Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

It didn't take long before I picked an anime opening to release some weeb tension but I started serenading Kaley in my second song. She shrunk down from embarrassment but when Olivia and Rin started teasing her, they received a pinch in the ear. However, they just laughed it off while continuing to tease her even more.

It got chaotic for a moment but everyone had their turn on the mic. Time passed by quickly and our little bit of extra energy was eventually spent. Olivia was already yawning when we were cleaning up and Kaley brought her to their room to tuck her in. She came back when Rin just excused herself and she was fidgeting as she looked at me.

Kaley's face was a little red, "H-Hey… about the other thing we talked about earlier..."

"Hmm?"

"You know… us sharing a r-room… t-this room..."

"Oh y-yeah… i-it's fine with me if it's f-fine with y-you… I coul-"

Kaley couldn't look at me in the eye, "C-Can I think about it for a d-day? D-Don't w-worry… it's j-just… you know..."

I just tilted my head so I could see her blushing face, "Kaley… take all the time you need, okay? I-"

Before I managed to finish my sentence, Kaley just hugged me tight before giving me a quick kiss. I tasted her sweet lips once more but before I managed to enjoy it, she broke off from me, running back to her room and almost slamming the door. Zeus once again peeked inside my room, seeing me stunned, but he just shook his head and instantly headed down.

'The fuck did just happen?'

I was still processing what occurred but I just ended up diving into my bed and sleeping soundly.

Day 5

I got woken up by Zeus as he was incessantly licking my face, and that was when I remembered that I didn't close the door. He was once again curled up in one of my blankets while his tail was out from the other end, waggling nonstop. I just pulled him close so I could hug him even tighter but once I quickly checked my clock to see it was almost 6:00 AM, my radio buzzed.

-

*bzzt*

[Dude! Dude! Wake up! There's this hot- I mean a woman here looking for you! She said that she was sent here and she came in this awesome military car or something! Hello? Dude?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Copy. I'll be there soon."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[A-Ah… o-okay!]

*bzzt*

-

I ended the call and I just put on my usual loadout as I headed down with Zeus. Allan was already waving his arms trying to signal me something but for the love of all things holy, I couldn't fucking understand his own version of sign language. When I walked up the catwalk, I got a good look at the woman in question.

She was casually standing outside by her black Humvee, leaving a trail of fresh corpses. She seemed to be older than me by a few years but we were about the same height. She had an athletic figure, long legs, blonde hair in a rough bob, blue eyes, and a fierce look with a presentable face.

She was dressed in a tactical/dark camo outfit though a leather jacket was hanging from her shoulders. She seemed to be waiting for me to arrive but her gaze shifted to me once I scanned over her for a brief second earlier.

She started, "It appears that you are the person I'm looking for, correct?"

'That accent… Russian?'

I replied, "It depends, you are?"

"Smirnova, Tatiana Smirnova."

"Ishiyama, Sky Ishiyama."

Her expression changed when she confirmed my name, "Very well. I think you've already been briefed on my mission. Can I come in, Mr. Ishiyama?"

"Yeah, kinda."

I just vaulted over the wall to get into the fence much faster. She was watching my every move but all I did after that was open the fence for her. She parked her vehicle by our own and she immediately looked around with a much different expression. She seemed puzzled to see everyone inside but her eyes eventually landed on me.

"You are the leader here, correct?"

"Yeah, I-"

Before I even managed to finish my sentence, she just lifted up from the air and spun around, delivering a kick that violently slashed through the air. Everything happened so fast and her heel was right by my face. I managed to dodge it by tilting my head backward but the air that followed after that was fucking strong.

'That's full force!'

Before she landed, I tried to time my sweep towards her feet but I heard a creak and she suddenly changed directions mid-air as she somersaulted. I didn't have time to think about how that happened because another heel was coming from above. I rolled to the side to dodge her but I lifted myself with my hands as I sent a diagonal slice with my right foot.

I was sure it would connect but she bent her body in an impossible angle and completely dodged my attack.

We were back to square one and she opened with an elbow coming for my left side while I countered with a right straight. It would've been a simultaneous hit but I managed to catch her elbow with my left hand while she tilted her head to dodge my right straight. She felt the force behind my blow as her hair blew back but she suddenly grinned.

'Fuck.'

Her right knee was already going straight for my groin but I tried to meet it with my own and trade blows. I was sure to succeed but that knee was just her precursor to jump in front of me and wrap her body on my right arm. I was caught off-guard as her legs snaked around my neck while keeping a tight hold on my arm, trying to lock it completely.

'FUCK!'

She was now hanging on my body and I was in a battle of keeping my arm folded or not. I was flexing it as hard as I could and I began bearing down on her as I took it to the ground, pushing my own weight against her, instead of her just pulling my arm down with her weight.

We locked eyes as she began losing the strength check so she immediately let go and stood with her hands. With that said, she twisted her body once more, delivering four deadly kicks from that position. I took the easy way and jumped back, gaining some distance so I could stretch my sore arm for a little bit.

She just stood up and looked at me but she was smirking from the distance.

'You thought you already won, huh?'

I just grinned and said, "I'll show you something..."

Her thin eyebrows lifted from one side as I changed my stance. I raised my fists and assumed the orthodox position but my legs were planted firmly on the ground. She must've thought I was just buying for more time as she quickly moved in, but she was still wary of my range. She already knew that I was right-handed but I did something she didn't expect.

'Gotcha.'

*knock*

Something just nicked the tip of her chin and she instantly wobbled and lost her bearings. She was still coming for me with a confused expression but she eventually fell on the ground unconscious. Everyone watching us was confused as fuck but I just sat down and regulated my breathing.

'That's why...'

If someone was in the orthodox or the right-handed position, theoretically, their weight would obviously be distributed in their left foot if they would try to kick with their right. So, I led her into thinking that and I even planted my feet down to create an image of a kick coming from yours truly.

With that said, given that I'm right-handed, she thought I would be delivering a kick from my right foot and she positioned herself in a way that my right foot would still be out of range when she rushed in. However, I shifted the distribution of my weight from my left foot into my right foot.

The switch was very unnoticeable and I simply kicked with my left foot.

I didn't apply much force because a simple nick from the right angle would've knocked anyone out. It wouldn't do much physical harm like a bruise would, but their brain would get rattled over and over until they lose their balance and fall unconscious. There were many ways to connect with her chin but a kick coming from an impossible angle was almost unguardable.

'Tatiana, huh...'

It was then that I noticed that the creak from earlier was due to her using the bumper of her Humvee, kicking against it, and using it to change direction mid-air. It had a speck of dirt that came from her boots and I failed to notice it earlier. The people watching us just managed to exhale as they were holding their breaths the whole time. Oscar was one of them and he immediately rushed to check on her.

"Kid! What the fuck did you do?!"

"Wha- She attacked me first!"

"Haaa~ You should've went easy!"

"Hey! Her attacks are full force! It's hard to hold back if you're defending against that! My arm's still sore, you know!"

"Bah! Whatever! Let's see if I- Oh! Here it is..."

Oscar pulled out a small bottle from his pouch and he placed it under Tatiana's nose after removing the cork. He only waved it for a little while and the moment she opened her eyes, her body tensed as she jumped back, looking around before seeing me sitting on the ground, chilling.

I just gave her a cheeky smile before she looked at the ground and sighed heavily.

Tatiana then walked up to me and gave a sincere bow, "I apologize for attacking you without warning. I'm still questioning my assignment and I just needed to make sure. You're also in the Army, correct?"

"No."

"Ah, Navy?"

"No."

"I see, Marines?"

"No."

"CIA?"

"No."

"MI6?"

"No."

"..."

"No."

"I didn't follow with another question..."

"Oh..."

Tatiana got confused even more as she stared at me, "W-What is your military affiliation then?"

"No military affiliation, I'm just a civilian. Oscar over there, the one who woke you up, is a veteran, US Military. Oh! I did have basic training for half a year."

'Not including the other stuff...'

Tatiana just looked at me in shock. She kept staring at my face whether it would give a nervous tick or would suddenly change to end in a long joke but in the end, I kept the same expression.

"N-No... You're actually kidding, correct?"

"Incorrect! I'm serious but thank you for the compliment."

"I-Impossible! I still can't remem- Secret Service?"

"Hah! Can't I be just a regular guy? I've been around places but I assure you I am not in whichever organization you think I belong to. Well, that would be really cool if it was real..."

"..."

Tatiana looked like she was still holding doubts about me but I just continued to smile like an idiot. I just stood up and dusted off but she kept on staring at me with her blue eyes. She was scanning every part of my body as I continued to dust myself off but I noticed that she faintly smiled before looking away.

'What is she thinking now? Haa~ Probably another organization… heh. I guess I'll just have fun with it...'

I stood in front of her and offered my hand, "Let's start over. You're from the Russian Army, right?"

Tatiana looked at my hand before shaking it firmly, "Correct. I'm from the Russian Armed Forces."

"You came with others, right?"

"Correct. We came from a ship; the rest of the team were mainly dispatched in your other island group while a few of us were deployed here."

"I see, how many of you are on this island group?"

"Four in total. One of us was sent to scout the camps that are still maintaining connections with your president while the other two were tasked to infiltrate or investigate the camps that have gone AWOL. I was, however, send to this place and was tasked to follow the orders of a person belonging to a special unit named Sky Ishiyama."

'Special Unit? Ah… must be from the guy I spoke to at the DDR Camp...'

Oscar interjected, "Stop talking about the boring stuff. What do you think of this place so far?"

Tatiana paused as she looked around once more, "I-It's different. I thought of a more militaristic or covert base but this place feels like… a home."

I faintly smiled as I said, "I did tell you that I'm just a civilian. So… do you have any other missions besides following my orders? Any goals? Objectives? We could help you with that if you tell us?"

Tatiana replied with a hint of concern, "N-Nyet… umm, n-no. I was just told to do anything that you ask and never leave your sight because you'd know what to do."

"Ah… is that so?"

"Correct."

Tatiana couldn't see Oscar from her side but the motherfucker looked like he just won the lottery. He was dancing around like an idiot and I almost broke my straight face when he tripped on a rock. I was about to ask more questions but Aunt Sharon came calling, telling everyone that the food was ready.

The ones present were still around but they slowly dispersed to wake up the ones who were still sleeping. However, I heard a faint grumble from Tatiana's direction when the smell of the food wafted over us. She was still keeping a straight face but looking at her now, she seemed to be really tired from the trip.

I faintly smiled as I looked at her, "Tatiana, the first order of the day is to…"