Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Russel lashed out but he quickly shrunk down when he learned that Cynthia accidentally threw the magazine a bit hurriedly, landing on his head. Our magazines were getting replenished but to be completely honest, Lois was faster by a mile. Let's just say Russel was not as suited as Lois for things that required a little more finesse.

"I guess I'll bring more extra loaded magazines instead of just extra cartridges next time. We wouldn't put them in the ammo cans directly because they would take up space but having a few of them loaded on hand would be much faster than our current system." I thought to myself.

Bodies kept on piling up left and right and it seemed that there was no end to them. However, the herd we were clearing near the bridge seemed to have run out of pawns to throw at us so I left them to Kaley and the rest. I turned around to where Jared and Lawrence were aiming as I flipped the magnifier towards my red dot.

"Lawrence, check the roof if a sentry survived while Jared and I would aim at these sprinters! Jared, aim for the farthest ones I'll go for the closest ones!" I said as I sent a bullet to a biter with an exposed scalp.

A dark-red mist just puffed when the bullet made contact.

It got quickly ran over when the ones following behind took over its position. Since they were still farther than the herd I was clearing earlier, my shots were not as rapid because I needed to make slight adjustments for each of them. I would have to use 2-3 bullets if I rapid-fired for the correction if I missed the first time so I just traded the time it would take to put one down just to save more bullets.

The sprinters were a mess because they were all just running on the shortest path as possible, not minding the obstacles that their bodies were getting torn over. One with a missing face ran into a pole and fractured its shoulder then one wearing an apron collided with it, making both of them fall to a complete stop. I just saved them for later because I aimed at a biter with a large forehead.

I reached the end of my current magazine so I quickly pressed the mag release and placed in a fresh one.

All of a sudden, three figures from the swarm near the burning helicopter pushed down the slow deadheads in front of them and they even started to catch up on the sprinters that have already made some distance. Jared and I already knew what they were capable of so we instinctively picked one and fired one shot after the other.

I could see through my optic when the one I aimed at got a hole at its chin, then its cheek, its ear, then in an eye, and finally its temple.

It just nose-dived into the asphalt before the one Jared hit in the kneecap tumbled right next to it. Jared took more shots to take down his target but when I was about to aim for the last one, two puffs of red followed when its nose and eyes were drilled by two bullets of the same caliber I was using.

"Lucky shot." I chuckled.

"Hmph!" I heard Kaley harrumphed but she ran out of bullets after killing the feral.

"Catch!" I shouted as I pulled out a mag and flicked it through the doors towards her side.

Kaley was surprised but she managed to catch it after hitting the mag release. The empty mag hit the ground but the reload was fucking smooth. She placed the new one inside the mag well, hit the bolt release, and gunned down three sprinters in the process.

"Show off." I chuckled.

Kaley didn't manage to answer because she started firing immediately but Russel's shocked face after he saw everything up close was inexplicable.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAW?! YOU DO THIS EVERY FUCKING DAY?!" Russel roared as Kaley and I just faintly smiled.

It was at this moment when Lawrence fired a shot after looking through the rubble with his AWP. He must've nailed a sentry that survived because some of the sprinters that were still a good distance away seemed to have Alzheimer's and they stopped heading for us. More than a hundred meters separated us from them but we continued firing. The shots we made attracted them towards us again but this time, we were the ones that caused it, not the sentries.

We weren't sure how the sentry works entirely but we wouldn't let it have more pieces to control.

"We need to completely clear out every nook and cranny as much and as fast as possible. I wouldn't want one of those commandeering the dead from several miles away if it would ever happen..." I thought to myself.

Tatiana decided to just float around, keeping the perimeter secure with Cynthia as the four of us continued to whittle everything down. This was just supposed to be a scouting run but we got more than we bargained for.

We were now maintaining a safe distance from everything around us so I decided to pull out my radio and call for more people.

-

*bzzt*

"Marvin, Mark, bring your groups here as ASAP by the edge of the City of Malabon. We're just by the auto detailing shop and near a pile of corpses."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Copy Sir."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"What? Oh, copy Boss."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Eyes out because the road here isn't completely clear."

*bzzt*

-

They eventually arrived and they saw us taking a small break. Kaley was helping me go through the corpses near the bridge, taking all of their valuables on their person while Russel and Tatiana were making a pile so we could burn the ones we've cleared. Jared and Lawrence were still taking shots on the roamers up ahead while Cynthia volunteered to take Russel's place with reloading the magazines we've used.

They were already shocked by the pile we were going through but their jaws hit the ground when they looked further ahead.

"You guys are a little early. As usual, grab anything we could use, trade, or identify them with. Shoes, watches, belts, pieces of jewelry, mobile phones, wallets, IDs, bags, anything! Help Tatiana and Russel over there but don't go further in that street with the ruined construction equipment. Some of you go through those stores there as well and see what you could fit in your vehicles." I said as I wiped my face with my shoulder.

"..." they were all unresponsive.

"What?" I looked at them, confused.

"Boss… can I ask something?" Mark raised his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Did you call us after that happened or before?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because… it feels like you called us after it's all over… isn't facing that number dangerous? I thought we were the backup..."

"Well, I don't want to impose too much..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing… we'll get to work..."

"Great! Have a few people watch the other side of the bridge and that other street corner."

"Yes, Boss..."

I was oblivious to their looks as I continued to go through each body.

Kaley and I managed to collect several packs of cigarettes with varying contents, lighters, matches, dried-out phones, several pieces of jewelry, and a few more things I mentioned for the others to collect. We even found food in some of the bags they were carrying and we made sure that they were sealed tight before we added it to our pile.

We found a good number of valuables from the dead but the excitement always gets high when a gun or two were to uncovered. I found a couple from a few dead police officers while Kaley found one from a civilian. However, like the firearms the others also found, they all needed deep cleaning. They were all soaking in the owner's muck for days on end and the silver lining was that they came with a few rounds of ammunition.

It took us several hours to clear everything up and we still haven't reached the helicopter. We encountered more undead in the process but we just breezed through them with our bolstered numbers. I replenished the bullets that they used from our stock and we were about to run out of buckshot and 9mms.

Mark's pickup was full of supplies so we asked them to drive back while leaving Marvin's group with us. Max was also there and he struck a conversation with Kaley when he saw her new LWRC AR-15. I could also see that Marvin and Ashley were now officially dating but like me before, I was letting Kaley hold the reigns for the most part.

I made sure that each of their scouting group would have a soldier or two from the DDR Camp assisting them but the leadership position would still belong to who I assigned it to. However, I would still be given reports and feedback not from the leader I assigned but the members as well. Doing that would give me a general idea if Marvin, Mark, Dong, and Jay were doing the job I assigned them justice.

"Sir, is that a helicopter?" Marvin asked.

"Yeah, from Channel 7." I replied.

"That's from Channel 7? Isn't that from Quezon City?" Ashley chimed.

"Well, their main building is over there. We just heard them from a distance and they got swarmed and then they..." I started to tell the rest of the story.

We conversed for a moment before we drove further in.