Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!



To give a small image of what the wet market looked like, it was shaped like a sunflower seed of sorts where the tip and pointy of the seed was at the far end—that ends with a tall wall on one side and other shops on the other also separated by walls—while the other end was the open entrance where the parking area was also located.

Some parts of the wet market had second floors—even third floors on some parts—but it was all a huge jumble of small shops packed together in one place.

With that said, the way we met with Jesus' station wagon was when the herd following after him was bisected right at the far end of the market—where they were forming an upside-down 'V'.

On that note, I meant "we" as the people in my Raptor because everyone else would be coming for the deadheads' backs from the other side.

This was a plan made in haste but I'm sure everyone from the other side would have it a little easier.

It's just that Jesus and Meg couldn't believe their eyes when Tatiana and I jumped from my Raptor to face the hundred or so deadheads trailing behind them while Quinn was left in the driver's seat and Kaley was on sniper duty.

Gunfire already erupted from the other side of the wet market but Tatiana and I started with the sounds of partial heads and limbs falling on wet concrete. But yeah, we didn't plan on going melee the whole time because we had our blades in one hand and our pistols in the other, picking off deadheads much quicker while making sure that we had enough space for the both of us.

This time, Tatiana was using a suppressed 9mm pistol—but not the same one Kaley and I were using—though I noticed that she would empty out the whole magazine before reloading and putting it back in its holster. For some reason, Tatiana was inclined to use her blade with both hands to dismember the dead in front of her while I continued to use my katana and my Maxim 9 at the same time.

But yeah, it would be easier to apply more force in our swings if use both hands and we'd end up with more "alive" heads than "dead" heads in the process. I wasn't entirely sure what the DDR Camp in this place required but I'm in the assumption that the ones that are still alive provided more value.

In any case, these slow shamblers' only threat was their numbers but it didn't take long before Kaley started firing at the deadheads further in. I even heard Jose's rifle firing from the other side and it meant there were faster shamblers or just straight-up sprinters in the mix. However, their speed meant shit when they were in the middle of the group and them trying to force their way into us would just make them an easy target.

There was nothing easier than picking off a deadhead that was sticking out like a sore thumb, and it was even easier with a person that could shoot sub-MOA at great distances.

Kaley stopped firing after seven shots but I noticed that Jose flicked his happy switch on.

Hearing quick bursts after quick bursts of suppressed rifle rounds was music to my ears, but I focused on the task at hand because the way the horde got bisected wasn't as even as I hoped it would be.

How I wish the horde could've split to give us a hundred each but since the group from the other side made noise first, a few dozen more came to their side.

'They could probably handle it…'

I would've worried if I let Seb and his group take care of the other half of the horde we were facing but the people on the other side have been on the road far longer than we have, and they also have Jose who could pretty much be a group leader—and actually was back home—for his skills.

With that said, Tatiana and I kept hacking down anything that would come forward but we were actually taking a step back—making the dead collapse on their own—to provide more space and a clear path to escape if anything went wrong. However, it didn't take long before Quinn joined the fray—after shouting at Meg to drive the Raptor in her stead—and our little advance but backwards have gotten a little easier with three people in front.

And yeah, in less than 30 minutes, we cleared our portion and cut into the other side to help them with the dregs though we opted to use our guns at an angle. And luckily enough, we didn't have any surprises from inside the wet market because ten minutes of Jesus driving around to draw all of them out was plenty.

After 10 more minutes, the wet market was now cleared of deadheads and the look on Seb and his group's faces was fucking priceless.

I'm pretty sure that they'd be able to do the same thing if they had more experience but it seemed to me that they were blaming their equipment.

On that note, we still helped them collect all of the heads available—even if he insisted they do it themselves—but again, we were pressed for time and I had other places to be in. With that said, the wet market had sturdier fish nets available though I broke-in the mouths of the "alive" heads we had on hand.

"What's the total?"

Seb turned to me as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Two hundred fifty-seven heads. Ninety-three alive but we have a bit past four hundred right now. We might receive a bonus if we put it all in or we could have a note to reduce our weekly quota by a hundred heads… Thank you, guys…"

I chuckled, "Don't thank us that much… We have a deal, remember?"

"Yeah…"

"We'll do that later, can we go now?"