Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I continued using the drones at my disposal and I discovered a few things. I used each drone for each area and our guesses for which area was used for a specific purpose were mostly correct.

The frontal area was the soldier's barracks, the main area was the civilian's quarters, and the back area was used for miscellaneous jobs that included preparing food or maintaining equipment.

The frontal area had weapon caches strewn about with their communication equipment and some rooms were marked specifically by their ranks and their designated jobs. The main area made use of each room to give a room for two families to live in but the hospital in the frontal area had rooms reserved for the elderly and those with particular injuries. In the back area, aside from preparing food and such, they seem to be training people to act as soldiers in the future because of a schedule I saw hanging from the gymnasium.

I thought that most of the dead would be located in the main area but I was wrong.

Most of the dead were gathered in the back area which composed of children and the elderly as they were all holed up in the gymnasium with a few soldiers guarding the outside with bodies piled up just by the entrance.

'This was maybe the place where they took their last stand… Each place should have an emergency exit for situations such as this...' I thought to myself.

The noise of the drone I was using was already attracting the deadheads around it so I called Kaley over.

"Need something?" Kaley asked, checking the rounds left in her magazine.

"We're already here so, before they come back, let's clear a few hundred in the DDR Camp while we're at it. I'll lure them by the tennis court while you take down each body you see. You don't have to shape them like the funnels below so just put them down once they are in your sights. Practice rapid-firing while you're at it." I replied.

"Can I use my main gun?" Kaley looked at me, holding her AR-15 from LWRC.

"Why? Having trouble using a .22?" I asked.

"Not really, it just feels really different when I switch back. You know, muscle memory and all." Kaley replied.

"Up to you for how you want to deal with it. Hmm, how about switching guns after emptying a magazine? It would be weird at first, but you'd get used to the 'feel' of it, and switching would be natural the more you do it." I suggested.

Kaley nodded as she followed my suggestion. I brought deadheads in droves and she began to clear them one after the other. In the beginning, she would fire a shot then aim at a new one but as time progresses, she would burst fire two, two, and two like the way we would train at home. Kaley made excellent progress from the time we were together but she still got a lot to learn with perfecting minuscule movements.

Heads burst one after the other and the only time she would pause was when she missed and had to aim more carefully the next time around. Aside from that, adjusting with a different gun and a new caliber would make her miss a few times in the beginning. However, once she got the 'feel' for it, she would take it up a notch and start shooting much bolder.

I made sure to fly the drone at a safe distance from Kaley's range once the deadheads gather while making sure it was also at an optimum height where even a special could have a hard time reaching it. So far, we had no accidents with the drones and the only time we had to lose one was when it flew too close to the ones at the train station.

"Can I give this a go?" Matthew asked, holding my rifle.

"Sure, it's zeroed at 100 as always so just make adjustments based on your preferences." I replied.

"100? Then it's no problem. I used to do it at 200 but calculating at 100 makes it easier for me." Matthew replied.

Matthew decided to help Kaley but he soon placed my rifle down because Kaley was actually out-shooting him. Matthew could shoot farther but Kaley definitely could shoot faster. He had a proud look on his face at the start but it had a hint of despair because his hands couldn't keep up when he tried to keep up with his daughter.

"Dad? Something wrong?" Kaley asked innocently.

"L-Let me just reload these mags for you… I think I'm more used to a .308 or a 6.5 so I'll let you handle that for now… g-good job!" Matthew gave an excuse but the killing blow was Mikhail tapping his shoulder and gesturing that it was okay.

Kaley continued to put bodies down while I continued to drive around, luring the deadheads that I would encounter. The noise of the rotors was enough to attract them but we soon changed the kill zone because a mound already formed because of the bodies piled on top of one another.

Lois was jealously watching Kaley shoot without restraint but he still kept a tight watch on the road. He even borrowed one of my drones and perched it atop a good spot a great distance away so he had a higher chance of spotting them from watching from the live feed of the drone.

I checked my watch and it was already an hour after 12:00 PM so I assigned half of us to take a small break to eat lunch while the rest continued to do their jobs.

"Go ahead, Kaley and I will just finish this batch and join you guys." I said to the group ahead of us.

It was already a few hours after lunch when the armed individuals came back to siphon the last gas station that they could approach. They had to kill their way with their troops but the person with the binoculars was present once more, taking a longer look at the walls we made artificially.

Gunshots rang out from their side and the dead got riled up as they started to approach the source. I could hear high-powered rifles like our own but I noticed the lack of suppressors on their firearms. However, they were proficient with using them, favoring the idea that they were soldiers from another DDR Camp or a new group that banded together.

'Great idea to stay in place and lay low once they arrive...' I thought to myself.

After they were done with the last gas station, they continued to scavenge for more supplies from the surrounding shops that were left abandoned. It seemed that they didn't manage to get as much because due to the noise they made by firing several shots. They had to drive away before they get swarmed or else it would be the end for them.

All we heard from them was random radio chatter and not more information that could help us figure out the things latched under the train station.

We waited for a while before we left our cover but now I was deep in thought.

"Something on your mind?" Kaley asked.

"It took them roughly 6 hours before getting back here." I replied.

"Which means that they could come from maybe half of Quezon City, right? Which also means that they could come from anywhere also?" Kaley added.

"Yeah, I only know one place from that city that could still be standing and heavily guarded but it's too far just by driving in that timeframe and coming back here. Also, there are other fuel stations to loot aside from this place so we could take into account that they maybe took a short rest or had to talk to other people or groups before they got here." I speculated.

"Don't forget that they need to take care of undead roamers on the way, lunch too." Matthew added.

"Yeah..." I trailed.

"Where do you think they came from?" Tatiana asked.

"The only thing I could think of are places away from hospitals just from their conversation. Aside from that, they mentioned they're low on ammo too but they probably got their fix because they started firing more than usual this time." I replied, still thinking.

"What if they're in a hospital but they're just in different groups inside it?" Vera chimed.

"That's possible too..." I replied.

"What are the closest hospitals here then?" Matthew asked.

"Aside from that one right next to us, there's the Quezon City General Hospital, Providence Hospital, Philippine Children's Medical Center, and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. The first one is the closest one while the other three are about the same distance away from us. There are small centers all throughout the place but those are more specialized like the lung center and the heart center." I replied.

"How about the City Hall in that place? How close is it? A DDR Camp is always erected in that place, correct?" Tatiana asked.

"It's right by the specialized centers I talked about. Shit, that city is just too big and each place could easily be turned into a DDR Camp or an outpost. Scratch everything I said, not to mention the large universities that a few times bigger than this one, there's a place there called the U-Belt that translates to university belt that means that there are several large universities right next to each other that holds a lot of land. That city is literally a haven of..." I started to tell them each place that's viable to be turned into an outpost in the future.

"Okay, okay, stop for a minute there. We already know that there are a lot of fucking options available. However, if you're gonna choose one to occupy, which will it be?" Matthew asked to narrow down all the possible choices.

"Hmm, this place could offer a great vantage point but this place is also… but… this place could be better with… oh! The place with..." I started to spout more nonsense.

"JUST PICK ONE SO WE COULD FUCKING MOVE ON!!!" Matthew bellowed as the rest of my group gave helpless expressions.

"Yeah~ but..." I started to rub my chin, ticking off Matthew even more.

"If. we. had. to. choose. a. place. to. hunker. down. where. would. it. be?" Matthew started to lose it.

"Oh, back home obviously." I immediately answered.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Matthew started to get red from anger.

"What? What's better than back home?" I added.

"We're talking about that city, you little shit!" Matthew bellowed.

"Oh, be specific then!" I started to chuckle inwardly.

"JUST FUCKING ANSWER, DAMMIT!!!" Matthew started to lose it.