Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I was partly trying to contain my laughter as I facepalmed but everyone was still in utter shock at what just happened. In which case, I would not have wanted a new member to sustain injuries on their first day so I decided to check on him.

Bing was still knocked unconscious as drool was flowing down from his mouth and he was so fucking lucky that that was the only liquid that came out of his body.

'I need to wake him up first…'

I pulled out a small bottle that was the same one that Oscar made Tatiana sniff when I knocked her out, and Bing just jolted up like a baby deer that was honked on by a passing car. However, he just spat out a tooth and he looked at it with bewilderment.

"Is… Is… Is that m-mine? What… What happened…"

Bing was groaning in between words and sentences and he looked like his head was still light-headed. He was just about to stand up when I held him down.

"Don't get up yet. You just got knocked the fuck out. Good thing your jaw is still intact…"

"I what? Uhh… everything fucking hurts… how… what the fuck…"

I chuckled as I shook my head, "I did warn you though. Sit for a few and get up when you're head's not spinning anymore."

"I thought you were kidding... I didn't even see it happen... Uhhhhh~ my jaw fucking hurts… I'm bleeding– fuck…"

"Wanna try again just to be sure?"

"FUCK NO! GET HER THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"STOP LAUGHING! IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! IT IS! IT FUCKING IS!"

Everyone got a good laugh and after a few minutes, I offered a hand so he could get up and we finally drove home. However, there was a bit of change in the seating arrangement since he had to switch with Andres because he might fall off from the back.

With that said, we passed by Mr. Chang's residence at one point but there was no one outside. We could only hear voices from people arguing from one of the houses and nothing else.

However, the pile of corpses outside were now stacked on top of one another and they were in the process of being turned to cinders. I was happy that Mr. Chang followed my suggestion and we eventually drove off Elsewhere.

At some point, Kenny was sitting in front of me and he tapped on my knees.

"Hey!"

"Yo. What's up?"

"Hehe~ Nothing, you look really cool."

"Me? Thanks! You look cool with that helmet too! Where did you get it from?"

"Oh! This one? *knocks on it repeatedly* Dad gave it to me earlier. It's kinda big though… It's supposed to cover my head but it's also covering my eyes… See? See? Then not see!"

The two of us were casually chatting when Kaley nudged me and joined in.

"Aww, he's so cute, Sky! Your name's Kenny, right? I'm Kaley! How old are you?"

"I'm 6 now, how about you? Are you 37 now? You look like one." Kenny replied without an ounce of worry.

As soon as Kenny said that, I could already feel my skin burning from the aura Kaley was emanating and I had to find a way to defuse the situation. I suddenly smacked the shit out of his helmet and I glared at my cousin that was trying to get us killed.

However, my warning signals just whoosed over his head.

"What was that for?! It's loud when you knocked on it!"

"But did it hurt?"

"Huh? Umm, no? It's just loud."

"Great! I'm just testing if it's really strong. Well, it really IS strong. I bet you could block a meteor with that thing!"

"WHAT?! REALLY?! IT COULD?! I HOPE ONE COMES FOR US RIGHT NOW!"

"That's not what I– nevermind…"

Everyone else listening in was trying so fucking hard to contain their laughter but Kaley wasn't willing to let go off being called older than she was. She grabbed Kenny's shoulder and looked at him with a menacing smile.

"Little sh- l-little kid. I'm still very young, okay? Did you really think I'm 37 years old?!"

"Yes?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Kaley started to lose her mind and Kenny just pulled me aside.

"She's really s-scary, Sky… Why is she so mad? Is she a witch?" Kenny dropped another bomb while a new target was painted on my back.

"She's very, very young, the same age as me. I'm still young, right? I'm older than you but I'm still– we're still young, in general. Also, you don't ask them about their age, okay?" I said to Kenny while whispering the last part.

"Oh~ Why do we not ask them their age then? She asked my age though... I think old people get mad at that. Oh! She's pretty old then? Maybe 47? But you're not 47, right?" Kenny asked again innocently.

"You're really trying to get us killed here, huh?" I just accepted our fate as to whatever happens.

"I'M 25?! HAPPY?!"

Kaley exclaimed at the top of her voice but Kenny just looked at her as normal.

"Cool."

"..."

Kenny moving on from the subject was so fucking quick, Kaley almost banged her head on the truck bed from helplessness and frustration. She got so hung up with a particular subject that we had no control over, she tried to pick a fight with a kid who didn't give a fuck.

With that said, I just jokingly nudged her and tried to calm her down.

"Don't argue with a kid, yeah? You'll never win."

"He's looking a lot less cute now..."

"I don't look cute! I'm cool! See this helmet?! It blocks meteors!"

"Right…"

Driving forward, the light conversation continued and we passed by the Pineda residence after we drove past the elementary school.

'I forgot about this one… It's almost 4:00 PM though and I need to teach a class later… Maybe tomorrow… My head's starting to itch now… dammit…'

We eventually reached the compound and the group I brought with us was shocked. Their eyes scanned all over and they couldn't believe that some people were casually walking outside.

"From this gate here up to the end, is a safe zone. The end of the road is a canal system and we cleared everything ourselves."

Daisy exclaimed, "All of this?! How?!"

"We have more people inside that helped but it did take us a week. C'mon, let's go inside. You'll meet everyone."

As we were escorting them to their new home, I saw our tanker parked outside the gate. I left Kaley to guide and introduced them to everyone because I saw Russel waving at me.

"Hey, bro! We filled up several containers with diesel and there's still light from the sun. We could head to the gas station now for a quick refill? There could be supplies leftover from the convenience store too!"

"What about the broadcast?"

"It still replays right?"

"That's true… I remember Ken recording everything from the start. He got the first broadcast from the replays. I think we could just watch it again at the meeting. I guess I'll just teach a different class today and take a break from gun training."

"You could just say yes?"

"Heh, fucker."

"Hehehe~"

"Alright, I'll see who we could bring with us. Stay there, I'll be back soon."

I was just about to ask Unc Zardon to drive us but I remembered that he was just reunited with kids now. Realizing that, I decided to give him time to catch up with his kids and ask somebody else. However, I wouldn't go around asking for favors while holding a huge-ass weapon.

"Hold this for a minute." I called Russel over and handed him my guandao.

"This looks fucking sick, bro. I remember dad likes this sort of thing, I'll show this to him later," Russel said as he tried to wave it around.

After a short bit, I decided to bring Tatiana with us. I know that she'd definitely come with me since we'll be going outside, so she's the answer since either of us could drive the tanker back to the gas station.

Once we arrived, a handful of deadheads were present so Tatiana and I drew our weapons. Russel was the one driving the tanker so he stayed inside and waited for the right opportunity.

With that said, Tatiana and I picked a side to take care of and we easily sunk our blades into their eye sockets or simply removed part of their skull. It took us a minute to secure a perimeter so we could fill our tanker but by the end, all of them were stacked in a curb, waiting to be set on fire.

Russel started to fill the tanker at some point and the two of us were just standing guard.

Tatiana waved me over while wiping her knife, "Why is there more coming from the right way than the left way?"

"From the right side onward is where most of the large cities are centered. The left side, on the other hand, is where most of the rural areas are located. If you drive a bit on the left, you would reach the Bulacan Area, which is still a province, and its population compared to the urban areas is night and day."

"I see…"

"Russ, how long is this gonna take?"

"More than half an hour. We need to get the good stuff, not the bubbles."

"Bubbles?" Tatiana asked.

Russel chuckled, "It's a gas station trick. You could pump it to maximum speed to fill up a car the fastest way, but there will be a lot of foam when you do that. Same principle with beer, do you like the foam or the beer itself? Well, I do things in between but pricks obviously get the bubbles and the foam."

"Hmm, that's good to know. I never knew that…" Tatiana said as she nodded pensively.

After a short bit of silence, Russel waved me over and asked a question.

"Dude, what happened on your trip earlier? I saw Unc Zardon with Kenny and Hanna but– you know, the others… did they… did something happen to them?"

Looking at his solemn expression and seeing that the dead walking around were still further back, I decided to tell him the full story. After that, he just nodded a few times before sighing heavily. He got mad knowing at some points of the story but he eventually calmed down when everything was resolved.

"Bro. I almost turned like Cyrill, right? I was fucking mad at you for beating me up that time, but now… I'm fucking thankful for it."

"Hah! Good thing that beating you up worked. That guy is too far gone compared to you. He has been to rock bottom several times and he kept doing what put him there…"

"Yeah… thanks again, bro…"

"Sure…"

From that short exchange, I remembered another story from back then, but it wasn't important right now since I just spotted something at the horizon that we should be worried about.

It was just a tiny dot at first but it was getting bigger and bigger.

"Sprinter."

Tatiana and Russel heard me and they tensed up.

Russel exclaimed, "We– You c-could shoot it, right?!"

I shook my head, "Don't even try. Did you forget where we are standing right now? We could cause an explosion if we try to shoot it from here. Just keep on filling that tanker and we'll handle it. I guess we'd have to go at it in close quarters…"

"Agreed…"

"H-Hold on, bro! One of those things broke Oscar's shotgun, right?! We could still drive away!"

"No time for that. We can't just run away from it or shoot it from afar, there'll be the time that we need to fight it up close and personal, and this was the perfect time for it. Tatiana, don't even try to block it, okay? Just dodge its attacks before going for the kill."

"Understood."

Russel was still worried that we might get hurt but the two of us walked forward and maintained a safe distance with each other before the sprinter locked its eyes towards our direction.

It was just speeding through the highway but it suddenly changed direction and came at us with even more speed. However, it wasn't able to turn smoothly due to the speed it was running in, and it almost tumbled from turning abruptly.

However, it still bridged the distance in an instant and it charged at me like a bull.

Its bony claws were about to cleave through my neck but I managed to lop its arm off before it did any damage.

"NnnYYarRRHHHAAAA!!!"

The sprinter screamed as loud as it could but the momentum from coming straight at me still pushed its rotting body forward, so I dodged it by diving to the side. It tried to follow me by turning its body but it failed to do so, and was now braking towards Tatiana.

I thought Tatiana would end it right then and there but she spun down and tripped its legs as she avoided the last arm it had that was swinging for her, and it spun in the air once before falling face first.

Bits of its rotting face scraped the ground as it slid for a few inches and its nose was just about to fall off when it managed to stand up.

However, its speed advantage was already gone and since it was facing me when it stood up, Tatiana easily sank her knife at the back of its head. As soon as it did, it fell like a puppet whose strings got cut off and we were just left with another corpse for the burn pile.

The blood from Tatiana's knife was dark and sticky, almost curdling to form little chunks, and she quickly wiped it off before sheathing her knife.

We just both nodded at each other and Russel never looked so excited.