Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Each and every one of my people started boarding their vehicles but they got confused when I pulled Mikhail over. All of my equipment was inside Tatiana's HUMVEE besides my katana and my Maxim 9.

"Yes, Boss?" Mikhail said, smiling while holding his PKM.

"Come with me." I replied and I motioned for us to walk on the dirt road.

"Yes, Boss." Mikhail followed me without question.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Kaley asked.

"Oh, to the wooden boat Jared and I used. It's still at the back of the hospital." I replied then I saw Jared hiding inside the Raptor.

"Wait, why?" Tatiana asked.

"First of all, I'm kinda tired. I won't be able to row the boat and I bet Jared wouldn't come with me anymore. I had to row us most of the way last time when we got here..." I replied.

"Wait, I thought you two used the other- you two just rowed the boat here?!" Kaley exclaimed.

"Yes, gently~ down~ the~ stream~" I chuckled.

"Why?" Kaley and Tatiana were shaking their heads.

"We need to be quiet, remember? we don't know who might be lurking when we rowed here. Besides, the guys on the other motorized boats already left and I forgot to tell them to pull us over." I raised my hands helplessly.

"Can't you just come back for it? Do you even know how long you guys would take to row that?" Kaley rolled her eyes.

"Oh~ I smell a fucking challenge eh? Mikhail, did I hear that right?" I raised one of my eyebrows.

"Yes Boss, that's definitely a challenge." Mikhail nodded a few times.

"Okay, Bing, Allan, and Lois! You fuckers heard that, right? Let's go!" I exclaimed as Mikhail laid down his PKM inside the HUMVEE. The other three were coming in at slow motion while I was starting to stretch my whole body.

"You guys are ridiculous..." Kaley was facepalming as she rode shotgun at Tatiana's HUMVEE. The five of us made our way to the boat while the other group was still confused if we were serious or not. The boat was big enough to house us five and I started to remove the knot tying us on the riverbank.

"Can we even beat them?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Muscle and Willpower."

"Fair enough."

"We should give them a headstart."

"Agreed."

"Obviously."

"Bro..."

"Hmm?"

"There are only two oars here..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Long story short, it took us a few hours not because we were weak but because we were too prideful to ask for help and it was too fucking late to back down. We luckily found enough oars from another boat a few minutes forward and we got to move faster compared to earlier.

When we reached the other end of the compound, Kaley was there with the rest of my group. Jay and the rest of his family were also present because they were living at this location.

"I thought you were racing us, hmm?" Kaley had an amused look while I was scratching my head.

"We were about to go full throttle but we suddenly saw the beautiful sunset..." Bing started.

"Really~?" Tatiana chuckled.

"Yes, as men, we enjoy beautiful things because we also have our sensitive side." Allan added.

"Of course, you all do..." Jenny was also there, shaking her head while chuckling.

"Okay, dinner is about ready. Let's head back so you guys could get a hot shower! You're all sweaty! Especially you, semi-big guy!" Daisy added, looking at Bing.

"Mikhail, Earl and Juan need your help for our Vera problem." Tatiana added.

"Oh? No problem, I could still carry her." Mikhail replied.

I asked Mikhail to securely tie the boat first before we all rode the truck back to our compound.

Everyone was already present and the tables were being set properly. They all laughed before greeting us then I went to my house to take a quick shower. I saw that my BCM was right next to Kaley's rifle and a pile of guns was right by the corner where a few of them were already cleaned.

I came down with comfortable clothes and we ate a hearty meal that filled us with energy. The people that came with me from that operation had varying expressions but from the look on their faces, Marisha must've talked to them briefly. It would take a few more days of talking for some people but with the right people to talk to, anyone could come out of it.

We finally started our meeting.

As usual, a few representatives from Woodlands and the DDR Camp were present.

"Okay, before I start, who wants to report first?" I looked at my group.

Charlotte stood up carrying a mason jar.

"U-Umm, we just harvested a lot of radishes earlier so we put the excess ones in these mason jars after pickling them. Sir Johnny taught us how to seal them properly by using these metal lids and rings and we wrote the date from when they were made. Sir Johnny told me that these things could last for years as long as the seal wasn't tampered with. I-I want to suggest that if we have more vegetables in excess, we could store them so we would have extras." Charlotte was still fidgety talking to a crowd.

"That's good but we should still rotate everything and include them in our diet. It could last years but the consistency and appearance wouldn't be as good even if it's edible or safe to eat. We'd still have more harvests in the future so let's keep that in mind." Oscar said.

"Yes, s-sure." Charlotte nodded.

"Can it also be done with meat?" Derek interjected.

"Yep. When I was still in Georgia, my grandmother would even can jerky or bacon but she would hydrate them first. When I cleaned my basement at that time, I uncovered a few cans and they're still good, delicious even. It just looks different from the first time you placed them inside. We could place anything on jars or cans but as Oscar said, we need to rotate them. If our peppers grew too, I'd like to have a few stored after pickling them." Johnny answered.

"Yes! We have a row of different peppers still growing. We'll save some of them for you." Charlotte replied then Johnny faintly smiled.

Charlotte took her seat while Raphael replaced her.

"Okay, we've been doing a side project for everyone and the people we've been inviting to Anthony's home since they moved back to their old house already received their custom holsters. If you could give us some feedback from some of them, it would be greatly appreciated. We won't be making more now but we will soo, after getting the feedback from the few that we contacted." Raphael reported.

"Tell them about the other one!" Anthony chimed.

"Fuck, we also made something of an upgrade to the wooden spears the other guys were using. Check this out." Raphael brought out a wooden five-foot rod with an attachment at the front end.

Instead of it having a flat spearhead like most of the people thought it would have, the attachment was a little different. The attachment was like a cup nestled tightly on the rod while a 6-inch spike was sticking out from the other side.

"As we are not like the crazy psycho-samurai like our supreme leader, we've made something which is a little easier for us to use while keeping us safe. It's called a-" I interrupted him.

"That's a Goedendag." I interjected, shaking my head from the earlier remark.

"A wut?" Raphael's face and tone changed to something different.

I then began a short lecture telling them it was a weapon used in the 14th century which was essentially a combination of a club and a spear. The thick cup-like attachment could be used for blunt strikes while the 6-inch spike could be used for stabbing heads from a safe distance. The rod was also shaped differently because it was thinner where the user would hold it and thicker where the attachments were placed.

"Dammit, I thought we created something original. Well, anyway, it doesn't look as awesome or badass as the weapons our supreme leader is carrying but it could still do the job nevertheless." Raphael concluded.

"Does a tang run down through the middle of the rod?" I asked.

"Uh, no. Your uncle asked us to do that but we crimped it tight and added large screws on the cup-thingy." Anthony answered.

"Oh, then it's still good." I nodded a few times while listening to other reports.

It took a few minutes until it was time for my report.

"Okay, as you all know, we took down a cult headed by this 'father' from our operation. It took us a few days of planning and preparation and- Lois?" I looked at Lois raising his hand.

"Did you use the adult diapers you brought?" Lois asked, chuckling.

Everyone present looked at me and Jared with amused expressions.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I didn't poop though, but yeah, I peed a few times. Not gonna lie, it warmed me a bit when we're hunkered there in the cold roof." I replied while getting goosebumps.

Everyone present was wearing varying expressions and Jared shrunk down behind Alex's side.

"Oh yeah, these two got- nevermind that for now, heh." I thought to myself.

"Any more questions before I give a summary as to what happened?" I looked back at Lois with a nasty smile.

Lois felt dread and he almost lost color on his face.

"If there's none, I'll begin..." I said as I opened up my laptop.

I showed them everything that happened the moment Jared and I stepped foot on the roof of the hospital up until the five of us went back to our boat. I was showing them what happened from different perspectives and what my group did sitting quietly in the dark until the end of the fated day. I fast-forwarded the footage a lot of times and Ken and Kris were there to help me.

What we did to those people was brutal but I wasn't planning to hide what we did from our group. They need to know the reality of the situation and the lengths we were willing to go to not just from keeping everyone safe but also ensuring them that outside threats are dealt with accordingly. They saw how I sniped the father from a distance, burned people alive, mowed down a group blocking the highway, witnessed the fucked up church, and so on.

A few people before that had weak stomachs were beginning to get used to what was happening. I didn't force them to watch what we did and they stayed watching the whole thing unfold. The only thing I skipped was when we were looting the whole place because it was all on Rin's report for our inventory.

"Oh yeah, kid, how about the notebooks?" Oscar asked.

"I gave them to you, where did you put them?" I replied.

"Oh, you're right, I almost forgot. I gave them to Rin." Oscar said and we both looked at Rin.

"I scanned all of them first to make digital copies but I couldn't understand some of them. Some were just gibberish while a few were their inventory. The first one I picked up just contained a lot of names where a few have lines on them. Do you want me to get them now?" Rin stood up.

"No, I'll scan through them first before presenting them in another meeting if there's something important. For now, let's have a good night's sleep by knowing that those kinds of people were now gone from this world." I replied.

After a few more questions and answers, we ended the meeting and everyone from the operation decided to sleep early. To be fair, the meeting we had was longer than usual and it was only a couple of hours before midnight.

I tucked Zeus in his bed first before I headed to my room with an early present.

Kaley was wearing our high school uniform.