Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We were just about to head back to the compound after dropping off the soldier Artem brought us but a small convoy came from the other side of the road. They were wearing uniforms from the Meycauayan DDR Camp but my expression lightened when I saw a few people we've haven't seen in a while.

Marvin and Ashley were the first ones to vacate their own truck and the rest of their team followed suit. At the same time, once Brian saw me with my team, he immediately looked for Tatiana but he was left disappointed. Tatiana was still in the process of recovery and it would take a month or two for her injuries to heal.

I just gave them a small nod as a greeting but Marvin ran up to me with great urgency. His eyes seemed to tell a thousand words and the rest of them seemed to have seen some shit.

"Boss, there's something-- a few things we picked up on the expressway. You gotta see this..."

"Hmm? Got some footage?"

"Wait a sec-- I got it here..."

Marvin pulled out his tablet from his pack while Carlo started to unhinge the hooks from one of the container vans they brought. A few soldiers helped bring down the covered corpses while Marvin tried to seek the correct time of the video he wanted to show me. As soon as he did, he gave me the tablet in question while everyone else who was also curious peeked around my back.

Cynthia instantly commented, "Oh, they're like the ones from under the train station, right?"

Marina nodded, "Slurpers, was it?"

Brian interjected, "We call them Tailors. Much fitting, right? Hi, I'm Brian... I think I haven't introduc--"

Ashley waved him off, "Shh! The best part's coming..."

'RIP bro... heh.'

The first part of the footage was showing several elongated tongues hanging from an overpass of an expressway but the scenes that followed after that were quite different. We've seen them tear down deadheads that came close and 'stitch' it on themselves but we've never seen them 'repair' or 'upgrade' an existing one. It was the only one that had a lot of abilities not to mention the ability to make zombies out of zombies.

Bogdan almost leaned too close to the screen but everyone pushed him off.

"Geez, no mercy for the short-sighted, eh?"

"Short-sighted? Your head's too big!"

"Hah! That's what she said!"

"..."

"C'mon! That was good! Laugh, dammit!"

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WATCH THE VIDEO!"

After the short interruption, what we saw next was a Slurper or a Tailor flopping down from under the overpass to reconnect some dismembered limbs from random deadheads approaching. It would just pick up anything that it found usable and it would stitch that body part to its fortunate recipient.

However, the only thing different was it would actually cut off its tongue after finishing the 'stitch' and would let it stay in that same deadhead, surprisingly making the connected limb move on its own.

'The fuck?'

That Tailor could seem to do it any number of times as long as it had some 'thread' to work with.

The only silver lining we had was everything it made was walking towards our blockades. It would be safe to say that if that was only a few of its variants, we have taken care of most or all of them.

We saw it occur several times but they would still slurp out their meal from unsuspecting deadheads. They'd use any orifice from the deadhead's head and just suck the living shit out of it until the victims would be walking aimlessly or tasked to travel in a random direction.

It took a while to take everything in but the footage ended with Max and a few of their sharpshooters aiming for their heads while ignoring the ones that were being controlled. Similarly, when the Tailor was killed, the 'stitched' limbs would stop moving on its own but its partial host could still move as normal. However, the same couldn't be said if it was the other way around.

As long as the Tailor is alive but the partial host was dead, the stitched-up limb could still move on its own. If one could imagine it, a scene where a deadhead lying flat on the ground could suddenly grab and scratch someone on the foot was possible.

Theoretically, the only way to counter that was to actually kill the Tailor or to desiccate the attached limb just enough for it to be unable to be utilized, the same protocol with the hollowed-up victims.

'Hulkers are still the main threat... from current events...'

I gave the tablet back to Marvin and checked the samples they brought back.

"You brought one of each? That's great, the president's people could better examine if we have everything on the table."

Marvin commented, "It's kinda obvious that it looks different up close but it would be difficult to deal with them once they come pouring in. Also, we might get surprised by those limbs once we kill the zombie they're attached to. One scratch and it's all over."

I nodded, "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of earlier. Which part of the expressway did you pick them up?"

Ashley answered, "Right before the exit to the Philippine Arena."

"Oh… Right between the Intercity and Marilao… Okay, have you brought the other stuff?"

Cynthia turned to me, "Other stuff? What other stuff?"

"Green bamboo."

"Bamboo?"

Ashley nodded, "Yup. We got several pieces of bamboo on the other container van. Oh! We got a few bundles of the mats you tried to make us look for too! Do people actually charge $50 each for those? Those don't look comfortable... like at all... I could but something before that's much better and much comfortable..."

I checked my watch before nodding a few times, "You'll see. Okay~ let's meet in the compound in 30 minutes but drive that container van inside and leave the one with the samples here. Our pilots just come back so maybe they'll be here for another week or so."

"Uh-huh... We place them inside?"

"Yeah, bring all of them up to the gym."

"The gym? O-Okay..."

After some time, we eventually drove back to the compound. And after a bit of rest, wash, and etc., I informed everyone that I would be teaching a class. They thought it'd be a simple hand-to-hand lesson but some of them got excited when they saw I was carrying a pineapple and my kitchen knife again.

However, they grew curious when they came upon a ton of bamboo and several tatami mats on one side of the gym. Furthermore, aside from my katana, I brought out my guandao, longsword, jian, and a simple machete from my armory.

I chuckled as I started the lesson, "Who wants some pineapples?"

The people who attended my lesson last time were smiling as they shook their heads because they already knew what I would do next. However, partway through the slash, I stopped midway and placed it in a wooden apparatus with a small wooden peg. It made the pineapple stand upright and everyone else watched what I would do next.

Fucking however, I tried my best to hold my laughter as I meticulously peeled and removed the skin and the eyes of the pineapple off.

I chortled at the last second and I was almost beaten to death by everyone present.

Kaley roared, "STOP FUCKING AROUND! ALL THE BUILDUP FOR THIS?!"

I chortled the second time, "Geez, we're rationing food and you want me to waste this pineapple? You're crazy. Mmh! It's still fucking sweet--"

Katya lifted her bowie machete still in the sheath and waved it in a smacking motion, "Kaley, permission to hit your husband."

Kaley was about to agree but she just shook her head depressingly, "Hngh… He's trolling but he's up to something… just let him have his moment..."

My eyes lit up as I smiled cheekily, "I definitely am. Today, we'll do some Tameshigiri or some Test-Cutting."

"Test-Cutting?"

"Yeah. We'll see who retained the lessons I've taught before. It's really simple to learn but hard to master. Anyone who impresses me gets to take any of these items home except my katana and my kitchen knife. If you don't want anything from here, you could get something made custom by our engineers. Is that a deal?"

Everyone's eyes lit up but it was different for the people who already had their custom or special handhelds. Kaley had my wakizashi, Tatiana had a bastard sword, Cynthia had her own rapier, Jared had his cavalry sword, Mikhail had his king's weapon, Ibarra had his custom spear, and Artem will have one soon. Despite that, they were still willing to prove their worth by passing my challenges.

Ashley raised her hand, "Are we just gonna cut that pineapple or the ones behind you?"

"Yeah, you'll do this..." I trailed.

To make the first challenge "easy", I placed one soaked tatami mat on the wooden stand before I lifted my knife and slashed downward. It came at an angle coming from right to left, slicing the tatami mat in half but keeping the sliced part standing in the same place. However, before anyone could blink, I flicked my hand to follow up the cut with a horizontal slash from left to right, cutting up the sliced part even more.

With that said, the sliced tatami mat was still in place and it just toppled over when I pushed them myself. I made it so fucking easy for the untrained eye but a few people were already shaking their heads.

Amond a few, Jared was one of them.

"Uh-uh, bro. I'll bet my SCAR no one here could do that. I tried that before and I wasted more mats here than I could count."

Carlo scoffed, "Really? That looks so easy to me."

Brian added, "Yeah, too easy with that knife. How much is that? $1000?"

Marvin shook his head with a faint smile, "Try it, then. You two never learn, do you? That guandao looks cool but I'll stick with my staff. Easy to replace too..."

I waved them towards me, "Come, come. Each of you get one try though. We only got a few for each challenge and tatami mats are hard to come by. We could use pool noodles but it would defeat the purpose of the exercise."

Carlo asked, "Then what about those bamboos? We got more of them compared to those mats, right?"

I chuckled, "That's the hard mode. This is the easy one. Cutting tatami mats emulate cutting through flesh while green bamboo emulates cutting through something else. I'll only tell what it emulates before we start that part of the lesson. Oh! You can use anything you see here, even my knife."

Brian pointed at my katana, "How about that? You gonna let us use that?"

I let out the tiniest bit of pressure that enveloped the whole area, "You could but I'd lop your head off if you chip it. Besides, my kitchen knife worked… how could those other tools fare less? Test-Cutting or Tameshegiri is a test for the user, not the weapon."

My words made the two take a few steps back but they were never known to back away from a challenge. They picked something they were really comfortable with using before they struck separate tatami mats almost at the same time.