Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Everyone was contemplating but Oscar spoke up.

"Kid, before we get to that claiming our land route, how long would it take for rice to grow? Also, how many could let's say… an acre of land could produce?" Oscar asked.

"Oh yeah, about that… it ranges from four to five months. If we're talking about an acre, it could yield around 6000-8000 pounds." I replied.

"That's a lot. How large is Woodlands? In total? Can't we just do it there?" Johnny asked.

"If we're going by the land contract, it's approximately 14.1 hectares or roughly 34.8 acres. However, most of it is paved road or houses now and we could only plant rice or other vegetables on the empty lots we have over there. Not only that, we've already had crops in rotation and it would be a waste if we pull them out and plant rice instead. And even if we did, it wouldn't be enough for everybody." I replied.

"Are there any places much closer compared to the Bulacan area where we could plant more crops? I think it's a bad idea to reclaim land that is several hours away from home base. Having more rice is good and all but I don't think that's the best course of action now." Johnny added.

"Yeah, that's why I'm thinking of just taking most of their stocks by trading items we don't necessarily need. However, if we're talking about land, I have an idea but it's not as big as the rice fields the owners at the Intercity have access to before this shit started. It's pretty close too now that I think about it." I replied.

"And where is that?" some of them asked at the same time.

"Pulo." I replied.

"Pulo?" Oscar tilted his head.

"To be specific, the school that they have right next to the plaza and the church. Pulo National High School. It's walking distance to where Borris and Cyrill are located and it only has one main entrance. The walls of it are high too so it's also defensible." I replied.

"Wait- Kid, we have another high school here, right? Why are we going for another that's a few minutes away?" Matthew chimed.

"Don't forget about the elementary school." Unc Zardon added.

"Yes, but we can't plant on rock, can we? The ones we have here have little gardens but we're already making use of them to plant vegetables. That high school we are talking about is something similar to my old high school. The walkways are the only things made of cement over there and it has an ample amount of land we could plant crops into. We could send people over there like what we did to my old high school and make it into another outpost or a DDR Camp. If we're lucky, we could also recruit some of the soldiers in the Intercity back to this place." I replied.

"Hmm, that's much more feasible than sending our people to far places without backup if anything happens." Johnny added.

The rest of my people seemed to be in agreement so we changed our plan slightly. Vera was tasked to make contact with the Intercity while Oscar would bring my group and Mark's group to clear the high school in Pulo with soldiers from the DDR Camp. We tidied up the tables and Oscar came out of his house in combat gear.

"Fucking shit kid, we should've discussed this yesterday." Oscar was handing out ammo for my team.

"Well, to be fair, the Intercity being up and running with the bonus sacks of rice was a surprise. I could come with you if you need backup?" I suggested with a sly grin.

"Heh, just stay put in your house you little shit. I thought you have a lot more guns to clean? Get it shining like chrome and we'll trade the ones we could let go over to that place. I bet they'll give a lot even if it's a fucking Hi-Point." Oscar chuckled.

"Sure, old man. Bring Lois if you need someone to scout with the drones. Jared could drive it well but you need more eyes in the air before you go in." I suggested.

They took a few minutes of getting ready and then they drove outside the compound.

The five of us were about to head back to my room but we found a few stowaways. Cynthia was talking to Charlotte, Chris, and Olivia and the three decided to come help or just accompany us in cleaning the guns upstairs. Olivia could walk now but not for long periods of time. They were assisting her in climbing up the stairs but I decided it would be faster if I carried her.

"SKY~! THIS IS EMBARASSING~! I'M NOT A CHILD~!" Olivia exclaimed but it was already too late.

No one was stopping me because they were all laughing at Olivia's expression. Even Zeus was happily following me up the stairs. I laid her down in a comfortable chair while the rest followed.

"Okay, back to work. We still have a lot to go." I said as I opened the armory once more.

"Olivia and I will just be here watching. If you want us to help with anything, we're here~" Charlotte said, sitting close to Olivia.

"Woof!" Zeus added.

"I'll help with the handguns. If there are revolvers, I could clean them just fine because Oscar taught me a bit." Chris offered his help.

"Sure, just sit next to Rin so she could hand you the manuals if you get in trouble. We're stripping them completely to remove everything that it shouldn't have. If we're gonna trade them, they'd have to look extra shiny." I replied.

We continued cleaning the guns and we made more progress because we have more people present. We talked about a lot of things while we were cleaning them and we got to the topic of long shooting.

"Hey... I heard from Lois that you're gonna teach another shooting class aside from the usual ones? He said you'll teach sniping?" Olivia opened up the topic.

"Really?! Can I attend as well?!" Chris was excited.

"..." Rin seemed to be interested but she didn't voice it out.

"Yes, I'm gonna teach that class to those that wanted to try their hand on it. However, this is gonna be a little different compared to my usual pistol and rifle class. This is gonna be more difficult because you would take into account a few more things and it would involve math for the shots we would be taking. Well, I don't want to discourage you from learning it so it would be better to experience it firsthand. Who knows, someone might be better using long guns than the other ones." I explained.

"I really don't like anything with computations on it..." Charlotte already backed out.

"I think I'll try if I could be good at it." Chris nodded a few times.

"Don't worry, it wouldn't be that complicated." I assured them.

"Sis! Can I use your other gun that looks like the one dad uses?" Olivia looked at Kaley.

"My M70? I could give it to you if you want. It's surprising to see you interested in using guns." Kaley replied, smiling.

"Great- Hey! I've attended a few classes already!" Olivia exclaimed.

"Yeah, sure~ Joking aside, you need to attend as many classes as you could even if you're just watching. Dad always says that he will protect us but it would be better if we could protect ourselves and protect others as well." Kaley said then Olivia nodded a few times.

"Can I join in too?" Rin asked.

"Me as well? I might borrow a gun though… I think my CZ 457 can't reach that far..." Cynthia trailed.

"Sure, I'll provide the guns each one of you would be using but be sure to bring a notebook and a pencil." I started.

"We'll need to take notes?" Chris asked.

"Somewhat, you'd call that notebook your DOPE. Before you say anything, it's an acronym. It stands for Data On Previous Engagements. It could contain everything from each shot you made. It could have the range of the target, the elevation, the bullet used, the wind compensation, temperature, environmental factors, and so much more." I started a small lecture.

"You've shot a lot of guns, right?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?" I replied.

"Can we just use what's in your DOPE and achieve what you could do?" Charlotte said with a scrunched brow.

"That's a no. It's much deeper than that actually. The goal of having a DOPE is so that you could have previous data on hand and use that data to try to consistently hit accurate shots. However, you must remember that completely following what's in your DOPE couldn't always guarantee a hit. We need to always make small or even large adjustments because the same situation, environment, and even the gun and cartridge we would be using wouldn't always be the same. Besides, I have my DOPE in my head, not in a notebook." I explained, smiling.

"What?" Charlotte was starting to get confused.

"Well, let me give a simple example. Wait- I think we should finish this all first and start discussing in-depth when we start the class." I stopped discussing when I saw Rin already writing a few things on a new notebook.

"What?! Could we at least have something to do initially?" Rin and Olivia protested.

"Sure… pick a gun that you would like to use first." I started then they came back to me with M70s. The one Olivia was using was the one that Kaley used to own while the one Rin picked was an M70 with just a factory scope from one of the shelves. Kaley and Tatiana were already shaking their heads from the two and they started chuckling when Chris and Cynthia followed suit. They picked different kinds but the rifles were all bolt-action.

"Okay, what's next?" the four said, expectant.

"Grab this little wrench." I replied.

"This wrench? Why?" they asked, curious.

I glanced at Kaley and Tatiana once more and they were hiding a smirk.

"Remove the scope, we're starting from scratch." I said, chuckling.