Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Marvin's group was composed of six people. Aside from Ashley and Max who were part of his own squad before, Crisanto and Alonzo, who were soldiers were also with them along with a resident from Woodlands named John. They were all sporting rifles or shotguns except for John who was only carrying a sidearm and a mandatory melee weapon with a small knife.

Even if the helicopter was burnt, I still wanted to check the helicopter for anything we could salvage or information we could acquire despite the wreck that happened.

Russel was now the one assigned to drive my Raptor and I was free to look around, burning every detail I could about the surroundings inside my head. I was in the back with Jared and Lawrence casually talking about long-shooting concepts while they were putting down the dead using their 10/22s chambered in .22 LR. We made a quick stop to loot a closed pharmacy and that situation weirded me out.

"Hmm, did no one who survived in this city, or are we just inside the central area too much? Granted we killed a few hundred going here but an unlooted pharmacy is just too weird. Not only this one, but there's also a few more like it too. Are the people around here before not able to fight them? Well, a swift solution to a grave threat is always extreme violence. If every household was armed, more people would've survived." I thought to myself while we were hauling everything we could.

The undead we encounter on a daily basis was much more compared to the other groups and we need to find ways to dispose of them while the threat level was not as high. The ongoing solutions were using low caliber guns or going melee. The same thing goes for every group but as I've always reminded them to not worry about it if their life or their comrade's life were on the line.

We continued to inch to the place where the helicopter plummeted but unlooted shop after unlooted shop were making the trip much longer. We could drive past them but putting food on the table for our people back home was more important than feeding my curiosity. Add to that I wasn't expecting much on that helicopter.

I was still deep in thought but I saw Jared waving me over.

"Yeah?" I looked straight at him.

"Bro, this is a separate city, right? Can we check on this place's City Hall after the helicopter? Not doing the same operation as last time but just driving by the edges of it to check on its current situation. I want to have bullets on the way back so a quick peek would be enough for me." Jared suggested.

"Sure, we could double-back. It's also right next to this City's own People's Park. The one in our city is much larger but the one in this city has the City Jail, City Library, Police Station, and the DOJ's Office surrounding it. We just need to be extra careful." I replied.

"Why? Are they all gathering in each city's City Hall perhaps?" Jared asked.

"What? That's not even proven true. What I'm getting at is even if this city had half the population of ours, the dead here still poses a threat because it seemed that no one was clearing this place since it started unlike ours." I explained as Lawrence was just quietly listening to us talk.

We finally reached the area where the helicopter was located though the commotion it made coming here and crashing here attracted a lot of the dead. We already put down several hundred of them but there were still a lot roaming around in clusters, heading in the same direction.

It would take us the better part of the afternoon to clear them all so we banked on distracting them by shooting at the vehicles in the opposite direction to activate their alarms. It was the same thing we did with the herd earlier and there was no shame in using the same working tactic over and over.

After giving a simple solution to the problem, we drove to the side where the buildings were still intact. We avoided the building where the helicopter crashed and where I sent two rockets for debris that might fall on us. Aside from that, Marvin's group was in a street corner, watching out for threats we wouldn't be able to see from our position. Everyone was on high alert because the tall buildings surrounding us might still have a few deadheads waiting to drop down from above.

Looking at the helicopter now, there was no chance any of the passengers managing to survive, even their equipment.

Not only the helicopter caught fire in the process but also a few structures like wooden posts and other small vehicles. Not to mention the clothes of the undead also caught fire, spreading it to random structures and even trees which were nearby. Most of them have already burned out but there were a few places we need to extinguish completely.

It would be an embarrassment to not have a fire extinguisher in our vehicles so we quickly took care of another problem. When everything was clear we took a closer look at the helicopter. I was wearing a solemn expression because even if the chances were low, I was expecting something to get after all that trouble. We cleared a lot of the dead but I sure hoped that we cleared them before the helicopter arrived. Establishing a connection from another city was extremely beneficial even if we were just only exchanging information.

Quoting one of the sayings of the Mad Titan, "Reality is often disappointing."

The only thing we got out of the helicopter was confirming that this came from the biggest city in our region, Quezon City. It was also the city with the densest population, and it was right next to the city where Iskoh and his people were staying at which was Manila City. Part of my deal before with Iskoh was for him to send a group over there to check on the gun stores for any equipment and materials he could give me in exchange for my own bullets that I made.

I also have a friend over there who was one of the owners we haven't heard from since the beginning.

"I guess Vera will have more work cut out for her. Good thing I have people to trust jobs to. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to leave the premises to do these missions..." I thought to myself.

We briefly documented what we witnessed today by simply recording everything with our cameras and then we drove back to an intersection then turned left to reach this city's City Hall.

The Malabon City Hall was one of the buildings surrounding the Malabon's People's Park. The buildings form a 'U' shape, hugging the square People's Park while the part where there wasn't any structure covering it was the main entrance. The shape of the park from above was like a huge crosshair and it was made of grass and stairs where the central part was the most elevated. It was divided into four parts where one quadrant was a playground while the rest were simple walkways that had a few benches for people to sit on.

It was a place of leisure but now, this was a place where people made a last stand.

The surrounding area of this place had a barrier around it made with piles and piles of the dead. The smell was horrible but it was only secondary to the sight we were seeing. It seemed that the dead tried to climb the walls that the people here made but the number of them continued to pile over and over, making the wall made of flesh instead. The 'wall' soon turned into a 'walkway' and that brought over the end of this place when they were boxed in.

Looking at the deadheads roaming inside, most of them were still civilians but you could still make out several soldiers wearing military fatigues. Some of them still have their firearms on their person but Crisanto and Alonzo were planning to acquire something that was hanging from their fallen comrades' necks.

It was only a few pieces of flat metal but its value cannot be measured numerically. From the bodies we looted earlier, some of them were wearing their dog tags and I made sure to bring it with me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to give them back to their family but I would make sure they will not be forgotten and honored to the best of my ability.

"Cleaning this place out could take us more than a few days. However, I don't want other people beating us to the punch when we leave this place and come back tomorrow. They might not have a lot of bullets left but their guns could still be salvaged or just simply cleaned. Their equipment here could also be put to good use but like everything else, we need to work hard for it." I explained.

They all nodded because we were all thinking the same thing.

"Not to mention we also need to take the same type of files we acquired in the Valenzuela City Hall. I think I might need to make a few people pick a safe spot and stay for the night or two. Don't worry, we'll leave the ones who plan to stay close supplies to last longer than the required amount of time." I added.

"Sir, I think Crisanto and I will volunteer to do the job." Alonzo immediately stepped forward.

"Okay, that will do. You already have your guns so I'll just leave you guys a few days of food and a radio or two. Do you have anything else in mind? If not, we could start looking for a place with a good vantage point." I said.

They never requested anything else but they found an additional member. Max volunteered as well to stay and keep watch and the two soldiers appreciated the gesture greatly. The only hiccup in finding them a great spot was the best spot was a love hotel.

"Sir..." Max trailed.

"What?" I replied.

"Is this really the best p-place?" Max stuttered.

"Yep. This place has a great view all around the streets. I bet the beds here are really fucking comfy! Heh, see what I did there?" I slightly elbowed him on his sides.

"..." everyone else.