Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

My interest got piqued by her statement but I already know the names of the main guys I was looking for. Before she even got to say their names, I went ahead of her, "Wu Ching, Jameson Lim, Peter Colangco, Herbert Tuan, and Garbo Marcelo. Which one of them was present here? You know, before they took off."

Donabelle's eyes widened and she just bitterly smiled, "G-Garbo Marcelo and Jameson Lim… we call him Mr. Lim..."

"And the other three?"

"Herbert Tuan is already dead but I don't know and haven't met or even heard the names of the other two..."

"He's dead? What happened?"

"H-He… he just never came back from a run. A few of his men died too and… and… the fights started after that."

"Fights? You mean an inner conflict between them?"

'Is it the same time when we're in the City of Manila? Hmm… I guess the president already took care of one of them...'

"Y-Yes..."

"If they started fighting one another, how come did they leave hand-in-hand? If it was me, I would be offing the other one or handing them as a bargaining chip."

"I… I don't know… We were just… your guys attacking the harbor and us being outnumbered might've changed their minds or something..."

"I see… anything else to tell me?"

"Are you really not gonna kill us?"

"I already told you, if you haven't had a sip of-"

"I didn't! I swear! I could do many things! Many, many~ things… whatever you want I co-"

"Stop."

"Please, check my body again… I could strip down if you want! Here! Look at me! I don't have the black lines they're talking about too! I'm not burning up too! I'm normal! Just take me!" Donabelle exclaimed, stripping all of her clothes in front of me before I managed to stop her.

Each of her clothing was now removed, and her bare body was on display. I felt nothing but pity the moment I laid my eyes on her because she was hiding more wounds in deeper places. Besides the burn marks from the cigarettes, bruises and other wounds were present which I surmise didn't come from a deadhead. Instead, they all came from the people who abused her and twisted her mind to such a degree.

There was a moment when she flipped and tried to seduce me once more but when she noticed that I wasn't interested and just pitying her, she just switched back and cried as she put on her clothes.

"Donna… I'm gonna tell you again. After a few days, if we see no signs of you turning into one of them, you only have one thing to pass on. I'm gonna verify the information you gave me and I hope you're telling the truth. Those two things will decide whether you live or not and I hope to see you in a better shape than now."

"..."

"Furthermore, I could tell that you need help. I'm gonna talk to each one of you first and I'll bring all of you to stay at my place for the moment. You'll be given all the basic necessities and after a time, depending on yourselves, you'd be part of my group. First-"

"Really?! That's great!"

"Listen, I want you to have a talk with someone."

"Someone? Who?"

"A professional. She's helped a lot of people deal with stuff and I'm sure she could help you in your situation. In our world today, almost no one would have this chance and I hope you make the best of it. We'll talk again once everything is accounted for. Again, do you have anything else to tell me?"

"..."

"Okay, see you-"

"Wait..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you… could I give you a hug?"

"Hmm? No, sorry. How about this? Let's start with an upwards nod first, yeah?"

"Hahaha… sure… for the record… I never drank from the faucet since yesterday… I have my own bottle that I haven't finished..."

"Hmm, that's good. We'll see."

"Still don't trust me, eh? I hope you do someday..."

"Of course."

"So, upwards nod. Like this?" Donnabelle nodded upwards.

"Yep." I returned with my own.

Donnabelle just faintly smiled after that and I called for the soldier watching outside. She was soon escorted to the rest of the group and soon, a much older lady walked into the room I was in. She was also wearing a fresh set of clothes but she was nervous as she laid her eyes on me.

'Let's see… Imelda Vargas, 68 years of age… used to be married to Reynaldo Vargas who was not here… a housewife and a mother of two which were also not present among the group outside...'

"Please, sit down."

"You… you look young… are you really a soldier, young man?"

"Not exactly. Can I please know your name?"

"My name? Umm, I'm Imelda Vargas…"

"Age?"

"68..."

"Civil Status?"

"I'm a widower… I was married to Reynaldo Vargas for close to 30 years..."

"I see… can I know what you used to do before it started? You know, the end of the world?"

"I don't really have a job that time. I used to be a school teacher but I resigned to take care of my kids..."

I began to ask questions which I already know the answer to and this time, it went smoother than expected. Everything checked out and I started to ask questions to which correlated to the information Donnabelle gave me.

"Tell me about the people who used to be in charge here."

Imelda looked down as her eyebrows scrunched up and said, "Ah… there's this cop I saw in the news before and a Chinese guy we always call Mr. Lim. There was this other one but he never came back. I think they c-call him He… Herber? Herbert? I'm not really sure but he's half-Chinese and half-Filipino..."

'Checks out...'

"I see… can you tell me about the work they make you do here?"

"Me? It's all housework… I'm in charge of cooking food, washing dishes, laundry, cleaning, and etc. but it's several times harder… I have a few people with me so it's bearable, to say the least… I'm lucky they never made me kill… those poor fellows outside..."

"Poor fellows? You mean the dead?"

"They're really poor fellows, aren't they?"

"In a sense, yes. But if you think about it, it's better to lay them to rest, right? If we let them as is, they might hurt more of us and make it harder for the ones trying to solve this thing."

"Hmm… I guess you're right about that, young man..."

I tried to ask more questions but Imelda didn't know as much as Donabelle because she was mostly inside one of the warehouses, doing the work she's been told to do with the others. When I asked her about what she knew about Donabelle personally, all she told me was she would do odd jobs here and there. She told me that Donabelle would sometimes disappear for a day or two and would come back with bruises that needed to be tended to.

"I see, thank you for the info. As we agreed upon, we'll first make sure that you're not-"

"I know, young man. But let me tell you, if it's my time, it's my time. No one can change that… wouldn't you agree with me at least once?"

I just smiled as I let a soldier escort her outside but that was when I heard people working on the front gate that was destroyed. I was looking through the window from the second floor and I could see everything from up here. The men that Morales called to get here brought several tools and building materials to construct a new gate and I stepped outside to get a better look.

Jose tapped me from behind, "What are you doing here? Done already? I remember you have more to talk to, right?"

"Yeah, just curious about the type of gate you'll be building."

"Nothing too fancy. We just need to make a simple and sturdy one before the sun sets and we'll just make it better tomorrow. Worst case, we just patch it right in and have a few vehicles block the entrance."

I scratched my chin as I looked to the side, "Ah, then I suggest making a poor man's airlock then. You could use those shipping containers on those trucks as a makeshift funnel on the outside if you line them by the side of the entrance and start to weld a few hinges for the gate. You could use those shipping containers as platforms too or if you're adamant about it, stack two at each side and just make use of a ladder to get to the top and have some people watch over it."

"Yeah, that could work."

"Cool, happy to help."

"No, you're helping us make it. Most of what you said flew over my head so tell my men to do the heavy lifting."

"I still have to-"

"Stay here for the night then. I need to talk about something important with you too." Morales suddenly popped from behind us.

'Great...'