flaw from facing the two.

Lawrence was about to kill one but he stopped and lowered his AWP.

Lois stole the kill.

"Hmm? Why didn't you shoot it?" Mikhail was watching them.

"I'm gonna be out of bullets if I continue shooting. I forgot that these two were using .22 LRs which that ammo can over there has plenty of. Even if I use all of those 7.62x51mms, I would still lose just by the sheer number of the .22 LRs over there. I lose by default." Lawrence said dejectedly.

"Here." Jared handed Lawrence his Ruger 10/22.

"What?" Lawrence was confused.

"You look like Lois when you're sulking. Just use that and don't miss." Jared said, wearing his AR-10.

"He's learning to talk." I thought to myself, smiling inwardly.

Lawrence was about to decline but Lois spoke.

"Heh. I guess I'll beat a soldier higher ranked than my brother eh? Well, the end result would be the same." Lois said while killing two in a corner.

"Well, this motherfucker always knows how to tick people off. Heh." I thought to myself.

"34-30-27. Are you gonna catch up or what?" Jared remarked.

"Bro, that's 36 now, 36-30- well, you quit so it's just 36-27." Lois was vigilantly watching the side.

Lawrence faintly smiled before he steadily caught up to Lois' score.

Kaley wanted to join in but it seemed that she was conserving her ammo and letting the guys have their time.

We drove by a multitude of different sized houses and a few streets crawling with the dead. We made sure to kill each and every one of them because we would still kill them in the end if we want to get rid of them all. We had to make a few quick stops because their bodies were blocking the road and there were a few stalls worth looting.

We even killed a sprinter which was a soldier with a spare magazine for a Glock 17 on its belt. The boots were still okay despite its movements so I took it with the belt.

We continued to drive and we reached the barangay hall for Tawiran, a few more blocks before the bridge that I was planning to block off. We began to see larger fishing areas compared to what was in our place. I saw a few shuttle buses parked for the government officials so I tapped on the roof of the truck. Our vehicles slowed down and we parked our vehicles but didn't turn off the engine.

I was just about to jump down when we saw a few dozen coming out from the back of the barangay hall.

They were wearing a mix of civilian clothing and government uniforms but the thing that tied them together was the several bite marks on their bodies.

I don't know what fucking happened with us but we all suddenly became cheapskates. We only used the two Ruger 10/22s Lois and Lawrence were using and the Walther P22 that was on my person. Well, we didn't shoot them all and we used our blades after thinning a significant number of them. The only difference between shooting .22 caliber guns was that we needed to be a bit closer compared to their larger-caliber counterparts.

"What are we doing here bro?" Jared asked.

"We'll use one of those buses to block the bridge." I replied.

"Can we check inside the barangay hall? We might find something." Kaley suggested.

"Okay, just a quick search. We could place one of the relays on the roof by that antenna. Tatiana, come with us. Unc, try to make one of those buses work. Mikhail, gather those bodies with Lawrence and burn them on that corner. The rest, keep guard." I said then they all nodded.

"Hey, I'm just gonna guard here?" Matthew chimed.

"Hmm? I figured you'd just follow behind where Kaley was so I didn't bother telling you what to do." I chuckled then Kaley did as well.

"Wha- then I'll just stay here and help with the bus. Hmph! It's not like I want to always follow you or a-anything." Matthew turned tsundere once more and I cringed inwardly.

It took us a few minutes but aside from files from the hard drives, fire extinguishers, and a few first-aid kits, there were no more important items inside. I didn't take the hard copy of the files because I already had them from the copy from the city hall. We were about to leave after installing the relay but my radio buzzed.

-

*bzzt*

"Bro, someone holding a kid hostage is approaching us."

*bzzt*

-

I peeked at the window and I recognized the person from the files.

"DROP ALL YOUR WEAPONS OR I'LL KILL THIS KID!!!" the lady shouted.

Jared and everyone else stopped what they were doing while I was watching from the barangay hall.

"YOU DIDN'T HEAR ME?! DROP ALL YOUR WEAPONS OR ELSE-" I immediately scoffed and cut her off.

"OR ELSE WHAT? YOU'LL KILL YOUR DAUGHTER? GO AHEAD! I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" I shouted from the barangay hall.