Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I thought of handling them last because they were slow but if they were gonna play with their food and throw it at me, that's a different fucking story.

At this point, the initial advance of the faster deadheads had already dwindled down to a few that could be taken care of by a single person. Part of the reason was that these bloaters acted as a stopper for the ones that were a little late to the uptake but they were more trouble than I imagined.

Other than trying to get to me with their own version of throwable goods, they were also increasing the number of deadheads we'll face once they were taken care of.

Time waits for no man so I advanced further than everyone else.

"What are you—"

"It's safer here, actually!"

"What—"

I didn't even hear the last part of Quinn's sentence as I dashed forward and hacked up a couple more sprinters that were just actually jogging, and a few inches from my blade was enough to stop them from moving. Well, their primary weakness was still their turning radius so doing a complete 180 for them was like chasing a bee with a 10-ton truck.

With that said, more than half of the length of my katana was still free from their nasty bits and viscous fluids but it didn't take long before I was face to face with the great wall.

However, right as I was about to carve their bodies off the face of the earth, the ones in the inner corner started to regurgitate everything that they'd swallowed whole and I had to take a jump back and roll to avoid it.

The one in the center wanted to do it as well but since its stomach had already burst, all it could do was dry heave while the last two in the outer corner were still chilling. I doubt they'll do that forever but the only reason I could think of as to why they didn't do shit was that I was a little too far and their projectile vomit had a short range.

It's just that the smell was so fucking horrible, covering my mouth or wearing a mask wouldn't do it.

At this point, all I could do was run to the outer corner so that the last two would use up their 'ammo', but the chances of me getting through easily were nil.

'Unless…'

I quickly ran back to our earlier position to check on things but to cut the story short, I found out the other side was having the same problem and they were still trying to figure out a way to handle it. However, I huddled my group together and said a few things before everyone else—except Tatiana—looked at me like I'm an idiot.

Quinn piped up, "D'you forget the fucking reason we all waited at the same spot from the very start?!"

"Well—"

"Are you trying to get us killed?!"

"Listen. Before that— Tatiana."

"Hmm?"

"You'll come with, right?"

Tatiana finally looked at me like I'm an idiot, "Of course, you dumb?"

I chuckled as I turned to Quinn, "All we'll need is a boost."

Quinn started to scratch her head, "Hmrgh… Fuck it, I can't just wait here and do nothing."

"Heh. Don't worry, as soon as it's clear, we'll open up a way for you—"

The lady from the Garcia Family spoke up, "Can't we just take care of the big ones first? Martin here can use his knives pretty well—"

I cut her off, "We could but we're wasting enough time as is. We're still gonna take care of the ones behind them and I want to get my hands on that thing first."

Everyone turned to me, confused, "That thing?"

I just chuckled as I gave a cryptic reply, "There were only nine explosions."

As soon as I said that, there was a moment of silence before they all nodded pensively. We eventually advanced forward to try out our own plan but we had to take care of a few that managed to get through.

With that said, I made the two from the Garcia Family take the front for once and the only thing I could say was that they didn't have unnecessary movements to take down the dead and they finished things as soon as possible.

The guy, 'Martin', would use his long blade in sync with his partner but every time he threw his knives, it would always land where he wanted. Well, a few in my group could do the same—even I could do something similar—but our knives were reserved for something else.

In turn, I changed our plan at the last minute and we began our attack by him taking down the one in the innermost corner.

All we heard was a quick whizz in the air before his knife made its way to the bloater's ear canal and it quickly opened the floodgates of deadheads trying to climb their way through the blob that tried to nourish itself with its comrades.

Doing that opened up a particular corner Tatiana and I could 'safely' boost through but the Garcia Family and Number 24 needed to hold down the fort for a few seconds.

"You two are fucking crazy!"

"D'you wanna win or do you wanna twiddle your thumbs like the other group?!"

"Don't blame me if I throw you too far!"

"I will!"

"You fucker— 3, 2— GO!"

Right at this moment, the three of us were by the bloater at the outer corner and I just ran up to Quinn so she could boost me over the small opening we made for ourselves. To be completely honest, I doubt two people would fit comfortably so I needed to make a lot of room the moment I landed.

With that said, Quinn just used the right amount of force to vault me over and due to the opening on the other side of this 'wall' almost every deadhead was turned the other way, and several heads rolled the moment I swung horizontally.

At this point, I was now holding my katana with two hands but I kicked forward to create some space and the deadheads just ahead fell backward like dominoes. However, it prompted the other deadheads—who were in a frenzy and trying to get into the opening we made—to go for me instead, but Tatiana just came in at the right time with a mandatory three-point landing.

It only took a moment before the two of us locked eyes and smiled devilishly, and even if we were backed into a small corner, the advantage and the disadvantage were the complete fucking opposite.

I shortly exhaled before I pulled out my wakizashi from my scabbard and it only took a short moment before I saw several points of entry and each one of them was just as fucked up as the other.

My first slash cleaved through a deadhead's shoulder right to its hip and the second one went to another deadhead's ear and out the other.

Both attacks were done at the same time and it was as if my arms were controlled by different entities.

One came like a flowing river while one just crashed in like thunder but the result was still death on multiple accounts.

I didn't even take a single step back to regroup or assess the situation because I'm not receiving attacks this time, they're the ones that were supposed to take it. The sensation I felt at this moment was like the time I blacked out while only using my wakizashi but this time, I was fully awake and I know what I'm fucking doing.

'Too far… Lop its arm off first— no, just the hands will do… upward swing, from the armpit and out the neck and just a quick chop and pull before I—'

Right at this moment, I let out a short chuckle as I completely stopped moving but it was only for the purpose of tripping up a deadhead that was on all fours that tried to time my dash forward.

It was a sitting duck when it landed a step short and my blade just lopped off parts of its head where it only left its lower jaw.

After that, I had an inkling that Tatiana was just right behind me but I had just come out of the thickest part of the second wave so I had to turn around to see how everyone else was faring.

There was just a carpet of corpses in the area I just went through but the inner corner was also close to being in the same state.

Quinn and the rest took care of the ones that spilled right in—before completely ignoring the four bloaters behind them—and they helped Tatiana with catching up to me and getting even closer to the main entrance. However, it was at this moment when we heard a scream from the other side of the outer ring and it only meant one thing for sure.