Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

My two cousins were just about to walk forward when my fucking aunt pulled them back abruptly before stepping in and sending three resounding slaps on my uncle's face. The two almost fell over but their mother was more concerned about inflicting pain to her husband compared to making sure that they weren't hurt.

Even Joanna who was just standing there like an idiot didn't give a fuck about what happened to her younger siblings, and she was just wearing a smile seeing her mom hurt her dad.

With that said, my aunt continued to slap my Unc Zardon but he never fought back. Well, he looked like he'd murder her when she pulled my two cousins down, but all he did was grab on her arms when he had enough.

"I'm done. That's enough."

Unc Zardon's voice was just loud enough for everyone to hear and he just looked at his wife like she was dead already. However, the peaceful look came back when he turned to his kids and beckoned them to walk towards the truck behind us.

"Hannah, Kenny, please walk to the truck, there's Jared. We'll finally go home now…"

"O-Okay, dad…"

Hannah was the one who replied and she took Kenny with her as they followed their dad's request. However, as soon as that happened, Aunt Leslie started to thrash around, trying to break free from my uncle's grasp.

"NO!"

"STOP FUCKING STRUGGLING OR I'LL BREAK YOUR ARMS! HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH?! HUH?!"

Aunt Leslie started to cry as she shrieked from fear, "DID YOU ALL HEAR THAT?! DID YOU HEAR THAT?! HE SAID HE'S GONNA HURT ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP–"

I was still in the middle of internally rolling my eyes and trying my best not to end that bitch but Unc just pushed her away, making her trip and fall to the ground.

"YOU ALL SEE THAT?! WHAT HE'S DOING TO ME?! HE'S–"

"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUUUUUUUUP~!!! IF I WANTED TO FUCKING HURT YOU, YOU'LL BE DEAD ALREADY! SO, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD, TAKE WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR FUCKING DIGNITY AND ME A FUCKING MOTHER FOR ONCE, YOU FUCKING BITCH! I'M SO FED UP WITH THE FAKE FUCKING TEARS AND YOU FUCKING TRYING TO TURN EVERYONE ON ME! COME AT ME AGAIN, AND I'LL HURT YOU FOR REAL!"

Tears were already falling from Unc's cheeks and he was shaking from anger. He was this close to swinging at his wife because this was the same shit she did before they split. Unc became the bad guy and he was left with nothing.

Aunt Leslie for once shut her trap as she continued bawling but to my surprise, the other bitch couldn't be more fucking dense and stupid.

"D-Dad! I-I'm s-sorry! Please, I-I'd like to come too! B-Be with everyone! Y-You'll take me too, right?!"

Joanna started to plead her heart out as tears flowed down from her eyes but not only me, everyone else present knew the fucking reason she'd switch sides, and it's because whatever reputation they built up here was torn to shreds in an instant.

However, Unc went through a lot just this past few moments and he looked like he was about to fall for it again.

'Don't fall for it, unc, that's just a repeat of what they always do to you. I said I would still welcome them all before but I changed my mind. They're still the same assholes that put you through hell… You should've cut it off the first time it happened and you should've found your voice before it turned like this. Well, I should've been with you that time in court, but it all hangs with you now… Don't make the wrong decision with them once again…'

Joanna was just about to walk forward and give her dad a hug but Unc Zardon spoke.

"Cyrill, Joanna… I'm also done with both of you. You're not my kids anymore… And your bitch of a mom isn't my wife anymore… After all I've done for all of you… I wanted to be a good father but I should've abandoned the three of you when I got the chance. I promised myself never to be the same idiot again and I'm doing what I promised to myself ever since. I hope you three recognize the wrongs that you did with your lives but I– we wouldn't be there anymore to support you… This is goodbye."

Joanna was just stunned in place hearing those words and Unc just turned around and walked back to finally reunite with his kids. Cyrill was still not moving a muscle though he was still glaring at me while Aunt Leslie was still a fucking mess as she was still sprawled on the floor.

Since we already got what we wanted, I pulled away the huge-ass polearm that I placed by my cousin's neck though I spun it around to check the overall balance.

Little did I know that there was a glint in Mr. Chang's eyes when he saw me brandish his weapon but then I turned around to look him in the face.

"Mr. Chang, one more tip: burn the bodies in the streets. You'd get sick if they stayed like that and decomposed."

"Y-Yes, will do."

I finally walked outside with my brand-new weapon and I never looked back.

The gates were closed behind me and I found out that Hannah and Kenny were now sitting with Unc Zardon at the front. They were actually chatting nonstop while Kenny was now the one wearing Unc's helmet and the look on Unc's face had never been so peaceful as tears were still falling down his eyes.

We started to drive towards the area Jay told us about though I saw Kenny giving me a friendly salute.

I responded with my own while making faces though I discovered that Kaley and Tatiana were looking at my new weapon, wanting to ask something. I tried waving them over to catch their attention but they were too focused on the weapon on my hands.

"What?" I asked to break the silence.

Tatiana looked at me, "You really traded that for the guns, motorcycles, and the suits? Does it do something special?"

Kaley added, "I know it's to sweeten the deal but is that really worth it?"

I explained, "Of course. Like my blade here, this thing is the real deal. This isn't one of those cheap ones you could buy in a convention and the moment you draw them, they'd break in half. I first laid my eyes on this a decade ago and aside from the dust, it still looked like it was before."

"But still… the guns…"

"Well~ Let's just say he lets a marksman use it and let's assume they could hit a headshot 100% of the time… then it's just 100-200 zombies dead and they're out of ammo. Yeah, they could also use the stock to hit zombies with but this thing could proficiently kill a whole lot more in close quarters and it wouldn't break as easily."

"And the motorcycles and the suits?"

"We could always go back to the same shop like it's nothing and the ones we took didn't even have any gas–"

"WHAT?!"

"Hey, if he wants to surcharge us, I have my own ways to deal with it. I don't whine like a little bitch but instead, I make him focus on my desire for his guandao, make it look like I'm a fucking sucker for his shit but I'd undercut him. He'd still be profiting but not as much as he thought… We've done that dance before and I'm sure he'd let it slide."

The two were completely speechless from the revelation but Kaley had another thought.

"Wait. You said before that you preferred speed and maneuverability over reach and power, right? So… Isn't that the embodiment of reach and power?"

"Ah– Well, I'm not gonna just switch to this one if that's what we're talking about. Hmm~ We'll find someone more suitable for this and I'll let them use it whoever they are. But~ I'd be really strict with the requirements because just look at this, this a thing of beauty, no?"

Kaley chuckled, "It sure is."

After a short bit, we finally arrived at Jay's residence seeing a few corpses that were either cut down or bludgeoned to death. I asked my group to take watch and pile the bodies to one side so we could take care of them later while I knocked at the gate before trying to take a peek through the small gaps at the side.

'There they are…'

They were still happily eating their meal before they heard the knocking, and then I saw Jay cautiously peeking to see who it was. Once he knew that it was me, his body relaxed before he went outside and opened the gate for us.

He let us in and briefly introduced us to everybody, and he even offered us a meal.

"Thank you, but no thanks. We got a lot at home, remember?"

"Ah– That's right. Anyway, you really came. Umm… this is what's left of us… We used to be a lot more but they either left or you know… turned to one of those things."

Jon interjected, "Hey, are you willing to take us all in? You still got some room, right?"

"Tell me about yourselves first."

"I'll start then..." Jay said as he picked up a blanket to wipe his mouth.

Each of them had their turns and after they were done, I discovered that Jay was actually a business owner like myself.

He and his family were running a small restaurant by the edges of Polo and Obando, and they were just about to expand when it happened. With that said, he was married to one of the ladies at the back named Faith and the older married couple present were his parents, Andres and Veronica.

Jon turned out to be his younger brother and he was just about to quit his job in a nearby convenience store to help out with the expansion.

With that said, we already knew the big and grumpy guy named Bing that was actually a bouncer and Daisy, who was a tattoo artist. The only other person we didn't know the name earlier was Michael, and he used to be a factory worker that worked on textiles.

They seemed like a normal group of people, and I decided to tell them about my place.

"Alright, the thing is, the place I'm talking about, the place with lots of food, it's real and I'm the one in charge of it. You could call me the head honcho or something else but I do have an advisor or two to help with the decision making process. Anyway, you look like a normal group of people– no offense, but since we're expanding bit by bit, I need your experience."

"Experience?"

"Yeah, your experience outside. Our group wouldn't be able to take care of the dead on our own– Well, we do but it'll take a lot of time, so we need people who experienced the outside– even for a little bit, just by themselves. With that said, I'd like you all to come with us but there will be a strict set of rules that we all gotta follow or else we could part ways now."

"W-What rules?"

"Obviously, not all of you will be required to go outside but each person is required to contribute. Be it their experience, knowledge, etc., that would be helpful to the group, we'd take it, but everything passes through me first if it's really important. You could always voice out your opinions but I will always have the final say."

"..."

"If you could do that, I'll give you all the basic necessities any person would need plus more. I'd give you the proper tools for the job and we'll do our best to help you if you had any sickness or any comorbidities that could hinder you in helping us."

Bing stood up, "Aren't you worried that some people might do something bad in spite of what you've done for them? We've had a couple of those and I wouldn't let the same thing ever happen again. Sorry, but I do have trust issues. I know that it's supposed to be the other way around in our situation and I'm making my group look like we might do something, but it's also supposed to go both ways. Trust, I mean."

'This guy and Johnny will obviously hit it off…'

"What are you thinking about? You're not gonna answer me?"

I chuckled, "I'm just thinking of someone kinda like you. But to answer your question, no. I'm not worried to say the least. I have a knack of picking people that have a good head on their shoulders and even if I made a mistake, I have people back there to take care of it even if we're outside."

Jay asked, "You have more people?"

"Yeah, a few times more than yours."

Daisy added, "You've never had any incidents?"

"What do you mean? If you're talking about casualties, none. It's because we are always prepared, and armed. People don't just die stupidly there like in the movies."

"That's impressive and kinda obvious, but what I mean is that no one has pointed a gun at you or stolen from you?"

"As I said, we have a very secure place. However, a very stressed and confused guy pointed a gun at me once."

"Oh, what happened then? Did you kill him?"

"I don't kill unless I need to. He's alive and with the group, he cleared his head and went back to his usual self. However, he may have lost the opportunity to make another child since I've kicked him hard in the nuts. I twisted his arm too and I could tell the whole story if you want?"

"Please do!"

I told them the rest of the story with Alex's dad, Arthur, and there was a mix of reactions, mostly positive. In which case, I got to know more about them a little bit better and I was sure they'd need the help and the solution for that was to come with us.

After that, we exchanged a few more words before they finally made the right decision in which case I asked them to pack all of their important belongings.

Luckily, giving Mr. Chang two motorcycles and a few boxes of gear was a great choice because all of their vehicles here were stolen. All eight of them would be able to fit at the back with us though some of them would need to wear the rest of the motorcycle gear and have Mr. Andres and Mrs. Veronica sit with Unc in the front while Hannah and Kenny sits with us in the sidings.

Doing that would give us more space with their bags included though some of us would bump shoulders on the way back.

Everything was already going smoothly but Bing just had to go down swinging.

As soon as he threw his bag at the truck bed, he turned to Tatiana and issued a challenge.

"Wait, I'd like to confirm if you really are military."

'Oh boy…'

Jay tried to defuse the situation, "C'mon, Bing. All we have to do is climb at the back…"

"C'mon, man… I've only seen that tall kid and that girl with big boo– black hair shoot!"

"Your point?"

"This one is just holding her shotgun and never bothered to fire it. She looks scary when she glares at you like that but I know the type– I've been doing that shit when I was still a bouncer. It's all intimidation when you put the tough-looking guy at the front."

"Did you just out yourself as just being tough-looking?"

"Wha– Not like– Stop confusing me! I'm just saying, if she's really hot shit, she should be able to do more than just look tough. What about a fight? You know, mano y mano. If you don't understand, I'm talking about a no-holds barred, full-frontal– no– wait– full-contact one-on-one fight!"

Bing really tried his best to explain himself, Jon and Michael believed him as they were nodding pensively but some of us already knew what he was up to the moment he accidentally blurted out certain words.

'He's gonna try to cop a feel…' everyone said to themselves.

I gave him one last chance, "You're gonna die, you know?"

"Bah! Stop scaring me, I know what I'm doing," Bing glared at me before he let out a perverse expression.

I shook my head, "Then knock yourself out."

Bing never looked so happy and perverted when he rushed over to pick a fight with Tatiana but she just lifted off the ground and the rest was fucking history. I assumed it would've been a one-sided exchange but not like this.

It wasn't even a minute, not even half of a minute. Heck, it wasn't even 10 seconds.

As soon as Tatiana lifted off the ground, the air just whistled loudly before getting sliced and Tatiana's heel got violently introduced to Bing's fucking face. It hit him clean in the jaw and the guard he half-assedly put up got easily brushed to the side, and he wasn't even able to see it coming.

The largest guy in the room just sprawled on the floor like a floppy hotdog and it wasn't even able to cry in pain. Even his ass was facing the sky as he got knocked the fuck out yet no one was feeling sorry for him.

'He fucked around… he found out…'

I was even hopeful to see Bing in action for once but with Tatiana present, everything was thrown out the window.

To add insult to injury, the moment Tatiana landed on her feet, she never looked so confused before she said, "Is he dead?"

Silence. Complete and total fucking silence.