Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

As soon as I said that, she squints then she proceeded to pinch a part of my skin.

"Ow! I give! I give! I'm joking!" I shouted as I grabbed her hand off of me.

"I didn't get through that time. I really wonder how she does that." I thought to myself.

"You almost got me going there!" she exclaimed.

"Heh. I'm just trying to figure out how your ability works. So far, I've only been lucky once. You'd always know if someone tried to fib. Do you even know how it works yourself?" I replied.

"Hmmm, I don't know either. I just get this gut feeling, woman's intuition I guess?" she said.

We talked for a few minutes then we were called by the kids since the food is already ready. Tatiana and Rin walked down with us and looking at Tatiana's expression, things between them haven't been going well. Rin was still staying on the other room ever since that incident. She'd still talk to the two but anyone who is familiar with her would notice that something is on her mind.

"Something should be done with this. I'll talk with them later." I thought to myself.

We all enjoyed our meal and it was a light vegetable soup with bread on the side. The meeting came shortly after.

We talked about our run in the morning and the things that we encountered earlier first.

"Wait, so we have new ones?!"

"The big ones, do they explode?!"

"This is not that game sis..."

"Then the gatherers, are they a new one too?! So two new specials?"

"Isn't that..."

"You killed all of them, right?"

"Of course we did."

"You should've seen the others too..."

We showed them the feed from the drones and they all took it in.

"Dude... one question." Ken chimed.

"Hmm?" I looked at Ken.

"Can that big one be a sentry too?" he asked as everyone looked at him.

"..." I fell into deep contemplation.

"They're clearly commanding them. Isn't that the core of what the sentries do? And the time when the one behind growled, the zombies gathering food for them simultaneously vomited. I mean they do more than the sentry you guys encountered before but isn't that the gist of what the sentry could do?" he explained.

"The sentries, from what we've known before could guide you to a living person by looking at you. These things are kinda different. It's like they make a nest for themselves and build a small colony like ants. But I get what you mean, it's a great observation on their quirks." I replied.

"Did you check the eyes?" Johnny asked.

"The last one I killed don't possess those eyes that could look at different directions. Also, there are times when the big ones are not commanding them. The gatherers would move independently at times to get the food for the big ones and the only time I think when they commanded them is when they growled and they vomited." I replied.

"Umm, but what if the big ones are the evolved form of the sentries?" Chris chimed from the side.

"Could be, but we can't be 100% sure about that. We'll just keep in mind on what they could do aside from the ones that we already know. We can't keep track if they evolve to a new form with new quirks or if what we see earlier is a new type altogether. The best thing we could do now is put them down as fast as possible and learn what they could do from encountering them to ensure that we won't get any surprises. I really hope we have a scientist here." I replied.

"Dude, how about the head we are keeping on your old house? You already said we need to put them down as fast as we can, are we gonna take care of that one too? I'm still in favor of killing each and every one of them. That head especially." Raphael chimed.

I was contemplating but I made an exhale, "You're right, we're just keeping that thing there for nothing. I didn't even get the chance to study it since we're preoccupied with things that are more important. I'll take care of it later. We'll only keep them for studying them when we have the proper facilities and people. Besides, we still have a lot of samples to get from, we just need to search a bit more to find that type since that thing is really hard to find. I'm sorry for making you all worry and I promise I would take care of it after this meeting." I replied then a few people sighed with relief.

"People are still worrying about that huh? I thought they would have forgotten about it by now." I thought to myself.

We talked about a few more things but we finally ended our meeting. A few concerns are taken care of and the schedule for watch duty is handed out. Tatiana called the people she would be training to the gym and some of the trainees from Oscar's group followed her as well. She'd always fill in for me everytime I would be doing something now but the people still preferred me to be their instructor since I still hold back when I teach them. There would be fewer people in attendance every time Tatiana teaches but she didn't mind it and she still taught them with what she knows. I said I'll follow them later since I would be doing something else first.

I followed with my promise to deal with the head I took from the Pineda residence. I took the jar I placed it in and I went down on the gate we've built. I removed the dark fabrics covering it and what we didn't know is that we're in for another surprise.

I tried to view it through the glass but the blood that has smeared on it made it less visible from the outside. I opened the jar, left without any choice, and the stench that wafted through my nose and to everyone that came with me made us retch or clutch our nose in disgust. I held the jar upside down so that the severed head would fall to the ground where I could safely stab it. The head was a bit snuggled on the jar so I shook it for a bit and it finally rolled over a few times and it wobbled after leaving a trail of dark blood that is either congealed or hardened.

I drew my katana and as I was about to stab it and throw it over the pile to get burned, I looked at its eyes. I thought I was just imagining it so I shone my flashlight over it as I crouched down. Their eyes... they're different now.

*spurt* *spurt*

…

*spurt* *spurt*

…

*spurt* *spurt*

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed in disgust.

"Dude?" Kris said from the platform.

"Look at this." I said as I stood up for everyone to see.

"Ah, hell no!"

"Hans, get ze flammenwerfer!"

"Why is it like that?!"

*spurt* *spurt*

…

*spurt* *spurt*

…

*spurt* *spurt*

The eyes started to look around everyone but that was not the thing that made me stop. It also wasn't the spurting-moist sound it made whenever it looked in a different direction.

Each eye has now two irises.

It wasn't visible at first since their iris is very far from the normal one that people have. It started to deform from its circular shape and but you could still determine that it is an iris with a deformed pupil in the middle. However, this thing that we're looking at has four now. It slightly looked like a cell mitosis where it separates into two new nuclei. It is right next to each other but the whole eye moves in a more rigid way since each iris is wanting to take a look at everyone present. The first one would lock onto one person first and the iris next to it would seem to wrestle for control and it would snap to look at the person the previous one was looking before.

"Now this is a fucking mutation. I could safely say that the one we encountered earlier is a new one or just a whole nest of irregulars. If we see more, they probably are." I thought to myself.

The eyes kept on moving while the head is still tilted to one side. Dirt and debris is sticking on the head since it rolled over earlier but we also can't stop looking at its eyes also staring at us.

"Dude, just fucking kill it. Don't tell me you wanted to keep it now more than ever since it evolved?" Raphael said, with worry.

"No. If we really have a scientist here, I'd keep it. I really wanted to keep it even without one but we really just have more things to do here than to figure out something we don't have the time to. Besides, I already said I'd take care of it." I replied and I stabbed it with my katana.

"Whew, shit dude. I could finally sleep. I'd remember that thing looking at me every time I sleep so I wanted it killed before my eyes. Thank you for doing that." Raphael said.

"Shit. That thing just ruined pineapples for me." Kris said.

The quick switches between the eyes stopped immediately when I sunk the blade in. I threw it over on the corner where we burn the bodies and I watched it with its eyelids half closed as it slowly turns into cinders.

"What would happen if the sprinters mutate though?" I thought to myself.