Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The way Ezekiel was on the far corner of his room and the rest of us blocking the exit put a tremendous amount of pressure on his nerves. He started sweating even more as he tried to look for a friendly face but even his mom was being kept outside. He was shrinking and shrinking and he was this close to having a panic attack.

Ezekiel placed his hands inside his pockets to prevent us from seeing them shake uncontrollably, "L-L-Look! I-I-I-I-I U-Um-"

I leaned over close enough to see his faint freckles, "Where did you get that picture? That's not recent in any way."

"I-I-I-I-I c-can't u-um I-I'm her-"

"Her what?! Are you gonna fucking stutter all day or am I gonna start breaking your fingers like your sentences?! YOU'RE HER WHAT?!"

"SHE- SHE USED TO BE MY JUNIOR, O-OKAY?! WE WENT TO THE SAME-"

I cut him off again because I suddenly recalled everything about this motherfucker.

"Fuck! Ezekiel Bergonio, 23 now, Section Carnation. You're my fucking junior?! You're the bitch who went to guidance for watching porn on your phone, flipping up skirts, and taking pictures of female students as they're going down the stairs! You just sailed through the complaints because you're a fucking varsity scholar! Nice to meet you, fuckwit!"

Everyone just turned to me in shock, "He's a what?!"

"I've read his files before. I just didn't recognize him outright because the picture's a few years old, people could have similar names, and move from their old address. But yeah, this guy's trouble, and I'm revoking all of his privileges… if he lives."

The moment I blurted out his records at my school, he went pale before trying to refute me, "W-What are you t-talking about?! I-I-I-I'M A STRAIGHT A STUD-"

I scoffed, "Hah! You don't even know what a fucking polygon is! Your grades are always perfect because you could play basketball better than the average high schooler! What happened to you in college? Hmm? Didn't pan out, right? Listen here, bud, you're gonna have to do more than that to prevent me from lopping your head off! Even if I don't, you don't wanna mess with-"

Marisha cut me off, "Hey. Talk with me for a sec. In private."

"Are you serious?"

Marisha didn't answer me and just walked to a different room. I looked at Kaley for a brief moment and saw that she was still upset, but I just looked over to her to tell her to keep it together, for now. She just nodded faintly before I followed after the person I was 100% sure that wouldn't be against me.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Marisha looked at me with a solemn expression, "Close that door."

I did as I was told but I shook my head before looking back at her, "Mrs. Mari-"

She cut me off, "You need to calm down."

I almost flicked her forehead for saying that, "Are you really serious right now? We just caught a guy taping pictures of your daughter to a playboy model and quite possibly wanking off to them and you're telling me to fucking calm down? That's your daughter, right? That's Olivia, right? Aren't we supposed to-"

"So you're telling me you're gonna kill that guy no matter what?"

I paused for a short moment before answering, "So you're telling me to spare him?"

"No. I'm asking you for your decision."

"If you're not asking me to spare him, we wouldn't have this talk right now."

"If you're planning to kill him, why bother talking to him at all? Are you planning to understand his motives? Learning his final wishes? What?"

"Matthew would 100% break that-"

"I know what my husband would do but all I'm asking is for you to make decisions with a calm perspective. That's why I'm asking you to calm down and make a proper decision even if I'm 99% sure that you're gonna do what you have to do. I know that your say is final but I'm just trying to tell you that putting a bullet in that guy's head is not al-"

"That's a waste of a 9mm-"

"Don't get funny with me. Not right now."

"I always think things through. More than normal people do."

"I know. But you're not doing it right now. I wouldn't be here talking to you if you're doing it the right way."

I paused once more, "Okay, fine. I know that guy's a creep and that's putting it very fucking mildly. I know of his other records and just a few minutes ago, we just saw evidence of him doing even more degenerate shit than I could fucking think of. Chances are, he'd do the same shit when we're not looking, and worse, he'd actually commit something irreversible. Is that thinking of it thoroughly enough or not?"

"Go on."

"Go on?"

"Yes. Go on."

I shook my head even more, "He and his mom are currently living in this house with three other families and two of them also have minors. The moment they learn of this, not only they'd refuse to live with that motherfucker, they'd even send us a ton of requests just them away or even just outright kill him. Heck, his own mother might even disown him and give him to us. Even if it's her so-"

Marisha sighed before she cut me off, "She knows."

I was flabbergasted, "What? She knows what?"

"Before they came in here, I talked to them both and talked to them individually. Asha knows her son's urges and she's been doing her best to… to soothe them. It got easier when our escort service was established and I've been letting him go for a night if he'd just have a talk with me. He's been responding well as of late but-"

I cringed, "What the fuck am I hearing now? Are you making Micah's girls wear Olivia's perfume when he's getting-"

Marisha glared at me, "That's not fair. Even I didn't know that he's into my daughter. Contrary to what I'm showing, I'm pissed as hell. However, as bad as he looked right now, he's been seeking help and trying to better himself. Give him to me for one more month and I'd be sure to-"

"No."

"Listen. I'll-"

"I'll give you a week and I'll hook him up with something I'm very familiar with. I'll show him a set of pictures and if he responds to that as he should, what happens, happens."

Marisha looked at me for a short while before saying, "Fine. What if he passes?"

"We're making a bet now?"

"You can call it whatever you like."

"Are you confident you could do it in a week?"

"I'll be able to do something but it's up to him if it'll work."

"You're just delaying the inevitable. That'll just give him time to plan a stupid escape or do something even dumber. Even if he passes, it wouldn't be the same."

"You don't believe in people."

"Everything's circumstantial. From what I've gone through, it saved me a lot to look for the worse in people first. To be honest, killing him outright is the merciful sentence. There's a lot of things worse than death. Living is different from existing."

"I'll be more successful if you give me more time. I'll tell you something I've kept buried if you give me two weeks."

"I thought you'd be able to do it a week? Why are you asking for an extension?"

"I asked for a month and you gave me a week. All I'm asking for you is to meet me in the middle."

"You know you're working for the other team, right?"

"I know. And my family would definitely be upset with me. However, I'm the only one giving him a chance."

"He was already given lots of chances and was enabled far more than necessary. If you'd like him to be breathing, the best I can do is to turn him into a eunuch and a-"

"You're getting emotional agai-"

Marisha and I were still debating on what to do with Ezekiel when we heard a gunshot from the other room. Screams instantly followed but once we got to the scene, no one was able to utter a word.

A corner of the room had specks of blood and brain matter scattered in an obvious pattern, but the culprit was the same person as the victim.

Asha was slumped on the floor, crying and wailing her eyes out while Kaley and the rest of the old-timers were wearing solemn and bitter expressions, even Matthew. Ezekiel was lying dead on the floor and even if his head got a new lobotomy using a lead projectile, I noticed that tears were present in his eyes and he had pulled out some of his hair before doing it. Furthermore, the smell of ammonia was present but the smell of iron was starting to overpower it.

We could only stare in silence while Asha continued to lose herself over the death of her son.