Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The look on their faces when they just realized they outed themselves was so fucking priceless but they couldn't help but feel worried about the possible repercussions of a stranger that knew where they live. However, the 'stranger' in question was me and I wasn't as interested in the few bags of food they barely scraped out of breaking into a few shops.

I let out a faint smile before I asked, "Do you guys live near Chang's? You know, the Chinese guy with the big house? Like an Asian Colonel Sanders? Have you seen or heard anything about that place when it started?"

One of them wearing a plain black hat exclaimed, "H-How did you know?! How--"

The big guy covered his mouth, "Shut up, man! Stop-- Fuck! We don't know anything about who--"

I cut them off, "Too late to take it back. Well… I did say I won't do anything to all of you, alright? Isn't saving you once proof already? Back on topic, do you live near Chang's place?"

"We can't just--"

"I'll make it worth your while, I'll give something in return."

The big guy was about to say something but the man I was speaking to earlier waved him off before sighing heavily. He stared at me for a few moments before he opened his mouth.

"O-One of ours got scratched when we were fighting those things up close, and he turned after a few hours. If we're gonna tell you the information in exchange for something we need, we'd need something better to defend ourselves. A gun would--"

I cut him off, "Sorry, I don't think that's a good idea. I doubt any of you knows how to use them properly and it could do more damage than good."

The guy wearing the hat interjected, "Y-Yes, any kind of noise pretty much attracts them--"

"Don't fucking agree with him! A gun is a gun! Simple as that!" The big guy exclaimed.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I have boxes of protective gear here. They're motorcycle suits and it's enough to cover your whole body. It isn't the best but it's a good start."

The guy in the middle eventually nodded, "We'll take it. It's better than nothing and it's only a matter of time before you find our place. It's not like it's perfectly hidden--"

"C'mon, man! We don't even know these chumps and we're telling them where we live?! I--"

I almost rolled my eyes, "Do you think I'll take an interest in a place with no food? Do we have a deal or not?"

Almost everyone shut their trap, especially the big guy, but their main guy eventually spoke for them.

"It's a deal. We live near that Chinese guy but we're a bit further down the road. There are still people inside, a lot of them but… we just heard a few gunshots when--"

Unc Zardon exclaimed as he cut him off, "Hey! You said gunshots?! Kid! Let's go there now! Who knows what happened over there?!"

He never looked so worried but he started to make the engine of our truck growl, beckoning us to hold on tight. However, I stopped him for a bit before turning back to the group I was speaking to.

"Hop on and we'll give you a ride--"

"N-No--"

"It'll save you the trouble of encountering them on your way back."

Almost all of them were still hesitating but the guy speaking for them was the first one to climb up. We gave each of them a hand and an invisible wall between our groups was broken. The only one who was still half-doubting our intentions was the big guy but it was funny seeing him making sure that their bags were by their feet and away from the items on our truck.

Making sure everyone was onboard, Unc Zardon started driving towards our new objective.

It was then that I saw a hand extending for me, "I'm Jay. Know anyone from Chang's place?"

I returned the handshake, "I'm Sky and yeah, we know people from that place. Anyway, this isn't all of you, right? Is your place fine if all of you are outside? Got something secure?"

"I-- Sorry... that's not part of the deal. We've let someone in before and he stole a bunch of food. When we came looking for him, we just found opened-up cans and his body filled with injuries. We don't know what happened to him exactly but he must've been mugged or something..."

"I told you, we don't need food and we aren't looking to migrate. Look at this truck, we're hauling motor parts. But what I do need is one of the most difficult things to find. So far, I've only found a few..."

"Rare motor parts?"

"No, good people."

"Ah..." their group was speechless and solemn for a moment but my group was wearing faint smiles.

We just let the sound of our truck fill the silence but the guy wearing a hat spoke up.

"U-Umm… Hi, I'm Jon. Y-You guys have a place then? Do you take people?"

"We--"

"I-If you do, we could u-umm… work to an agreement? We already killed a few of them and with the right t-tools and e-environment, we could do b-better. R-Right, Bing? We-- Bing?"

Jon turned to the big guy who was named 'Bing' but his expression of wary was already replaced by something entirely different because his eyes were fixated on Kaley and Tatiana. It seemed that he didn't notice the two from the time I was talking to them, and Kaley was looking a bit too uncomfortable while Tatiana didn't mind at all.

Furthermore, he kept disregarding Jon and me while he kept ogling at the two. At one point, another one of their members wearing a hoodie and a facemask tried to make him stop by back-tapping him but he disregarded him too. It was at this time that Jay and the rest of their group gave worried expressions but I lightly chuckled, making him look at me instead.

Bing looked me in the eye almost as if he was telling me he was doing nothing wrong, "What?"

"Nothing, I'm was just about to introduce you--"

"That's really great--"

"I'm not introducing them so you could start playing your games, it's so that you'd know who to keep ample distance."

"Wha--"

I cut him off as I let out a little bit of pressure, "The tall and blonde one's Tatiana. If you try anything with her, you'd be lucky to have brain damage and live. And if you try anything with Kaley, the other one sitting quietly… Hmm~ Let's just say that someone will be either sweeping their teeth off of the floor or someone will be gurgling blood. I'm just looking out for you, man."

As soon as I said that, Bing was taken aback and the other two were smiling faintly. It made the others breathe a sigh of relief but the guy wearing a hoodie and a mask suddenly spoke up.

A woman's voice entered our ears, "Heard that, Bing? Stop it with that dirty look, we're sorry. I'm Daisy, nice tats by the way."

'Well, shit. I didn't notice she was a girl...'

Daisy started to lower her mask and her hood. After that, she slightly unzipped the hoodie she was wearing and it revealed she had more tattoos than I did. However, there was nothing on her face, keeping all of her tattoos from the neck below.

"Daisy, huh? Name's--"

"I know, you told us already."

"Ah, well… Don't apologize to me, tell it to--"

I was in mid-sentence before Tatiana cut me off. However, she spoke while letting out an even thicker accent, glancing menacingly at Bing, "No need to apologize, it's just looking. However, I'm allowed to do something when it goes beyond that, correct?"

I chuckled, "Of course. Depending on how it goes beyond, let's keep the injuries a little less permanent."

"Ah, I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

Tatiana turned around to go about her business while Bing almost immediately tried to poke his eyes out so he'd stop looking like a pervert. With that said, everyone else gave an amused expression but I saw Jon still waiting for my answer.

'Almost donowalled this guy...'

I let out a faint smile as I turned to him, "To answer your question, we could work on an agreement. After we're done with our thing, if you'll let us come to your place, I'll talk to each of you and I'll assess if you're a perfect fit."

Bing interjected with a confused look, "What do you mean by asses? Like butts?"

As soon as he said that, you could hear a pin drop and I was the only one trying to keep it together.

"Hah! Good one but that's not what I meant. Assess, the one with two s-es means that I'll see if I could take all of you in or not. I'm cautious like you guys and I wouldn't just take anyone I just met. It's been a week and I'm not sure how people act now. I'm not specifically talking about you guys, just everyone outside."

'But I've taken everyone in so far...'

None of them didn't say anything after that but Jon nodded a few times while Jay was in deep thought.

It has been quiet for a while so we just enjoyed the ride.

We took a narrow road, heading into multiple intersections but we kept driving straight until we reached a corner that said Elsewhere St. on the street sign. We turned right after slowing down for a bit but we still drove for a few more minutes.

It would be less than a mile until we reach Chang's place and since it was quiet, I got to look around the places we were driving past. I saw houses and small shops either shut tight or broken into but there were no signs of life anywhere. Just deadhead after deadhead slowly making their way to anywhere they wanted to.

'Fewer deadheads here though...'

After some time, we finally reached Chang's place but we saw a pile of corpses getting invaded by flies. The smell was so fucking putrid but as soon as our truck slowed down to a stop, Unc Zardon immediately went outside and approached the gates to Chang's place. He hesitated for a bit but he eventually called out.

"KENNY?! HANNAH?! IT'S DAD! ARE YOU GUYS THERE?!"

As soon as Unc Zardon started calling out, a few zeds from afar turned their rotting heads to look in our direction. Some of them still got a little bit of speed left but a bullet was faster. Jared was the first one to start firing and Kaley just followed right after, and even if he was using a bolt-action, he took out more of them since Kaley was just getting used to her new rifle.

Their victims just plopped on the pavement and it stunned Jay and the rest of his group.

"Did you see that? They must really be soldiers… We should join them, Jay..." Jon muttered to Jay in a whisper.

"We'll see… The one with the sniper gun looks young though…" Jay replied.

I didn't say much but Unc Zardon kept calling out the name of my younger cousin. We were already seeing some movement from the inside and eventually, a few doors opened and a bunch of people walked out.

Almost all of them were familiar figures but a small figure started running towards Unc.

"Pa?! You're here! You're here!"

"Hey, bud! It's so nice to--"

Unc Zardon was just about to have a short moment but an older lady, who was my Aunt Leslie, dragged Kenny away from the gate. She looked at her husband with disdain and she almost spat at Unc's face.

"How many times do I need to-- Get away from that drunken fool!"

Kenny muttered quietly, "O-Oww..."

Unc Zardon bellowed, "SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO HIM?! YOU'RE HURTING HIM!"

"I HAVE NO BUSINESS WITH A DRUNK LIKE YOU!"

"I'M SOBER FOR 10 YEARS, YOU BITCH! YOU KNOW YOU LIED AT COURT! I'M TAKING KENNY AND HANNAH WITH ME NOW!"

"Oh, really~? How about Cyrill and Joana, huh?! ONLY TAKING HALF THE KIDS YOU LET GO?!"

"TAKE THOSE TWO YOU BRAINWASHED AND FUCK YOURSELVES! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU TOLD THEM BUT YOU'RE INSIDE THEIR FUCKING HEADS!"

Aunt Leslie and Unc Zardon continued with their shouting match while the rest of the people inside Chang's residence continued to watch. Everyone outside was just wary of more deadheads coming but before I tried to tell Chang's people to let us in at least, Jay took my attention.

"What is going on?"

I scratched the side of my cheek, "It's complicated. Family stuff."

"I see… I'm sorry to say this but can we go ahead? We haven't eaten anything since this morning… If you're done here, just look for us a bit forward. It's the house with a yellow gate that's numbered 223--"

Bing cut him off, "Woah, why did you tell him our address?! I thought we're gonna talk about it--"

Jay waved Bing down, "I think we could trust this group, trust me."

Bing shook his head, "But still..."

Daisy interjected, "No offense, I'd approach him first if I wanted to ask for directions."

"What?! Not you too!"

Jay started chuckling, "Face it, big guy. They're the best chance we got. We'll see you guys soon?"

"Yeah, we'll see you guys in a bit."

"Okay, thanks again."

"Sure."

As I watched them run forward, three more figures emerged from the crowd of people that came out of Chang's place: a tall skinny guy with a pale complexion wearing a disgruntled face, a tall and petite female with long hair and the same dark complexion as my uncle, and another female who wasn't as tall as the other two but she had a fair complexion and a large forehead.

They were my other cousins and Kenny's older siblings: Cyrill, Joanna, and Hannah.

Hannah immediately approached Kenny to check on him and calm him down but the other two joined Aunt Leslie's side.

Cyrill bellowed, "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE, YOU DUMB FUCK?!"

Joanna added, "YEAH! DIDN'T THE COURT GIVE YOU A RESTRAINING ORDER?! HMM?!"

Unc Zardon gnashed his teeth before shaking his head, "THEN FUCKING SUE ME! I'M TAKING KENNY AND HANNAH WITH ME AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!"

"TAKE THEM?! HAH! CAN YOU EVEN TAKE CARE OF THEM, HUH?! YOU BARELY MADE A HOME FOR US!"

"BITCH?! I WAS DOING OVERTIME AFTER OVERTIME AT WORK! WHERE'S ALL THE MONEY I FUCKING GAVE YOU?! HUH?! AND WHY ARE WE IN DEBT BEFORE YOU LEFT ME?! I WAS DOING ALL THE FUCKING WORK AND YOU'RE JUST SITTING ON YOUR ASS AT HOME, NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO PREPARE A FUCKING MEAL! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO BE A TRUCK DRIVER?! AFTER DRIVING ALL DAY, DO YOU KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS TO GET HOME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WITHOUT EVEN A CUP OF RICE IN THE POT?! I DID EVERYTHING BY MYSELF! MY COOKING, MY LAUNDRY, EVERYTHING!"

"YOU--"

Cyrill interjected, "OVERTIME?! MAYBE ON THAT SKANK IN THE BAR YOU ALWAYS FREQUENT! DIDN'T THINK WE KNOW?!"

"HAH! YOU THINK I'LL HIDE IT?! THE ONLY REASON I DID THAT IS BECAUSE I CAUGHT YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER SLEEPING WITH SOMEONE ELSE ON OUR FUCKING BED! AND YOU DON'T HAVE A FUCKING SAY IN HOW I SPEND MY OWN FUCKING MONEY! YOU'RE JUST A FUCKING FREELOADER WHO CAN'T EVEN FIND A DECENT JOB!"

"WHA-- FUCK YOU!"

Joanna rebutted with bated breath, "HOW ABOUT ME THEN?! I FOUND A JOB AND FINISHED MY STUDIES! WHAT DID YOU DO?! NOTHING! WHERE WERE YOU?! HUH?!"

As soon as she said that, I instantly rolled my eyes and I was 100% certain I'd slap the fuck out of her if she was right next to me. If she was listening to everything they were saying from the get-go and didn't figure that out, that would be years of studying down the drain. However, it's just that her 'family' would stand behind her stupidity as long as it's against their father.

'Can't teach common sense though...'

The shouting match continued and Jared who was keeping an eye out for everyone was wearing a frown on his face while tightly holding his gun. I could see that he was fucking angry and was so close to lashing out because we know the whole story and our relatives from the other side just kept spewing one bullshit after the other.