Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"Oh, I'll take my group to drive outwards to the main road to check if a similar incident happened in other places. Well, we'll check the backroads too but we'll traverse the places that are important that it stays unobstructed." I replied.

"I see, that's good. Cathy, I'll only be gone for a few. I'll be back by dinner, okay?" Mauricio looked at Cathy.

"S-Sure… be safe!" Cathy lightly waved.

It didn't take long for the other groups to drive outside of our base and my main group was the only ones left behind. I was casually sitting on one of the chairs and the rest of them were waiting with me. However, Jared's expression slowly turned different because he had no idea why we were casually wasting time.

"B-Bro, are we waiting for Lawrence? You called him, right?" Jared asked.

"Hmm? Lawrence? No, he'll be staying in that outpost for now." I replied.

"So… what are we waiting here for?"

"What? You don't know who? We talked about it at the meeting. Everyone here knows this, right?" I looked at the rest of my group and they all nodded.

Zeus even barked in mockery because of something so simple. By his side was an extra set of gear for our new member and he would growl every time someone approaches it.

"Wait, I took a piss and- nevermind, who's coming then?"

I was about to answer when I heard Allan's voice on the radio.

-

*bzzt*

"Hey dude, he's here."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Great, send him over here."

*bzzt*

-

After a few moments, a man in his 30s with a fresh new crew cut came into view wearing military fatigues. He had nothing on his person but he slowly approached our group with a solemn expression. He looked better than the last time we saw him and I was surprised at how fast he bounced back. Someone with physical prowess was great to have in a group but someone with great mental fortitude was someone I would prefer because it was something harder to obtain or you need to be innately born with it.

Jared was finally enlightened about who it was and why there was an extra set of gear that Zeus was guarding carefully.

My main group now was composed of myself, Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, and Mikhail. There were some floaters like Lois, Cynthia, Russel, and even Lawrence that I would sometimes bring with me but this guy was someone I was planning on adding to my roster permanently.

He was someone that we found in one of our runs stuck inside a jail cell for a few weeks and was about to die but we came at the right moment. He was receiving proper treatment to get right on track and he was visited daily by Marisha to check up on his state of mind. Long story short, he passed with flying colors and I'm interested in what else he could do.

"Sir." the soldier greeted me.

"Ibarra, you sure you're good to go?" I asked.

"Yes, sir. I'm good to go whenever." Ibarra promptly replied.

"Good. I have a welcome package for you. It's something a little more above than your standard-issues but you'd get used to it soon enough." I said then I looked back at Zeus after introducing everyone.

Zeus looked at me briefly then he barked at Ibarra. After that, he placed his paws on top of the equipment I prepared, telling Ibarra to pick them up.

The first thing I prepared was the same protective equipment that we were using. It involved a plate carrier, a helmet, gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, and a spare mask. For utility, a backpack and a war belt were included and I let him decide on how to place the other items like his holster, mag pouches, med kit, radio, and etc.

Ibarra looked at them for a moment before I saw him slowly wearing it almost the same way as the time we discovered him.

"This is really more than the standard-issue..." Ibarra muttered.

"It's not Gucci per se but that could protect yourself. Just try and keep it on semi-auto, okay?" I replied.

For his loadout, I prepared a few things. On the melee aspect, a simple K-Bar knife and a machete were provided and on throwables, I gave him a couple of frag grenades for emergencies. For his guns, I just changed a few things on their standard-issue M16 and Glock 17.

The M16 I prepared was a 20-inch rifle chambered in 5.56 that had the option to select between semi-auto and full-auto. I changed the base solid stock to a retractable stock, added in a suppressor, placed a sling using the mounts, changed the whole upper with something that had a Picatinny Rail so I could mount an ACOG sight, and replaced the handguard with something that also had a Picatinny Rail but it was also located on the sides and on the bottom so I could add in a foregrip, laser sights, and a flashlight.

The Glock 17 I prepared for him was a Gen 5 and it had a suppressor, a flashlight, and a new red dot attached to it. This was the setup Jared had on his old pistol but he was now using a Sig P320 instead of a Glock 17. It had the same attachments but his Sig definitely looked better.

I gave Ibarra 6 30-round magazines for his rifle and 2 17-round magazines for his pistol. He was quick to pack everything up and we were already outside the gates after a few minutes.

We started to drive on the main road using Tatiana's Humvee and we just passed by the DDR Camp. We stopped and check if the same incident happened but the answer was no. The soldiers that kept watch after Jared and Lois came back were also looking out for it but the incident never repeated.

"Let's stop by that old bakeshop..." I said as I removed my seatbelt.

"This close? Why?" Jared asked.

"We're sweeping each place for any clues." I replied.

We decided to take down each one that we encounter and chop the heads open of the ones sprawled on a corner to confirm if they were 'sent' or just 'gathered' to that direction or if their heads were hollow. We continued to drive forward right until we reach the border of another barangay. However, the drive of a few minutes turned into a drive for close to an hour.

"Hey, look at that corner right across that hospital." Kaley pointed out.

Our eyes shifted to the direction Kaley pointed to and we saw a big pile up.

"Bro, isn't that..." Jared trailed.

"It was a tight one-way road that leads to our place from the other side of the road. Yeah, used to." I replied with a solemn expression.

We drove a little closer and we saw the whole pile that formed a little wall to block that side of the road. It was a messy pile where it concaves on other places but the number of them was enough to occupy it so that the people wouldn't be able to traverse it.

The only ones fortunate from this wall happening were the deadheads because they were given a free buffet.

Clusters of the dead that were still moving were huddled up near the wall having the feast of their lives. They were gnawing at the limbs or appendages that were sticking out, decreasing the wall by a bit, a chunk at a time. The bodies that piled up were not moving despite what was happening to them so we surmised that they were also dead after maybe achieving their goal.

"Is this what the commotion was about last night?" Ibarra asked.

"Yeah, surprised I didn't see you outside." I replied.

"Madam Marisha told me to rest for this day so I slept early. I just woke up and saw what happened from the window." Ibarra replied.

"What are we doing now, Boss?" Mikhail interjected.

"Let me find another spot to park. It's too tight here." I replied.

It took a short moment before I left Jared and Kaley to watch over the Humvee.

I first shot down one eating a part of someone's cheek and the others turned to our direction when it plopped on the ground. I holstered my pistol as the rest of my group drew their melee weapons. Tatiana and I led the charge while Mikhail and Ibarra fanned to the side for the other cluster approaching us.

I was closely watching Ibarra's actions earlier but he really seemed like he bounced back. He was careful about his advances and he retreats at the right moment. He didn't seem like he was suicidal or reckless and he even listens to orders not just from me, but from everyone. I left him to Mikhail's care as Tatiana and I lopped heads one after the other.

It took a while disposing of them but we got some alone time with the wall.