Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

In any case, I started helping our trainees to zero their new guns because to appease the General’s mind, not only did he give his son a new toy to play with, but he also gave everyone else a new set of pew-pews and stabby-stabs just to make sure they had the means to protect themselves—but most importantly, to protect his treasured son.

‘Why don’t he come himself if he’s this worried?’

They had 4 AR-15s, 2 M70s, and 2 Remmington 870s with 4 Glock 17s and 4 M1911s paired with a fresh K-Bar knife, a utility belt, and a chest rig. Furthermore, they were also given a fresh set of gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, and military boots—and a ‘tacticool’ helmet that had every random shit on it.

JP was the only one that looked familiar with their gear and everyone else looked like they were wearing someone else’s skin.

I walked over to Ruben who was having a hard time wearing his helmet that had NVGs strapped at the front, “The sun’s out, my guy… You can—”

He turned to me like I was about to steal his toy, “I-It’s the first time I’ve w-worn things like these! It’s weirdly falling in front, but—”

I stole it from his head, “Ah, you should add some weight at the back here… But yeah, it’s good to familiarize yourself with your new gear but using NVGs should be way~ down on the priority list.”

“I-I see…” he nodded as he leaned close, “Hey, w-would it be too bad to ask for that kind of scope to be placed in my shotgun?”

“…”

“Sir?”

“You’re talking about that 4x scope on Alexa’s M70?”

“Yeah?”

“Ruben…”

“Sir?”

“Where are you on that list everyone on top’s been bragging about?”

“What list? Oh! That list! I’m pretty low on that since I always use an axe—I hold our positions outside too—the vehicle we have, I mean—so I rarely engage in front.”

“Uh-huh. Can you at least tell me what shotgun loads you have on you?”

“00 Buckshots and Breaching loads— Sir, I’m gonna be honest. I’m not the best shooter but I really think that kind of scope will be able to help me.”

“You sweet summer child…”

“S-Sir?”

Hearing those words come out of his mouth, I was this close to making him unpack but the reason I took him in was entirely different. He could be pretty useless from a combat standpoint but I’d be able to verify his skills soon once we made our way to the Rivas Family or even my old Alma Mater.

But yeah, I gave him a crash course about Oscar’s favorite boomstick though hexa-loading—heck, and even quad-loading was out of the picture. He’d have to master the basics first to learn advanced shit but he’s clearly lacking fundamentals and was mistakenly trying to rely on accessories to overcome it.

And with the other guys, I needed to do some micro-managing for some quality-of-life improvements.

Namely: I made the new guys zero their rifles according to our customs because if by some chance I had to call some shots, I’d be able to do so without converting shit on the spot because even a tenth of a second was important.

It was because I discovered that JP had his rifle zeroed at 100 meters while Seb was at 100 yards.

Some could say that it would be detrimental to change things up right before they go outside but it’d be better in the long run. Sometimes, it would be better to stick to one thing instead of having a lot of options. But since my group was also using 100 meters as our starting point, Seb and the few others were the ones that had to adjust.

But yeah, I did let them use some of our time to somehow familiarize themselves with the slight adjustments plus some of the calls we’d give that were different from this place.

It also gave me a general idea of what they can do but they obviously didn’t expect Tatiana to wipe the floor with each of them. Their brand-new equipment was covered in dust the moment we were done but there was a single fucking problem I forgot to address:

Lopez.

The motherfucker didn’t show himself until the final minute but as he was about to ride on the Raycolt with JP and the rest, I pulled on his large rucksack and looked him dead in the eye, “You’ll be riding with me.”

“What?! W-Why?!”

Obviously enough, Quinn and the others protested but I took it as a necessary sacrifice to mix up the people riding on our vehicles.

I definitely had Kaley riding shotgun as I would be the one driving but I had JP sitting behind with Quinn and Tatiana while Lopez was on the truck bed with Lucas. And on that note, I made Seb lead the rest of their group with Isaac and Jose riding with them and yes, I definitely pawned off the Tacoma we found in exchange for more gas, ammo, food, water, and a few more resources.

And after one last goodbye, we drove off from the Philippine Military Academy but it wasn’t even 15 minutes before we reached our next destination.

Seeing it up close flooded me with more memories but I didn’t expect Cass’s voice from the radio.

–

*bzzt*

[Mic check, mic check~ Is this thing working? Can anyone hear me?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“What. are. you. doing. here?!”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[I rode with Jesus, silly! You’ll need a tour guide of sorts so I volunteered myself—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Uh-huh.”

*bzzt*𝑂𝐕𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t

–

*bzzt*

[Stop sounding so disappointed! They won’t even let you in—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Even with my old ID and my alumni card?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Pfft! Hah! You still have those?! Sure, go ahead! I was supposed to do something here anyways and I just caught a ride but I guess you won’t be needing me—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Again, just say that you wanted to come with us and I’ll let you for the time being.”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Really?! If you say so~ Right. I know where Mimi’s working right now, we should—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Hold up, she’s still alive?! You didn’t tell me that—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[More driving, less talking~ Go on ahead, I bet they’ll recognize your IDs if you present it to them…]

*bzzt*

–

With that said, once I drove my Raptor to one of their checkpoints, they took one glance at the Raycolt and let us move on straight to the huge gate that my university had. The General probably gave them a call, telling them that we’d be arriving soon with a group that this place doesn’t usually let inside. However, I had my first wave of nostalgia when I handed my IDs to the confused guard looking at me sideways.

“Wait— aren’t you— DUDE!”

I gave the guard a casual smile and wave, “What’s up, Andy?”

“WHAT THE FUCK— HOW’D—”

“Can we go in? It’s about time for lunch, right?”

“Y-YOU— W-WE SHOULD FUCKING TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! I’M GONNA RADIO EVERYONE! I MEAN EVERYONE! GET IN, YOU FUCK!”

“Thanks!”

“RIGHT! I’m also living in your house! Ben’s still alive and kicking, don’t worry! We’re all fine here! Jesus, I can’t believe this is happening— OH SHIT! WE— WE REALLY GOT TO TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME!”

“Sure, sure. Nice to see you, dude. Like, for real.”

“AM I GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW?! THE FUCK ARE YOU SO CHILL FOR?! DUDE— A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE AWAY! WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE KEN WAS—”

“He’s with me—”

“WHAT?! WHERE—”

“I mean back home, you know…”

He was stunned for a moment before his excitement quickly dissipated, “Right… About that—”

“Don’t worry about it, dude. I’d hate to say this a second time but can we get in—”

“Fuck! Right! Right! H-Here we go— We’ll talk later, alright?!”

“Yeah!”

As Andy pressed the buttons to lower the barriers to the ground, he still looked like he couldn’t believe he was seeing me in the flesh as he couldn’t contain himself. He was smiling like an idiot as he was speaking through his radio but the second wave of nostalgia happened when the familiar tune rang out from the speakers.

Everyone else was still admiring the scenery inside but I was already cringing all over.

[OH, HAPPY DAY~]

[Oh! Happy day!]

[WHEN JESUS COMES~]

[When Jesus comes~]

It was the same tune that would ring out the moment the clock struck noon but the scenery took me out of it.

The inside still looked like fucking paradise.

It was like the Garden of Eden just from the trees, flowers, and other plants were laid out, and the first thing that everyone would see to the left was this hospital—for obvious reasons—that was right next to this large gazebo, separating it with a flowery walkway that would lead to our huge-ass church.

There was a small building behind it that had a few classrooms and more gardens but that was a story for another day.

Nothing had fucking changed compared to the last time I went here and I got a third wave of nostalgia when I finally saw some students wearing our uniform.

It didn’t look fancy at all: just a simple white blouse and a black skirt for women and a white polo and black pants for men, almost making it look like office wear combined with the ‘proper’ haircut and enforced shoes for both uniforms.

Kaley was the first one to see me squirming in place but she relieved most of the tension when she opened her mouth:

“Do you think they could sell me one of those uniforms my size?”