Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Several things ran through my head and I was 100% sure that I wouldn't be able to throw my grenades as accurately in that distance. I could do it maybe until the 6th floor but I decided against it. Making large holes for them to pass through would just overwhelm us so I thought of a few possible options.

But it was then that I caught a glance of Artem and his team partly inside the first floor.

"ARTEM! LEAD MOST OF YOUR TEAM UPSTAIRS AND KILL THEM AS FAST AS YOU COULD! ALL OF THEM ARE TRYING TO JUMP DOWN SO THEIR BACK WILL BE TURNED AGAINST YOU! JUST WATCH OUT-- YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!"

I never heard a reply but he just turned his head towards me and nodded. He then barked orders to his team and he left Kristoff and Natasha with me while making Katya and Marina make sure that they checked every room on the first floor. He led the way upstairs as he finally used his rifle and it didn't take long before several gunshots erupted from their side.

However, making them advance to the upper floors had downsides.

As they were continuously firing FMJ'ed 7.62x39mm bullets from their AKs, I didn't take into account the issue of some of them penetrating straight through the bodies of their fleshy targets. As soon as one passed through cleanly, almost immediately, it would also go through the glass wall behind them. That would make the glass walls break even further, making jagged shards fall straight for us.

Pieces of rotting corpses were already a problem and adding to that would make our situation worse. I realized the failure in my split-second decision so I decided to find a solution.

Since we already have another group watching us from atop Unc Zardon's truck, I decided to lead my team to the upper floors as well. Our current problem was glass shards falling down on us so I just let them fall while taking care of biters from a different location. Our shooters were fairly safe as well since they have the higher ground.

I was with Tatiana, Mikhail, Ibarra, Kristoff, and Natasha while Kaley and Jared were on their nests with our other shooters. I didn't have time to gather them all to explain the change of plan so I just picked up my radio.

-

*bzzt*

"You guys take care over there, we'll be heading up as well!"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Gotcha, bro. I hope you don't mind if I let loose!]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Just don't let the ones that fell come back up!"

*bzzt*

-

As soon as we rushed up the stairs, we saw Bogdan watching the second-floor stairs by himself. He pointed his rifle at us for a moment before lowering it and he pointed in the direction where Artem and the rest were. However, I just placed my hand over his shoulder as we went further up and he gave us a puzzled look before realizing our intentions.

He just kept watching the stairs by himself but he saw me looking at the few brass casings by his feet before leaving him below.

Bogdan's voice resounded from below, "I'LL PICK THEM UP LATER! HELLO? HELLOOO~? Ah, fuck..."

I wasn't able to answer him because of the number of deadheads trying to smash their bodies against the glass wall. We'd lose our advantage since they were still focused on their own task.

From only a few feet away, dozens and dozens of deadheads were trying to break the glass walls, and a few of them had spiderweb cracks due to the continuous impacts. They were either wearing scrubs or patient gowns but there were a few wearing civilian clothing keeping the same theme of dark and bloody from head to toe.

My group wanted to start firing but I pulled out my quietest pistol.

It was my suppressed TX-22 and I managed to put down 32 deadheads as quietly as possible. This gun still produced noise but it was enough to get unnoticed due to the noise below. With that said, a few have turned their heads around but it was already too late when my group have already formed a firing line.

"Fire at will."

In less than a few seconds, we bored holes through the heads of anything that shouldn't be moving and slivers of light were shining through the holes we made from the glass walls. The dead could easily break them now but they were all slumped down and unmoving.

The view from this side was supposed to be beautiful but now it was just a bloody shooting range with fucked-up targets.

"Changing mags..."

"Me too..."

After a short moment of changing mags, more deadheads started coming from the hallways to our left and right. They obviously came from the other rooms and they weren't happy about what we did to their comrades. Some of them were snarling as they started to pick up speed but they no longer had the numbers advantage.

I just chambered a round in my pistol as I watched Tatiana and Mikhail receive them with much fervor.

They both had a different weapon type: a custom axe and a bastard sword, but as soon as they swung it at the same time, they both cut their target in half. Tatiana flicked her wrist to get rid of the blood on her sword but Mikhail just readied his axe for another swing. Sometimes, it wouldn't even matter which side his axe was facing because the sheer weight of it hitting something when swung by the wielder itself was enough to kill someone involving its next-door neighbor.

Tatiana finished off her targets faster but I'd be more worried if I would be passing by Mikhail's victims.

"Split up, check the rooms before we go up. I'll stay here with--"

I was in mid-sentence when one or more of the glass walls from the upper floors was successfully smashed into pieces. Several bloody shards just whizzed past the third floor before we heard the sound of it breaking into much smaller pieces. Right after that, a smaller outpour compared to the towers earlier followed but gunshots instantly followed. However, the people below didn't seem to be using rifle rounds and were just using pistol rounds, saving them for a much larger threat.

'Just a bit of min-maxing wouldn't hurt...'

I pulled out my radio once more and contacted the people below.

-

*bzzt*

"Hey, which floor was that?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Fifth and Seventh floor. The fourth floor is really close too, bro. One more-- ah, that's it.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"I see it. Okay, thanks."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Sure...]

*bzzt*

-

'They're probably safe judging from that tone...'

I put my radio away but I turned to Mikhail and Ibarra.

"You two, run down to the first floor and check on Katya and Marina. We're not sure if the ones that fell are just regular deadheads but do make sure none of them crosses the entrance. Kaley and the rest are trying to do the same thing but-- you two know the drill."

"Roger."

"Yes, sir."

Tatiana asked, "So, what's our plan now?"

"Kristoff still stays here while the three of us pick one side. We'll clear the rooms until we make a loop and we sweep the upper floors right after. The right side is where a few ORs are located while family rooms and patient rooms are on the opposite side."

Natasha answered, "I'm leaning to the left."

I nodded, "Me too, actually. Then it's decided..."

Tatiana chuckled, "I'm fine with both. You know, I go both way--"

I was shaking my head and Natasha was trying so hard to contain her laughter while we left Kristoff with a puzzled expression. I wasn't sure if he eventually got what Tatiana insinuated but now was not the time to make jokes.

The first two rooms we checked were empty but the third room had a patient hooked to several machines that were no longer working. It got me curious as to what its patient monitor would look like when powered but I was busy pushing my blade a few inches inside its earlobe.

All of a sudden, we heard a noise coming from this room's bathroom and Tatiana unloaded a slug straight through the wooden door.

I would've worried that Tatiana might've hit someone that was alive and just camped all through this shit in a bathroom, but the chance of that happening was infinitely close to zero.

But since Natasha threw us a worried look, Tatiana opened the door and it revealed a figure only recognizable by the tattered uniform it was wearing. What's left of its head just became bloody splotches on the wall and stains on the marble flooring. Furthermore, we were sure that it was already a zombie because the smell of something dead was already vomit-inducing, how much more could it be when it was left simmering someplace where there was no air circulation?