Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

My group was about to set fire to the bodies we cleared outside but I had another idea on top of what we were doing.

"Mikhail, Ibarra, bring a couple next to the ones here and burn the ones that are left. I had another idea." I said to them.

The two followed me but Jared was looking like thoughts were running through his head, figuring out why I ordered another batch to be taken into account.

"Before you say anything, before these ones became hollowed out from the inside, they were normal ones, right?" I started.

"Yeah..." Jared replied.

"Maybe, just maybe, we could figure out more or even get lucky if we install the last couple of smartphones to their bodies as well. I don't know, maybe the normal ones that weren't reduced to cinders turn to this kind of thing once left alone for a while? Or..." I trailed.

"Or what?" Kaley became curious as well.

I was in deep thought but after placing the smartphones on their person, I immediately called Marvin.

-

*bzzt*

"Hey, where are you guys at?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Sir? We're quite near to the main base. We're clearing out the Barangay of Coloong while waiting for your call.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Okay, can you drop by the compound and ask Rin for a- nevermind. Just continue what you're doing. Sorry, I just had an idea on the top of my head."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[O-Okay Sir. Just call us whenever.]

*bzzt*

-

"What was that about bro?" Jared was confused.

"Sorry, I'm all over the place. Let's just stop by that store that sells motorcycle parts. We have a couple of relays at the ready, right?" I replied.

"What? Oh, yeah, we have a couple in case we see a good place to install them." Jared answered.

"Great. Let's drive to that store now." I replied as we hopped to the Raptor.

They were all looking curiously at what I would do next but we first made quick work of the slow ones casually pacing around. One of them was stuck in a drainage system as if it was called by a fucked up morphing clown that would only come to kill on certain dates.

However, we had a brief heart attack when we saw a deadhead wearing a clown costume, dragging a deflated red balloon. It was immediately chopped into pieces with a new record because no one would take the risk of letting 'it' live.

"That was too funny bro..." Jared chuckled when the situation calmed down.

"Well yeah, it's a clown, right?" I looked back at him, slightly elbowing him.

"..." Jared was looking at me with disdain.

"Right?" I turned to Kaley and the others one by one but I was met with the same reaction.

Easily enough, when we managed to get the store to open, the place was selling cameras that could be mounted atop helmets. I looked for a variant that operates on the same voltage the relays were operating and all I needed to do was take both items apart and make the camera take power from the small solar panel attached to the relay.

"Okay..." I trailed.

"What now?" the group was still looking at me curiously.

"Let's go to that cellphone repair shop so I could have the tools to take them apart. Well, I mostly need a soldering iron but I guess we could find a few parts there to make it a little bit secure and not dangly after messing with it." I replied.

It was easy enough to bring power to that store for a few minutes by using car batteries lying around abandoned vehicles so the modification for the relays was finished without a hitch. We went back to the chapel shortly and I placed the relays with the attached camera right next to the normal bodies we planted smartphones on.

"Bro..." Jared trailed.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I thought you had the smartphones made so we could just track their general direction but why are we using cameras to put surveillance on them and watching out where they would go in case they rise up now?" Jared inquired.

"We're trying to figure out by trying everything, right? We're currently trying to know if they would rise up in the coming days but what we don't know a few things as well." I replied.

"Like?" Jared added.

"One theory could say that they're being given instructions or they're just moving on their own. Another one is if the normal ones would eventually turn to these hollowed ones or if by some chance, another type is making them." I replied.

"Making them what?" Jared asked.

"No, I didn't trail that sentence. What I'm trying to say that maybe, just maybe, something else was turning or 'making' the normal ones to those hollowed-out puppets that only has one thing on their mind- I mean not on their mind but- you know what I'm talking about." I replied.

"You mean, another special turning others into specials, correct?" Tatiana chimed.

"Something like that but not into another special. Remember the ones in the public market? It could be another variant of that type, right? I'm speaking out from my ass here but isn't that the same principle? Even the same idea from the big one Nikolas and the rest encountered on their travels. It's just that a different set of instructions were given to them. You get what I mean?" I explained.

"That really does make some sense. But..." Kaley trailed.

"Continue your thoughts. I think you have the same idea as me." I chuckled.

"Well, what I'm thinking is, the ones we've faced could only command the dead which are still moving, right? Is the new one we're theorizing about has the ability to control the cleared ones, stabbed-to-the-head-cleared ones as well?" Kaley continued.

"You got it. That's the reason why I tried to make another setup and placed the normal bodies close to the hollowed bodies. I could still be wrong but we'll eventually get to the right answer by process of elimination, right?" I explained.

"Hmm, that makes sense..." Jared added.

"However, whether these devices we placed on them do the job they were made for or not, we still need to find and clear out the rest of the bodies piled together. Who knows, we might discover more clues once we found more walls or barriers." I concluded.

"So, where are we headed next, Boss?" Mikhail asked.

"We have two options if we use the main road. The first one, we could use the access road behind the People's Park in this city to reach the City of Malabon to circle back to where Lawrence is. The other one is to drive straight right into the segment of the City of Caloocan where the Monument is located." I replied.

"Segment?" Tatiana asked.

"You see, the City of Caloocan is a little weird. Its main part is actually to the East of our city but driving South will lead us to a portion of their city slicing through the Cities of Malabon, Quezon, Manila, and ours, Valenzuela. It's just a small part with a few barangays but we need to drive to that segment as well to get to the City of Manila." I explained.

"So, what would be the difference between driving those different roads?" Ibarra asked.

"The access road I'm talking about is the expressway where most of the dead came from when it started. There could be some risk but it's the shortest path so we could circle around to the City of Malabon much faster. The other route is the longer path and the risk involved in using that route is we'd be diving straight into places we haven't even scouted yet and the only secure exit strategy is to drive back." I explained.

"Wait, you lost me there." Ibarra scratched his head.

"Wait a sec, let me bring out the map so you could visualize the route we are always taking… it's much easier to see it than to explain it verbally." I replied as I pulled out a digital copy saved on my phone.

I pointed out the routes we were taking each day ever since we started and the only time we drove straight ahead was to head into the Intercity. It was because the majority of the routes there were already cleared by the group in Meycauayan. In our case, we had to carefully go in and out of unexplored areas, such as the City of Malabon, while making sure there was more than one safe exit we could drive through when things go south.

"Oh, so we're going around, skimming bit by bit, correct?" Tatiana nodded a few times.

"Yeah, doing that could make us subconsciously familiarize ourselves with the surroundings too." I added.

"Don't you have a photographic memory?" Kaley raised her eyebrow, chuckling.

"Well, it's mostly for you guys, heh. I'm just being modest." I chuckled.

"Hmm, I didn't notice it but yeah, I could mostly recognize everything now just by looking at the buildings. It's much better than going place to place randomly." Mikhail nodded a few times.

In my group, only Jared and I were greatly familiar with this city. Kaley came from the Bulacan Area but she was mostly on flights abroad so her familiarization in this city was quite limited compared to the two of us. Ibarra, on the other hand, came from a different island group while Tatiana and Mikhail's understanding was only from when they arrived at my compound.

"So, what do you guys think?" I asked for their opinion on which route to take.