Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"What is this place?" Jose turned to me after getting out of their truck.

"It's a shop for used cars and my Unc used to talk about this place. He said that the owner was a fixer and he could find you anything that you're looking for as long as you got the money for it. I don't know if he's still alive and I just thought it would be worth it to check this place out." I replied, driving the drones inside to have a better look.

"Hmm."

"I'll be quick, don't worry."

The huge lot was filled with different cars that belonged to different decades. Some of them were still in pristine condition while a few required light touch-ups or a complete overhaul.

The vehicles upfront were the ones either new or restored perfectly while the ones in the middle were the ones for wholesale or for people looking for parts to take from it. However, the important ones were at the back because they were the ones smuggled from overseas and managed to get past customs because of the owner's touch.

'I'm guessing he made use of the small port to make quick drop-offs...'

As I hovered the drone to the back area, I saw several shipping containers forming a line with expensive locks securing them. I instinctively licked my lips as a smile slowly formed on my face.

"Bingo, we're going in."

"Hmm? What did you find?" Kaley asked, curious.

"We don't know yet. We'll see once I pick the locks."

The inside was free of the dead so we left most of our people to guard the entrance. Kaley and Tatiana came with me while Romeo and Jerry came with Jose. I thought they would be fucking clueless but Jerry was already putting dibs on a few vehicles outside like the same model Raptor we were driving, a 1999 Ford Super Duty, and a 2006 Dodge Ram SRT-10.

"You sure about that?" I probed.

"Yeah. Finders keepers, right?" Jerry grinned, looking at me.

"Okay, I'll call dibs on what is inside those shipping containers at the back."

"Huh- What? Wait a sec! You know something, didn't you?!"

"You're the one that started calling dibs. Why am I not allowed to? I'm the one that led you to this place, right? I could've easily gone to this place tomorrow or some other time without you guys so I could pick everything that I want."

"I-" Jerry started to sweat but he turned to Jose who was also curious about the shipping containers.

"I'll give you the first pick then we'll go in turns, sounds fair?" Jose suggested.

"Hmm, I want the first two picks and you could keep the ones Jerry put dibs on."

"Deal."

"Deal."

'Why isn't Jose the one in charge? Everything would've been easier...'

I started picking the locks the moment we reached the back but Jose made use of a blowtorch to melt the ones I haven't gone through yet. I was in pain of losing expensive locks and the deathblow was when Romeo came out of the office with the keys to everything.

I was starting to have a bad mood but it immediately lightened when the doors of the shipping containers were opened.

"That's a… a..." Jerry trailed, failing to recognize some of them.

"A 1968 Dodge Power Wagon, a 2000s Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, a 1970s Ford F-250 Highboy, a 1991 Mazda RX-7, a 2007 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Supercharged, and a 1985 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler," I said, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, that sounds about right..." Jerry nodded a few times, inspecting the R34 almost uncomfortably.

"Heh, I'll take the R34 and the F-150 first." I declared, ignoring his hints.

"What?!"

"You already got the SRT-10, the fuck are you whining about?"

"Can't you take the classics first?!"

"I don't see an R32 over there, so I'll go with what I want first."

"Haaaaaa~"

"I'll take the Jeep." Jose decided on his first pick.

"The Power Wagon or Oscar will kill me."

"The other truck then, the Highboy was it?"

"Yeah, that lands me the RX-7. If you need your vehicles to have custom bodywork, drive them to our place for a small fee. Or, you could also give me the Highboy as payment."

"I'll think about it."

"Let me pick a few from the ones in front then."

Jose and I shook hands to close the deal and we made separate calls to get our own people to take the vehicles home. We gave them the directions to this place and we left two of Jose's soldiers so they would know what to take. They would be staying inside one of the vehicles they already picked while making less noise as possible.

The trip to Daang Hari's Barangay Hall went more smoothly as expected because we made use of the route Morales and his team used to get here. Aside from that, we discovered that only the larger shops were looted around this area and a few small businesses were left intact. However, a few residential areas were burned to the ground, giving no chance of finding useful or even hidden items among their household.

'Even a bar of soap or a piece of cloth shouldn't be taken lightly...'

Hours continued to pass and even Artem's group managed to join us and we were now in the last two barangays namely Tangos North and Tangos South before Tanza, the last barangay at the opposite side of the harbor.

Artem managed to secure several more hard drives not only from the neighboring barangay halls but also from other places I've mentioned last time. They only took the hard drives from the places they have broken into and that was why they were faster than us which only managed to take a fourth of the required drives. Aside from that, we were following behind Jose who was also driving his own path, only following my directions a few times.

This ride made us use more bullets than a normal trip would usually cost because we had to keep up with Jose's usage. Time was a very important factor for them and bullets were just secondary. They would always opt for the fastest way to take care of the dead even if it was inefficient in my eyes. However, I would sometimes just let them do all the work so I could save a few rounds even for a bit.

The barangay hall was right next to a chapel, an elementary school, and a high school. They belong to a single block but they were surrounded by rows and rows of houses strewn around without any organization, making the place a hotspot for the dead. The only saving grace was that a couple of blocks of a residential area had also burned to the ground, giving us some leeway with dealing with them.

We noticed a trail of bodies on the way on the barangay hall but we piled several times more than what we came upon after making a large perimeter with my people and Jose's soldiers.

I would've preferred driving around while continuously clearing them but the formation would be broken if a portion of them stayed with Jose's group. I could as easily give an order for him to follow me but middle-aged dudes needed a different kind of approach to make them follow you naturally.

My group would slowly show them that there was a better way of dealing with the dead and make them recognize it by making them do it by themselves in the future.

They kept using the same rifle rounds over and over while my group was already accustomed to switching to lower calibers when facing the regular ones. Switching to larger ones was done easily enough after much training and leaving a few shooters as Kaley and Jared would always do the trick. Aside from that, going melee was our first go-to while their M16s were theirs.

A few sensible soldiers started to copy us but the rest were satisfied with keeping their distance.

We eventually cleared the ones in the immediate vicinity as we made a group from each side to scout around, killing more that wasn't attracted to the noise. The rest of us made the perimeter smaller by a few vehicles as my team entered the barangay hall.

"Why did they even bother giving it two names yet they only have a single barangay to house them in?" Tatiana asked.

"I'm not 100% sure but Tangos is twice the size of the other barangays that's why they cut it in half. I think it's a population thing the registry needed to maintain that's why they did it. Well, the inside is divided to accommodate from where the residents came from." I explained.

"Found the drives." Ibarra said from the other room.

"Great."

Everything was taken into account before we went outside and that was when Jose tried to contact Morales.

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*bzzt*

"Morales, copy?"

*bzzt*

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