Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I've seen more than my fair share of weird shit even before the world ended like a specific order of how you should move in items into your new home, spilling the first shot of an alcohol bottle on the ground in a drinking session, etc. but yeah, they were more regarded as customs in a specific culture—Filipino culture—but it takes a specific type of being fucked in the head and the obscure "arts" to do shit like this.

And god fucking knows what the purpose of this was other than an intimidation/scare tactic or cause people to straight-up question if they should be free to walk among us or should WE be free to shoot them in the head if we came across such people.

Heck, they were featured on the news multiple times in the past trying to "cure" various diseases with their spit, getting possessed by their customer's loved ones so they could talk to them, selling fucked up concoctions as a fucking cure-all, getting rid of curses and figuring out who did them with the formation of melted candles dropped on water—and as a fucking norm for a small number of people in the world, selling trinkets that could somehow alter their destiny and rid of bad juju, mojo, or whatever the fuck they may call it.

I was so sick and fucking tired of this specific character class surviving in the apocalypse and doing shit like this because more often than not—no, like 99.99% of the time, they would do more harm than good.

But yeah, I had this new friend I had who definitely shared the same sentiment, and he, Sebastian, was ready to fucking set the whole fucking mountain ablaze just by the look on his fucking face.

He turned to me after softening his expression, "My lord, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you for another favor… This will only be possible with a group of capable fighters such as yourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"I… It shouldn't come as a surprise but the Rivas Family is severely lacking of capable soldiers and it was one of the reasons we joined hands with the De Leon Family—"

I cut him off, "I mean, what do you need?"

'I keep forgetting he does this shit…'

"Ah… My ongoing plan was to hunt down their remnants and purge the mountain of their filth but I could only do so in my free time. As you can see, this mountain is as big as a few put together but if we follow the trail the undead used to get here, we might just catch ourselves another break."

Logan interjected, "And the goose. That fucking goose."

Sebastian never looked so confused, "P-Pardon?"

"Hah? You don't know? Before this herd dropped in, we saw a fucking goose cross the road and head to the direction they came in—and one of those brats from the mansion we came from swore he saw another one of those bitches you put down last time. Catch my drift?"

"Curious… In any case, the group's safety would still be my priority—hence the reason for a bigger group to come—and if it starts to be too precarious, I wouldn't mind going back and pursuing the matter at my own time."

I nodded approvingly, "You thought about this already, huh?"

"Of course, my lord—"

Logan rolled his eyes, "Blah~ Blah~ Blah~ If you'd hand me a proper boomstick, I'll also come with ya. Since ya know, my sidearm's probably not good enough."

I chuckled, "Then what's your weapon of choice?"

"Pff— I can pretty much use anything!"

"Any platform?"

"Sure."

"ARs?"

"Too basic."

"AKs too?"

"Fuck yeah, I said anything, didn't I?! Even shotties—"

"How about an RPG? A flamethrower? A minigun—"

"I SAID— Excuse me, wut?"

I acted like the last few seconds didn't happen, "How about an M4 clone?"

"H-Hah?! M— Wait— How—"

"You said you can handle shotguns too, right? Kuzma's already using Tatiana's AK so she's now back to using her Benelli M4 but I can't give that to you so what we have closest to that is a Tac-12 from Sulun Arms. Basically Benelli M4 but made locally."

"..."

"L-Logan?"

As I said that, Logan was just looking at me puzzledly while Sebastian was hiding a laugh behind his signature faint smile. I wasn't sure if he had several Windows updates going on in his head right now but he eventually shook his head as he caught up to me now checking our equipment, reloading our mags, and handing over to Sebastian a few special shotgun loads because he was firm on sticking to his own weapon:

"H-Hey! You fuckers left me there spacing out! Where's— WOAH! How many fucking guns do you have in here?! Bro— That's the sniper I always use in COD! Can I use that instead?!"

I turned to Logan with a weird look on my face, "You're gonna use that, in a forest, with limited view due to shrubs and shit? I'm even hesitating to use my AR for this and switch to a lever-action but—"

"I get it, I get it, alright? I-I just got too excited…"

And it didn't take long before Quinn dropped in after checking in with her people who drove the trucks earlier:

"THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO ACTING BUDDY-BUDDY FOR?! I WAS EXPECTING YOU TO MAKE THE WOUND ON HIS FACE A LITTLE DEEPER ONCE YOU TWO GOT BACK, BUT THIS?!"

At that exact same moment, Logan hit her with the "You wouldn't understand us men" quote before he almost was rendered incapable of joining us in our little trip to the woods. But yeah, since the whole gang was here, we ventured into the woods while leaving a few people to watch our vehicles—Jesus and his crew—because they were more suited on the road than the gentle slope up the mountain.

In any case, Sebastian and I were leading the pack but Logan chose to hike close with us while Tatiana was in the middle with Kaley as Kuzma was bringing the rear with Quinn. Everyone else was either in the middle or in the back of the pack but we were walking in four sections so as to give space to each other when trouble comes.

With that said, it was fairly easy to follow the trail the dead left behind but this side of the mountain wasn't as properly maintained compared to the one by Sal's estate because the overgrowth was greatly apparent. And even though it was giving us a lot of shade, it was causing the other plants and even the much smaller trees under the taller trees to lose out on their much-needed sunlight for them to grow properly.

Furthermore, the amount of dead leaves and rotten bark and branches were strewn all across the area, and they could cause unfortunate accidents when one was trying to run away from a—an example, Jason Voorhees or a large dude dual-wielding chainsaws.

But yeah, as we continued following the trail, I started to hear a faint noise of running water which I assume came from a small river or even a waterfall.

I tapped on Sebastian who was looking at an angle where I couldn't, "You hear that?"

"I do, yes…"

Logan interjected, "Hear what?"

We answered at the same time, "Water."

Logan turned to Sebastian, "Aren't you familiar with this place?"

Sebastian looked sullen, "On this side of the mountain, not so much. It's been a while since I was allowed to explore freely like this… Memory's a little different and nature evolves at a slow but steady pace… That little bud there could be a towering tree given enough time and a little bit of luck…"

"Just say you forgot, fancy-ass words just go over my head—you've no idea… Hold up, is that a wasp nest?"

Sebastian and I looked at the direction Logan pointed and it was indeed a very large wasp nest right under this branch of this old tree.

"Good eye, Sir Logan—"

I cut in as I pointed at the shell holder I gave Sebastian, "You can use one of those on them if you want."

Logan couldn't believe his eyes, "Bro, you gave him Dragon's Breath and never bothered to ask me if I wanted one?!"

"I— I gave you some pepper spray, they could still light up because they use propellants—"

"It's not the fucking same, alright?! Do you have any more—"

Sebastian gracefully handed Logan a handful, "My good sir, you can have half of them if you want. I'll even give you the honors if you're so inclined to use them…"

Logan immediately snatched the shells from Sebastian's grasp, "That's what I'm talking about! Alright, everybody stand back!"

Isaac shouted from the back, "We can hear you three all the way here! Because we're the only ones in this damned woods!"

Megan piled on, "Oh, shut up you guys! What if they hear us— is that a duck?"

"WHERE?!"