Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

After that exchange, it made everyone else let out a mix of reactions but it was more complex than that because of the partial markings on the bodies that we put down. Not every carcass here was part of their crew but a considerable number of them were once part of their merry band.

With that said, I discovered that Dave was now in a different sector—probably tending to his deceased sister, but I didn’t have the means to make it better for him because we weren’t that buddy-buddy and that wasn’t my fucking business. For a complete stranger, giving him space for the moment was the best thing I could do.

Then I felt a tap on my back.

“Wanna head out now?”

“What? Now?”

As I turned around, Quinn had almost an indifferent—though a little bit somber—look on her face but I couldn’t believe that she’d suggest leaving at this moment. We had barely cleaned up the mess we made and there were a lot more things to take care of than the bodies scattered around this huge-ass basement.

Granted it was a boring-ass process to most people but after something like this happens, I made it a habit to check each person for injuries or infections, tally all the ammunition, explosives, and other materials expended, have a group or two survey the surroundings because of the noise we made, etc.

In this case, we would also have to check the extent of the damage we did to the generators and perform repairs needed, replace the vents completely, make new sturdy entrances for the gen room—fortifications involved, and figure out their new source of power.

Quinn looked at me confused, “Why are you looking at me like that? It’s late, we should—”

“No. Before we drive back to your place, we take care of everything—”

“They already know what to do—”

“Mistakes could happen. We’re here to ensure—”

“They got it—”

“Uh-huh,” I shook my head as I pointed at their ‘sure-fire’ way to keep the deadheads at bay, “I have my reasons for doing some quality assurance.”

“…fine.”

Looking at Quinn—no, everyone else’s expression, it seemed like they had already decided to just clean up the corpses and figure things out tomorrow. But since she reluctantly took my side, they had no choice but to follow through with it, but I quickly noticed a small problem.

Four out of the five people that passed by me wafted over the scent of liquor, and by quickly working out the pros and cons of doing some work this evening, I had to somewhat work out a compromise.

I grabbed Quinn’s arm as she was about to walk away, “Wait.”

“Hmm?”

“We can forgo checking the generators and attempting to repair them but we need to burn all of the corpses tonight plus the ones in the vents. Also, the ones that are too hammered to do some actual work should get checked first for any unforeseen injuries, and if there are any that need ‘immediate attention’, you should be with Kaley to pass on judgment.”

“What are you— Oh. That’s… much better. So, I’ll leave everyone here to you?”

“If you’d grant me some authority, we can go home faster—”

Quinn suddenly took in air before she turned to everyone, “LISTEN UP!”

The moment Quinn’s voice boomed and echoed, everyone else just turned to our direction in attention. She began to update the orders she gave them—which originally came from me—and even if it was still a lot, a little bit less was extremely welcome. Surprisingly enough, once they were told to follow my orders to the dot, the resistance wasn’t even that apparent because my reputation points in this joint were high as fuck.

I wasn’t sure if it was because they knew about my performance on the first-ever game I joined beforehand, I was crowned the Champion of Champions, standing side-to-side with the 7-foot muscle mommy without getting pegged to death, or due to what I did in the short span of time I was here, but all I know was that in this place, very much like Mr. Cuervo’s, strength commands respect.

‘And getting endorsed by Quinn of all people was already too much.’

As time passed, the only thing that proved a little difficult was reaching the vent systems that were in different places and at different heights. Granted some parts were still usable but we can’t just push out the corpses inside them like squeezing a bottle of toothpaste or cleaning out chicken guts.

It’d be far easier—but a little more wasteful—to just clip all of them off and either replace or deep clean the ones that didn’t receive a lot of damage instead of trying to take care of them while they were all hanging on different levels above and below ground. Completely flushing them out of the nasty bits that could possibly infect a person just from a single drop was worth more than anything at this moment.

Then one of the residents approached me.

“Yo, everything’s taken care of down here—we’ll just check the gennies tomorrow morning—but we still have one problem…”

“Hmm?”

The guy scratched the back of his head as he looked down for a moment, “It’s Dave, yo. We’re burning everyone in a huge pile above but he’s still refusing to toss—you know, his sister in…”

“…”

“I know it’s his sister and all but my brothers are already in that pile, dude. It’s stupid—”

Another guy tapped the person I was talking to, “Yo, don’t talk about Dave like that. Dave’s sister is pretty cool, remember?”

“I know but… he let her body do all this shit here but he’s refusing to let her rest—”

“You can’t say that. We’ve all talked about it before and we took a vote. Everyone’s just following everybody’s dying wishes.”

I shook my head as I turned to the two, “Did they also wish to break out and cause this scene? Possibly taking all of you out in the process? Hmm?”

“Hey, man. We didn’t know that that’s gonna happen—”

“Seriously? Then why did you tie their heads in a noose?”

“Ah— I didn’t—”

“I was talking about the whole collective. I guess some of you didn’t know… You just reaped the benefits and whatnot while turning a blind eye. Listen, I’m not here to argue but there are certain risks involved with playing with something we shouldn’t. Yes, it benefited all of you to the point that you could continue running your machines at full power, providing you with anything you can produce out of them but~ what would’ve happened if Quinn didn’t decide to come here while all of you are drunk out of your minds? I guess you’ll have more bodies to run the gennies, huh?”

“…”

“Personally, I wouldn’t do this kind of setup but since this place is reliant on it, you should be more responsible with it. How many more parts or whatever the fuck are you trying to manufacture here? There should be some limit, no?”

“…”

Looking at their expressions, it seemed like I should be talking about this stuff to either Quinn, Mauro, or Dave so I bid them goodbye before I headed upstairs.

If anyone would see what I was looking at right now, it looked like everyone was having a huge bonfire—and about to sing some “Kumbaya” at any second. However, it didn’t take long before my eyes landed onto Dave who was sitting on the dirty ground, completely ignoring everyone while a mangled corpse was lying in front of him.

As I said earlier, I was a complete stranger and I should mind my fucking business but I had to do something.

I tried to approach him as slowly as I could, “Hey—”

“Back off.”

I stopped where I was but I still tried to open up a conversation, “Your sister… Your buddies said that she was pretty cool… Can you tell me her name?”

“…”

“Her number at least—”

“She’s dead and there’s no fucking reception, why would she have— Oh.”

“…”

“…”

I awkwardly scratched the side of my cheek, “Rough night, huh?”

“What do you want, huh? Can’t a guy just mourn for a bit more? I’m not a fucking idiot, I’ll burn her myself and sweep her ashes—probably look for an urn or something…”

“Just trying to offer a bit of help…”

“Help?”

“You know, do you have anything to remember her by? If you have pictures or something—”

“Pictures?”

“Yeah, if they’re ruined or old or something, I have a way to bring it back to li— you know, do some retouches to make it brand new… Or if you have them in a broken down phone or computer—”

“I have plenty of those, I just need to be left alone… but yeah, thanks for trying—”

“Right. I can do at least this… Give me your hand…” I said as I walked over to him.

“I said— The fuck is this?”

“That one’s Ibuprofen the other one is Melatonin. I can’t do shit for your sister but I know full well your fucking sore so… That’s what you need right now… Something for the pain and something to help you sleep…”

Dave scoffed as he let you a small chuckle, “Can’t beer just do all those things?”

“Beer? Really? Do you know how many fucking calories beer is? And are you gonna pass out with just one? Are you a fucking lightweight? You know, I could make some fucking beer myself if I wanted to but I can’t make those two tablets in your hands! I probably find someone but—”

“Alright! Alright! Stop talking too much! My head’s still ringing… Thanks though…”

“Alright… See you—”

“Her name’s Davina… And she didn’t have a number because she was still a prospect when she joined…”

“Ah…”

“…”

“So…”

“Hmm?”

“Did your mom or your dad hate her or something? Or did they just run out of ideas? Davina… So fucking original…”

“Haah?”

“Dave’s pretty decent but they didn’t even try—”

“HEY! THAT’S MY DEAD SISTER’S NAME WE’RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU GOT A FUCKING PROBLEM?!”

“Chill, bro… I’m just saying~ Davina… Pfft—”

“DO YOU WANNA FUCKING GO, YOU SON OF A BITCH?!”𝑶𝒱𝓛xt.𝐜𝑶𝓶