Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

At this point, I wasn't talking to Mrs. Sandy who was a loving mother but to Dr. Sandara Nichols—who was still a loving mother—but a medical professional who was highly regarded in her field and would put everything else to give the best for loved ones even though she was the one suffering for it. This was the type of person I'd give everything for because they so deserved it and I believe anyone's hard work should be recognized in one way or another.

But as much as she wanted everything to be perfect, we should meet halfway because she was talking to me.

Not to brag in any way or to metaphorically swing my big dick around, I'm the fucking Nerd in the Apocalypse who has a wide range of skills, several "titles", plenty of achievements, and insane connections to the regular folk, the government, and the criminal underworld when the world fucking ended—and I have more fucking pull than the Head of the Cardiology and the ER Department.

I didn't mean to shit in her in any way—because anyone would be fucking lucky and should be grateful to have her in their fold—but even if she was part of the 1% of the top rankers in her field, her particular repertoire was too specialized to be able to live on her own.

To be honest, I was somewhat like her with my particular set of skills but going into the real world before the world ended made me realize I needed to expand my skillset as much as I could while forming connections with other people—especially with people like her in this instance.

As bad as this may sound, I need her value as a medical practitioner more than anything else she could offer because I only know what I've read in books about what she could do—or honestly speaking, completely jack shit—while the same thing could be said about her if we were comparing each other—and that's what was beautiful about forming connections with people.

'It's a you scratch my back, I scratch yours type of situation…'

Though I still answered her with respect, "Dr. Nichols… I agree on that, I do, but you have to understand that even though I occupy a few universities and know people who also occupy a few universities in their territories, I lack the professors and the teachers to give Chloe a full-on college education but—"

She cut in while looking displeased, "Then—"

"Let me finish, please. I lack the means to give Chloe the college education she deserves but— she's also studying to be a doctor while being a varsity in swimming, right? But let's be honest here, if you'd take a look at this place's current curriculum in medicine, how much do you think we should take off the list? When you studied here for a decade plus extra, how many things in that damned curriculum did you think was a fucking waste of time and money?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Umm… Dr. Nichols, I didn't want to say this but I'm not barring you from speaking—"

She suddenly threw me a cutesy glare, "Hold on! I'm thinking!"

"Ah… M-My bad…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"As an example, I studied Information Technology in this place, and at least half of the things we studied were dated and most of the things that led me to have a job when I graduated were things I taught myself—"

She let out a sigh as she looked at me pensively, "Agreed, there's a lot to shave off and I do understand your point but you can't just teach yourself things from the medical field—"

"But you and our doctors can."

"What do you mean?"

I chuckled, "You're probably the best doctor in your field, so who's gonna teach her better shit, you or the professors they have in this place who mostly throw around theory and philosophy for shits and giggles? She'll get lessons from you in a few years but why wait that long? She'll just get bombarded with tons of fluff mixed in with the important stuff so why don't you streamline her education and have her have real-life experiences at the same time? I'm not saying make her a resident just like that but watching someone do their thing and having a lesson after also does wonders, don't you think?"

"That's…"

"Other than that, my place can teach her just about everything she needs to be independent or self-sufficient. Like she could be taught how to change her tires, maintain her vehicles, grow and cook her food, shoot guns, train her body, and learn to protect herself with martial arts or with CQC…"

Chloe never looked so excited, "Martial arts?! Y-You're gonna teach me, right?!"

I nodded, "I do teach classes in the afternoon or evenings, yeah. But you'll have to take the lead in swimming."

"Great! I g-got you on that!" then she turned to her mom, "Mom, what do you think?"

Dr. Nichols still had a few walls put up, "That's admirable but how about our living conditions?"

Kaley answered, "Right now, there's only Rin and Zeus living in our house but Tatiana and Cynthia also live with us at the moment. We started— well, they started with a huge compound with high walls but we've occupied several barangays from our main city and the ones right next to it, enough to call it a city of the world of sorts, but we do have allies located nearby with the same mindset as us."

Chloe asked, "Zeus? Who's Rin and Cynthia? And what do you mean they started? Aren't you guys together from the beginning?"

Kaley and I looked at each other before we trailed at the same time, "Well…"

At this point, we gave them a brief rundown of what happened in the beginning and even though Mimi already heard the gist of it when we were here last time, she couldn't help but smile and get shocked at the same time as the other two when they heard it from the first time.

In any case, Quinn and Tatiana eventually joined us but they were just listening in while giving inputs from their perspective. The three didn't know if Quinn was joking about being part of an "organization" that the government was supposed to take care of but they'll know soon enough once they travel with us.

Tatiana added in one of her favorite parts of living with us, "The nights go wild at times but if you wanna have the most fun, it's better to stay in the same house as us—"

Dr. Nichols shook her head, "No! As much as I enjoyed our time, I wanna have my daughter have more platonic friends and I don't wanna get looked at like a shameless older woman who shacks in with the place's head honcho the moment they moved in—"

"Pfft…"

"Why are you laughing?!"

"It's just funny how you say it, carry on…"

I waved them off, "Again, Mimi included, you three could decide where you want to stay—whether rooming in with a few people or claiming a house of your own and I'll help you get settled in—"

Dr. Nichols cut me off, "Wait, you mentioned this Oscar fellow who's living alone in his own house. Can't we just live with him?"

"He always has his friends over like Kaley's dad but umm—"

She cutely rolled her eyes as she cut me off, "What? You want all of us to yourself, is that it?"

"Not exactly but it's his house and you should ask him if he'd let you. Trust me, the old man's fucking messy and you don't want any of that. He's also seeing someone right now and he probably won't allow another female or two in the house while he's at it but again, there are plenty of houses to choose from though I recommend something closer to the hospital for work and whatnot."

"..."

"Thinking again?"

"Yeah, s-shut up…"

"But before I forget, what about our little arrangement?"

"What arrangement?"

"I don't really like to bring this up now, but since our 'donor' kicked the bucket, do we have a replacement—"

"Pssh. Don't even worry about it. I found more than ten people and four of them are around the same age as that kid. They're fairly active too so that's a plus, so if the General calls you over for a chat, just tell him that and he'll shut up. He only cares about his kid besides his real job but most parents are like that. That's a few things off my back just from that but I'm only regretting not being able to give more things to the ones he—"

"You didn't do anything wrong and you shouldn't be the one paying for his sins. Even if he's not here anymore and somehow paid for it in his own way, I'm gonna assume you don't think that it's quite enough but what are you gonna do with this house and your cars? If you know, you decided to actually switch bases…"

"Bold of you to assume we'd drive off to the sunset with you—"

I chuckled, "Don't lie, you've already decided, and bold of you to deny such an invitation with all the benefits that come along with it. But yeah, if you really want to give them one last payoff, you could pawn this house and your cars—because you'll ride with me anyway for your and Chloe's safety—and give them the credits they'll need while shaving a few off the patients you'd be leaving. Don't worry, we'll provide you with anything you'd need—even another car—even though the hospital is within walking distance, and you'll only have to prepare your personal items plus extra."

Chloe cut in, "W-When are we l-leaving anyway? I-I do take some time packing…"

"Today."

"Today?!"

"The sooner the better but we'll probably spend the night in Quinn's place before setting off to Cuervo Heights and using the ship to get home. I'm gonna tell you straight-up that those places are way~ different from this holy land of sorts but you're with me so you don't have anything to worry about. Though I'll advise you not to leave my side or any in my group just to be safe because some people do be crazy around those parts…"

Mimi added, "A-Also… I a-assumed this was gonna happen one way or another so I prepared all of the forms needed and y-you only need to sign them… Once you do, I'll just have to give them to the director a-and that's that…"

Dr. Nichols couldn't believe her ears, "You little— Haa… fine, you all got me. How much time do we have left?"

"I'm waiting for the summons right now but I'll advise you two to pack up your bags and head over to Ron and Allyssa's— do you know them perchance?"

She nodded, "I know Allyssa. She approached me a few times regarding the changes she wanted to implement here and even though I agree with her, it's gonna be impossible with these people, realistically speaking. It will be better if she comes with us."

"I agree, but she probably set on doing things her way. But if she comes with us, I'll still take them both, no questions asked."

"Then that's a conversation for another day. Do we drive over to their house after?"

"Yeah—"

"And then what?"

"If the General takes too long, we'll drive over there and finish whatever he wants to talk to me about before going our own way. We'll be back on the road once again and hopefully, we reach Quinn's place before sunset."

With that said, the two asked a few more questions before we bid goodbye for the moment, but I still needed to finalize a few more things with my friends and a certain someone who wanted to be set free from her father's grasp.

But yeah, the easiest way to make contact with all of them was through Andy so I picked up my radio to try to reach him first.