Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

It would be a few meters short of the actual distance from the public market to the city hall to be exactly counted as five kilometers. Aside from that, there was a little difference about this city hall compared to its neighboring cities.

The usual setup would be to have a park, the jail, the police station, a library, and sometimes even a fire station around a city hall. However, the one in this city was actually a couple of blocks away further, surrounded by a few commercial buildings, a post office, and different delis. At the same time, two schools were also behind it, blocking the view towards the structures that were supposed to be surrounding it.

We methodically made our way and we would stop if a place needed some thinning out.

"Shouldn't we bring a truck as well, bro? Well, we could just call them but still..." Jared commented.

"Why?"

"It's another city hall, right? It would have some supplies to be taken, right?"

"Maybe, we'll see. However, chances are that the group that we were supposed to take down beat us to the punch. I just hope they didn't mess with the computers."

The drive was going smoothly right until we reached the park housing several hundred of the undead. The place was teeming more than just walking corpses because several vehicles were upturned and a few stores were burnt to a crisp. All that was left were traces from where it started and a pile of charred bodies that were probably trapped inside.

Moreso, a large truck carrying a couple of shipping containers also made a mess by turning everything it plowed into unrecognizable chunks. Bits and pieces were present but it would take an artisan to sew everything together.

"Should we clear this place first?" Kaley asked.

"We should, always. The city hall is just a couple of blocks away but we should take care of them before it becomes a more growing problem."

I gave a signal through my radio then we simultaneously pressed on our horns. The loud beeping noises turned several heads in our direction.

That was when we started to reverse our vehicles, giving us a better view of the amount we had to face. The ones that were fast to react to the noise were quickly shot down while we watched the slow ones gather at the same street where the noise came from. Their limping bodies either took a straight path or had to crash at a few obstacles along the way.

'3… no, close to 400… easy peasy...'

We then turned to Varadero St. so we could circle around and make a standard loop. The goal was to take down each one of them while making sure that none would drop by the road that would lead to the bridge we came from.

The street we turned to had several houses made with light materials so it would be easier for us to take care of once we were done.

I made Ibarra drive the Raptor while I jumped down with Tatiana and Mikhail. Kaley and Jared already took their positions while the rest of my people that were with us followed the same protocol. Artem's group was taking care of the rear as we started putting down the ones in front of us.

I immediately shot down five before I pulled my blade and held it with both hands. The moment the bodies fell down, the ones following behind them tripped and fell, causing a chain reaction. They were all squeezed tightly and one mishap would ruin their march.

Shots came one after the other from behind us and a group, several bodies behind the ones we were facing were taken care of. It made the process of killing them much easier but the danger was still everpresent. We just needed to find more ways to take care of them much easier.

We killed a few dozen at a time before we retreat and wait for them to advance. Killing them became a normal thing but the cleanup afterward was more tedious. We couldn't just burn them all in a huge pile because we wouldn't be sure if the flames would reach the ones at the bottom layer.

The key was to micro and count the bodies on the floor. A small gap between each pile should be maintained and doing that required waiting for a bit before we advance.

We were actually wasting time so we could save time for later.

The whole process took a bit to complete and the houses made with light materials were disassembled, making use of it to stoke the flames even more. We started driving towards the city hall once more after making sure that everything was taken into account. However, that was when my head started to itch.

Like most of the structures in this area, the city hall didn't fare as well as I hoped it would.

The city hall had several places in which a fire had devoured everything inside. The windows were broken, the wooden bits had turned to coal, bodies of the undead were burnt or roaming around, and the majestic paint job it used to show off had black streaks due to carbon residue and red streaks due to the dead.

'Fucking shit...'

"What now?" Tatiana asked, wiping the blood off her sword.

I furiously scratched my head with frustration before I said, "It's fine… we're just gonna have a few detours."

"Detours?" Natasha chimed in.

"Yeah, fourteen detours to be exact."

"Hmm? Where?"

"The barangay halls. There are fourteen barangays in this city and they each have their own records about the people living there. Everything is just centralized in the city hall that's why we always go for it plus the extra bonus if a DDR Camp is established in the same place..." I explained.

"We're going to all fourteen of them, bro? It's like clearing the whole city!" Jared exclaimed from my Raptor.

"What else could we do? I'm thinking of splitting the party but we should only go to the barangays right next to each other. Everyone should be able to come for back up in case anything happens."

"What if they're in the same state?"

"We just take what we could. There's also the option of checking records from schools, hospitals, libraries, police stations, and etc. A record should exist somewhere and if not, we should immediately check the back of their heads if there's a barcode or something."

"Huh?"

It took a few moments to explain the reference to the normies but we started to split the team and our resources evenly. Marvin's team came with Artem while Mark stayed with us. We went for the easiest ones first which were located near the vicinity of the harbor. The barangays near that area had barely a deadhead roaming around but the places where supplies could be available were picked clean.

-

*bzzt*

"How are you guys holding up? Katya?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[We found several hard drives but there's space for everything to be just stored in one. Natasha took care of it but how about the hard copies?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Just leave them there for now. I already made a request for the soldiers here to take back everything once they came across them. When they do another sweep, we'll get our hands on it so we could double-check if everything checks out."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Understood, how about you guys?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Let's just say we dropped off several reams of paper in the harbor and that's why I managed to put down a request face-to-face."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Lemme, you've seen the prisoners then?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Natasha? Just glanced at them but the soldiers told me that they were from the barangays closer to the other side of the city. Why'd you ask?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Nothing… just talking...]

*bzzt*

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'Oh, boy...'

-

*bzzt*

"Okay then, we'll be heading to the next one over the other bridge. It would be fairly clear but watch out for anything."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[O-Okay! See you later, bye!]

*bzzt*

-

'Oh~ boy, Oh, boy...'

Kaley and Tatiana were trying hard to contain their smiles pointed at me but I suddenly stepped on the brakes to make the Raptor jerk a few times. They almost bit their tongues and Kaley immediately pinched my sides, but it was fucking worth it. Being able to do something well could have its quirks but instances such as this couldn't be avoided entirely.

'Suffering from success… the fuck did I start thinking of that DJ...'

We would encounter a few soldiers patrolling the area while we went to other places of interest but most of them were more focused on taking back supplies and killing the dead. A few would greet us in passing but a few butthurt individuals that were on Morales' side would give Tatiana and Mikhail the stink eye and kept asking me about the next event.

'Seeds are planted most definitely… it would bring the opposing groups together… I think...'