Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Mauricio looked like he was in part of the milling process of unhusked rice because dust and soot were all over his clothes and hair. It looked like he was just about to clean up when we arrived at his main shop. However, I surmised that the milling process occurred in another shop because Mona had none of it on her person.

"If you would follow me, I'll guide you to our trading shop just right next to our shop here..." Mona made a small bow before waiting for us to follow her.

"I'll call you over when we are about to start or I'll just join you there if the others are gonna be running a bit late. I'll just clean myself for a bit and take care of some things." Mauricio excused himself as he slowly closed his office door.

"Do you have a catalog for everything here?" I asked.

"Oh, yes sir. It's not as detailed but I made sure everything was written in." Mona replied as she handed me a clipboard.

Kaley's head hawked over my side as she tried to scan for the items written though Oscar went ahead and saw for himself. The list could use a bit of organization but her clean handwriting made up for it. I flipped the pages until the end before I handed it to Kaley. Tatiana and Jared nudged next to her to check on the items on the list as well.

"They have guns for trade too..." Kaley whispered.

"I saw… ammo too… let's check the condition first before we try and buy it. Some of them are quite expensive in terms of money too." I replied.

"What if their asking price is more expensive than ours?" Jared commented.

"Yeah, that's why I said we'd check the conditions first. If the quality is that good, why not? We could make more food but we couldn't manufacture guns." I replied.

"Yet..." I thought to myself.

"Kid! You gotta see this! Come here! We gotta buy them all!" Oscar raised his voice, ecstatic.

Lois was next to him and he was also excited by the pile of items in front of them. The colorful boxes already gave it away and I was sure I saw a portion of them from the list Mona gave us. They were all placed right next to a wall with a warning sign of no smoking in close proximity.

It was different kinds of fireworks.

"Hmm, we'll definitely have a use for them. The year is also ending so we might use a few that don't shoot up in the air for the kids. We'll just use those for signals to save a little bit on flares. Some of them explode when the propellant burns out too." I nodded a few times.

"We could also repurpose the gunpowder kid." Oscar added.

"Hah! Are you dying to use your fucking musket?!" I chuckled.

"What? No! Let's make the ones on guard duty confused as fuck when we make them practice with it. I could already see the outcome!" Oscar cackled.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see, we'll see." I was shaking my head in amusement.

We browsed through the items they have on display but most of them we already have at home or could be easily procured from a scavenging run. However, there were some items that even if we already have at home, we wouldn't pass them up. Also, even if we could scavenge some of them ourselves, it would be the better choice to trade it with the items we could produce because these items would run out, depreciate, or would be difficult to produce in the future.

There were a few units of solar panels, boxes of water filters, different kinds of batteries, cleaning agents, medical supplies, and the hottest commodity as of now, guns. They also have food items in stock but it wasn't as appealing to me and my group compared to the ones Lois was drooling over.

Several guns were placed inside a bulletproof glass case and a few guards were watching over them. There were also bladed weapons in the mix but the martial ones were placed individually in a wooden rack. I didn't focus on it now because I asked for permission if I could check the guns from Mona.

"Umm, please wait for a few moments I'll ask Mr. Mauricio if it's okay..." Mona ran back after making another bow.

Looking through the glass case, Oscar and I locked into a tremendously popular revolver in movies, tv, and games. I was looking at it closely if it was authentic but a closer look would validate it more. Oscar was looking at it almost uncomfortably so I decided to back off and look at the other ones on display. I even discovered that a few that we sold before made its way in these cases so put it upon myself to make sure to check them carefully before buying.

"Heh, I have a few of these Pythons but if he's gonna fucking sell that, I'd fucking buy it." Oscar rubbed his chin excitedly.

Mona didn't take long and she even came with Mauricio himself. He was wearing casual attire but an imprint inside his shirt revealed that he was wearing a thin bulletproof vest inside. He was carrying a Kimber 1911 in his holster with an extra magazine and a folding knife.

"Mr. Goodman, Mr. Ishiyama, I'm surprised to know that you're interested in the guns I have for sale even if some of them are from your collection. Well, what do you have in mind? I know a fair bit of them but I'd let you check them yourself to see their quality by yourselves." Mauricio pulled out a key for the cases.

"I want to take a look at that Python. It looks real authentic but we could never be too sure." Oscar immediately answered.

"Ah, the Python. It was recently traded for a Glock but-" Mauricio spoke but he was suddenly interrupted.

"WHAT?! Who's the motherfucking idiot that traded a fucking Glock for it?! Did it look like this kid?!" Oscar exploded.

"Oh, hahaha... it is unfortunate but yes he traded this one for a Glock 17 and several rounds of 9mm. As you can see, I don't have a lot of .357s laying around, even him, so he opted for a more… economical solution." Mauricio scratched his head, smiling.

"What kind of ammo do you have in stock?" Oscar asked.

"Mostly .223s, 9mms, .22 LRs, and .45s but I have a few 12 gauges and .410s lying around with .357s and .38s. Oh, I'm waiting for a payment of a few .308s later but they seem to be running late. They're one of the people I'm waiting for." Mauricio answered.

"Who else will be coming then?" I probed.

"Oh, like-minded people that are coming from different parts around this area though a few would come from the city on the other side from where you came from. All of them are customers that let's say have a little more to trade than usual. Not only that, but almost all of the owners here are coming as well so we could have a proper discussion of what to do with this place." Mauricio answered.

"And we're the first ones here? I don't see anyone parking in front of your shop yet." Oscar said.

"Ah, yes. They would all come from varying distances so their time of arrival couldn't be gauged properly. Anyway, to make up for it, I'll give that Python for free once you take a few items here off my hands. It's starting to get a bit cramped in here with the other items laying around but a few guns with the cartridges I have on hand would be greatly appreciated." Mauricio replied.

"We could do that but I have something that could solve your space issue. We have something we couldn't possibly bring back to our place so I'm willing to negotiate a good price for it. What do you think?" I looked at his calm expression.

"Oh, that's right. I was about to bring it up myself. I know that Jomarro is cashing out but he would be leaving his shop and a few lots where his storage areas are. There's also his milling, bagging, and sorting equipment inside that I'm guessing would be left there to collect more dust. I love the idea of more space available to me and I would take that into great consideration once you've given me the list of the items that you wanted here." Mauricio nodded a few times as he gave a faint smile.

"Okay… from what you have here..." I paused for a short moment before I recited everything I wanted to acquire.

The expression on Mona and his worker's faces turned into shock and Mauricio's smile was slowly turning brighter and brighter when he saw what I would be exchanging them with.

"I think you're the best customer I've ever had Mr. Ishiyama." Mauricio couldn't hide his ecstatic expression.