Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

In a blink of an eye, the three of us at the front followed Megan's line of sight before a bunch of feathers puffed into the air, but unfortunately, it was a browned-feather duck that had a very short neck.

We could've salvaged its meat if it didn't take too much damage but a 1-oz slug, a 5.56x45mm cartridge, and a Dragon's Breath shotgun load were way~ more than "too much", because not only was it blown to bits, but it was also roasted to fucking imperfection.

But yeah, a few including me stifled a laugh while Sebastian and a few others sighed from the scare before Logan loaded another Dragon's Breath on his Tac-12 and shot the wasp nest.

It looked like he was doing a fireworks show due to the shade provided for us—and the specific shotshell used, of course, but we were careful to wait and check if we caused accidental fires around.

With the amount of dried leaves and twigs lying around, one could simply throw a lit cigarette butt and start a forest fire, but even though it had a chance of smoking this other witch out, we wouldn't actually sacrifice a mountain and all of its resources for that.

There were plenty of ways to make her a little bit useful by making her nutrients for the soil, and we were still in the process of doing just that.

And as we hiked on and followed the trail, the sound of moving water became increasingly stronger.

We had already been walking for more than 30 minutes on an incline but we were met with a fork in the road— mountain— woods— pathway, that could lead us in a steeper incline or following this gentle slope we were in earlier:

"Ah, shit… What now?" Logan sighed as he turned to us.

Sebastian examined both paths briefly before shaking his head, "There's no way of discerning which way is which—"

Logan's ears perked up, "Which way is what?"

I answered for Sebastian, "Which way those stitched-up ones came from. From the looks of it, they either converged at this particular spot and kept going until they reached the road."

"Then the goose—"

I chuckled, "The goose probably had nothing to do with it. I'm a bit superstitious at times but that goose and the horde popping up suddenly was more likely a coincidence than a—"

Sebastian cut in, "You really think so, my lord?"

I looked at Sebastian puzzledly before I had a realization, "Ah— I forgot you're also a powerlifter— but yeah, we should probably decide now though it's gonna be a coin flip—"

Megan cut in at the right time once again as she pointed at a familiar creature casually waddling up the steeper incline, "Isn't that the goose you were looking for—"

Everyone collectively shouted, especially Sebastian and Logan, "IT'S GOTTA BE THERE!/ LET'S FOLLOW IT!/ WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! LET'S GO!"

'...'

I was dumbstruck from the instant the decision was made but I couldn't care less because I'd go either way at this point. However, the noises these jackasses made, made the goose haul fucking ass, making the cadets limber up before trying to catch up to it.

But before James #1, James #2, Ruben, and Lucas reached far as they tried to race for it, I aimed at the tree a few feet further to make them stop in their tracks.

"WOAH!/ WHAT GIVES?!/ DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE MEDIA!/ THE FUCK?!"

I was pissed as fuck for them running off and I made sure to give each of them a bonk to the head because even if that could cause loss of a few brain cells, it seemed like they weren't even using it.

The goal of our trip here wasn't to catch that fucking goose but to figure out where those modified deadheads came from, so that it would lead us to probably another cabin in the woods or something similar. Furthermore, superstition or not—and not even taking into account the exposed roots camouflaged by dried leaves and shit—there were things that could debilitate a person that didn't include the hunter present.

I was talking about traps.

Witch or not, the bitch had some way to obtain her test subjects and I doubt she'd had the strength to drag them back to her lair or the charisma to seduce her way to invite strangers to her pad.

The only thing I could think of from the top of my head was by the use of traps or something similar, and running headfirst into unknown territory greatly increases the chances of getting caught on them.

Then again, with the mention of strength, the traps she laid could probably be a little closer to home, or in some cases, since medical aid was far out of reach in these parts, she probably offered medical assistance in her home though that only applied to the living.

What's there to say that she didn't use the same traps on the deadheads themselves because let's be fucking honest here, who would fucking hike in the mountains at this point in time?

And lastly, my first instinct was to shoot that goose on sight, the only reason I haven't was because these jackasses hit the ground running and tried to win a Darwin award for it. That animal could be here in another coincidence but even if it was trained to do that shit, following it still wasn't the answer.

'And we still have the trail for us to follow…'

With that said, I spent a bit of time lecturing the cadets who aren't in my discipleship program or in my inner circle though they seemed to understand my actions and recognize what they did wrong.

"Again, the worst thing we can do in unknown territory is do shit at their pace, and even if that goose wasn't a familiar or not—even if it could alarm the witch in hiding or not, your lives are more important. Understand? Even Sebastian said it before we decided to come here."

"W-We apologize, sir."

"M-Me too…"

"I, as well, sir…"

"We won't do it again. Sir."

Then I brought up a family tradition:

"Now that we understand each other, lift your shirt from the back, and don't scream as loud."

"S-Sir?"

"Huh?"

"Wut?"

"I-I don't follow—"

For the sake of brevity, the four were enduring the pain of being slapped at 60% power from the back as we continued to follow the trail, but unfortunately, the goose really left us in the dust. However, it didn't take long before we finally came across this stream of clear water that came from this set of cascading waterfall-like water formations that were 5-10 feet in height, and the trail abruptly ended there.

Anyone else were both appreciating the view and wondering where the dead could've come from because even at the other side of this stream of sorts, the trail definitely ended by the shallow water that was barely up to our knees.

In any case, Sebastian was in deep thought as he was looking around for clues—anything to make sense out of the situation.

JP gave a suggestion, "Could they have been washed over by the stream?"

Logan looked at him like an idiot, "This shit isn't that deep—"

"It doesn't stay that way forever, does it?"

"Ah— True…"

Seb looked over at the path the water was coming from, "So… We'd have to follow the water? Where does it start?"

Ruben nodded, "Would that even lead us to the place we're looking for?"

Then everyone else followed:

"What if we chose the wrong path?"

"We're gonna double back then?"

"Oh man, I didn't bring my pack."

"I didn't bring mine too…"

"We rushed here, remember?"

"It's also almost noon… We gotta have lunch…"

"D-Don't remind me…"

Hearing these cadets go at it again, I was this close to giving them another talking to but Sebastian spoke up in an apologetic tone:

"Apologies my guests for bringing you all the way here for nothing but with the way things are now, I guess it should be our stopping point… I do apologize for the trouble but I'll make sure to make up for it once we get back— What…"

As Sebastian stopped mid-sentence, seemingly looking at something from the distance, I followed his line of sight to discover that the clear water was slowly turning sewage-like starting from the 8-foot "waterfall" from the "floor" above us.

"What…"

Even the fucking smell that we should've been used to made everyone grimace but it suddenly regurgitated what looked like a huge fucking blockage for god knows what reason. It looked like a giant was backed up for ages and it finally had its release and again, the god-awful smell it produced was enough to make everyone else forget about lunch and maybe even dinner.

However, this "blockage" rolled for a bit and then crumbled into pieces—and as each piece got a partial washdown from the water flowing from the floors above, it revealed the very thing we were looking for.