Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

At this moment in time, it was like a mosquito landed on my balls and I needed to resolve things very peacefully. The pros of what Oscar would do next far outweighed the cons, but I just wanted to save every bit of shotgun shell that we have. I almost lost it when he started to cut around almost halfway up the birdshot shell, leaving a small overlap about a few centimeters. After that, he just emptied his magazine tube before loading the cut shell inside.

Johnny immediately waved Oscar down, "What the- don't fire it here, you numb nut!"

Oscar scoffed, "Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm just loading it here! Kid! Grab me one of those cardboard targets you have and don't give me that look!"

I shook my head before finishing my coffee, "Fine..."

Russel interjected as he followed right behind me, "Dude, what's he gonna do? Isn't that dangerous?"

I replied, "Not exactly, if you do it right. Anyway, you'd get to see the Poor Man's Slug."

"Poor Man's Slug? What?"

"Yep. Don't ask a lot of questions. You'll see it in action later. In any case, you'll also be able to do it in your shotgun. I just hate how wasteful it is."

"Oh~ I see, I see. Let me carry them then."

It didn't take long before a group of people came with us to our shooting range so that Oscar could give a very brief lesson about cut shells. It was kinda different to have a lesson this early in the morning but I guess something like this wouldn't hurt as much. However, the old man started further back.

"Okay, you uneducated motherfuckers! Listen to me! I know most of you are fucking beginners hoping to have something like Allan's HK416, Mikhail's PKM, Artem's and his team's AKs, or even this kid and Kaley's high-end AR-15s. However! Most of you are forgetting about how great, versatile, and powerful shotguns are!"

Bing interjected, "But I use shotguns!"

Russel added, "Me too! Stefan as well!"

Oscar clapped, "Great! It's fucking great to hear that but it's our job to spread the word out, ya hear me? Almost everyone in our camp wants a rifle and our cult- I mean our brotherhood is getting left behind! We need to bring back the Blunderbuss, the Fowling Piece, the Scattergun, the Trenchgun, or what we call as fucking shotguns back on the fucking spotlight!"

Kaley chuckled behind me, "What is happening? He's too emotional for this!"

I pinched her sides, "Shh~ He's having his moment! It's fun when the old man's like this!"

Oscar continued, "Can you even hear what the beginners are always saying? They're almost always going for a rifle but they couldn't even shoot that far! What's the point in that? In the war way, way~ back, soldiers would opt for shotguns loaded with some buckshot instead of using their M1 Garands! It's not about what the gun could do or achieve, it's about using the right tools in the right situation."

I raised my hand. "Did you just contradict yourself?"

Oscar wobbled, "Ah- SHUT UP! I'M TALKING HERE! SHEESH! Where the fuck am I again? I think I've strayed a bit too far."

I chuckled, "You're about to teach us about cut-up shells!"

"Ah! That's right! That's right, kid! As I was talking about..."

'You didn't even start from that...'

Oscar continued, "You see, before… we don't have slugs that we mostly use today. Before, it was just pumpkin balls or pumpkin slugs and they're not that even accurate, so to speak. However, a guy named Br- B- V? Kid! What's the guy's name again? That German dude?"

"Brenneke!"

"Right! That guy! Let's just say he made his own version of our pumpkin balls in the late 1890s so that it would be better and would have a larger wound channel when it hit. However, enough about that guy! Let me introduce you to this guy American guy named Karl Foster! He's quite late to invent his own version since he did it in the 1930s but the one he made had a large recess at the rear. That design is much better for smoothbore shotguns since it could keep the weight of the slug much forward and it has a better flight pattern… Umm… what am I gonna say next again? Ah! The birdshot!"

'This is taking longer than expected...'

The old man pulled out another birdshot shell and cut it up the same way he did the first for everyone to see. I instantly facepalmed because he should've just used the first one and I was sure he did that to annoy the fuck out of me.

Oscar continued, "Okay! The reason I cut this little birdshot here is… back then… Ah, whatever~ I'm getting tired of talking. Just look at this right here! You guys are already familiar with how this shit would just spray, right? This is the solution! Wha- who the fuck drew a beard on that target?! KID?!"

Everyone exclaimed, "JUST SHOOT THE FUCKING SHOTGUN!!!"

I was hiding a marker as I thought to myself, 'It was definitely me. Taking so long...'

Once Oscar finished grumbling, he just aimed at the target we set up a few dozen yards away and pulled the trigger.

The noise of his 10 gauge shotgun reverberated throughout our shooting range but the thing that surprised everyone aside from how powerful his shotgun, was the hole that was produced using the cut-up birdshot shell. Instead of several pin-sized holes, it actually made a hole similar to what a slug would do. It was just a large hole enough for a bottlecap to pass through.

Everyone was confused but it was all answered when the used shell got ejected.

Oscar picked it up and showed everyone, "You see, now? This is the reason why the kid wanted to stop me. By cutting around it like what I did a couple of times, half of the plastic, the wad, and the little beads inside would just fire together like a big hunk of a projectile. With that said, this one is kinda ruined and would be difficult to reuse. However, if you wanted more power from a birdshot shell, this is the solution. You just need to cut it the same way I did or it wouldn't work. This kind of thing is being done before slugs were made."

Everyone looked pensive as they nodded a few times and Oscar had a satisfied look on his face. I just scratched my head when the others started to try cutting up the birdshot shells, but it got funny and chaotic when they started to try using Oscar's Ithaca Mag 10.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"My shoulder is mush… it's mush..."

"I'll request for a .410 later… I might not be able to use a 12 gauge..."

"FUCK THIS SHIT!"

"THE FUCK ARE YA GUYS ON ABOUT?! IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!"

"YEAH! MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE!"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"

Oscar's lesson was finally concluded and my group brought down the rest of our gear. With that said, Oscar and his group followed us with his SUV but Charlotte rode with us while Chris was at the back. We just decided to bring two finished spud boxes and a few dozen fruiting bags so that they could also grow some mushrooms over in their place.

We would've brought some other seedlings or plants but Morales' group only needed to relocate the ones that they've found in their city, or have another group take care of the place where they found it.

As we were driving, Oscar took the opportunity to use another one of the extra shells he cut up to make a fucking deadhead's head explode. It was basically mulch after a 10 gauge shotshell made its way and in a sense, it was fucking satisfying.

Chris exclaimed, "OH, SHIT! IT'S EVEN BETTER OUTSIDE!"

Oscar howled from the other vehicle, "YOU SEE THAT, KID?! IT'S NOT A WASTE, I TELL YOU!"

I yelled back, "YEAH, YEAH! LET'S WAIT UNTIL YOU RUN OUT! I'M NOT MAKING THEM FROM NOW ON! YOU'D ACHIEVE THE SAME THING FROM A .22 FOR FUCK'S SAKE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DIFFICULT TO CLEAN SCATTERED GRAY MATTER?!"

"BOO~ HOO~ TYPICAL~ SOO~ TYPICAL~ JUST HAVE FUN FOR ONCE!"

We continued to drive to Morales' city but it was apparent that his soldiers were clearing the place nonstop. We could barely see a straggler roaming around since each infested building was closed up and being cleared methodically. We could spot more soldiers patrolling compared to deadheads and I couldn't believe they were almost halfway done. His city being smaller compared to ours was a factor but there was an advantage to having a lot of trained soldiers in your command.

'We'll get there soon...'

We eventually reached the port and Morales team welcomed us. They already had the materials ready and all we needed to do was direct them.