Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The total number of deadheads left—regular or special—was about half of what it originally was. Almost all of them were still advancing forward but a select few were either feeding on their own or just staying in place. Well, the bloaters would just feed on anything that moves while the tailor would feed on the regular ones first before increasing its own little army, and the only one staying still was the hulker with a bad knee.

At this point, everyone else was just waiting for the ones behind it to advance but not everyone was designed to sit still.

A group of people started to hug the fence to the left and right to be out of its reach before they started to move forward and leave the hulker behind. Doing this type of thing was extremely dangerous but since most of them were from Mr. Cuervo’s fold, in their heads, the show must go on.

With that said, they cleaved through a few dozen deadheads but another group was also responsible for dragging the bodies away. No one wanted a repeat of what just happened earlier but the rate of dragging corpses back versus the rate of putting them down had a large difference.

No one wanted to get too close to the hulker who was staring everyone down in a defensive position, but its mere presence was the bottleneck to get a balance between the two tasks the participants were performing.

However, while everyone else was focused on the players in front, no one noticed that Artem was discussing something with the rest of his team.

They were huddled in a small circle but it seemed like he was this close to getting pummeled by Katya and Quinn. From the way the two were holding their weapons, it seemed like Artem wanted them to lend theirs to Nikolas and Ilya.

Tatiana and I could see them bickering from the fence we were perched on but I tried to wave over Mr. Cuervo once more.

“Mr. Cuervo—”

“No! You’re not allowed to—”

“I’m not joining—”

“I told you no! You’re— Huh? You’re not gonna try to—”

“Listen. I know we can’t join but can we throw something over?”

Mr. Cuervo looked over curiously, “Hmm? What is it?”

I pointed at Tatiana’s axe, “That one.”

“What’s so special about that?”

“Let my team use it and you’ll find out.”

“You—”

Before Mr. Cuervo and I could finish our conversation, my team just moved ahead with Artem in the front. I thought for sure that Mikhail would be the one to start it but Artem was walking forward at a moderate pace, injection axe in one hand and gripping it tightly. However, Katya and Quinn still kept their own weapons but the ones who had the same injection system—Katya and Mikhail—were on the farthest left and right from Artem’s position.

Ilya and Nikolas were right behind their leader while Quinn was the one further back.

To be honest, Quinn would be an excellent choice for any team but this time, Artem made use of people that he knew better.

With that said, the people who noticed that they weren’t trying to scoot to the side gave them ample space as they slowly fanned to surround the hulker on one knee. The music was still blasting at full volume but it felt like it was just tiny background noise as Artem took the first step.

I could see how his back rose for a little bit before it went down as he exhaled but the veins on his right arm protruded violently before he swung at the hulker who was already about to meet his blow.

However, just as almost everyone thought that doing that was just a farce, the next thing they know, the hulker was right behind Artem, laying flat on its back, pinned in place, its right forearm broken in two places and the beard of Artem’s axe buried deep in its rigid muscles, and most importantly… it was confused as fuck.

But to everyone’s surprise, the hulker suddenly lifted itself up—almost performing a handstand—even with the broken arm but Katya moved in and bisected its torso diagonally.

‘Right at the softer bits…’

Her huge axe just cleaved straight through its left shoulder—cutting its left arm off—before it went straight towards its chest cavity and dug even deeper until it left its right hip.

Its bottom half was already in freefall as it tried to squirm violently but Mikhail came down and swung the hammer side of his weapon on the hulker’s head, over and over until a small crater formed.

Each swing would just make the hulker squirm a little less violently until it became like one of those battery-powered fish that would plop with a little bit of sound.

Everyone close could hear that fucking crunch and he didn’t stop even if his large muscles were already screaming in pain. Even Artem who looked like his plan deviated somewhat just looked at Mikhail solemnly before he unhooked his axe from the mangled carcass.

Shit, Mikhail didn’t even need the injection system to break into its outer layer because of how much he swung down on the motherfucker.

The injection system we developed could probably kill it in one blow but what Mikhail did works too.𝑂𝑣𝗅𝒩xt.𝗇𝓔t

It’s not like the force of his blows wasn’t transferring over to the softer side of its head.

He only stopped when he had enough and cheers just erupted the moment he spat and pissed on the hulker’s little grave.

At this point, everyone’s focus was now on Mikhail but only a select few saw and understood what Artem did before that. The degree of control and finesse he showed the moment his axe collided with the hulker’s arm was fucking immaculate. Those few seconds he used to redirect the strength of the hulker and use it against itself was something only a handful of people could do.

‘He basically provoked an attack and changed trajectory mid-swing like Benjie but he used the strength of the hulker to bury the heel of his axe on its forearm. However, that would take a lot of strength just to hold his weapon tight but he didn’t take it head-on and as long. He did it just enough so that its rigid flesh could hold onto the beard of his axe before he spun around with it and pinned it in place…’

‘The only thing left is to have someone else do the finishing touches but it would be impossible to do it if he didn’t do what he did earlier… And yeah… if it could feel fear it could feel something else too…’

No one else noticed but a few of Artem’s fingers got dislocated but he just as easily snapped them in place as he exhaled slowly. He started to check his arm and even spun his right shoulder around to see if he had any injuries but luckily, his right arm will just be sore for an extended amount of time.

With that said, he handed his axe to Ilya, who was shaking his head in amusement and just exchanged it with his own machete before Ilya advanced with Nikolas. I couldn’t hear the short exchange Artem had with Quinn but judging by Katya’s reaction, a joking offer was given to have “drinks”. And again, Mikhail was present in that moment and he could only cry his heart out as he joined Ilya and Nikolas who were cleaning up the fray.

The rest of the game continued on for a while but the highlight was a close match between what Benjie did and what Mikhail did.

To be completely fair, Benjie also did a lot by taking on the hulker solo and injuring it in the process but his achievements got overshadowed because he forfeited. But in my opinion, the actual MVP was Artem and I think that he could’ve also gone toe-to-toe with it alone because it wasn’t the same one we faced before and there were weak spots we could exploit.

‘Let’s just say I’m fucking glad one of them is on my team, heh.’

I was just about to hop off from the fence I was perched on but I heard Mr. Cuervo’s voice.

“You got a good team there, Hermano. And their weapons, how are they special? Did I see it and didn’t notice?”

“Hmm, I could show you later since they just used the sheer weight of them—”

“Do you think our blades could pierce through those things’ skin?”

“Just the skin—”

“Just answer my question, kid. You know what I mean.”

“Heh. Mine could. I dunno about yours. Maybe it could too?”

Once I said that, Tatiana just glanced at me momentarily before she hopped down and shook her head. Mr. Cuervo looked like he was deep in thought so I just followed after Tatiana who was already a few steps ahead.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Can your blade really do it?”

I chuckled gently, “We would’ve known if we were let in—”

“Just answer.”

I just looked Tatiana in the eye before I faintly smiled, “Yes and no.”

Tatiana never looked so confused, “Huh?”

“Heh, that’s for you to figure out,” I said as I started to walk past her.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!”