Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Since everything that shouldn’t be moving outside was either dismembered or had gone into hiding, Quinn went full “Redrum” and almost shouted the phrase that was meme’d to shit whenever someone was trying to forcefully break a door open. And since every deadhead inside didn’t bother to put up a fight, everything else was just so fucking one-sided, I jokingly thought of changing teams to tick her off.

But yeah, joking aside, I kept close with my gun in hand because, at the end of the day, all it’ll take was a lucky deadhead to somehow get a hit in and Quinn would be permanently changing uniforms.

It’s just that when we were halfway into clearing the 3rd building Quinn busted into, the deadheads left inside who were “cowering” in fear suddenly dropped down like puppets who got their strings cut.

“Huh?” Quinn looked at me confused after she forcefully stopped her swing.

I didn’t answer as I pulled up my radio and contacted our group outside.

–

*bzzt*

“Hey, did any of you nail it?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Huh?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Nail what?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“The ones controlling them. Did anyone nail it?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[You’re the only ones picking them off.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[We’re also busy here stacking these things up.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Huh?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Something wrong?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[What happened over there?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Is it just this building or did every deadhead in this rest stop suddenly drop dead? We sure as hell didn’t kill the Stitcher, Sentry, or whatever the fuck’s controlling them so that’s why I’m asking everybody if they just nailed it or what.”

*bzzt*

–

At that moment, no one replied as they seemed to have started to check out everything that Quinn and I haven’t been to though Quinn started to chop up the now lifeless corpses in front of us. She stopped at the last one because she thought that we should’ve dismembered them outside—for easier transportation—but I told her that it was fine because what if the dead spring back to life again?

Quinn nodded pensively, “That’s… Yeah, that makes sense.”

“That’s what I would do if I was one of them.”

“Huh?”

“You know, confuse them by turning the shit off then turning it back on that last second then boom! Meat’s back on the menu bois~ You know…”

“…”

“…”𝑶𝓋𝑳xt.𝗇𝓔t

“…”

“Quinn?”

She eventually shook her head, “I’m surprised at myself that I understood that… Yeah… I’m breaking new ground today.”

“Heh.”

With that said, we were informed that each and every deadhead in this zone was no longer a threat but their ringleader of sorts was fucking missing. We spent the better part of a couple of hours clearing each building and making sure that no stone was left unturned but there were no signs of a co-star of a hentai flick or a pineapple that held dominion over corpses.

It didn’t take long before we set alight the flesh bonfire Jesus and the rest put up, but he approached me after making sure it had enough gas to burn them to cinders.

“Hey man, we still haven’t found whatever it is that’s making them do stuff, right?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“W-Well, it’s either the eye one or the tongue one but is there a chance that it could be both? You know, since some of them still stood up after taking them down while some stragglers that probably didn’t have contact with this group were influenced to do the same thing that they were doing.”

I nodded a few times as I glanced at him, “Like a two-for-one deal?”

“Yeah, something like that—”

Quinn interjected, “Or they could be a pair working together.”

Jesus and I nodded as he said, “That could also work…”

Isaac came up from behind, “But where could it be hiding? Is it even in here? I was flying the drone from above and there’s no way I could’ve missed it— Kaley too! There’s no way she could not have seen a deadhead scampering away unless it chose a route that’s on her blindside—but again, the drone could’ve seen it!”

Jose added, “Yeah, unless it’s just a head that’s buried somewhere—”

I waved him off, “No, a Sentry should see a living target first before it sends the deadheads in its influence to it.”

“We aren’t even sure if that’s the extent of what it could do.”

“Ah— That is true but we’re just playing off what we know about them. But yeah, it’s either two specials working together or just special-special that had the Sentry and the Stitcher’s attributes… Plus and/or teleportation or invisibility…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Tough crowd. Anyway, we’ll chalk it up as a mystery for now but we all should keep an eye out.”

“Sure.”

“Agreed.”

With that said, we did try to comb the place for anything that we might have a use for and we actually found 3 packs of AA batteries, two flashlights, loose ammo, spent casings, some water, assorted canned goods, different kinds of toiletries, etc. along with bags that had more random stuff like a change of clothes, pocket knives, or other means of identification.

And yeah, since we were already at a rest stop and it was fairly close to noon, we thought of catching a small break and having some bite to eat.

We obviously brought our own food but Chef Ng packed us some lunch that was filling and it was gone after only a few minutes of everyone else sitting down around it. Our group was already driving away from the rest stop we just cleared after 15 minutes of rest, and even though some shots were fired, we didn’t encounter a lot of stragglers that got attracted by it.

Then Tatiana tapped me from behind, “Are we there yet?”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m kinda familiar with the area but let’s just say we’re halfway there.”

“Oh.”

“Probably 3 or so hours if we don’t make emergency stops—”

Quinn interjected, “Hold up, what’s that spot over there?”

Everyone in our vehicle was just about to turn to where Quinn was referring to but our radio buzzed at the exact same moment.

–

*bzzt*

[Don’t.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Hmm?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Don’t. That truck that had those shiny rims that looked like it had a lot of supplies at the back?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Yeah?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[That’s just 15 minutes of disappointment. Trust me.]

*bzzt*

–

Then Quinn replied instead of me.

–

*bzzt*

“Like what Meg’s been saying each time she had sex with you?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Ask the two dumbasses at the back of my station wagon last night. They heard everything Meg— Ack! Ow! Meg! Stop hitting me! I’m the one fucking driving— YOU FUCKING ENJOYED YOURSELF! THE FUCK ARE YOU— DON’T HIT MY NUTS!]

*bzzt*

–

At this point, Quinn just started dying-laughing while Jose and Isaac couldn’t disagree with Jesus’ earlier statement, but I think we were missing the point.

–

*bzzt*

“But Jesus, that’s a fairly new truck, right? We can—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[That’s a fucking Tacoma, who would want that?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Umm… I would?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Haaah?! You must be kidding, right?!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“It’s actually one of the prizes we won from winning the games last time…”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[HAHAHAHAHA!!! IT WAS?! OH MY FUCKING GOD, A TACOMA OUT OF ALL— Damn~ Mr. Cuervo’s probably drunk when he did that. But yeah, you like what you like.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“So… Aren’t we gonna try and take a look? We have some gas and we could hotwire it?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[You serious?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“If it runs, it can run? We can trade it for more shit if we stop by the university or the DDR Camp later…”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[I guess we’re making another stop. Oi! Brix! Michelle! We’re bringing the Tacoma with us!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[HAAAAAH?!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Will it still fucking work?! I shot at it a couple of times when we passed by it!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[IT WOULD COZ’ YOU PROBABLY MISSED!]

*bzzt*

–

At this point, we turned around and drove close to this Tacoma that was abandoned by this small farmhouse of sorts, and we performed the necessary procedures before trying to jump the car.

I easily cleared the small trail of zombies following us from behind while the others circled around the farmhouse for any surprises.

With that said, we eventually discovered that the vehicle we were trying to take with us sustained a bit of external damage but it could still run okay. And surprisingly enough, the biggest issue we had to face was who the fuck would drive this vehicle because everyone else in Jesus’ crew was fucking against it.

Jesus suggested the most obvious solution, “Quinn. You’re the one who led us to it, drive it!”

“Hah? I just asked what it was but *pointing at me* he was the one who suggested we take it back!”

Isaac raised his hand, “I can drive it?”

Everyone else looked at him, “You will?”

“Yeah?”

“You poor soul—”

At this point, the problem would have already been solved but Jesus walked up to him with a solemn expression before giving him a prayer. It almost made Isaac back out of fear but Jose eventually relented and decided to accompany him.