Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Tatiana was still upset as she was looking at us but Kaley took the time to check on me. She confirmed that Tatiana didn't go as hard as she did because if the hits were full power, I would've had a few broken ribs and a cracked cheekbone. Ilana was just a few feet away from us but she decided to speak.

"I would sometimes really get bored, alright? Add to that that I'm always curious, I'd search for information about anything just to scratch this itch in my head. When I started looking up information about you, her name just came up and I dug a little bit on her as well. Your story was in her dissertation but your name was altered for obvious reasons. Let me clarify because you might ask this later... I sent him your file to confirm your identity but I didn't do the same thing for her."

Tatiana scratched her head, "I don't care about that. I only care about her and her family's current status."

"F-Fine… Like with that other woman… Jennifer Goodman, was it? Let me tell you, it's easier to learn about the current location of someone in the US Navy but it's harder to pinpoint a civilian living in Russia. I've sifted through the available lists and… U-Umm..."

Kaley interjected, "And? Did you find her? Her family?"

Ilana continued, "I found close to a thousand names and they were in the mix of the people who are alive, dead, and missing. But-"

Tatiana's face turned sour but she said as she cut her off, "She's a professor in St. Petersburg and she's older than me by only a few years. I last saw her with her husband and her kid but I'm not sure if they're still living in the same place… She's fairly up in society and her husband is an-"

Ilana interjected, "Let me finish. I already know about her, okay? After filtering the lists and checking them over and over, I found her name on two military camps."

The three of us asked, "Two?"

"Yes. They were first situated in the Viborgsky District and were later relocated to the Kronshtadtsky District. However, umm… I don't know how to say this..."

Tatiana's voice got cold as she looked at Ilana, "Just say it. It's not like I could do anything about it. I just needed to know."

Ilana sighed before saying, "It seemed like the women and children were the p-priority since her husband, brother, and her husband's uncle was left behind. As f-far as I know, the three of them could be finding a way to still get inside and reunite with them by getting conscripted or... heading further north."

I asked, "North? Why?"

"This is just a g-guess but I think everyone around those parts is doing it. You see, I also spotted several names that came from the same district that was getting logged into the camps further north. I'm not sure about their exact destination but the majority of the people getting checked out of St. Petersburg is almost always heading in the same direction. Do you have any idea?" Ilana turned to Tatiana.

Tatiana shook her head, "I have no idea. But where are they from last time you checked?"

"That's the thing… they weren't in the surrounding districts in the area… I found names of other people in the same group as them getting to the scattered camps but the three of them are now… m-missing."

Tatiana sighed, "But Katarina and her kid?"

"Kids. She has three right now and all of them are sharing a room with another… uh… family like theirs. That's all I know in writing and I'm sorry if I can't provide you with some pictures and whatnot. I could only do so much if the other side isn't getting any for proper documentation."

Tatiana just slumped in her chair for a few moments while the three of us were just looking at her. She didn't say a word for a couple of minutes but I had to hand her some wet wipes if she wouldn't wash her hands in the meantime. Her eyebrows were twitching violently as she glared at me but I got some peace of mind when she actually washed her hands after that rough search. When she came back, Tatiana had one request for Ilana.

"Ilana or whatever your name is, please do send me some updates on their status even if it's the same thing over and over. I just need to know what they're doing but I'll try and get into contact with her after sending our next set of reports. I'll try pulling some strings to see if they could get better treatment, be given priority if ever they needed to be relocated once more, or have her husband and the rest of their family get reunited with them..."

I muttered jokingly, "Pulling some strings, eh? Something a spy would do..."

Tatiana started grinding her teeth as she started to lose it, "Hngh~ You… You're having too much fun, don't you think?"

I chuckled, "Kinda. But if you're able to pull a lot of strings and the biggest ones… you could at least have them relocated to the best military base or..."

"Or?"

"Set them up with a pilot and send them over here. Greenland is much closer but I personally think our place is safer. Warmer too! They could land in the airport Jessica has or we'll just fucking clear a runway for them. Everything I'm saying is optimistic, to say the least, but if we could pull it off, why not? We'd also be able to get a fuck ton of resources and quite possibly, check on the first one Oscar put down if it had any differences."

"..."

"Tatiana?"

Tatiana just faintly smiled before looking somber, "Thank you for the words, really… but I'd be fucking up everyone else's way back if I ever did that. Our team has one evac call to send a private military plane over here to pick us up if we ever found something really important or if we had to go back and have no way of doing so… S-Some of us have already… you know… decided to stay after being under you but others still want to head back to their own families. I can't be selfish about this..."

Kaley asked, "So, all of you could just go back if you give the call?"

Tatiana replied, "That's the idea but Artem is the only one that could give that call since he's the one in charge of us. Nikolas is second in line while I'm the third..."

I waved them off, "Then let's just say we have the means to make it happen. In the meantime, use whatever you could to get them better situated in their current location. We'll just work on something that's really important so we could work in a trade of sorts without throwing that evac call out the window. I-"

Tatiana cut me off, "I'm fine, really. You don't have to do this for me. It's not like I'm their fam-"

I scoffed mockingly, "The fuck are you talking about? If she's important to you, then she's important to us. We've been really close, it's like you are Kaley's mistress, my second wife, or something. In any case, you're fucking lucky you could even reach them. I… I, on the other hand, can't even reach my own."

Tatiana tilted her head, "Huh? I thought-"

I bitterly smiled as I scratched my head, "I got more family members down south in the provinces but I got some very~ important people still in Japan… I'll try and dial them every now and then but even a simple ring wouldn't even happen. I'm fucking sure that they could fucking take care of themselves but I'm not even sure if- No, they're fucking alive but I have no idea as to why they're not picking up. They're not the most tech-savvy people but pressing the green button when it's ringing shouldn't be that fucking hard..."

Ilana suggested, "I could try-"

I slumped over, "You could… but trust me… the only thing electronic in that mountain is the Sat Phone I left to the old man and this old~ black and white Gameboy I secretly stashed from one of my visits with only one cartridge... Other than that, they're still using oil lamps and they're pumping water from a well they dug up on their own..."

Ilana was flabbergasted, "H-How about transportation?"

I chuckled almost lifelessly, "They have a cart… and a horse if you don't want to pull it yourself..."

Kaley already knew the story but this was the first time Tatiana heard it with Ilana. Their eyes grew larger as I revealed my first meeting with them but their expressions turned solemn when they remembered that Japan's government was one of the first to shut down. However, I turned the conversation back to Ilana.

"Enough reminiscing, what else do you know?"