Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The shopkeeper Kaley and I were talking to were a few years younger than us and his name was Tyler. We found out that he was the son of the owner and instead of completely hoodwinking this kid, I just made the deal a little fair with a bit of a lesson. I explained to him the right terminologies and he was quick to catch on. He was adamant at first but a simple trick with a bit of showmanship made him believe what I said.

"Oh~ there's a difference then? Jeez, I've been calling it like that all this time! Well, thanks I guess." Tyler was scratching his head.

"Anyway, I have a Bushmaster XM-15, which is basically an AR-15, the designation is just different because of Colt, and it comes with a couple of extra magazines. It had no attachments but if you're just starting to learn, it would be better to get used to it without anything on it. The attachments we have on our guns could definitely help anyone but it would hurt you in the long run if you always rely on it." I explained.

"Is that all that you have? I have a few other items to trade here. My dad would like it if he could have something that's used for long distances. Wait- I remember you explaining that this is also used for hunting, right? Well, you know what I mean. I'm looking for something that more or less just 'looks' the part. Do you have something like that?" Tyler added.

"If we're talking about that, I have a Winchester M70 and a Remington 700. They both have wood stocks and a budget scope mounted on them. They're both chambered in .308 and they could definitely reach farther than a 5.56 from the AR-15 I'm trading. Where's your dad anyway?" I gave him a few options.

"I think I'll take the Remington 700 then? Ah, he's just sleeping at this hour." Tyler replied.

"Okay, here's what I think. I'll give you the Bushmaster XM-15 and the Remington 700 with 90 rounds of 5.56 and 40 rounds of .308. I'll add a couple of magazines for the XM-15 because that's where I'll place the other rounds. However, I only have one available 10-round mag for the Remington 700 and I don't have anything extra. In turn, you'll give me 2 Glock 17s, 4 extra Glock 17 magazines, 4 boxes of 9mm, 2 of those soft armor vests, and information about who sold you these handloads." I proposed.

"That much? Aren't I in the red here?" Tyler took a step back.

"Hey, don't kid around. I already gave you a lesson for free and don't talk about rifle rounds as if they're equal with pistol rounds. Also, these soft armors you have can only stop pistol rounds for the most part. With this deal, I'm the one taking a step back. You should throw in another box of 9mm or another Glock 17 at least." I negotiated.

"Really?" Tyler was fucking clueless.

"This kid..." I thought to myself as Kaley and I almost facepalmed.

"Look, I could've oversold everything I have but I gave you a fair deal instead. We've been to a couple of shops already and it was one grumpy old owner after one grumpy old owner. It's nice to have someone our age watching over at least one shop. So, are we doing this or what? We won't be here long." I replied, leaving the final decision to him.

In the end, we happily shook hands and he threw in a knife, a pair of thick work gloves, and combat boots that weren't my size. It wasn't something I expected he'd do but I figured that I still needed to make more deals with him in the future for extra freebies.

"About the info you need, if I remember correctly, a few guys wearing sporting gear were the ones that trade in those bullets you were talking about for a few sacks of rice." Tyler said.

"Sporting gear?" Kaley asked.

"Y-Yeah, it's not like the ones you were wearing but it's like a jersey for sports but there were guns and bullets in the designs." Tyler replied.

"I see..." I trailed then Kaley looked at me.

"That actually makes sense." I thought to myself.

"I-Is that okay? Do you need more info? Sorry, I don't have their names." Tyler replied, worried.

"No, that's okay. I already learned plenty." I faintly smiled.

Aside from the guns, Kaley picked out a few essentials that we were looking for in exchange for the other items that we have on hand. One of our vehicles drove by to deliver the guns we promised and we shook hands again before leaving.

I was given the message that Mauricio was ready to go and they were just waiting for us with Jessica. However, while we were driving back, Kaley tapped me.

"Did you discover something?" Kaley asked.

"Well, the ones selling the shoddy handloads were competition shooters. It actually makes sense for it to be them because aside from them, the only other people I could think about are range owners, gun shop owners, or people like Oscar and me. Wait, there's also the ones from the black market but we still haven't encountered them. They should at least be around here somewhere but I'm surprised they aren't causing havoc. The jersey Tyler talked about basically narrowed it down but there's a small chance of me being wrong in that assumption. The only other reason I could think of was I didn't find handloads for any other caliber aside from 9mms. It just baffles me that they made shit like that. Almost all of the competition shooters I met wanted consistency in their rounds so almost everything they made was of good quality and not those shitty things like that. I'd be surprised if none of them exploded in their faces or hang-fired." I suddenly ranted.

"They might've purposely made them just for trading?" Kaley suggested.

"Well- hmmm… they could've gotten more out of it if they made it the right way though. I don't know, crazy times. I was thinking of buying them too so I could re-manufacture them but I stopped myself." I was shaking my head in disbelief.

"Why?" Kaley looked at me.

"Just for a very harsh lesson. They'd know how to make things properly and if they didn't, they'd lose customers and everything will just snowball against them. That's an accident waiting to happen but they wouldn't stop until someone loses a finger." I replied.

"What if they didn't?" Kaley added then I got to thinking.

"Dammit, fine. Let's go back." I relented as I turned the vehicle back to Tyler's place.

It was an awkward sight to see him caressing both of the rifles we traded with him almost uncomfortably but we just pretended that we didn't see him do that.

"Back already? You left something?" Tyler asked.

"No, can I check one of the handloads again?" I replied.

"Oh, sure. They're all in this pile." Tyler picked up the ammo can where they were placed before.

I planned to buy everything but my curiosity made me pull out pliers from our toolbox. They were watching what I would do next but I pulled out the lead projectile from a few rounds. I was holding the cases upright then I poured the contents over a piece of paper.

"There is… wait, what?" Tyler was confused, watching me.

I started rubbing my glabella from what I discovered.

"Fucking knew it." I was ticked off.

Kaley was silent.

"Tyler, I'm sorry but you're gonna give me a huge discount for all of the ones sold to you. I'm taking them all to avoid any accidents in the future that might render someone incapacitated. This is something serious and we need to inform everyone about this." I looked at Tyler with a grim expression.

"W-Wait… what's wrong with them?" Tyler asked.

"If you see closely, they're filled with varying amounts of gunpowder but it looked like the ones who made these were drunk. Some are overloaded, underloaded, but look at this one, it's filled with dirt. The only way you could kill someone with this is to shove it in an opening with a fucking hammer. Better yet, just use the fucking hammer instead. The next time they come here, call the soldiers and have them deal with it. It's one thing to get a bigger slice of the cake by shrewd means but it's another thing to cause harm or severe injury by doing this crap." I replied, pissed.

"Shit… dad's gonna be so pissed..." Tyler was already having a headache.

"Take them all. You don't need to pay for them." we suddenly heard a deep voice from their office.

"D-Dad… I'm sorry I- I didn't think that this would-" Tyler was worried and he couldn't look at his father in the eye.

"No, you're not at fault here. Even I would've been duped. We should've known better, you're a good kid. What's your name?" Tyler's dad waved him off as he looked at me.

I briefly introduced myself and I introduced Kaley as well. We learned that his name was Tristan and he really did gave me the rest of the handloads we discovered. However, to not owe him because the materials I could salvage from those handloads were still valuable, I left the M70 I had on the truck with 20 more rounds of .308. He looked at me if I was sure of my decision but he already had a death grip on the rifle while his son had a death grip on the box of ammo.

"You're really sure? Huh? Are ya?" Tristan's eyes were wide from anticipation.

"Dad, don't look like that. There are two more rifles he traded with us!" Tyler added but he looked exactly like his dad.

"Damn boy. They have clips too!"

"They are called magazines dad. You fucking taught me wrong! I was losing street cred!"

Kaley and I just nodded helplessly before I heard Jared calling me on the radio.

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*bzzt*

"Bro? Where are you guys? We're all good to go."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Yeah, let's just meet up on the gate."

*bzzt*

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