Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Seconds continued to pass and Ezekiel's mother started to inch towards her son while sobbing profusely. Her shrill wails could be heard from outside this house and just based on the mutterings we could hear, people have started to gather around us, not only from the gunshot we heard earlier.

No one stopped her as she cradled her son but the blood from the gunshot wound Ezekiel sustained kept pouring out over and over. It started to pool under them and it began to seep on her clothes but all she did was try to hopelessly call out to him.

"Oh my god- Ezekiel! Ezekiel! My… Ez- My so- W-Why… Why did y-you- WHY?! YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING! YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING! THAT WAS JUST A PICTURE! A PICTURE! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! MY SON~! MY POOR SON!!!"

Asha cried alone for a few moments and all we could give was silence. She was trying to rock her son's body back and forth, almost like a child, but all she was actually doing was flopping his head over and over. No one was able to utter a word and it continued for a few minutes until she became completely silent.

Marisha tried to walk up to her, "Asha..."

"DON'T COME NEAR ME! NOT A STEP!"

"Asha. I was just-"

"NOT A STEP! NOT A STEP!"

Asha's eyes were bloodshot as she turned to us but her gaze suddenly turned to Kaley. As soon as she did that, her gaze slowly became a hateful glare as she shook all over. Everyone else started to look in Kaley's direction but Asha started to shout her lungs out.

"YOU! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MY SON?! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE ALONE WITH HIM! HOW DID HE MANAGE TO GET AHOLD OF-"

Kaley returned her glare, "What? How- Don't put this on me! I did nothing wrong. I just-"

"DID NOTHING WRONG?! CAN'T YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG HERE?! HUH?! YOU CLEARLY DID SOMETHING! MY SON ISN'T SO WEAK-WILLED THAT HE'LL JUST- JUST… HE WON'T DO SUCH A THING! HE HAD HIS PROBLEMS BUT HE WON'T KILL HIMSELF! HE'S BEEN GETTING HELP AND HE'S GETTING BETTER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO-"

"What are you talking about?! No right to what?! Are you listening to yourself?! I'm not the one who did anything wrong here!"

"MY SON JUST TAPED A PICTURE OF A GIRL-"

"That girl is my sister! And her name is Olivia! Why are you defending his actions?!"

"HE NEVER LAID A HAND ON ANYONE! EVER! IS IT WRONG TO-"

Kaley had enough, "IT'S WRONG IF THE ONE HE'S BEATING OFF TO IS UNDER 18! MRS. ASHA, YOUR SON IS FUCKING SICK! DID YOU HEAR ME?! HE'S FUCKING SICK! AND YOUR AS SICK AS HIM FOR CONDONING HIS ACTIONS! WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WOULD'VE DONE OR HAVE ALREADY DONE WHEN YOUR BACK IS TURNED!"

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

"HOW DARE ME WHAT?! FUCK YOU! YOUR SON JUST KILLED HIMSELF AND YOU'RE BLAMING ME FOR IT?! IF I WANTED TO KILL YOUR SON, I WOULD'VE-"

Marisha finally stepped in, "Kaley! That's enough! Go outside and we'll talk-"

"YOU'RE STILL DEFENDING THEM?! WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?! UNBELIEVABLE! YOU'RE OUR MOM! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR- DAD?! WHY ARE YOU- LET GO OF ME! WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?!"

Things have started to get out of hand but surprisingly enough, Matthew decided to keep his head cool. He dragged Kaley outside with the help of Johnny but another argument started from their side. It was then we heard Matthew's bellows which confirmed that he wasn't fucking calm at all. He already did a great job by not piling on the shouting match here because we still have an ongoing issue we needed to solve.

With that said, Marisha and Oscar were the only ones left inside besides me, Asha, and her dead son.

"WHY'D YOU SEND HER AWAY?! SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ANSWERING QUESTIONS! WHERE DID- HOW DID MY SON MANAGED TO GET THIS INFERNAL-"

I walked up and instantly pried the bloodied gun from Ezekiel's body, "She'll answer questions later but you'll do the same first. Mrs. Bergonio, I-"

"YOU'RE QUESTIONING ME?! WHY-"

"If you keep on yelling at me, we're not gonna go anywhere. I know you're devastated and I want you to listen to me. Look, this LC9 had exactly one bullet missing, burn marks were present on this side of his temple, the spray pattern coincides well, his hand was holding the gun-"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! I'M ASKING HOW HE MANAGED TO GET AHOLD-"

I sighed heavily, "It's from your BOBs. If you haven't noticed already, we've checked and inspected each house that we could and we've seen our fair share of the firearms we allocated on your BOBs be misplaced or carried around nonchalantly. This LC9 is easily concealable and he must've been carrying it wherever or whenever he could. To tell you the hard truth, your son did this to himself."

"NO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! MY SON- MY SON WOULDN'T-"

"Mrs. Bergonio, I laid what I could in front of you. Just judging from his state before you cradled him, something must've happened inside his head causing him to resort to such measures."

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TELLING YOU FROM THE START! THAT GIRL MUST'VE SAID SOMETHING TO-"

"Then kill yourself."

"WHA- What?"

"I said kill yourself. Why aren't you doing it?"

"A-Are you-"

"Didn't work?"

"..."

"As I thought. You wouldn't jump off a building just because someone told you to, right?"

"IT'S DIFFERENT! DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP! MY SON- My son… he's… he's troubled… okay?! Anything would've set him off! You have to- You have to look more into it! Please! Please! Please! My son wouldn't just- SHE- SHE MUST'VE SAID SOMETHING WHEN-"

"Stop! Just stop! If you really want to know what happened, you need to clean up after yourself first before anything. You know what this is, right? She's wearing the same thing as me." I said as I pointed at a particular device on my vest.

Asha's expression turned to a different shade when she saw me pointing to my body cam but I was more concerned if Kaley did something or not. However, at the end of the day, I knew that she'd keep her emotions in check unless provoked aggressively.

It only took a couple of hours before we were in one of the rooms in our DDR Camp where the same persons involved were present.

Asha turned to Kaley with a hateful glare once more before saying to me, "Play that darned tape."

I looked at her straight in the eyes first, "I'll have you know that after we cleaned up the scene, we took-"

"Yeah, yeah! You checked all of his belongings and brought them here. Play that tape! I still need to get my son's ashes later!"

Asha was too focused on the tape but everyone else inside the room had already seen it. Me, Kaley, Oscar, Marisha, Matthew, and Johnny have already seen it and we were only doing this to give her some closure. With that said, we don't know what she would do once she saw it but we were prepared nevertheless.

The footage started when Kaley and I walked down from our room and we fast-forwarded it at the right moment.

It showed the time when Ezekiel was caught red-handed and it eventually played the scene when Marisha and I walked outside.

Kaley's body-cam was just pointed right at Ezekiel's face.

[You… you're not gonna say anything?]

[What do you want me to say?]

[You're… y-you're Kaley, r-right? O-Olivia's sister...]

[What about it?]

[You… you aren't mad?]

[...]

[You are… right?]

[...]

[Hahaha… of course… you are...]

[...]

[Do you think I'm sick? You do. You do, right? Ahaha… I've been getting help though… It's just… there's these moments when-]

[Stop talking. You're making it worse.]

[He's gonna kill me when he gets back, right? Right?! Of course, he will! Did you see his eyes? H-His eyes! Holy shit! I don't know much about… about stuff but he's killed quite a few- more than a few, right? Right?! Fuck… I'm gonna die… I deserve it… I fucking deserve it...]

[Stop talking. Whether you deserve it or not, it's up to them. They'll figure out a way-]

[I have a gun. Do you know that?]

[Wha- Easy now. No sudden moves. Hands where I can see them.]

[You think I could draw faster than you? Hah! I've seen your drills… you guys could kill me in a split-second if I try anything… Hahaha… I'm such a fucking idiot… My gun… It's… it's... in my right pocket...]

[I said hands where I can see them. Let go of it and slowly place-]

[Hahaha… don't worry… you're faster, remember? Shit… Why'd they all have to be so… so… squishy… soft… they probably smell really good when… Fuck… It's happening again...]

[Are you having a bo- you need help… serious help...]

[I'm sorry… I-I-I-I can't help it, OKAY?! WHEN I- WHEN I SEE THEIR LITTLE- OH MY FUCKING GOD- SHIT! I'M SO FUCKING SICK! I-I-I... Can you- C-Can you just… I can't help it! I can't help it! I'm trying hard, aren't I?! It's just- just...]

[I'm telling you, it's gonna be fine. They're not gonna kill you. If they wanted to-]

[STOP LYING! LIAR! LIAR!]

[I'm not lying to you! Calm down! We're talking right now, right? We're-]

[Kill me.]

[What?]

[Kill me!]

[I'm not-]

[KILL ME! JUST FUCKING POINT THAT THING AND SHOOT ME!]

[I'm not killing you! You just need to calm down and we'll talk this through, okay?]

[Oh. Then I will--]