Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

On the way to the other barangays, we encountered more of Morales' soldiers and the ones I fought like Romeo and Jerry were present, giving me a short nod when our eyes met. Their groups were more focused on mapping out the entire area and tagging places still ripe with resources. They would still clear a small herd or loot for valuable resources but their main focus was gathering more intel.

"You guys aren't here to take more from this city, right? There are not as many places available because of the fires." Jerry commented.

"Did you forget that we're on the same team? I will always lend a hand but you got to do your part too. I just don't hand stuff to freeloaders, you got to do proper work first." I replied, tossing to Romeo the pack of smokes I picked up from the store they were parked in.

"Uh, y-you should keep it." Romeo tried to hand the pack back, nervously looking at me.

'What's this guy on about?'

"Stop being starstruck and start the engine! We still have a lot of ground to cover!" another soldier from the back of their truck exclaimed.

"Y-Yes, s-sir!"

'Ah, he's one of 'those' guys I wanted to fight last time. I believe he's Jose Pangilinan...'

Jose looked like he was in his 40s but he was well-built like Morales was. He was of average height, brown-skinned, and I noticed a faded scar behind his right ear. He was wearing the same look Morales was always wearing but his eyebrows were more relaxed, making him look a little more melancholic.

They eventually bid their goodbyes but it suddenly became awkward the moment we discovered we were going the same way. Jerry started losing his shit while Romeo tried a few times to talk with the rest of my team. At the same time, Jose just kept a stoic look after shaking his head the moment he discovered that we would be together for a time.

"If you head the same way as us, I could point out a few places where there's a lot of supplies not apparent to regular people and I could give you guys a copy of the records I'm currently taking back home. Well, I already gave a partial copy when we stopped by at the harbor." I tried talking to Jose.

"That's good, we'll follow closely then. I will let you choose a few items from the places we're looting." Jose replied, glancing at me once.

'Hmm~ At least he's not unreasonable...'

Jose's group decided to drive with us as I held my end of the deal. However, our detours got even longer because Jose would double-check the info I gave him and make a few stops of his own. Despite that, the trip became much safer because of the number of soldiers with us, taking down anything that shouldn't be moving.

'It seems that the dead here is much lesser compared to my place but the ones that fell to the bodies of water still hasn't been accounted for...'

The only time when we encountered a fair bit of the deadheads was right after we passed by the city hall that we tried to loot earlier. It was because after driving a couple of blocks ahead, right behind a huge church was two cemeteries right next to a residential area where most of the people from the lower class of society used to live in.

The number of the dead in the area could almost be estimated due to the smell that wafted over the moment we stopped completely. It was so foul and rancid because it immediately smelled different even if we were almost smelling the same thing every single day. It was like breathing in everything from a rotting corpse while we were stuck inside its coffin.

"That's the way to Daang Hari?" Jose asked, peeking out the window.

"Yeah, the only way."

"Can't we drive around?"

"We could, but… you know..."

"Hmm, you're right. Just wondering how Morales got through."

"There's that pile over there… they might've gone at full speed to avoid the ones from the cemeteries."

"That's possible."

The way the roads and the bridges were built in a way that we either punch a hole through this place or drive around and cross the bridge we were at earlier, possibly meeting up with Artem's group but taking a long time in the process. Well, the answer couldn't be more obvious.

Jose ordered his men to prod the area with their lighter vehicle and I let them do their job with clearing it with their own men.

'Let's watch for now...'

Several unsuppressed shots came one after the other, attracting everything around us. However, the ones behind us were not even a challenge because they were either a few we missed or just a handful that just managed to straddle their way towards us. The real problem was the ones right in front of us.

Jared was flying his drone above everyone else and we got an aerial view of what we had to face.

The dead came in droves and the small roads acted as a funnel to lead them to the main roads, making them converge to a large horde. Their bodies were in various states of decay and they were leaving a stain from the roads they were passing through. I could only imagine the putrid smell coming out of them if by some chance I was right in the middle of their rotting corpses.

My group was still by Jose's military truck when he gave the order to light up the ones that were fast approaching.

None of them were walking on all fours but a few sprinters were approaching them with an erratic path, making the shot in order to take them down much harder. Some would even take the path behind that larger vehicles, but a stray bullet from an automatic rifle would luckily nick their heads, making them drop dead a few steps over.

Shot after shot came one after the other and several explosions rang out when they used the M203 grenade launcher under their M16s. They were loaded with 40mm shells and they fired a couple when the horde was 350 meters away. A single 40mm shell would take out several bodies at once and there was this slight fascination when several bodies were being blown to pieces.

'I still prefer boring through their heads though… less messy… there's going melee too… we're just pressed for time...'

The soldiers stationed several meters in front of us continued to stand their ground as they fired shot after shot. Several brass casings have already fallen on their truck bed or right on the road where they planted their vehicle. Despite that, they were still going at it because the number we were facing currently doubled or even tripled the number we took down earlier.

The only action my group got was picking off a few roamers from a distance at the rear. It wasn't much help taking down one or two from a distance but it was more of sending them a message that we could do as much and from a great distance to boot. Jose just glanced at us after that but he continued to oversee the progress his soldiers made.

The dead were still coming in droves but their march had slowed because the terrain changed and made it difficult. Right by the large church I mentioned earlier, several bodies were stacked on top of one another while bits and pieces of the ones that were blown up were scattered all over.

That was when their assault slowed as well as they used fewer explosives and switched back to using semi-auto. Each shot was placed more carefully and an interval of a few seconds would occur before firing another shot. A few misses would occur but a correction shot would quickly follow from the soldier right next to the one making the shots initially.

The time they took was definitely faster compared to us when we cleared even less of the dead but my heart was bleeding from the number of bullets they used. I could've thought of more ways to deal with them but the silver lining was the casings that would end in my lap and the favor I would get from producing more bullets for their use.

'It's like a different type of addiction...'

Jose made a few calls back in the harbor before we drove around the pile of bodies we left behind. We passed by a few clinics and even stores unlooted but they were just marked for looting later. The barangay hall of Daang Hari was only a few blocks away but I made the executive decision to make another detour for an optional side quest.

We stopped by a place close to a small port but my main goal in stopping here was the huge lot covered by metal fences and several used cars parked inside of it.