Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Katya wasn't able to retort to my remark when Kaley fired shot after shot along with Ibarra and Tatiana. The three of them took a step back and started firing as Tatiana pulled Katya back. Bodies missing chunks from their own person started coming out from the end of the hallway and the other rooms, and the smell was fucking disgusting. Some of them had their jaws ripped off or had their arms crooked at angles while some had their chest cavity exposed and were housing maggots and flies.

Their guts started spilling out with what remained in their stomachs and it just plopped to the ground, staining what was once a clean hallway.

"Careful with stepping on those." I quickly reminded them.

Bright flashes of light also came from the other wing and they seem to be having the same encounter as us. I used my pistol to shoot down the ones coming at us as all of us were slowly retreating back, kiting them back to the staircases. However, once we got the upper hand and controlled the wave, we holstered our guns and lunged back using our melee weapons.

All of our movements were still the same though the one that was different was Ibarra. Instead of a chop and pull movement, he was doing thrust and pull movements because of his weapon change. His spear was detached into two pieces this time and he was using the pointy part to kill and the staff part to push and shove. He rarely used it for slashing even if the spearhead was capable of that because the wound would be too shallow and it would be safer for a thrust and pull movement.

Katya on the other hand was using a bowie machete and each chop she made follows through. There was strength between her attacks and each one would bring a deadhead missing its head or much more.

'Needs an upgrade especially that handle...' I thought to myself.

As we were advancing, Kaley and Tatiana were watching our side and our rear because of other deadheads that might pop out from other rooms. There seemed to be slower ones but most of them were coming from the restroom at the end of the hallway. However, there were still strays waiting for an opportunity to dig their claws or teeth at us.

Kaley was the only one using her rifle for lighting up the clusters we would encounter and each shot made its way to its rightful target. She was in the middle of our formation and she would fire at anything that posed a threat or moved.

"Reload!" Kaley exclaimed.

"Me too!" Tatiana added, falling back to grab extra shells.

"Katya! Don't worry about us, there's more incoming!" Kaley continued.

Lots and lots of silhouettes were still in front of us but we continued to mow them down. I was already using my katana along with my pistol to bring down deadheads as fast as I could.

'There's more than I thought...' I thought to myself.

It was a tug of war between the deadheads as to which group could gain more ground. We were going back and forth to give us extra space because if too many bodies were littered on the floor, we wouldn't have much direction to dodge or evade their attacks so we advanced when we could and we retreated if it was possible.

We were carefully watching out for the deadheads clawing towards us and bodies littered the floor as we continued to inch slowly towards the restroom.

-

*bzzt*

[They're getting fewer.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Okay, just keep close watch."

*bzzt*

-

Once we reached the restroom, the entrance was something else. I could only imagine what it was like from the inside. My group saw something similar to this before and it could mean that the deadheads here were stuck to each other for quite some time.

"The fuck are they looking like that?" Katya grimaced from the sight.

"First time you see them like this?" I asked.

Katya just nodded a few times and we shone our flashlights inside the restroom.

In a sense, the bodies were melding into each other and they have started to stick into the walls like mold or moss. However, instead of green shades, they were blackish and reddish in color and some of their parts were looking like roots, trying to grow into the walls themselves. Some deadheads couldn't even get out of their predicament but the ones who managed to leave had the skins of their back stuck on the wall, adding to the wallpaper.

-

*bzzt*

[Bro, want me to check deeper inside?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Yeah, go ahead."

*bzzt*

-

Lois flew his drone inside the restroom for a few moments as we threw the bodies over the windows. We made sure to throw them on the right side by the driveway so we could easily burn them when the time comes.

-

*bzzt*

[It's more visible now because of the flashlights but there is some sort of mound inside formed by them. Something similar to the entrance but thicker. Careful in stepping in because I couldn't figure out which is which.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Okay, that's good enough."

*bzzt*

-

To reduce the risk, we illuminated the whole restroom with better flashlights that had higher lumens. We punctured holes in the heads that stuck out and we almost raked through the bits stuck together to make sure none of them was left alive. There was always some faint movement or a small pulse that remained on their bodies when they were still in the process of undeath so it was quite easy to tell them apart up close.

"Are we gonna search the rooms now?" Katya asked.

"Not yet. We'd clear all the dead bodies first before we start looting. It's safer that way." I replied then I talked to my earpiece.

-

*bzzt*

"We cleared the Right Wing on the 7th floor, heading back to the staircases."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Still busy, give us a sec.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Status on the roof?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Same old, same old bro.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Vera?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[A few are starting to get rattled up. They're heading to the sources but some just plunged to their deaths when they walked over the glass walls straight down. I could have one more drone fly lower since you cleared your side, is that okay?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Sure, but do that once we reached the staircases at the center. We're still waiting for Artem and the rest to finish on their side. Well, we're still clearing up on our end but once we chucked the bodies down we'll head back."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Understood.]

*bzzt*

-

We continued to clear the bodies by the hallway after finishing on the restrooms and we made sure each body was accounted for. Once we finished, I made another group to sweep all the available resources on this floor while the rest of our groups headed down.

Matthew and Mikhail'd group were already ahead of us since they stationed a blockade on the 6th floor for anything that tried to come up. Mikhail's already using his own PKM while the one we lent him was now in the hands of Matthew. I could feel that he was excited to use it but if we continued to clear this place like the 7th floor, he wouldn't have the chance to.

'Unless something unexpected occurs...' I thought to myself.

"Here's a few ammo cans you asked me to do yesterday.." Mikhail pointed to a few ammo cans he carried himself.

"Thanks, I almost forgot." I replied as I opened one and replenished our magazines.

"Got some .410s?" Bogdan asked.

"Everything, we got everything." I chuckled.

"Hah! We should've moved here months ago!" Bogdan celebrated.

"Da, this is really different." Artem turned to me with an approving look.

"Just don't forget to bring the used casings and shells back. It would be harder to make those from scratch." I added.

"Kid, can't we just turn the generators on so we wouldn't keep on moving the high-powered flashlights? They won't last forever, right?" Matthew suggested.

"Yeah, of course." I replied.

"Huh? I mean like right fucking now. Why don't we do it?" Matthew continued.

"Yeah, we're fucking doing it right now. Forgot the plan? That's why we landed here in this building in the first place because the generators are in the basement right below the first floor." I shook my head as I continued to reload my magazines.

"Shit, I forgot. Shouldn't we hurry then?" Matthew added.

"Hmm, the pace we're going at… we could reach the basement with plenty of battery life on the flashlights. We brought backups and the chargers too so it wouldn't be much trouble." I replied, reassuring Matthew's worries.

"We're all set, going to the Right Wing again?" Kaley asked, securing everything in place.

"Let's go, we still have more buildings to go through aside from this one." I said to our group.