Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We've left the group looting and completely clearing the rooms on the 7th floor while the rest of my group started to clear the 6th floor. Matthew and the rest of the people on the staircase already cleared a portion of them but there were still a few rooms that needed to be checked thoroughly.

As my group turned to the right wing once more, the first deadhead we saw was just a head missing the rest of its body. Its neck was mangled to pieces and it seemed that the rest of its body was located behind the door with bloodstains and bits of its pieces stuck on it. Its jaw was still moving up and down but its gums were already discolored and some of its teeth were missing, or slowly chewing of what was left of its mouth.

I slowly pushed my katana a few inches in its eye socket and its sloppy movements halted.

"Open the door, pry it with your knife if it wouldn't budge." I said to Katya.

"It's kinda stuck. Can't I just kick it?" Katya replied.

"Go ahead. Ibarra, watch out for anything since this is gonna be loud." I gave the signal.

Katya just went into position as she lifted her leg and kicked forcefully. The door swung open violently but it definitely attracted everything that was close. We immediately heard snarls from across the corridor and the ones inside the room, so we took a step back and waited for them to come.

The inside of the room was barely visible but crooked fingers with skin lesions came into view. The nail on its ring finger was missing and the bone was almost jutting out. We were just waiting for the right moment when it steps out because everyone was already holding their weapons tightly.

The figure came out like it was drunk and its facial features were a ness. The skin on its chin was already scraped off and its eyes were clawed out. It seemed to be relying on its hearing or maybe even smell because it followed the direction where Ibarra knocked over a small bottle.

A few more followed behind it while some also came from the corridor but Ibarra stabbed forward, piercing through its eye socket, killing it with one stab.

The rest of my team followed up by tripping up the one following it then quickly stabbing down before the one missing half its face managed to take another step. Tatiana was sticking close to Kaley and Katya took down most of the deadheads that came close. One strike was all it took but she had to conserve her strength if she wanted to continue being in the front. However, it didn't seem like she was getting tired one bit.

Katya kicked another one down and the deadhead knocked down the ones behind it as she continued to lop heads one after the other.

'Are all of them powerhouses?' I thought to myself.

We proceeded by going deeper but we soon heard a helicopter approaching. It didn't take long for Vera to contact me that Avalos successfully escorted Micah back to our place and just came back. Avalos being present in the love hotel was a backup plan for the people stationed there because even if we have a working helicopter on the DDR Camp, it would be better to have one at the ready someplace.

-

*bzzt*

[Avalos just arrived and is now landing at the love hotel. He brought more supplies on our end.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Okay, just keep me posted."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Understood.]

*bzzt*

-

We continued to clear the floor but aside from deadheads, we discovered a few rooms where the people got trapped either died from starvation or took their own way out of this hell hole. It was already a different feeling when we discovered that someone did it to themselves but it was even worse when we saw a family just huddled up with a stab wound to the head.

'I could only imagine the feeling of the one that was left and had to take his own… aside from that, doing it to your own kids first...' I thought to myself.

"Taking the easy way out..." Ibarra muttered.

"What about it?" Katya turned to Ibarra.

"Nothing, not important." Ibarra replied.

Katya never probed deeper and just let the conversation die on its own. However, my group knew where Ibarra was coming from and that story could be retold at a later time to Katya and the rest.

Most of the rooms we entered had mostly clothes left and there was little to nothing about everything else. There were some occasional knives or even an empty gun but it would always come from a soldier or a guard that they barricaded themselves inside with. Food items were also scarce aside from a few candies tucked away but it could all be attributed to the place we started with.

We just needed to be in the right place to be able to scavenge what we were looking for.

Each floor up to the last was almost the same exact fucking thing and we plowed through each one of them. The worst floors were the 1st floor to the 3rd floor because a lot of dead bodies littered the floor and a lot of deadheads were stuck inside barricaded rooms. However, there were still a few clusters trying to get inside, squeezing their bodies against the obstacles blocking them.

We mostly had to kite them back to our group by the staircase to slowly thin them out because there wasn't much space for evading them to the side. It would be difficult to maneuver around them in tight spaces so we took the long way on the last few floors.

The process of clearing each floor was continued right until the first floor but now, we stationed more people guarding the entrance of this building, my team included. It was because we would be holding off most of the undead outside while a few of our people would get down in the basement to turn on the generators. They already came with several gallons of fuel to power them up for a time and all they needed to do was get there and clear the area.

"Fan out so they wouldn't pile on top of one another!" I shouted as I was the first one to dash outside, holding my katana and my pistol. However, Jared took down several as soon as he saw me taking the first step outside.

-

*bzzt*

"Careful now!"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Took you guys long enough.]

*bzzt*

-

The rest of my team followed me while Artem's team fanned to the other side. They headed to the tennis court where Kaley piled bodies before while my group headed for the barracks in the front area where most of the soldier's gear were located. There was still a group by the entrance and Mikhail was still biding his time as to when he should start causing havoc with his PKM.

"THIS IS MORE FUCKING LIKE IT!!!" Bogdan exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited, there's a fucking lot at the left!" Artem gunned down the cluster approaching them.

"Artem! Just hold a point between the cafeteria and the pool but don't go too deep!" I shouted.

"Da, gotcha! I know! I know!" Artem shouted back.

I quickly shot down the five coming towards me before strafed to the right, avoiding the one coming for me. It was wearing a chef's hat and a cleaver was stuck on its neck, making it bleed out. However, just as Katya was about to approach it, Tatiana swiftly came in and sunk her blade from the bottom of its chin, pushing upward to its head.

Before it fell down, Tatiana grabbed the cleaver and threw it straight towards a dead soldier not wearing a helmet. The cleaver made its way and the soldier's head didn't offer much resistance as the cleaver sunk deep, ending its life. Tatiana pulled her blade back and went for another one wearing simple clothing.

"My turn, rest up a bit." Tatiana smiled as Katya was about to speak.

"I'm not tired!" Katya retorted.

"You don't know when you're tired. I let you run wild earlier, stay back for a bit." Tatiana shook her head as she zoomed past her, joining Ibarra on the side.

To get to the barracks, we had to go through the parking area first. I wanted to have more visibility so my group joined me with climbing over the vehicles so we could safely shoot or cut down the ones lurking on the sides. There were a lot of blindspots that came with vehicles right next to each other and even if Lois' drone was still following us and Jared watching from above, they wouldn't have a complete view of everything going on.

"Careful! We're taking these home!" I shouted.

"How about this one? Can I- we use it now?!" Katya pointed to a jeep with an M2 Browning attached on the top.