Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"What?" Kaley muttered, turning to me.

"What happened? Did they finally lose their minds? I highly doubt it though." I glanced at Kaley before looking at the rest of them.

"That's what we're discussing currently. Take a seat, both of you." Rod took a sip of coffee before waving us over.

After we pulled up a chair and sat down, we were told what Morales' men from the harbor reported to them the moment they got in contact a few hours after midnight.

"When everyone's mostly asleep, the guy running their place drove out with everything they had left with his men. That guy took all of their food, water, medicine, guns, fuel, ammo, their women, and all the best luxury items you could think of. Basically, they escaped while leaving the others for dead. They even rammed through the gates keeping the biters outside, leaving the ones that they left to have a nasty bit of surprise waking up..." Morales narrated what he was told.

"And they got this info from?"

"The ones that survived. My men received a call for help, telling them to come to the other side of the city but they obviously didn't know the full situation back then. Even so, only an idiot would believe such a thing and come to the rescue, risking everyone's lives from a mere phone call."

"That's true."

"Well, hold your horses, kid. There's more to it." Matthew interjected.

"Hmm?"

"A group was seen hurriedly gunning for the harbor, clad with their handheld weapons. My men thought it was a last-ditch effort for an attack or one of them is carrying another explosive device but they called for help. Well, one of them had a bite to her neck so she was immediately… helped. The rest were disarmed, checked for bites, given a wash, held for questioning, and that was when every piece came together." Morales continued.

"They're telling the truth then? We still need to be wary though. What else did they tell you?"

"Yes, they're a group of seve- six now but they said that there are still a few dozen left in their base, or what's left of it. Those people's situation is unknown right now but we're just getting started when you got here." Morales concluded.

"I see, any idea where their 'leader' has run off to? Probably the Bulacan area, right?"

"I thought we blocked the bridge that could lead to Bulacan? It's the bridge by Tawiran, right?" Kaley chimed in.

"Well, there's still the narrow roads formed from the fish ponds that could be used north of their place. It's not as paved but it's still traversable… if I remember correctly, that leads to Taliptip, and depending on the route they took… the Intercity or one of Mauricio's business partners. Have you asked them yet?" I turned to Oscar.

"Yeah, Mauricio has never seen them but he's trying to contact the others and give what little description he could. If found, I told them to hold them for as long as possible before we nip their asses down."

"Hmm, better be wary of his other business partners. Unless they have another place of their own, they could already be housing them in and not telling us. It's only logical to think of the worst." Johnny added, pointing doubt.

"Hmm, they better think about who they're crossing then. That fucker took several of my soldiers' lives. If the soldiers that are keeping them safe caught wind of that, it's over. They'll finish it without us having to do the dirty work." Rod said, sipping his cup of coffee once more.

"That'll work too, I guess."

"Anyway, what's the plan now? Kid?" Oscar turned to me once more.

"Before that, what's do you plan to do with the people already detained and the ones we would or would not be saving? It's your call." I turned to Morales.

"We need to gather more information. We got a shallow description from the ones that came to the harbor but at least we got their names. We need more identifying traits and I need more people confirming that so we need to rescue those people and go from there." Morales replied.

"Yeah, I know that. However, what I'm talking about is whether you'll stab them in the head after you're done with them or not. If it's up to me, I'll see who I could use first because their loyalty to their old boss definitely plummeted after that. Make them earn their keep but keep a close eye on them while slowly reclaiming areas. I have a program I'm running here and I'm even keeping people with past records do odd jobs here and there."

"My wife's been talking to them and it's been going well so far. She could pick out nuances and shit from people and we'll just 'send out' the people not fitting the criteria. It's just an option but it's up to you. I'll be present as well because that's my wife we're talking about." Matthew added.

"Hmm, I talked with them yesterday. They seem reformed but they're still closely monitored. I also talked to this… Gemma, was it? Heard the story but she likes it here. She's been going on a few runs outside too and even trusted with a weapon." Iskoh added some more.

"I'm-"

I cut Morales off, "You know what? You bring your people to the other side of the city to get them while I bring my own towards that place's City Hall. I'll get all of their records, even the records of those fuckers that escaped so we'll learn more about them. After that, we'll follow you back to the harbor and do another round like last time. I just hope a different outcome would happen."

"How about us?" Oscar chimed.

"Mauricio still hasn't met Rod face-to-face and since there's a lot of soldiers in the Intercity not knowing the president's here. It would be a morale boost of some sort seeing you two there and we'll get to place nets all around to sniff out the ones we're looking for. It would be bad if they hunkered down somewhere and started another base of operations so it's best to locate them and pursue them as fast as possible. They could only go so far so we'd be able to locate them in a span of a few hours."

"That place, eh? Guess we'll have a little drive. I might see a few familiar faces in the rabble." Rod chuckled, finishing his cup of coffee.

"You know some people over there?" Oscar asked.

"There's this fixer there who used to sell my son car parts-"

"WHAT?! I KNOW THAT GUY!!!"

"EH?!"

"He sold me that Camaro over there!"

"FUCKING KNEW IT!!!"

'It's a small world...'

The two got overly excited but the rest of us continued to talk about a few more things but Aunt Sharon interrupted us by asking everyone to bring the food outside. Our early morning meeting was immediately halted by our grumbling stomachs so we obliged by taking the food out then placing them neatly on the tables provided.

We had a simple meal of scrambled eggs, tuyo, and a vegetable medley as a side dish. As always, we ate it over piping hot rice paired with a cup of chocolate or coffee. The kids were trying to avoid eating the vegetables but Aunt Sharon would pour even more servings on their plates.

"Finish that or I'll add more, clear?" Aunt Sharon said with an angelic face but with a devilish aura.

"Y-Yes!" the kids exclaimed, scared to death.

It didn't take us long to finish eating so we geared up, checked our vehicles, then drove out with everybody.

Oscar and Rod drove to the other entrance to head to the Intercity and Morales send most of his soldiers to accompany them. Aside from more soldiers, Oscar brought a few more things for trade with Unc Zardon, driving the eight-wheeler with them. They also took half of Artem's team that was supposed to stay in the compound because they need more soldiers that could handle themselves and were not too… battered from yesterday.

I wanted to come to the Intercity as well but there was always this thought in my head that things might not always seem what they were. It could be me overthinking things but I wanted to get all the information that I could from that place's City Hall and I wanted to be the backup just in case things went south. Artem and his team were also with us and he seemed to have recovered pretty quickly.

Artem's eyes were fully open today compared to yesterday and his cuts and bruises only needed a bit of time for healing.

We drove the same way as yesterday but Morales and his team would head to the harbor first to get more people to form his team while my group would head our predetermined location.

We split off by the public market from last time and we drove straight across the bridge.