Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We were still a decent distance away from each other but we all stopped less than a car’s length away and parked in the middle of the road like moms would when they bump into someone they know in a supermarket. And if it wasn’t already obvious, the convoy on the other side were people from the Rivas Family and they recognized Jesus’ station wagon and decided to say hi.

“Yo~ Jesus! We were just about to deliver to your— Woah~ It’s the Kid and— oh shit~ Quinn’s with you lot, huh?” the guy said as he snickered, “Good thing we’re already out here because lemme tell you, Mauro’s super fucking pissed and it almost ruined their honeymoon—”

Jesus cut him off, “Jules, you guys are using the direct road by Sta. Rosa, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Just a word of warning, some weird shit happened to us earlier and…” Jesus leaned in and continued to tell the story as more from the Rivas Family jumped down from their vehicles and decided to touch base.

The Jules guy couldn’t believe his ears, “Fugg~ Shi—”

“We’re pretty much close to your place so why don’t some of my guys come with—”

“Nah, nah— We’re cool. We got beefed up real good by the Castillos, so…”

“I see. Any news about them though?”

“About who?”

“The Castillos?”

The guy clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders, “Sorry man, they’ve been radio silent ever since the incident, and Castro’s probably still busy clearing house, if you know what I mean…”

“I see, I see… Alright—”

Quinn cut in, “Why you bringin’ two trucks though? Isn’t the usual order—”

“Oh! We’re headin’ straight to Cuervo Heights too. The games might be over but people got to eat, right? More and more people are flocking in too so it’s good business…” he trailed before he gave me an awkward smile.

I addressed it with an awkward smile of my own, “Yeah?”

“U-Umm… I hate to do this right now but since you’re going the other w-way… C-Can I get a picture with you and can you s-sign my shirt?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

I relented after a few seconds of unbearable quietness, “S-Sure…”

“Great! Quinn— No, Jesus, can you hold this please?”

“A-Alright…”

With that said, we took a few pictures with everyone else and I had to sign all of their shirts and someone’s forehead and a few boobs—both from men and women—but it’s all in good fun. After that, we drove past each other, and since an armed convoy like ours had recently gone through the road we’d be using, we only had to clear a small herd that followed after the noise they produced.

And once we got closer and closer to the Rivas Family’s area of influence, the air seemed to be getting cleaner and cleaner and the temperature seemed to be getting cooler and cooler.

Truth be told, there could still be a lot of places like my old university but this area—coupled with how large it was even though it supposedly “shrunk”—was unbelievable to me because we weren’t even in their Hacienda of sorts and we were already seeing stark changes in this parts compared to the outside. But yeah, we weren’t technically “inside” or “outside” because the Rivas Family’s version of Cuervo Heights was a little different.

From what I’ve been told, Sal’s Hacienda was pretty vast on its own but when her business started booming, she used all of her profits to buy off as much land as she could—whether it was from the local farmers or corporations that wanted to do a little something in that particularly remote area. But yeah, she did have an easy time doing that because money fucking talks, and the only trouble she had with negotiating was the tribes located up in the mountain.

Those people had a hard time selling their land because they didn’t need money as much and they could pretty much live on their own, but do remember that Sal was still a family head of a drug cartel.

Sal didn’t say it specifically but as much as she looked like she hated pure, unbridled violence, there were a ton of ways to get what she wanted.

It could be from using a different channel—like bypassing the tribe chieftain or something similar—to “legally” put her name on the land the government gave to those people, bribing the whole tribe with anything that they couldn’t forage or grow themselves from the mountain like comfortable clothes or just basic amenities that would cost a lot of money for them, or just straight-up get everyone else addicted to one of the products she can’t sell willy-nilly in the public market.

In any case, that’s just a brief description of the things I’ve heard from the Rivas Family head who already had the tough but lovable aunt schtick going on, but all-in-all, she seemed pretty much a saint if we ask Edith or some other person.

–

*bzzt*

[We’re finally~ here!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“What’s with the excitement, Jesus?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Nothin’ much, but it’s the food.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Food?”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[As much as I love Ng’s cooking and the freshness of vegetables in your place, this place had the greatest combination of meat and vegetables on God’s green earth! I always love it when we come to visit!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Right—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[I’ll introduce you all to their main cook, Lisa! She’s great!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Heh, never heard you this excited before—except for the time I told you that you could make your own Woody—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[That’s… *clears throat* U-Uh-huh… We’ll get there soon… E-Eyes on the road.]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“You just told us that we’re here—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[D-Did I?! R-Right… Right… W-Well waddayaknow? W-We’re here, alright…]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Dude, I’ll admit it for you, alright? Jesus has the hots for Lisa but Lisa’s as dense as a fucking brick—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Hey! Don’t badmouth her like that!]

*bzzt*

-𝑜𝚟𝑳xt.𝗇𝓔t

*bzzt*

[See what I mean?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

“Jesus, I thought you were with—”

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[With me?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Yeah, Meg, I thought you two are—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Non-commital, no problemo~]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Can we stop talking about my problems here? There’s the butler, Sebastian, he’s expecting us. Didn’t think he’d come all this way to open the gates—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[OH, COME ON!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[What are you so mad about?]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Seriously?! We got two James’ and Megs… Now we got two Sebastians too?!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[G-Guys… You call me S-Seb, right? It’s not like I go by Sebastian—]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[Shut up, Seb-astian! You’re adding to the confusion!]

*bzzt*

–

*bzzt*

[HAHAHAHAHAHA! MY HEAD FUCKING HURTS BUT I’M SURE IT’S WORSE FOR YOU GUYS, HAH!]

*bzzt*

–

At this point, we were let inside the gate by this one hell of a butler, and after driving for a few minutes or so, we eventually laid our eyes on this beautiful English-Style Country House a.k.a. Sal’s Hacienda that looked like it’d be a perfect place to shoot a movie or house aristocratic nobles or some shit.

It even had this huge-ass fountain with a huge-ass statue sitting on top of it with water spurting from different directions, and the way the flowers and trees were placed was just pleasing to my eyes because they were as bilaterally symmetrical as the mansion itself.

However, we were made to drive another path to where the guests could park their vehicles but there was just this way the butler instructed us to “hose” ourselves properly before stepping foot on their beloved property.

“Dear guests, I’ll advise you all to clean yourselves thoroughly and make sure to remove all the dirt and blood you accumulated on your travels—especially your dirty boots—so no marks will be left on the floor our hospitable cleaners just finished waxing for the night…”

Jesus responded, “Thanks, Sebastian. It’s great to see you!”

Sebastian just let out a forced smile before nodding slightly, “Likewise… Anyway, I apologize because your visit is a little… sudden… So it’ll take a while to prepare each of your rooms tonight. If I may ask, who among you are couples or should I say… willing to—forgive the term… bunk… with another person or two—”

Quinn cut him off as she rolled her eyes, “Doucheface, you’re aware of how large Sal’s mansion is, y’know?”

He let out a dry chuckle, “Again, I do apologize. With our maids being given the afternoon off and your Patriarch and our Lady: Ser Mauro and Madam Elsa, reserving the whole West Wing to themselves, I believe that we’re gonna be in a little bit of a pickle. I’ll be personally doing some of the cleaning but if you require a room for each one of you, I’ll do my best but do expect for it to take some time—”

Quinn cut him off again as she pointed to me, Kaley, and Tatiana, “I get it, I get it. Just give me, that guy, that brunette, and that blonde over the room next to Edith’s and let everyone figure out the rest for themselves—”

Sebastian never looked so offended, “That’s preposterous! I’m sorry but even if you’re our guests, I just can’t allow a man to be that close to Lady Edith’s room! Don’t you have any idea how… h-how— I hate to say the word but the lady’s not prepared for that nor she would be comfortable to—”

And right before Sebastian could finish his sentence, from several feet away came a figure wearing a Bee Suit running straight at us before the figure pushed him away like it was nothing before they jump-tackled me for a hug.

I only recognized who the person was after I felt “those” press against my chest, and she was still in the process of cutely shaking away the headdress just by using her head but to no avail, so she just kept jumping excitedly while hugging me tighter and tighter. But when I pulled the headdress off her head, she let out the brightest smile before exclaiming at the top of her lungs:

“YOU CAME! YOU REALLY CAME! ALL OF YOU! I’M SO HAPPY! MY GOD, I’M SO, SO~ HAPPY!”

At that moment, Edith was already moving in for a kiss but the motherfucking butler couldn’t believe his eyes as he shouted like he was against a particular wedding:

“L-LADY EDITH?! NOOOOOOOOO~!!!”