Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

For today, our target was the Metropolitan Medical Center located smack in the middle of Malabon and Manila.

It was a private hospital that occupied almost two blocks alone while surrounded by two, huge twin towers further out, made for high-end residents or clients. Furthermore, aside from its 8-story building, it also boasted a 27-story building right at the end of its huge parking area.

It was a monumental task but its location had several disadvantages we could exploit.

One of them was that this center occupying almost two blocks presented a dead-end where the 27-story building was built on.

Theoretically, what we needed to do after securing a foothold was to block off the entrance with whatever vehicle was available and we could start blood washing the whole place with our elite soldiers. And that vehicle in question was our huge-ass truck that could plug the road by itself.

Or, realistically, we’d block the road with our truck while simultaneously securing a foothold.

“Everyone ready? As soon as we reach that gas station along Brgy. 6, we’d split into different directions before driving back here. Move at a steady as much as possible so we could lure a lot here where we could easily put them down. But, if they’re moving too slow, just put them down from a distance. We’re trying to save time too but keep everything in the middle.”

“Roger.”

“Gotcha.”

We were still by the edges of Tondo before we were about to cut inside several barangays to get to our destination. However, our truck would be left behind with our other vehicle first since we’d need to loop around a few times to make sure that the road was clear to travel. It was because our huge truck couldn’t suddenly turn or squeeze into tight spaces.

We have sent clearing parties to this area several times but we only cleaned up around the outer edges. This would be the first time we would be cutting in so deep to reach a hospital we’ve only seen from drone footage.

“Let’s go.”

‘First loop…’

When we started to drive forwards, a couple of drones flew ahead of us to act as an early warning device for when we reach the streets with a lot of blindspots. Currently, we still haven’t spotted a lot of deadheads so they were easily sniped by our shooters. However, once we reached Brgy. 46, it was a different story.

We drove by a basketball court and right behind it were several deadheads that were sporting severe burns. They were like lit-up matchsticks or charred meat bags that grew feet and started to walk. They were coming from several houses that were burned down to the ground ages ago though most of them were physically melded together because of the materials that melted.

Before some of them even tried to ȧssume a running stance, a third of them were met by lead projectiles that went through their heads.

A few of them started to close in on us but they were shot down before the ones that fell hit the ground. We have yet to see a deadhead that could beat the speed of a bullet and even if we could sometimes miss, all we need to was recalculate and pull the trigger.

Once we did, pieces of their skull and charred bits would just fly in the air along with a dark-red puff. It took us less than a few breaths to take care of them but there were still a few surviving deadheads that were wiggling below what was left of the burned down houses.

We would’ve put them down but we needed to follow our own rules for looping around.

As we did, we encountered more deadheads by the dozen that slowly increased until they could be classified into a herd. Once pushing forward would prove to be a little bit too overreaching, we all turned to different directions to loop around even before reaching Brgy. 6.

Our group turned to the right of Asuncion St., speeding towards a nursing college before quickly turning to the right once more. Several suppressed shots rang out from our guns and I managed to sneak a shot straight through the herd before they managed to peek right after the turn.

At that same exact moment, several sprinters were revealed since they overshot and sped past everybody.

Two weren’t able to brake properly and they violently smashed onto an upturned SUV while another one came barreling towards an unsuspecting deadhead that just came out of a wooden house. Their bodies collided almost immediately but another sprinter smashed onto them. Surprisingly, all of them slowly stood up but they were now easy pickings for our shooters.

The way to our truck was just a straight line so Kaley and I tried to thin down the herd as much as possible while Jared was looking at the front, putting down anything that would pose some trouble.

Kaley went wild as she picked off the easiest target before switching to the closest target that she could see in her scope. Noticing that behavior, I aimed for the ones away from her target range to avoid boring holes into the same target twice. The ones not shooting their guns currently provided support by either flying our drone, driving perfect lines, or replenishing the mags we’ve used up.

“Reload!”

“Go ahead!”

“Pass the mag here!”

“Watch your side!”

“Speedbump!”

Each brass casing that fell on our truck bed equaled a deadhead falling face first and the more we kill, the safer our route to our destination. We went through a bunch of bullets from the first loop and It didn’t take us long to get to our original spot. However, the deadheads following us was still enough to fill up a medium-sized astrodome.

Unc Zardon who was in our huge-ass truck commented, “And we first thought to drive straight to that place you talked about… we would’ve been stranded! I would’ve been stranded!”

I shook my head before putting down my rifle, “Don’t worry, if that ever happens you have food there that could last you weeks! We’ll get to you soon enough!”

“Oi! That’s not something you joke about! The moment you get me outside again you do this?!”

I chuckled before drawing my blade, “Just kidding unc. Guys, get ready.”

We were already out of the narrow roads to our destination so we made use of our melee weapons to finish them off. We would have more clearance to maneuver around their extended arms and we had more people to take care of them. Despite that, a select few were watching over us with their guns to avoid permanent death.

I was the first one to rough over the herd and I thrust my blade forward, piercing through a deadhead’s eyesocket before pulling out and slashing down the dead child right next to it. Almost immediately, I followed it up by slashing from below, lopping off a portion of a bald zombie’s head, giving it a new ‘cut’. However, I was starting to get swarmed so I took a step back before circling around to the right.

As soon as I did, a bullet whizzed past to my left, taking down a biter that was about to scratch my forearms. It fell to the side and bumped into the others chasing after me so I stepped away from them once more to take care of the ones more exposed. I didn’t need to draw my pistol because the shooters at my back were enough for me to go completely melee.

Mmlo md qw oufq tat lm fl juii gpo Macvfai bplo cuno mr iufsare gmtaul hiufsut ar vfid jvaiu Tfoafrf frt I juzu qmsare lpzeahfiiw jaov Igfzzf. Hu limjiw guhfqu ovu oan md ovu lnufz jvaiu ovu zulo md pl lofzout ofcare hfzu md ovu mrul ovfo lofzout om qmsu om ovu latu. Opz himovul lofzout om vfsu iaooiu lofarl dzmq ovuaz tfzcurut gimmt gpo I hmpit mriw epull vmj qphv qmzu ao jmpit gu mrhu ju juzu msuz jaov ovuq.

After a while, we had a small hill of piled-up corpses and we started burning them before going for our next loop. This time, we were hoping to at least reach Brgy. 6 before looping around but nobody knew what the outcome would be.

‘There’s still no signs of those people too…’

After one and a half hours, we were just a block away from the medical center but we drove back a few more blocks to meet up with Iskoh’s mobile outpost. Due to our prior agreements, any and all items we’d borrow from them would be replenished the next time we meet together and this time, I asked for several more ammo cans of 5.56s and 7.62s to get us through.

It was because the closer we get, the thicker the herds were compressed and we couldn’t just take it easy on unexplored territory. We asked them to hover close as well so they would be able to reach us quickly if ever there was an emergency.

“Is there anything else you want us to do?”

I pulled out a map, “We’re currently here and we have looped around these parts one or two times but we have never been to these other streets yet. If you could dispatch a smaller team, I’d like them to clear those areas so we’d have more driveways that are relatively safe to push on.”

“I could give a call back to reroute one of our teams that’s patrolling near us. They’re a few minutes away?”

I nodded and gave him a pat on the back before I led our team to the final stretch before actually starting our main mission. We could already see the place from where we were standing and this place had definitely seen some better days. However, I still needed a closer look via our drones so I made Artem and the rest make a small perimeter around us so we could have an updated view of the situation.

We were just starting to set up our drones once more when several bodies started jumping out from the tall residence towers only a few blocks away from us.

‘Oh, shit…’