Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We were all in a barangay right before the place where the two cemeteries were located. Oscar bought a few groups to help him and aside from their main goal of clearing the area of anything that shouldn't be moving, they were planning to get rid of the pile of bodies we left at Monumento if they managed to finish early.

It was because if another one of those things emerged, it would probably get its fleshy gear from the place full of it. We had to clear the mess we made ourselves but we also had to figure out how to clean the other mess from the cemetery. I got a good look at the video that Honassan caught yesterday and we got fucking lucky, in a sense.

'Kinda RNG if you ask me...'

The thing we saw last time by the river was actually a similar abomination.

From the footage, it looked like a huge, fuzzy caterpillar that had human hands or legs acting as its 'fur' aside from the everpresent tentacle-like tongues. It actually had moved a few meters from the river but it couldn't move as fast as it could because of its sheer weight, and crawling being only its mode of transportation. There was also the pile of bodies that maybe it hadn't taken in yet that was impeding its movement.

However, from what we discovered when we scouted the area last time, the whole cemetery might be in its control.

There was no telling what would happen once we step foot inside and the difference of this one compared to last time was that the big one went for us instead of holding its own space. This one seemed to be, for a lack of a batter term, 'chilling' or just getting fattened up until it burst into pieces. A lot of irregularities had appeared on these congealed deadheads and it was better to think of a way to tackle the problem even if it wasn't as dangerous as it looked.

'The best way to go around it is to close the area off and start picking them off and the ones that try to approach the area… We could set it on fire but I doubt charred pieces of its carcass would be welcomed if we sent it over to the president's side… Hmm...'

I was deep in thought but I found Kaley tapping me on my shoulder, "Hey! Stop spacing out, Oscar's coming."

"Ah-"

Oscar rested his M249 on his shoulder as he tapped the glass several times, "The fuck are ya doing here, kid? I'm on a hot streak right now, you see? You better not break my fucking combo, got it?"

'You already did by stopping...'

I slowly lowered the glass window and said, "Sure, just waiting for your opening act to finish so we could take care of the bigger problem."

"Cheh. If you guys cleaned up after yourselves, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"I'm talking about the one in the cemeteries! Not the pile we left on-"

"Don't fucking 'we' me, you guys did it."

"What's wrong with you today, old man? You're too agitated, relax. Did you shave your butt hair and it's growing back again?"

"WHAT THE FUCK- KID?! WE AGREED THAT WE WILL NEVE- I mean… I don't know what you're talking about. What's butt hair?"

Everyone near us almost choked to death and Oscar lost all manner of composure.

"Heh, nevermind. I got an- oh..." I was about to tell Oscar of my plan to block the cemeteries first but I suddenly got some inspiration.

'Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...'

"Kid? You know I can't read minds, right?"

A lot of things were going through my head as I replied half-heartedly, "Yeah… my group needs to go back…"

"Huh? What are-"

I cut Oscar off, "Don't disturb the cemetery and just clear the surrounding area, okay? Hehehehe~"

Everyone threw me weird expressions but we hightailed it straight back home. We didn't even stop when we saw a small, stumbling herd from a distance and we just called for a group to take care of them. Aside from that, I couldn't help but smile brightly the whole time we were driving because I was excited whether the thing I just thought of would work or not.

Kaley and the rest kept on asking me as to why I was wearing a weird look on my face but I never answered them, keeping the same silly expression I was wearing earlier.

'It should work… right? It's like pinning the donkey, a few fucking times more than usual...'

As soon as we got back, we drove straight into Anthony's place. Raphael was always there with a few would-be mechanics, engineers, or trainees and the only one missing was Unc Zeidrick. They greeted us promptly before returning to their work but I discovered that Anthony had a little project of his own.

My eyes immediately lightened and excitement also appeared on his face. Raphael was a little salty only for the reason that he wasn't the one that thought of this idea himself. Anthony showed me a few more prototypes that could be applied to larger vehicles or even a trailer and for a moment, I forgot my purpose for going home early.

I was like a kid going to a theme park for the first time, "It is what I think it is, right?!"

"Yep. I just improved a little on your idea before. I still need to figure out the weight issue the moment we deploy them but do you want to see a small version?"

"A small version?"

"Yeah, I made a toy version of it but be careful, it could still puncture your skin. It has a… little bit of kick."

Anthony brought outside a box that was about 12 inches in height, about two-and-a-half times the length, and around 10 inches thick. Its sides could be seen through but looking at the 'NOT THE FINAL DESIGN' label written with a marker, I believe the top part will be the only one left untouched.

It was made with plastic but a few articles keeping it in place were made of metal, especially the spike that was nestled in a corner. However, the spike in question was installed into moving ramps that could move in either direction by small wheels and a battery-powered motor. Furthermore, the spike could jab down, delivering a blow enough to puncture a can of beans.

The device could be operated manually by a controller but he was also working on trying to make it move automatically. The final application of this device was still not fully decided on but a few had already drawn variations. One thing that caught my eye was making use of an eye tracker to send a loving spike to a deadhead's skull just by looking at it through a live feed from the container this device would be installed.

I joked, "How many can of beans have you sacrificed for that?"

"Heh, I used corn yesterday. My wife's gonna cook some chili..."

"Ah..."

We talked for a while more and before I told them about my little idea which was similar to this invention, I suggested drawing another plan for making this device a stationary trap to be placed outside our walls. It would be the same concept of piercing heads without the human touch but as the word 'trap' suggested, the dead would come to it instead of our group driving around a device made for killing deadheads.

It would also be a much viable solution because when we go on runs, we always kill the ones we encounter and only take home the ones that were special and had to be studied.

Anthony nodded a few times and said, "Hmm, that sounds about right… Doing that, we wouldn't worry about it getting too roughed up by driving like a maniac and we could also install a cheap drone attached with a speaker to fly in a set area after a few intervals… also..."

After what seemed to be an hour, Kaley and the rest who were patiently waiting behind me decided to intervene.

"Hey."

"Hmm? Oh, right! I need something made for tomorrow. One day rush, if you all could?"

Raphael decided to join us, "I thought I'd never hear the two of you stop talking. What do you need?"

"I just need some of the metal bars that Mikhail used to be welded in a small shipping container."

Raphael and Anthony tilted their heads, "Hah? That sounds lame."

My eyebrow twitched for a second, "It's either that or I'll need a way to be able to hold a soaked, wooden pole and a simple mechanism to detach it from the device holding it in place."

Raphael continued to get confused, "Wai- What's this about?"

"A wooden pole? Soaked?" Anthony added.

I showed them the footage from the cemetery and I replied, "I want to pin that shit either a thousand fucking times or I want to nail it on the first try by a huge~ fucking pole."