Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We were all disturbed by what we were seeing but the video was far from over. Ilana must've seen the video a few times already but she looked more disturbed than the three of us. She looked like she was anticipating something to happen and then it did.

The caretakers just stood up and forced a smile before looking at the kids that were left. They were wary of the guy in the lab coat but they gathered the kids in a circle before speaking.

[O-Okay, kids~ Time to clean u-up the m-mess! We'll take a short-]

[What? I'll help!]

[I'll do it! You guys are too, right?!]

[I'll do it too!]

[I'll help too!]

[Me!]

The kids wore bright smiles as they volunteered to mop up the ones that just looked like them. They weren't even fazed and they looked like what just happened was an everyday occurrence. However, all of them were escorted to a different room before the caretakers that were left cleaned it up by themselves.

With that said, something messed with our heads the moment we saw them simply chucking the little corpses inside a bin. It was one thing to do it with the dead we put down but doing it to a bunch of dead children who were initially alive and happy, even if something seemed to be wrong with them, was something else.

The video ended after another set of kids were brought into the same room and it gave each one of us another a disturbing reaction.

'Are they cloned or- later… I'll see everything to the end...'

None of us were speaking a word but Ilana was looking at my expression. I would've started another discussion but there were more videos to go through. I decided to watch every single one of them before I formed the words in my head. All of the videos we were seeing so far were all disturbing or puzzling but Ilana putting them all together must mean that all of them were connected to our situation somehow.

'We just needed to know the exact reason how...'

When I played the next video, it showed us footage from one of the most fucked up birthing stations. It was because rows and rows of beds had drugged-up women from all races, ages, and pregnancy stages were connected to an apparatus that was seeing to their day-to-day needs, just to keep them alive and deliver a healthy baby.

Furthermore, a graph that was much easier to understand was right next to them, telling us the 'stats' of the baby they were expecting to come out when it's due. It had subject codes instead of the actual name but the one we are seeing right now was expected to have a medium-high IQ, great bone density, blue eyes, dark brown hair, a fair complexion, and etc.

We continued watching the woman in the footage get injected with more 'meds' but they were also drawing some fluid not only from her but each one of them. The video was about halfway done but Ilana tapped me and asked for the video to be paused.

"Check the documents in the other folder labeled New Horizons. Some of them are redacted but check the 26th, 39th, 42nd, 78th, 83rd, 100th, and the 121st file on record..."

The three of us looked at Ilana for the moment but I followed her instructions.

I pulled out the files she requested and as soon as I skimmed through each one, I immediately discovered that all of them were set to have the same exact characteristics as one another, and they would all be born almost exactly at the same date. However, there was no information about the fertilized eggs placed in them for surrogacy.

The other 'mothers' were either in the same condition or artificially inseminated but there was at least some sort of information about where the embryo came from. With that said, the babies that would be born from the files I pulled out were eerily about the same characteristics as the kids we saw earlier.

I rubbed my glabella, "This is deeper than I thought… If this is all connected, we could even start ruling that what's happening today could be a freak accident. Clearly, they were trying to make something else and that something else might've turned out to be something entirely different. Not only that, well- it's pretty obvious but powerful people from behind the scenes wanted to play god. When was this?"

Ilana shook her head, "I have no idea. All of these videos are what I managed to scrounge as I went diving before it happened, but there was no indication from the actual date… or the actual place they were doing it. In any case, you should continue watching the rest of it… You might spot something I didn't even if you watched the important parts..."

"Sure..."

I kept watching the rest of the footage but more and more nurses and doctors just visited the woman in question. All they did was administer more meds and take more care of the apparatus she was hooked in, and there was nothing much that happened next. With that said, a few more of the videos Ilana had were just from a different angle or focus from the same place.

The other videos she had on the memory card were more clips of the same thing I showed my group the first day about random people almost turning into pseudo-zombies. They would sometimes take some sort of substance before flatlining, but they would rise up in a matter of seconds or a few minutes to attack everything that was close or run around like a headless chicken. However, like the videos I found, the effect was only momentary before they fall down and die permanently.

We continued to watch more videos for a couple of hours but we eventually decided to do it some other time. Ilana let me copy all of them into a separate file only on the premise that I would share anything that I would find with her.

I turned to Ilana while the files were still being copied, "Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Did you even find what you're looking for?"

"..."

"It's okay. You don't have to-"

"I did… I took care of them..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. It's not like we're close, to begin with. In any case, what happened to them deserved it. I just wanted some closure, that's all. It proved difficult to locate them but those relays helped."

Kaley interjected, "Are they… you know… your family?"

Ilana shook her head as she almost scoffed, "Well, they're supposed to be. It's just weird I feel closer to strangers like you compared to people I should've had a strong bond with. In any case, it's all over for them now. I just need to find new things to get preoccupied with."

Tatiana chuckled, "Strangers? Hmm! We have a remedy for that. Why don't you spend the last few hours with us and we'll see? Hmm?"

Kaley instantly facepalmed as she groaned, "Tatiana… we just-"

Tatiana shrugged her shoulders, "What? I already got my power nap. He's probably good to go for a few more and you two will probably go at it after this or tomorrow morning. How could a couple more hurt?"

Ilana took a step back as she got red, "I… I'd decide against that. I s-still have some things to do back there and if I- nevermind. Thank you but I'd rath- maybe next time… Oh! It just finished copying I n-need to-"

I cut her off, "Ilana. Wait a sec."

"H-Huh?!"

I chuckled, "Don't worry. I just want to give you a few things before you go back."

"Oh… t-thanks..."

I picked up a large bag to place a drone, a sat phone, a high-end laptop, a couple of long-range radios, a box of ChemLights, and a few Raspberry Pis. Furthermore, I picked up a Taurus Judge, two boxes of .410 shells, two boxes of 9mms, a fixed blade knife, a canister of pepper spray, and much fitting body armor for her size.

I placed the bag in front of her, "I know you're going for the innocent and slow look but that could only take you so much. Do you want a rifle or not? I could add in one more but do you want something smaller that's also in 9mm?"

Ilana turned to Kaley and Tatiana before turning to me embarrassed, "S-Something smaller… Something that could fit in my bag..."

I just chuckled before taking out a KelTec SUB-2000 which was a PCC chambered in 9mm. It was almost 30 inches in length but if it was folded, it was just a mere 16 inches. I loaded a couple more boxes of 9mm in her bag and she thanked me by embarrassedly shaking my hand. The other two just chuckled before giving her a hug and we just walked down to see Mylene sleeping on the couch with Zeus.

Zeus woke up and greeted us, "Woof!"

Mylene woke up as well, discovering she was hugging Zeus the whole time, "I can e-explain..."