Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

As soon as I applied force, my blade traveled the same path. Since the deadhead I would be cutting down next was a little taller, the path it used got altered at the last second. My blade entered the side of its cheek, exiting its temple on the other side. The cut was a little deeper this time and it almost removed a large portion of its head completely. If I was just a step closer, I would've made its head a lighter by a few grams.

The tip of my blade got stained by what was left with their heads but I continued to attack them by stabbing the third one right inside its left eye socket.

It offered little to no resistance and it just flopped down the moment my blade entered a few inches inside. I quickly pulled my blade back to do the same attack for the one right next to it wearing torn robes but this time, I came at an angle and stabbed through its mouth. Its rotting teeth easily gave way as I stabbed upward and ended its life for good.

I quickly stepped back as soon as I pulled my blade because the places to maneuver around after putting down a few bodies needed a reset.

I strafed to the side to face the ones still coming for and the gap of two bodies made by Kaley earlier made all the difference for me. A wide horizontal swing nicked the heads of the deadhead on my side and one on Tatiana's side as I continued to advance further. Tatiana was also making use of the gap Kaley made but she was on the other alternating side, kiting a few away from me so she could take them down her own way.

No one was talking as much and all we could hear aside from their growls and snarls were the sound of their bodies hitting the gravel path after a delivered strike on their heads. We continued to mow them down and the last one in front of me got put down by a vertical strike that came from below, carving straight through its chin, almost cutting its head in half when it exited its forehead. Rotting bodies were left behind us and the rest of Marvin's group started to place them in a visible area.

I wiped my blade quickly before we entered the library with a busted door and semi-boarded up windows. It only had a single floor but it was wider compared to two standard basketball courts.

Surprisingly, the library wasn't repurposed to be something of use for the people surviving inside. Tons of books were still on their shelves but a few of them were knocked down, spilling the hardcovers of the books stored on the bloody floor. The dead inside was fewer than expected and it seemed like we faced most of them from the small herd earlier.

-

*bzzt*

"How is it?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Yeah, there isn't much here. Just check the fire exit where a couple is munching on each other. Aside from those bro, there isn't any more inside. Wait, I'll attract them for y- did you just shoot them?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Yes, saw them stand up."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Nevermind, want me to head to the dorms?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Yeah, we're waiting on you."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Heh, still no ferals eh?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"If there are here, they would've been the first ones to appear. I think based on observation was that they never stop moving. Well, until one of them catches a victim or gets caught by the ones under the train station."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Hmm, that's true.]

*bzzt*

-

The dormitories seemed to be the most luxurious place to lay anyone's head because not only each room only had one family residing in them, a few select rooms only had one or two people living with extra privilege. However, the only thing it did for those people was to have a quiet place to kill themselves before coming to terms with what was about to happen to them.

The dead that rained on them didn't choose whether the people living in the special rooms were to be spared because each place was in the same state as any other room. The ones that were broken into joined the herd while the ones that were properly barricaded either had someone that shot or hang themselves.

The only difference was that some rooms still had a lot of food stored in them while the others had little to nothing which could mean that a few of them tried to hold out as long as possible before taking their lives.

Brian was looking a little glum once more so I had to address it.

"Any problem? Mr. Trying?" I asked, half-joking.

"What? Oh- I just thought the rest of them could also be here." Brain replied.

"The rest of what? Your family? Why weren't you with them when it started then?" Matthew asked.

"Like you're one to talk!" Kaley immediately snapped back at Matthew.

"Ah- just asking the kid here. I know I fucked up, it won't happen again..." Matthew almost shrunk down but the rest were trying to hold their laughter.

"If I remember correctly, you left home, right?" Carlo interjected, looking at Brian.

"Yeah, just surprised to see him here… in that condition to boot. I'm not that close with my family but still- they're here." Brian replied, cutting mid-sentence because he noticed a few soldiers approaching us.

Everyone turned to where Brian was looking and saw Artem and the rest of his team approach.

"You guys done?" I asked.

"Da, been to the maintenance area too. No graves but there's an open pit covered by leaves. A ton of dead fucking bodies just piled on top of one another. It's right next to their garden too." Artem replied, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Like what happened in one of the village, right?" Bogdan added.

"Village? Where?" Mikhail asked.

"Heh, long story. We'll exchange more once we get back. You'd be surprised by one of them." Natasha chimed in.

We exchanged information about what we experienced and discovered but the thing that got brought up a few times was the state of the bodies we found in the dumpster, the water storage, and the open pit.

Everything was mishandled and if this was the world before, a ton of rules regarding the handling of the dead would've been broken.

"Why did it get to this though?" Matthew asked.

"Hmm, the only thing I could think of was when it started. I don't know if you remember but in our DDR Camp and in the DDR Camp we found Juan in, they transported a lot of doctors towards the president's island group to help with the research and to secure them. We could teach a regular person how to hold a gun but it would be difficult to teach someone what a doctor knows just by sitting in casually. We'd need a lot more time to accomplish that." I started.

"I do remember you mentioning that before..." Kaley added.

"We're lucky to have a decent number left in our place while a few stumbled as well but this place seemed to have left undergrads or even quacks for the most part. Let me tell you guys, only a single mistake is needed to bring down a camp even if it's full of soldiers and strong individuals." I continued.

"Is that why you never let our doctors experiment with them?" Tatiana added.

"One of the reasons, yes. I've done a fair bit myself with Tim and the rest of the cult last time but all we discovered is more ways of how we could get infected, not treating this thing that we have. The only treatment we still knew up to this day is aiming for the head with a gun or any other weapon that could kill." I continued, scratching my head.

"Hmm, it works though." Artem added.

"Wait till you see the coconut heads. Surprised us the first time." I replied.

"What?" the rest of Artem's team turned towards me.

"Stop giving them weird names! Those are the hollow ones, right?!" Kaley exclaimed.

"Well, they're not exactly hollow, right? As soon as we break their heads open, the black goop gushes out!" I retorted.

"Bah! Stop bickering we still had a lot to go through and I'm starting to get hungry!" Matthew roared.

"Fuck, you don't have to remind me!" Tatiana grimaced as she fished for another candy bar in her pouch.

"It's just a couple of hours after noon, you're always hungry!" Katya added, shaking her head in amusement.

The clearing process continued for a few more hours but nobody let up until I declared the place to be clear of them. After clearing each building in the university, I made everyone sweep it one more time before I led my group to check some rooms the other people might've missed looting.

Everything was brought up to the roof while I categorized everything and I sure wished that Rin was here to help me. Everyone present managed to bring random stuff aside from the essentials but I still needed to check and record properly. The priority was the guns and ammo and the medical supplies but there were still a lot of food items that could last a while if preserved properly.

I was busy recording each one when my earpiece buzzed. I was about to berate the person that disturbed me but I was glad that I stopped myself.

-

*bzzt*

[Yo! It's Rod! Come here!]

*bzzt*

-