Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The moment those cold words came out of Mauricio's mouth, the expression that replaced Ryan's already fearful look turned much worse. He had no one else to help him but his mom so he called out to her.

"M-Mom?! H-H-H-Help… dad isn't helping… d-d-d-dad's… p-please… mom?" Ryan's voice was breaking as he was trying to call for her mom still bleeding from the mouth.

"MAURICIO!!! YOU'RE JUST GONNA LEAVE US HERE TO DIE?! IS THAT IT?! I BET YOU'RE GOING STRAIGHT FOR THAT BITCH RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR SHOP WITH A FLAT CHEST, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! YOU FUCKING DIDN'T KNOW I CAUGHT WIND ALREADY?! YOU ACT LIKE YOU'RE A STRAIGHT-UP GUY BUT NOW EVERYONE KNOWS YOU'RE AS CROOKED AS EVERYONE IN THIS HELL HOLE!!!" the Karen started shouting at her husband.

Mauricio just turned around and looked at her with the same cold expression he gave to his son.

"WHAT'S WITH THAT FUCKING LOOK?! I BET YOU'RE SO FUCKING HAPPY THESE FUCKWITS WOULD DO THE DIRTY JOB FOR YOU EH?! WHY DON'T YOU DO IT YOURSELF FOR ONCE AND- NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOO!!! PLEASEEEEEE~ HELP ME!!! HE'S GONNA KILL ME~!!!" the Karen wailed when Mauricio walked towards her direction.

She asked her husband to come for her, and the husband cometh.

However, Mauricio never did try to kill or even hurt her physically. He just pulled his ring out of his finger and dropped it in front of her.

"Almira, I tried loving you but I couldn't. Trust me, I tried. I just see her face instead of yours. Don't forget, we married each other for money and stability, not love. Ryan is not even mine, I just thought you'd have one final discussion before it's all over. You think I wouldn't know?" Mauricio said as the look on his ex-wife's face changed several times just from that moment. Her mouth was agape and I was not even sure what the tears that was coming out of her eyes were for.

Ryan almost lost it from the revelation and he was just staring at whom he called 'dad' the whole time in shock. His 'dad' then walked up to him, looking like a big weight was taken off his shoulders.

"And you, do you even remember the time I called you 'son'? No? Me neither. It's because I never did. I thought you'd overdose and eventually kill yourself but it never happened. Well, we could say that you still dug your own grave, right? Too bad you involved people with you to shoot stuff in your arms, is that what you call it? Nevermind, semantics. I feel sorry for your friends but they followed the wrong example. I tried to accept and love you when you were a kid even if you weren't mine. However, you just look so much like the hobo across my house." Mauricio started to walk back to us.

"YOU'RE LYING!!! YOU'RE MY DAD!!!" Ryan exploded.

"Sure, you believed it for 16 years. Do it for the rest of your life." Mauricio just shrugged his shoulders as he turned back around.

"Damn." I thought to myself.

Ryan was left speechless but the tears never stopped flowing from his eyes. He started to slam his head on the solid floor but he was still too scared to end himself.

Mauricio walked back to us and gave us a simple bow and a handshake.

"Thank you for coming here and I guess we could arrange a meeting after a few days. I still have a few more things to do so I hope to meet you when the time comes. I have a few things I could offer for a fair price that you wouldn't want to miss. I think you already know what this place could become, right?" Mauricio said.

"Yeah, I thought this place would simply be a huge storage are but it has potential to become something else. Just give us a call when you're available." I replied.

"Another sharp one like me. I hope we get along together. Let me shake your hand once more, thank you." Mauricio said as he offered his hand for another handshake.

"I understand what he's coming from earlier but I feel something… different..." I thought to myself as I glanced at Kaley. She was deep in thought but I felt that we were kinda sensing the same thing.

Mauricio rode his Land Rover and simply drove away. He disappeared when he turned to the left but the Intercity was huge and it could be compared to another barangay. I was told that he owned several shops so I figured he would drive to one of them especially where his partner was right next to.

As I was deep in thought, Christopher already ordered his soldiers to bring a truck with a winch to hook up the SUV that was shot up and to pile the bodies inside, including the fresh ones. The bodies were to be burned with the pile outside in a huge plot of land where some of the broken vehicles were also placed.

The young adults never stopped to plead their case but they lost hope when I personally took care of Ryan. I simply slid my knife on the back of his head as the others watched in horror. If it was any consolation, I noticed faint black lines on his arm where a little bandaid was placed. He must've been infected one way or the other and he never mentioned it to anyone, passing it off as a scratch. No one present just noticed because he was wearing a long-sleeved jacket. I just discovered it when I took watch as I rolled his sleeves over.

There wasn't much of a ceremony when the order was given to take their lives because it was slowly becoming a common occurrence. The people we've captured before to reveal the location of the 'father' were also been dealt with the same way these people were.

The only outcome for an unforgivable fuck up was death.

Keeping them alive in cells was just resources being wasted. Unless I see something more from them, I'd never take it upon myself to giving them basic necessities. I lose a little bit of feeling everytime I took a life but everyone was getting used to it. We just need to remember that the people we killed could've done much more and much worse.

Our culprit today was ultimately ignorance and it was one of the things I hope not to be a common occurrence. It was something easily solved but there were still people getting blinded by it. Basking on it over a long period of time would make anyone make poor decisions or judgments. There was nothing more important in making decisions and judgments if you have everything on the table.

It was a couple of hours before noon before we managed to drive back because a lot of unexpected things happened and Oscar's chicken guy was running a bit late. I spent the rest of my time waiting by sorting through the scrap metal we acquired by picking out the brass casings from them. Jomarro also gave a long lecture to Mike and Elaine before he trusted them with the keys of his store.

Emily came by earlier to bring her parents and a few suitcases that belonged to them. I was introduced once more because they couldn't remember my face anymore.

Jomarro will be coming back here tomorrow but Kronos, Rhea, and the rest of their little puppers will be permanently relocated in our home base. I could only imagine Zeus' reaction when he discovers that he had now little siblings and his parents would start living with us. He gets along with Peanut, Rio, Bugs, and the rest of our animals back home but I wanted to see what his reaction would be if the pets, hugs, and kisses directed to him started to lessen a bit.

We were a quarter of the way back then Lois contacted me.

-

*bzzt*

"Bro, why are we driving a bit slower?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"We're just taking into account the weight of the cargo truck. It's filled to the brim and we can't just step on it. That is why Unc Zardon is the one driving it now aside from our soldiers. Also notice the distance between the vehicles. It was adjusted a little farther so in case of the cargo truck needing to completely stop, Unc Zardon would have the extra allowance. We did it with the 8-wheeler as well but the 8-wheeler is much more manageable compared to driving the cargo truck when it's full."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"I see..."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Is that all?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"No, can I have one of the puppies so I could give it to Olivia?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Sure, I was already planning to give her one because she takes good care of Zeus while we're away. I already secured a few of them from Jomarro but I'll bet he'd give away all of them to good owners."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Oh! Thanks then!"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Sure."

*bzzt*

-

We were almost back home but we broke off from the convoy with the 8-wheeler. It was to give a few hundred sacks to our other base and to check on things with Rico and Benjamin. Brian and Carlo were also present when we arrived and I never had to ask them to help unload the supplies we got from them. However, I felt that something was off when they were smiling like idiots when they saw my face. I never put it to heart because it was only a couple hours away from sunset.

The place looked entirely different but the place it was before was already ingrained in my memory.

However, there was something in the stage that made my skin crawl.

"Is that a fucking-" I pointed to that cursed object as Kaley and the others started dying from laughter when they saw it.

"It's my idea!" Benjamin proudly declared.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT?! KID, THE LEAF!!! THE LEAF!!!" Oscar came to us after parking his SUV and he lost it when he saw that fucking cursed object.

It was a fucking statue of me stark naked with only a leaf covering my private parts.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! DESTROY IT!!!" I started to lose more of my sanity.