Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Luckily enough, Andy replied almost immediately and told me that he was at the house with Ben, Cass, and Ron while Allyssa still hadn't come back for lunch and probably had some takeout from the cafeteria. For some reason, he sounded too happy from hearing my voice but it didn't take long before we reached my soon-to-be-not-my-house, and parked on the driveway.

We briefly exchanged greetings and a few mindless stories before I dropped a few bombs that included Lopez's death.

Cass couldn't believe her ears, "WHAT?! No way! How—"

"I just told you—"

"JP shot— BUT HOW?!"

"Let's just say he had a change of heart from the time he was with us and he decided to do the right thing for once—though he did fuck up the first time he tried to."

And I quickly went back to a few important topics, "First off, have you finally decided—"

Andy answered first, "Dude! I am coming with you with Mimi but I gotta find some way to spend the credits I earned from the shit your group sent over!"

My ears perked up, "From the books?"

"Nah! I gave all the books to Allyssa but once I got into contact with Ken and Allan—mostly Ken—he sent me a bunch of stuff to trade with the guys in the dormitories and I'm fucking swimming with credits among other things! I used to pirate porn but they're worth a fortune over here!"

Ben interjected after briefly glancing at me, "Dude. I've been telling you, be a good friend and just take off with all the random shit they gave you and leave the credits to us."

I turned to Ben, "You're not coming then? You and Cass?"

The two nodded as Ben answered, "Sorry, dude. I would've wanted to—"

Cass suddenly cut in, "Wait… I think we should come…"

Ben couldn't believe his ears, "What— I thought you—"

"I-It's a different story now… I dunno how mad the General is right now but I assure you that you don't wanna be in close proximity when he is," she said as she turned to me, "You said you're gonna drive there anyway and get on with it but I strongly suggest you at least let a day pass…"

I replied, "We are in a little bit of a time crunch and I really wanna sleep on my bed but the General's not mad at me but at his son—no, he can't be mad at JP but he's definitely mad at what JP did, if that makes any sense."

She let out a sigh, "Don't you think he might mention that you put things in his head that made him do that?"

"What? Making his kid a fucking badass that knows what's right from wrong? I do skirt around the rules sometimes but the thing with Lopez didn't fly with me since day 1. You touch my wife you get knife'd. Trust me, I'm not the only one who wants to murder him in cold blood but Dr. Nichols has the silver bullet to calm him down."

"Nichols?"

"Ah… It's Dr. Sandara Lopez a.k.a. Dr. Nichols, Gibson Lopez's wife— I mean ex-wife. She changed names—"

"Right! I know, I know— Jeez, how many people are you gonna take with you? Will there be enough space?"

"It will, don't worry," then I looked at the two, "So, you guys coming or what?"

Ben and Cass just looked at each other for a moment but like Dr. Nichols, Cass had a few questions of her own:

"Both of us don't want to be burdens so what are we gonna do about jobs?"

"Ben could continue doing patrols then branch on it while you could also do the same job you're doing but for different people."

"You mean working for you instead?"

"Ah… I already have Rin, one of my friends, back home to do the same thing you're doing but you could be a great asset for either of the main DDR Camps we occupy. It's either serving under Sir Ferdinand who's much closer or Sir Morales who's further—"

Ben cut in as he looked at Cass, "You're taking the closest one, right Cass?"

She chuckled as she shook her head, "I will, I will~ Don't worry…"

Ron let out a sigh from the couch, "So you'd all leave, huh? This place will be quiet at long last—"

I chuckled, "Like them, you could still change your mind?"

He shook his head, "Nah, bro… I'll be on Allyssa's side every step of the way. But we'll require an emergency airlift in case things go wrong here. You'd give us at least that, right?"

I rolled my eyes because their problem could be solved if they just moved in with us, "Sure, sure… It'll take at least 30 minutes to an hour but you wouldn't have to change locations because we'll just reclaim this place for ourselves if both this university and the academy go down—"

"Woah! WOAH! Don't jinx it, alright?! I love this place too! I still have high hopes for it!"

"Then find a way for not just Allyssa to obtain power through her contributions and whatnot but also from you as well. I don't wanna tell you how kind of passive you are even if you're that supportive but… in this place, as much as I hate to say it, you have a higher chance of being heard here because you're a guy. No offense to anyone else."

Ben let out a bitter smile, "That's true but I'm not that guy, alright? I heard the same thing from Allyssa's mouth but she also understood where I was coming from. Our way of doings this is being heard slowly and she just doesn't wanna let go of something she's determined to fix, you know what I'm saying?"

I put my hands up as I gave in, "Alright, dude. Just keep that radio close but hope to fuck you don't get to use my airlift services. I'm in a love-hate relationship with this place but I also don't want this place to go under."

"Agreed, thanks."

With that said, Ben and Cass got on to packing their bags while Andy was already sitting pretty and ready to move out at a moment's notice. But yeah, it didn't take long before we heard a knock on the door and Richard Sobito Jr. was the visitor. Andy let him in once I told him I was expecting him but the kid was both nervous to fuck and excited from seeing my face.

"What's up? Those credits I sent you treating you nicely?"

"Y-Yeah… B-But I spent almost all of it because I really wanted to get out… Keeping some wouldn't do me good…"

"Alright, let's talk…"

Long story short, we'd give him a lift to probably be a prospect in Quinn's place or do fuck all in Cuervo Heights but he sure as hell wouldn't be coming with me to my headquarters. But yeah, he'd find a place on his own though he looked to be interested in working with Quinn though he'd be disappointed that she'd be away from her garage.

Quinn could probably attract a crowd of submissive guys just by looking at them and an extra pair of hands was an extra pair of hands.

In any case, it didn't take long before it was 2 in the afternoon—the time limit I set before heading back to the academy—so since everyone was already present and a few things on the back end were already accounted for, we drove out with a few additional people for a quick stop-by to the Academy.

However, I was a little surprised and confused when all of the cadets—including the ones from Seb's group except for JP—were standing outside the gates with the Raycolt they used on our short vacation and a military jeep.

'Wait a sec…'

I was prepared to have another full-on conversation about what happened and what should've been done but I already had an inkling as to what went on when Seb approached me with a complex expression but with a mix of a lighter undertone.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure," I said as I nodded and stepped out of my vehicle, "What happened?"

"About that… We all uhh… We're being transferred…"

"Ah, shit… How— Where? And JP?"

"JP's grounded in a sense but as the General said, we could go anywhere as long as it's not here… And in his own words: tell that fucking kid he had some fucking balls on him but we're not on talking terms right now—"

I chortled, "He did, huh?"

"A-And he also wanted me to uhh…" Seb trailed as he leaned close, "He told me to thank you but don't ever fucking do that shit again… His words, not mine…"

"Hah! What did I do wrong though?"

Seb chuckled as well as he scratched the side of his cheek, "Again, this is his words, not mine… It seems that we've been influenced too much from the time we spent with you—and this is my words now… But this influence is something that we really needed and he just couldn't admit to himself that we were right. I didn't wanna say it out loud but I would've shot Lopez myself if JP didn't do it… Alexa said the same thing too much like everyone else from our group, even Lucas…"

"For real?"

"Yeah…"

"So good luck on your own—"

"P-Please— D-Don't even joke about this, we really need you to take us in…"

"I don't do charity work though, you'll have to work for your—"

"Anything, sir. It's probably night and day if you accept us into your fold…"

"That's true, that's true…" then I had a sinister thought as I pressed the button to lower the windows to the back, "Before I forget, they're also coming with us…"

"Oh?"

"That's Mimi, you've seen here last time but that's Chloe and Dr. Nichols."

Seb was a little taken aback by the sudden introductions of new people, "A-Ah… Is that so? V-Very nice to meet you a-all—"

"That's Lopez's daughter and ex-wife—"

"Huh? C-Can you repeat— I must've heard wrong, I think it's the wind—"

"They're his family. They're coming with us. Say hi—"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"