Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Our small crew was made up of six people: Me, Isaac, Jose, and the three others, though Myke and Joe decided to bring out another pickup that had big winches installed on the front and back of their vehicle. Furthermore, it had an extended flatbed that could be used to carry vehicles but with our current mission in mind, it would be used to hold something else.

Isaac turned to me, "Are we planning to bring all of them back?"

"I guess we are now," I replied as I stared at him for a little bit.

"What? Are you thinking of bringing more people?"

"No, nevermind."

"..."

"..."

"Fuck… you\'re thinking about yesterday night…"

"Kinda, but I\'m not judging. Do whatever that makes you happy—"

Jose and Coleen asked at the same time, "What are you two talking about?"

Coleen added with a chuckle, "Did more things happen after that \'noise\' last night?"

\'More like before…\'

Isaac tried to dodge the question, "Let\'s just say I almost joined them—"

Coleen scoffed, "Really? I\'m pretty sure you got thrown out."

"I said, \'almost\', right? I almost—"

"Almost worn as a bracelet. I\'m sorry, but you don\'t look like someone that Quinn\'s gonna spread her legs for or bend over."

"Hey! I\'m kinda lean but I got some muscle too, alright?!"

"How much do you weigh again?"

I cut them off, "Alright, we\'re gonna head out now and we don\'t need distractions. The outside is pretty clear but never let your guard down. I just met you guys and I don\'t want your blood on my hands—"

Myke shouted from their vehicle, "ARE WE GOING OR WHAT?!"

-

*bzzt*

"Yeah, just about to. Use your radio."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[HURRY UP!!]

*bzzt*

-

With that said, it didn\'t take long before the gate was opened for us, and to Coleen\'s surprise, I was completely evading the traps they laid for the deadheads outside without her guidance. The reason she sat with us was to point them out but seeing them once through the monitors etched them in my memory.

The first two stops were fairly close—and just in front of each other, but we parked closely because Myke and Joe didn\'t know how to properly move them. However, they only needed to see it once and they discovered that it was more finicky than needing a lot of muscle. Granted a few of them needed more than a wrench or a screwdriver, we pretty much brought anything to do the job.

"Myke, you can place those larger ones in your truck while we take the ones that could easily fall off or break."

"Do I need to secure them with the straps?"

"Of course, I even brought some padding and some foam for the important ones here—"

"Zeds!" Isaac exclaimed, taking a few steps back.

Hearing that, we turned our heads and saw a handful of deadheads that were hobbling from dozens of meters away, and I\'m pretty sure I could overtake them even when I\'m limping. However, right as Jose was about to shoot them down, a fucking 5-ton came out of nowhere and run them over.

Their remains turned to paste either spread unevenly on the pavement or stuck nicely on the large tires of the huge-ass murder weapon.

Like clockwork, Mr. Alvarez\'s voice boomed from the distance and it was actually him driving the 5-ton with a huge smile on his face.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW IS THIS THING SO FUCKING FAST?! IT DRIVES LIKE SHIT BUT ITS FUCKING FAST! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OI!!! KID~!!! IS THAT YOU?!"

I just gave him a wave and he quickly bridged the distance between us.

"Heh, I knew you were up to something—disappearing like that. But yeah, what\'s the timeframe on my ride?"

"The main body is complete and it wouldn\'t take long to finish the others but it still needs to be fitted, painted, etc. So~ As I said before, around three days before you can drive it out of here."

Mr. Alvarez scratched his head as he grumbled, "Hmmrghmm…"

"Is there a problem? That\'s already the fastest I could work—"

"No, it\'s not you. It\'s me. I need to be home today. I love messing around like this from time to time but I still got responsibilities, no? Fuck it, I\'ll just leave you the vehicle and you drive it back to my place when it\'s done. Deal?"

"No deal."

"What?! Why?!"

"I have responsibilities too, no?"

"Fuck~ I know, I know… I really want you to see my place so you could tell me a few things to change or improve upon—like what you\'re doing right now—so I could have more time to mess around. Remind me, what is it you guys are doing here anyway?"

"I thought you already knew from the way you were speaking earlier."

"Really? I can\'t help it, my charisma just exudes naturally, it gives people the wrong impression sometimes—"

"Sure. Anyway, this machine we just took apart can be used to clean drinking water—"

"Hah? Kid, just boil it for a bit."

I shook my head as I chuckled, "Yeah, I know that method too. But using this machine—even though it also needs energy to run, doesn\'t reduce the amount of water you\'d have after it\'s done doing what it\'s supposed to do. There are different methods for different scenarios so we\'ll just stick with this one for now."

"Huh. Alright~ Alright~ Whatever floats your boat. Anyway, I guess this is goodbye for now. I\'ll be taking this 5-ton as collateral, even though the turning radius for this fucking this is just too fucking awful, we\'ll have some fun with it."

"Oh! You\'re heading out already?"

"Yeah, I should\'ve been on the road a few hours ago. I just dropped by to say goodbye. I would\'ve liked to hang out more but I just need to take care of things back home."

I suddenly had a thought, "Can I ask what\'s your problem at home?"

"Sure."

"..."

"..." Mr. Alvarez just kept staring at me.

I finally got it, "You— What\'s the problem at your place? You know, aside from food."

Mr. Alvarez let out a bitter smile, "Why don\'t you worry about this place first before you worry about me. Besides, you\'re already doing enough by fulfilling a selfish request of mine, no?"

"Alright then. Safe travels."

"Hmm," Mr. Alvarez just gave me a nod.

At that point, he soon drove off with his huge-ass and loud-ass truck but we had only gone to two of our eight checkpoints. While we were talking, Joe and Myke had already taken care of the other shop though I would\'ve preferred them to be a little more careful about handling them.

Sure, we might be able to learn to make something like those in the future but I wouldn\'t waste something that was already in front of us.

With that said, we eventually made our way to the third spot which was located right next to a medium-sized gym—that was picked clean, obviously—and a barbershop/parlor of sorts though the area had several rotting corpses that weren\'t taken care of. Aside from maggots wriggling in and out of their bodies, just the fucking smell was enough to make all of us grimace a certain way.

"Alright, before we do anything, we pile them in one corner and burn them."

"Wait, why?" Myke said while covering his nose with a wet towel.

"They make our stomachs turn for a reason. We can get diseases from decaying corpses out in the open like this. They were probably stewing here for several months way~ before Mauro decided to collect heads for that other group. Also, I don\'t think I need to tell you about that special that can make use of these corpses."

"Yeah, I get it. I\'ll fetch my gloves."

"C\'mon, I\'ll help you guys. It ain\'t much but it\'s honest work."

However, right as we started, Isaac just threw up after he de-gloved a corpse\'s arms off as the rest of its congealed organs—which were mostly just black goop—spilled onto the floor because its discolored skin just ripped off from the slightest pressure.

It wouldn\'t have mattered to everyone else but Isaac was wearing a mask and his vomit just essentially spilled out from the small openings. Furthermore, he can\'t just take off his mask because his hands were a little preoccupied with the flapping gloves made up of greenish and blackish skin, and the first person he asked for help was me.

Isaac tried his best to speak despite his vomit still in his mouth, "Nii—"

"Don\'t fucking talk. Drop those gloves and lean a little bit forward…"

It didn\'t take long before he managed to clean himself up but just that happening to him made him look like he was defeated. It made everyone agree for him to take a short break but he kept on helping us make the most fucked up pile of corpses to burn. The pile looked worse than what two certain brothers created after sacrificing one\'s whole body and a leg.