Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"They killed them all kid..." Oscar grumbled, shaking.

Matthew cursed and ran outside the room with a darkened expression. Kaley and I were with Oscar with a few others and we were hearing doors getting opened furiously by Matthew. He was pretty loud but we didn't stop him. I just asked Mikhail to accompany him in case something happened. After Mikhail left, we were now back staring at something even a few people would put in a film. The people inside the nursery were wearing a mix of expressions so I decided to take care of it by myself.

"I'll handle it… check the other rooms first. There's a few notebooks on the fucker's study so make sure to not lose them. Grab a phone and record it while flipping through the pages just to be sure. We would be here for a while so someone do that for me." I said to them as I drew my knife.

Aside from orphanages, churches were one of the places mothers would drop off their unwanted child or their child they couldn't afford to raise. That kind of thing happening was common in this country because some people were living in the worst of conditions. Still, I would've preferred them leaving their child in these places when the world was still okay because there were some real cases of infants just getting left in a garbage can. These kinds of places would actually take care of them but it was a different case from what we were seeing this time.

Looking at the snow-white sheets which were covering over a dozen cribs, no one would miss the glaring red spot in the middle and the dripping blood underneath them.

I glanced at the nuns first and they were holding scissors that were stained with blood. I quickly put the pieces together and I understood why Oscar and Matthew unloaded their shotguns on the nuns, making them unrecognizable. There was even one crib where the sheets were torn up with multiple stab wounds and the head of the child was almost peeking out.

If I was in the same situation as Oscar and Matthew, I would've done so much worse.

It was apparent that they were still alive when the two gunned them down and the evidence was the wall behind them. However, now was not the time to dwell on such things because I needed to finish the fucked up job that they did.

I approached one crib and I stabbed a baby on the side of its head.

The sound my knife made when it entered an infant's head made me remember something when the shit hit only a few days in. It was about Clara's kid that turned who she was still breastfeeding. My breathing was heavy when my knife exited its small head and I did my best to shut down my emotions and proceed to the next one.

I could only imagine what my face was looking like but I suddenly bumped to someone.

"Hey, we're here too. You don't need to take on everything, correct?" Tatiana said with a solemn look.

"..." Kaley was silent but she has already drawn her knife, the same with everybody present.

"Thank you." I mouthed to them.

My group helped me make sure that the little ones wouldn't rise up again while I remembered the names that were written on their cribs. When we were done, we all shared a moment of silence for the real victims of this cult. Kaley looked for my embrace and I wrapped my arms around her. Jared patted Lois' head but Lois swatted his brother's hand off. I looked at Tatiana and she just placed her hand over my shoulder and lightly squeezed.

"We'll kill anyone who tries this shit again. Zero tolerance." I muttered and everyone inside the nursery nodded.

"I don't believe in the afterlife but I wish they could be given another chance..." I thought to myself.

There was a commotion in one of the rooms and we quickly followed to where the noise was coming from. We reached where Oscar and the rest were and we saw Mikhail holding down Matthew. The rest of the group were late to the scene and they were right behind us.

"Easy now, Matthew. That shit's not our fault." Oscar was trying to calm him down.

"NOT OUR FAULT?! WE WERE JUST LATE BY A FEW- A FEW FUCKING MINUTES!!! WE COULD'VE AVOIDED THAT FROM FUCKING HAPPENING!!! IF WE- IF WE JUST- FUCK!!! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THAT? HUH?! AM I THE ONLY FUCKING ONE FUCKING AFFECTED BY THAT?!" Matthew was trying to get away from Mikhail but he couldn't. The people around us were also wearing difficult expressions and I surmised that they were thinking the same thing as Matthew deep inside.

"Dad! Please stop! Please! This is different from that!" Kaley grabbed her dad's face and forced him to look at her.

"What? What does she mean by 'from that'?" I thought to myself.

"FUCKING LET GO OF ME!!!" Kaley's words were just falling to deaf ears. Matthew was trying his best for Mikhail to let go but Mikhail was too strong for him.

"MATTHEW!!! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!!! WE KILLED THE ONES WHO DID IT!!! YOU THINK THAT WHAT HAPPENED IS THE ONLY- IT'S ALREADY DONE!!! YOU'VE SEEN DEATH BEFORE!!! THE WORLD IS FUCKED UP!!! WE HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA THAT SHIT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!!! CALM YOURSELF AND DON'T LET YOUR EMOTIONS GET THE BEST OF YOU!!! MATTHEW!!!" Oscar bellowed. Both of them were breathing heavily and Oscar's eyes were also beginning to tear up.

It didn't take long before Matthew broke down crying. I asked Mikhail to let him go and Kaley immediately hugged her dad. Tears were falling from their faces and I asked for everyone to leave us alone for now and continue the job below.

Oscar took the notebooks while the three of us were left in the study.

Matthew was still crying and Kaley was rubbing his back while hugging him. I was just by the door watching over them.

"Something must've happened before all this." I thought to myself.

I was deep in thought but Kaley called me over. Matthew was just looking at the flooring when Kaley asked me to sit with them.

"Do you know why dad is so protective of Olivia and me?" Kaley said to me with a solemn expression.

"Kaley, no. I just- please..." Matthew said, wiping the tears off his eyes.

"No. I believe he already told you his story but you never told anyone yours. Either you tell him or I will. If you keep what happened before all bottled up, when it gets uncorked, it would be much worse. I know it's still hard on you but you have us. Please, trust him too." Kaley said as a single tear made way to her cheek.

"Is it partially connected to what happened here?" I asked.

Matthew just nodded a few times with a dark expression.

"If you don't feel like telling it, it's okay. You can just do it when you feel like it. However, I'd follow Kaley's advice. I could somewhat feel that things inside your head are haunting you. Telling that to someone could somehow ease it up and I'm speaking from experience." I said, looking at Kaley after.

"I get it. However, now is not the time and place for that. I'll apologize for causing a commotion but we still got a lot of work to do. Before we talk about that, I'll need to talk to my wife first. It's not just me who's involved in that incident." Matthew said, standing up and wiping his tears with his sleeves.

Matthew excused himself and then he went down while Kaley and I were still in the study.

"I could tell it to you now if you want? Only our family knows of what happened before Olivia and I were born… I could add in a therapist but our therapist is always mom..." Kaley looked at me, dejected.

"No, we could do that later or when your dad's comfortable. Talking about your demons is something very difficult to do." I replied.

"You talked about your demons to me, just saying..." Kaley faintly smiled.

"Yeah, and that's the best decision I've ever made. I found it easier to tell other people now after I told it to you." I replied.

Kaley was silent for a moment but she said, "I'm… no… thank you. I don't want to be a hypocrite for the second time so I'll tell you a few of my demons as well in the future. It's not as you know… dark as yours but a few things have been clouding over my head even before all this started… Mom already knows about them but I want you to be the second one to hear about it..."

"Sure, we got a lot of time on our hands. Just tell me whenever you feel like it. I'll tell you a few more once our scores are even." I smiled cheekily.

"What? Even?" Kaley was confused.

"Well, I already told you one and a half stories if we're talking about our scores. You didn't let me finish one of them so let's just say you owe me 'a' story. After you tell me one of yours, I'll tell you one more and we'll go from that." I shrugged my shoulders, chuckling.

"Hmph! Yeah, yeah, su-" Kaley was cut off.

Kaley and I were both startled when we heard my Barrett firing. We immediately rushed to the balcony and we saw Oscar smiling cheekily while Matthew was trying his best to contain the smile on his face. Lois and Jared were with them dying of jealousy because Oscar let Matthew shoot a round from my Barrett.

"What are they doing?" Kaley was confused.

"I think they shot one from across the river." I replied.

"With your Barrett? Isn't the ammo for that expensive?" Kaley said with a scrunched eyebrow.

"If we're talking about expensive, how many 5.56 rounds do you use when we're outside? Hmm?" I teased.

"W-Well… you said I could s-shoot as much as I like because it's for practice. I'm just concerned because you might only have a few of those rounds." Kaley fidgeted.

"Well, it was a round well spent if you ask me. Your dad has already cheered up from firing one. He's trying to contain his smile but no one- I mean no one could resist smiling like an idiot after firing one, I tell ya." I chuckled.

"Really?" Kaley looked at me.

"Want to try one? We could go down and shoot the church bell where Marvin and the rest are near?" I suggested.

Kaley's smile grew wild and it didn't take long before we set it up so she could shoot it while standing. I instructed her on how to use it and we adjusted the proper elevation for the shot. It wasn't as far as the shot I did earlier because the place which I sent Marvin and his group was only 800 yards away.

"Like this?" Kaley asked me.

"Yeah. Send it." I replied.

Kaley exhaled and pulled the trigger. Her body jolted from the recoil but she kept it steady. The bell from the other side resounded and our radio immediately buzzed.

-

*bzzt*

"WHAT THE FUCK?! SKY?!"

*bzzt*

-

It was Brian shouting furiously.

-

*bzzt*

"Not me, it's Matthew."

*bzzt*

-

"KID?!" Matthew bellowed while everyone started laughing.