Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I finished organizing them simply so I looked for other things to do for the remaining timeframe. I then prepared a few guns for more shooting practice. I grabbed a few AR500 steel targets to be placed on the open area Unc Zeidrick cleared earlier. I decided to use them now over the cardboard since we would just need to paint over it with a spray can or something similar after using it. I hauled them on Raphael's Raptor and I announced that we will be practicing with guns today.

Mark, Dong, Nicole, Alicia, Esther, Jonathan, Lois, Russel, Jay and Daisy came to practice. A few people came to watch and Tatiana always followed behind me.

I drove towards the open area where the squatter area used to be. The distance between the covered court and the DZRH Radio Station was several times farther than the open court that we used to do practice at.

"Why don't we just practice at the same place? The larger barn is being built at the plot of land next to the court, right? Not in the court itself?" Russel asked.

"Well, we don't want to accidentally shoot the animals, right? The noise could bother them too and it is much better if we made noise farther from our main entrance." I explained.

"You brought a lot more guns too bro. There's more than ten here and it has different kinds of ammo even from other gun types. Well, they're all just pistols though." Lois added.

"Yeah, we'd practice with the .22, 9mm, and the .45 ACP first. I also brought a few revolvers so you could familiarize yourself with the different kinds. They are chambered only for the .38 and .357 calibers since those kinds are what we have most of. However, we'd practice with a lot more kinds because It would be stupid to be in a pinch if you only know how to use one type of gun." I explained.

"Hey, will we be able to use rifles and shotguns in practices?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah we would, we also have PCCs, SMGs, LMGs, SBRs, and other special ones like bows or crossbows but we'll get to those in the future. It would be bad to just pile everything at once. We need to do everything gradually. Wait, have you shot guns before?" I asked curiously.

"My ex was in the army before; he would take me to ranges a few times so I know a bit." Daisy replied.

"Oh! That's good then. The more people know how to use guns, the better." I said.

We finally reached the place and I positioned the targets on different locations. They were placed properly where no one could be accidentally shot. They were behind a huge mound of soil which was behind the walls of the covered court. I angled them a bit so the danger of some of the shrapnel going straight back to us would be minimal.

There were targets that were shaped like a human's head and torso and I placed 5 of them an arm's length apart from each other. After that, I placed a long pole that had targets on the side where if you hit one, it would flip to the other side and its different colored side would show. Those had 5 on each side and they were called dueling poles. Pairs would race to hit the targets to send them all in one direction but the bullets were limited to avoid making it a battle to who had more bullets. There were also ones that I placed that looked like a wooden barricade. It had eight plates on top of it that would fall down when you hit one. I placed two of them on the side as well.

Those were all I brought for today even though I have a few more at home. I saw Kaley coming in with her family and Matthew was looking at the targets curiously.

"Hey Kaley, want to join? This is gonna be a fun exercise." I said, smiling.

She just shook her head and then her dad walked up to me.

"Nice setup here, can you shoot good though?" Matthew asked with a sneer.

I saw Kaley smirking from the corner of my eye.

"Oh, it's on now. It'll take years to get to you by finessing it so now I'm using the brute-force method." I thought to myself.

"Why? Want to have a bet with me?" I asked.

"I'll be really nice with your wife but as she said, you're a different story." I thought to myself.

"What do you want to wager then?" Matthew asked.

"I have pretty much everything I want here. How about you give me your camper van while you could pick anything that you want." I said confidently.

His eyes burned with excitement but I just stood there nonchalantly.

"I'll take every gun in this table if I win then, the bullets too." Matthew said with a loud voice.

"Dad? That's a bad idea, just saying." Kaley tried to intervene.

"Bah! I know what I'm doing. Deal?" he said confidently .

"Hah! Deal! This is how we decide it then. I'll set a timer and this is what we'll do-" I said as I drew my Glock 19.

I quickly aimed at the right side where the human-shaped targets were. The sound of the gun sending a bullet and the steel target ringing could be heard almost at the same time.

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

I changed targets. I aimed to the pole at the center and I flipped the 5 ones to the other side to change their color.

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

I went to the last targets which were the barricades. The one with the circular plates that were laid a few inches apart. I started from the left side then worked my way towards the right.

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

*ba*ting*

Each hit made the plates go down and then I holstered the gun to my torso.

"…" everyone else.

"Whew~" a whistle followed.

I looked back and found out that Daisy was the one who whistled while everyone was staring in shock. Each hit on the human-shaped targets were located in the head and dead-center. The pole with the targets had all the targets on the right side while one of the targets that looked like a wooden barricade had all its plates down.

"What's the time?" I asked.

"I didn't have the timer ready but that's barely 15 seconds…" Tatiana said.

"I was using one hand, that's why. I think I could go faster if I use both." I said.

"FUCK!" Matthew exclaimed.

"Hey, take it easy. We haven't started yet." I smirked.

"You're clearly used to pistols; we'll use shotguns instead!" he bellowed.

"Dear…" Marisha interjected and her eyebrow was twitching.

"C'mon! How could I beat that?! I could at least increase my chances on a gun I'm familiar with!" he defended himself.

"Sure… I hate using shotguns but I'll humor you. We each bring our own gun then? You said to use something that we're familiar with." I said and his eyes lit up.

"Deal!" he immediately agreed.

"I thought we're training today, what happened?" Jonathan weakly said.

"Forget the training! This is exciting seeing him in action!" Esther kicked her brother.

"Yeah, yeah..." Jonathan replied, shaking his head.

"Why would you even think of training at a time like this?!" Russel interjected.

"Good thing I brought a few shells because I was planning to discuss about them..." I thought to myself.

"I'll go first then!" Matthew walked towards the table where the guns were and he placed his in front of him. It was a Remington 870 with a wooden stock and a 20-inch barrel. It had nothing major done to it besides a little engraving on the stock and it came with an extended tube magazine that could allow it to hold 7 shells plus one in the chamber. He must've known we're practicing because he brought a bag with a few boxes of shells.

Tatiana set a timer and Matthew readied himself.

"We just have to hit those right? Is a graze fine?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah, just grazing them is enough. We're a bit far so it's okay." I replied and he nodded.

Tatiana went to his side with the timer and we all kept quiet. Matthew got in the zone as he exhaled loudly.

"Shooter ready?" Tatiana said.

He nodded.

"Standby..." Tatiana trailed.

"..." he was focused now.

We saw Tatiana pressing the timer.

*beep*

When the timer beeped, he quickly unloaded each shot to the targets. He hit every target accurately and with speed. The steel targets would ding each time and he wasn't just grazing them. After the last shot, when he pumped the shotgun to clear the barrel, he caught the used shell with his hand when it flew out since he positioned the shotgun sideways.

"That was fast." Daisy said.

"Eh~ I dunno about that. I think dude's faster." Russel said.

"Hmph!" Matthew snorted with a proud look.

"He's good." I thought to myself.

After he was done, we checked the time and it read 28.3 seconds. That was fairly quick even if he was using a pump-action shotgun. He sneered at me as he cleared the table. I called Tatiana over while I asked Russel to reset the targets.

"Can I borrow your shotgun? I only brought ammo for it since I was about to teach them about different types later." I said to Tatiana.

Tatiana handed her Benelli M4 to me without question. "Here, good luck!" she said with a smile.

"Hah! Using a semi-auto? Just give up already! I've practiced for a long time and the 870 is better!" Matthew heckled from behind.

"Really~?" I trailed and I picked up a few shotgun shells from my pocket. I was smiling the whole time and Tatiana was shocked when she saw what was in my hands.

Birdshot!

Tatiana couldn't hold her smile back as she walked behind and reset the timer. The rest were confused from her expression and then I heard the timer beep. I quickly raised my her shotgun and aimed at the targets.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The birdshot pellets flew in a spray and grazed everything. If you would look closely, there were small indents on the target's paint job, vastly different from what the slugs did. The paint didn't even got scraped off unlike what the slugs did which scraped a portion of it.

"Too easy." I thought to myself.

I looked back and I said, "Keys. I won right?"

"…" everybody else.