Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Artem and the rest never looked so excited when I told them they'd get to see the other three but it seemed that they knew about something I didn't. Any regular person could've missed the facial expression they wore after giving out a jovial expression first but I didn't.

It was a short glum after that initial outburst of happiness and I managed to catch it when they looked down.

"Something wrong?"

Marina answered after taking a sip of coffee, "Alexander. Nikolas gave us news about Alexander… and it's not good."

"What did he say?"

"There's this civilian outpost they discovered further east– Right before the City of… of… Lucena was it?"

"Lucena? That's several hours away from Batangas already. And did you just say civilian outpost?"

"Yes, a civilian one. Vera knows more, you should let her continue."

"Okay, Vera?"

Vera nodded her head before she put her cup down, "There are two main bases in that area which are the civilian base located at the Lucena United Doctors Hospital and Medical Center and the DDR Camp at Lucena General Hospital. The thing is, the civilian base had more people working on it compared to the military one."

"Lemme guess, those people have their own militia protecting them. They're probably living kinda peacefully with each other so those people being with the NPA is not a possibility."

"Something like that but from what Nikolas told me, the power balance used to be steady but it is slowly shifting to the civilian's side."

"Okay, but how does this information coincide with Alexander's situation?"

"It had to do with everything now because Alexander is now working closely with that place's leaders. Whatever method they try to poach him back, he's set on staying in that place. He's rarely even at that place too…"

"Wait, how?"

"He's a few hours north of the area in a country club surrounded by farms. He's keeping the place together with a few men in his command and–"

"This doesn't make any sense. If he's alive this whole time, how come he didn't even try to–"

"That's the problem, they don't know why he decided to be a constable or something in that area. We're thinking he got hitched like Ilya but he didn't even bother explaining his situation. They said it's like he forgot about the things we've been through and only remembered our names."

"Hmm, did he hit his head hard, or is the light in his eyes different or–"

"I asked the same thing but they just said that he's… cold… and distant. There's gotta be something that happened or was going on for him to act like that."

"Did they just get to talk to Alexander or did they manage to sit down with those leaders he's in bed with?"

"They've managed to talk with the other officers but they didn't manage to talk with the leaders themselves. Even sitting down with Alexander cost them a couple of boxes of goods. They've been going there every week after they found him there but so far, they said that it was like speaking to a wall."

"That place is making them pay just to have a sit down with their friend? Huh."

"They didn't need to but Alexei mentioned that it just makes meeting Alexander faster. Well, we at least know that he's doing okay except for Kuzma. Up to now, they haven't found a clue about his whereabouts. Maybe because only their small group is the only one working on it."

"That's one way to look at it, I guess. But yeah, I did tell them that the longer it took, the chances of seeing them would narrow and narrow. I'm not telling them to give up the search but we did cut a deal that if we ever needed them here, they'll stop the search and we'll pick them up no questions asked."

"I know about that, I just wish I was there to see the whole situation…"

We talked for a bit more but since our trip was still a month away, I handed them tasks to complete on their own since I'll probably be inside the compound most of the time. It was because aside from helping complete several ongoing projects, I'd be preparing a few things in advance that I'll be bringing to the trip.

The first thing I need to get done for the day was the new design for Unc's weapon.

To make things right, we'd be taking a bit from how Ibarra's spear was made because the only way to keep everything in check was to divide the axe into three major parts: the axe head where the unique shape of the Headhunter's Axe would be retained, the body where we'd need to fit the CO2 canister, and the knob where we'd affix a counterweight.

It'll be impossible to forge this one from scratch so we'd rely on modern tools to make a modernized version of an old weapon used by tribespeople.

Speaking of which, before we could even start putting in the dimensions in the CNC Mill, we'd need to first make the canister that would fit inside of the handle.

The production of the CO2 canister Unc used in his first work includes stretching sheet metal and punching through it to make circles that would, later on, get turned into cups. With the use of another set of punching tools that progressively gets smaller and a bit of lubricant, it would then get shaped into test tubes that would then be put into a die to get the ends of the test tube small enough to put a seal on it.

It was a long and extensive process to make from scratch but to make a custom canister for our Headhunter's Axe, it would need a lot more time and a more extensive process.

The first step was cutting out a circle from sheet metal that was as big as a saw blade.

Unc tapped me as I was about to start, "Isn't that a little too big?"

"We'll just cut it off, right?"

"Jesus, never thought I'd hear from that you but okay~ Hit it."

It was easy enough to cut a large circle from sheet metal but the reason it took us the better part of an hour to draw it to look like a test tube was that it was our first time doing such a thing and we had to find large punching tools to make the transition between each punch was smooth.

I was the one perfectly fine in doing it but Unc Zeidrick's insanity was slowly eating away at him because he was so fucking close to just hammering it in.

Despite that, we managed to make a 30-inch steel test tube and the next step was to make refilling possible. But instead of necking it down to be able to put a seal on it, we necked it down just a bit to be able to put the same brass valves those CO2 canisters use to make sparkling water.

It was because the canister we made was slimmer compared to those canisters and only a bit of necking down was necessary.

With that said, we quickly tried to test our work by putting in some liquified CO2 in it with our tanks available. I let Unc fill it up since he was closer but I noticed something a little too late.

"Unc! Close the val–"

*BOOOOM!*

Long story short, we'd be making a statue of a stray chicken that managed to get inside our compound because the CO2 tank that flew out of our workshop smashed directly at it. Unc and I should've been ashamed of ourselves because we endangered the few kids that were running around but it was just too fucking funny to see a chicken disappear from view once a CO2 tank went straight for it.

"At least we didn't need to remove its feathers…"

"Unc…"

"What? At least it learned how to fly in its last moments! It should be thanking me!"

"Unc!"

"What?! I forgot to close the valve! Someone forgot to close the gate! At least we'll have some lunch! It's that chicken's fault it didn't wear safety goggles!"

"Jesus fucking christ Unc… Pfft!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! That was some luck, your Aunt would've killed me if it hit our daughter… That chicken's a hero now… His sacrifice will be remembered when we have lunch!"

The two of us just lost it while everyone outside hearing our cackles were shaking their heads.

With that said, the canister we made was in working condition and we just got to work around it to make the rest of the body and the knob conform to its shape. The only thing different will be the axe head itself because the injecting system of the one he made before would be modified since the canister's location would be different from the first one, and to reduce the wobble of the spike when using a weak spring.

It'll now make use of the adapter hoses used to refill the canisters but the outflow would be different since it'll flow the opposite way and it'll come through a tubing system made with the spike at the opposite side of Unc's weapon.

This part didn't make us sweat even a tiny bit at all because we were just watching the machine print the pieces for us.. Well, in the meantime, we tried to make more canisters for refills but we made sure the pressure valves were closed and there were no chickens in sight.