Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We continued to talk for a while more but then Jared went down and called for me.

"Bro, Jomarro told me to ask you to cook dinner. It's almost 10:00 PM too so I'm kinda hungry as well." Jared said as he placed his elbows on the couch.

"Did he said what he wanted me to cook?" I replied.

"No, he didn't. Our options are kinda limited though, don't you think so too bro?" Jared took a handful of potato chips and placed it over his hand.

"Yeah, okay. Tell him to wait thirty minutes and I'll bring it up to the roof for you two." I said as I got up and made my bones crack.

Kaley and the rest have nothing else to do but kill time so they accompanied me in the kitchen. Mikhail brought the hooded lantern though we turned on a couple more so we could see everything clearly inside the kitchen.

I made thick, breaded, hamburger patties and placed them over piping hot rice. I poured over gravy made with slices of mushroom over it before sprinkling chopped green onions and toasted garlic minced into pieces. Since we had extra breading left, I made onion rings to accompany it with the burger patties and I toasted them slightly so the bite would have some crunch.

I made Jared brought their share up on the roof but Tatiana's face was fucking priceless when I gave her portion. She was breathing heavily and the moment she took a bite, she looked like she would've devoured me then and there. However, that look didn't last long because she burned her tongue after pouring more gravy and eating voraciously.

"Eat slowly! Even more, try to blow into it a bit before also almost eating the spoon!" Kaley was shaking her head.

"Hah! She gets like this every time there's delicious food on the table! Glad to taste your cooking again boss!"

Tatiana just gave an embarrassed look before I handed her a glass of cold water.

"Thank you, still delicious even if I burned my tongue!" Tatiana swallowed another mouthful almost immediately and we had no choice but to shake our heads in amusement to her eating habits.

"Well, I have weird eating habits too..." I thought to myself.

While we continued to eat much slower, I discussed the plan for tomorrow morning. We would wake up early and drive back to the Intercity after clearing out the small municipal hall we drove past earlier. We were still on the process of collecting as much data on people as possible even if our hacker's presence lessened significantly.

We would still place the relays we've made to increase her area of influence but now I would only contact her if I have someone I wanted to get checked on. Getting ahold of Tatiana's file was one of them and she was currently doing the same thing to the others and even the soldiers on our DDR Camps. I've let Ken and Kris handle that side of the job and I've given them my vote of confidence that they wouldn't divulge the information to just anyone.

Aside from that part of the plan, we'd also drop a few hundred sacks to the new Meycauayan DDR Camp or my old high school when we drove home. Even if they were in charge of getting their own food, we were still sharing what we could because we all belong in the same fight. The only job they needed to do was ration them properly and store them in a place that wouldn't let moisture seep inside the sacks or else it would be ruined.

"I haven't asked, but how much do we use each day?" Tatiana said after finishing her meal.

"Rice? In our place including the DDR Camp and Woodlands, we use 7-13 a day depending on what we eat it with or on our menu. Well, we tend to mix it up pasta or bread so it varies from day to day. We use a few tricks eat-all-you-can restaurants do in their stores so we tend to save food." I replied.

"Hmm? Like what?" Mikhail grew curious.

"Well, one thing was to serve water with larger glasses and serve food with smaller plates. Also, ever wondered why they serve a glass of water to everybody first? There are a few more things Jay mentioned to me when they were still running their restaurant but all of it was being used to make our food storage last longer even by a fraction." I explained.

"Really? I didn't notice..." Tatiana was surprised.

"Heh, that's why it's called a trick. Well, at the end of the day, what matters is that you feel full, right? Don't worry though because we're not serving you bad food, we're just using everything from nose to tail. A piece of meat could be used for a patty like this while the bones of that same animal could be used for soup or something similar. The greatest trick is to not allow our food to be wasted, that's the key for most buffet restaurants." I added.

The look on their faces was like a magician told them the secret of a magic trick. I just simply smiled and we tidied up after eating.

We then went to the roof where Jared and Jomarro were looking through their telescopes. The hooded lantern they have was turned off because the moonlight was enough to illuminate the rooftop. They were looking at a few places where the lights were still on and they would mark it down on a map they have on hand. I looked at the direction where the Intercity was located and it was a relief that they were following a protocol for lights at night. The two noticed us looking at them and Jared waved me over.

"What? You guy found something important?" I asked.

"Not really but it's worth talking about. We just found it surprising that there are still people around their own homes. See those little blips over there? Almost all of them are far from each other but we could see them from our spot." Jared said.

"Look at that place though." Jomarro pointed to a place a few miles east of the Intercity.

"What is that place?" Mikhail asked.

"It's a large housing project for the police and military in this region. It was a bill signed before so people like them would be granted free housing. It's all subdivisions by subdivisions and judging their situation just from the lights, a lot seemed to be living in that place." Jomarro answered.

"They're probably armed with automatics too because we saw flashes of light earlier." Jared added.

"Do we need to worry about them?" Tatiana asked.

"For now, we just keep a watchful eye. We'll ask the soldiers from the Intercity if they ever encountered people from that place. Also, we wouldn't be able to haul everything from your shop so I guess we'll be making multiple trips." I said.

"Don't we have more trucks at home?" Jared asked.

"We do but guarding a cargo truck with essential cargo is more difficult than just filling it up. Not only would it drive slower because it's heavier when full, we'd have to watch out for the living with evil intentions. We have out jeeps as a deterrent but we never know what desperate people might resort to. Anyway, I'll take the first watch with Kaley so rest up and I'll just knock when it's your turn." I replied.

"I'll be on the last watch bro… I'm really sleepy..." Jared replied and the rest told us their desired time to take watch.

Jomarro said that he still had to pack a few more items while Jared went down to his designated room. Mikhail decided to sleep on the sofa in the living room but Tatiana stayed behind and decided to lay on the folding bed we were on.

The cold wind was blowing nicely and I started to walk around the edges of the roof. It was kinda dangerous but Tatiana and Kaley were used to seeing me do that. I was traipsing carefully while I was looking around the walls this place was built on. I was just thinking that only a feral could vault up this place but we prepared a few traps just to be sure. Time slowly passed and it was only a few minutes when Tatiana started to yawn. Kaley looked at her while I sat down on the edge.

"You could sleep in our room if you want?" Kaley suggested.

"Nah, it's a couple of hours before my turn so I'll just stay here in case I saw something interesting." Tatiana stretched her arms around.

"Interesting? What are you talking about?"

"I don't know… I just noticed the pants you wore today. Isn't that the one where the zipper could go all the way back? Hmm?"

"I-It is… but that doesn't mean we're literally doing s-something here..."

"I don't know… maybe when I start to sleep something might happen like the last couple of times, correct?"

"W-What are y-you talking a-about?"

"C'mon! Don't lie! We're past that already! I'm starting to think you two like to do it while people are asleep around you!"

Kaley was speechless but so am I.

"She was awake that time too?! Is she even sleeping?!" I shouted in my head.

"Well… if you two won't do anything anytime soon… I guess I'll start? I'm wearing the same pants if you didn't notice..." Tatiana said as I heard a zipper getting undone.