Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

A few of my workers and friends heard the conversation and decided to volunteer, "Hey, we could do it for you. It's just standing guard, right?"

"Isn't the CCTVs enough for that though?" Olivia asked and a few people nodded in agreement.

"It's good but it would be useless if anything happens at the gate and we're all sleeping in the house. It would be good to have a few people in rotation." Oscar replied.

"I want to make you guys do this tomorrow so we have a proper schedule but let's start now since all of you are enthusiastic. Who wants to volunteer for watch duty?" I asked everyone present.

Zardon, Zeidrick, Mark, Malong, Dong, Jo, Conrad, Nicole, Arnel, Ken, Russel, Jared, and Kaley raised their hands. I was surprised that a lot of them volunteered but a few people were enough to do it. Maybe in a bigger base but not this compound.

"Here's the plan: it's almost 10:00 PM so let's have 2-hour shifts until 6:00 AM. Kindly form 2 pairs and I'll accompany everyone throughout the night. I'll bring out a few more guns and I'll make more coffee. Russel, could you grab a box of mosquito coils from the basement" I instructed.

"Why me?" Russel replied.

"Just go, want me to drag you there?" Unc Zeidrick, his dad, leaned over with an imposing aura.

"Uh, s-sure…" Russel immediately agreed and walked with little steps toward my house.

"Jeez, how long would doing that take? Okay, I'll let someone pick their own gun on watch duty to whoever gets it here first…" I slyly mentioned.

"Really?" Russel's ear perked up.

"Oh boy." Unc Zardon chuckled.

"Smooth." Ken added.

As Russel was about to continue walking, Jared sprinted past him and now the two were racing down my house. Zeus followed them with great enthusiasm as if they were playing tag. As they disappeared from view, Lois came up to me and handed me a box of mosquito coils. Everyone was surprised as to how he managed to acquire one so quickly. Turns out, Aunt Sharon asked for a box and he overheard the conversation. It was a fun sight, seeing the other two that almost killed each other when they came back with tattered boxes of what I asked earlier.

"Hey! He's not included in the race!" Russel protested.

"Yeah! I was first too!" Jared added.

"What? He said to 'whoever' gave him the box first. So technically, I won." Lois defended himself with a cheeky smile.

"Better luck next time guys." I started to chuckle because Lois was absolutely right. The two had no choice to give up but they were staring at him menacingly.

However, Lois didn't give a single fuck as skipped his foot while he followed me to my room. He picked another M70 but It had a different stock and scope compared to what I brought out. He hung it proudly and he started parading it around Jared and Russel to tick them off even more.

"So, who's gonna start watch duty with me and Lois?" I asked what was left of them.

My Unc Zardon raised his hand first then I handed him the rifle in my back. He asked what I would be using then but I revealed the pistols on my torso. I then told everyone to rest up and we will call them later after the first shift ends.

We climbed to the roof of the barn and we sat down after placing the items we brought down. Lois was playing with the gun at first but he immediately fell asleep after a few minutes.

"This kid…" Unc Zardon sighed.

"Pfft! Just let him sleep, we're still here." I said.

Mosquitos were flying near us so I lighted one and placed it near us. The two of us were quietly staring in the distance but I noticed that Unc Zardon was thinking of something. His face was ashen and he was slightly uncomfortable. I already know what he was thinking about so I decided to open up the subject.

"You're not gonna bring them here? It's fine with me you know, considering what they did." I said.

"Why? They already made their choice. After all I have done for them." Unc Zardon said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"How about Kenny and Hannah though?"

"…"

"Any idea where they are? The DDR camps?"

"No, Kenny still messages me. He said they were still staying at Mr. Chang's place and he said that his mom's relatives are also there with them. They're fairly safe in Mr. Chang's care but I'm just worried when their supplies run low. He's not particularly generous like you."

"We could drop by there tomorrow?"

"No, they'll be safe there, for now. Sorry, I need more time to think."

Unc Zardon dropped the subject as we continued to stare into the distance. Aside from the light coming from the DDR Camp, we saw a Red Cross Helicopter landing on top of the hospital they were occupying. A few flickering lights from houses all around could still be seen and it confirmed that not everyone decided to go to the DDR Camp. Gunshots and flashes of light would come every now and then from different directions and there were even a few near our location.

We were sitting in silence but I suddenly woke up in my bed. I was confused but I immediately checked my watch and it was now 7:00 AM. I headed down and I saw Unc Zardon outside, still up, chatting with Aunt Sharon and the others.

Day 2

"Morning, kid. Slept well?" Unc Zardon teased.

"Sorry I fell asleep. How did the watch go?" I asked, embarrassed.

"Heh, no worries. You're really tired from yesterday so it's understandable. When I took over your post, more than half of them also fell asleep! Trust me, I tried waking you up but you're sleeping soundly. Anyway, when I failed to wake you up, I instead woke Lois up so he could guard the barn momentarily while I carried you back to your house. Kaley there saw me carrying you so she decided to tuck you in instead. I didn't realize she was on the second shift so it all worked out perfectly." Unc Zardon explained.

"You still snore, did you know that?" Kaley chuckled as I smiled embarrassingly.

A series of laughter occurred after that but Aunt Sharon said, "Better rest now 'Don, you're awake for the whole night."

"Yeah, let me grab some breakfast first. Are you guys done cooking?" Unc Zardon said as he yawned.

I suddenly yawned when I saw him yawn and now everyone suddenly yawned when they saw me yawn, even Zeus.

"That's really weird, hahaha! I'll check the ladies if they're done. Some of them volunteered to help me cook, it's nice." Aunt Sharon said then she excused herself.

After a short moment, Lois came striding in with a huge smile on his face, "Hey there, sleepy-head!"

"Same to you, you little shit! We weren't even there for 5 minutes and you were already hugging the gun like a pillow!" I chuckled.

"C'mon! It got really comfy lying on those hay bales!"

"Comfy, huh? Let me change your mattress to a bunch of hay bales then!"

"What?! No! The atmosphere is just great!"

"Atmosphere? You like being surrounded by goats and chicken that much?"

"What?! No- What?! Fuck!"

Everyone started laughing and we were soon gathered to the pool area to eat our breakfast. We had scrambled eggs with chopped vegetables eaten over piping hot fried rice with green onions and mushrooms on top of it. Coffee and hot chocolate were also served and the milk and sugar were just by the side of the thermos.

Oscar and I gave instructions to prioritize cooking the food items that would spoil much sooner. Even with the rice, we used the fanciest and expensive ones right away because it would eventually spoil faster than the regular kind. Also with the vegetables, we prioritized using the fresh ones that Jo's family brought instead of the canned ones and the frozen ones. We would start using some from the greenhouse if they were available to be harvested but for now, we would plan our meals accordingly.

"What's the plan today, kid?" Oscar asked while we were eating.

"Hmm? Oh, we're gonna go outside." I said as I ate a spoonful of food.

"But why? We're pretty much secure here. Why don't we just wait this out?" Manilyn, Jo's wife, chimed.

"We need to scout outside and either scavenge for more supplies or recruit more people. Yesterday night, I marked a few places where there were no lights turned on. A few people are still in their houses but on the road here on the right, going to the DZRH Radio Station, most of the lights are turned off aside from the few big houses." I replied.

"Ken here flew his drone in the area and there are seven houses in total that only had their lights on. We're not entirely sure if there are people inside those houses but we gotta check them all, including the tattered houses in the squatter's area." I added.

"If we could secure the road on the right and build some sort of barrier to the left, we could have a big area for ourselves. We would have access to more land, houses, vehicles, supplies, a scrapyard, a radio station, two basketball courts, and a few fishing areas." I concluded.

"Woah there, wait a minute. From here to that place? That's kinda a lot to clear, right?" Jo asked.

"Let me show you this map then. After we pass the last house here, it would just be a huge canal system and the road we have is a few feet higher than the water. It's a natural barrier and also a dead end so it's impossible for the infected to come from that side. If they tried, with their motor skills, they would just get washed away by the current. But yeah, I didn't say that we do it in a day. We'll slowly make our way up the canal system for a few days." I replied.

"How do we do that then?" Jo added.

"To secure from this place to that place, we first need to have people guarding this side of the gate at all times. Those people would eliminate the infected that would come from that side while another group would build a barricade in the same place. That's when another group would start to sweep the area on the right. Sounds easy on paper, right?" I explained.

Everyone slowly understood my intentions and they nodded a few times.

"How about the people still in their houses though?" Kaley asked.