Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Right after I looked at him and said those words, he stared at me for a moment before sighing deeply. Ilya took Aurora's arms and she pulled her closer. Kaley and I looked at each other and we understood what they meant. Arturo is enjoying a cigar while Irene is watching the events unfold.

"I'm not going anywhere without her. I'm supposed to be one of those freaks outside if I didn't stumble into this place by accident." Ilya firmly said.

"I guessed as much. Tell me, does Vera know of you and Aurora's relationship? I doubt Nikolas and Tatiana knew, even Alexei was surprised to see you two. Did I get that right?" I asked.

"Who's Vera?" Aurora asked.

"One of my team, she's the one in charge of our comms in missions. To answer your question, none of them know. I at least want to tell my reasons to my group face to face. I'm sorry you have to waste fuel for me and yet I wouldn't even come back with you." Ilya replied.

"Is he gonna be in t-trouble? If t-that's the case… you should g-go… I'm gonna be fine… I'm used to-" Aurora was a mess but I cut her off.

"Aurora, don't worry. Ilya is far from being in trouble. His whole group should be grateful to you especially for finding him. It's like I said earlier, it's up to him if he wants to go or not. However, if you'd like it, we have some space in our helicopter and you could also come with your dog and guinea pigs. The fuel is not wasted since I met new people and we could always work something out." I proposed though Irene gave a somewhat worried look.

"I-I think I don't want to leave this place. I've been living here since and m-moving is a bit..." Aurora trailed.

"Then I don't have anything to say. Ilya's staying here with you if he wants. However, I think you should talk to your team first. Just tell them what you told me and hope they see it the way I see it." I said.

"What? Just like that, you agree with me?" Ilya was confused.

"Yeah, what's the problem?" I asked.

"I expected more resistance..." he replied.

"Hah! To be honest, I'd like more soldiers with your capabilities at my place. I'd like the full set of soldiers that have been in many life and death situations being whole but I understand your sentiment. Besides, I want to have someone here that my group knows so we'd know what's happening around other areas. Let's just take it like it's a patch-over or something." I chuckled.

"Patch… over?" Ilya tilted his head.

"What? You never watched Children of Anarchy? Huh." I was flabbergasted and Kaley's already shaking her head.

"Excuse me but I'm glad with your decision. Ilya's been a huge help ever since the soldier's at this place left us. If you have anything else in mind, do ask and I'll see what I could do." Irene interjected.

"Hmm, aside from a few things that I would like to trade with you, I simply want an open line of communication between us. I'd also like to know that whole story of what happened here when this thing started. Aside from that, I'd also like to know the places you've been to Ilya and everything you've encountered right when you stumbled into this place. In short, I'd like information about everything more than anything." I answered.

"That's easy enough to provide but telling them all would take a bit of time, are you staying here for a day at least?" Irene asked.

"We could stay the night but we need to leave tomorrow maybe at noon or in the afternoon. We're just supposed to pick Ilya up but a few unexpected things already happened. I'd take a look around your place in case I find things that you've missed and might need a bit of… supervision." I replied.

"That's great, that's great. I'll tell the cooks to include you for dinner. Have you tasted our soup here? It's really great!" Irene was jubilant.

"We do! We've actually been here a few times in the past." Kaley interjected.

"And now you talk, you're hungry huh?" I joked.

"Okay! Everyone's happy! Can I have some privacy here? Please?! I'm taking a nap earlier when you barged into my office. Don't wake me up till morning sis. You know I really have a hard time getting to sleep and it getting disrupted like that would make me really fucking hard to work with. Anyway, nice meeting you two and I guess I'll see you tomorrow!" Arturo stood up and headed to one of the rooms with the same bottle of alcohol.

"This guy…" Irene is shaking her head.

We took our leave and we left the room where Michael and Gina were. We headed back to the convenience store where the helicopter is and found a few more people chatting with my group. They're asking about random stuff and my group is doing the same. The elderly were doing most of the asking and my group was answering questions about our place as vaguely as possible.

"We can never be too sure." I thought to myself.

The only thing I noticed is that Ilya seemed to be having a hard time trying to bring up the topic of him staying here to his group.

Jared and Alexei were still on the roof not letting anyone climb up aside besides us. They'll give the excuse that there's sensitive cargo inside and an accident might happen if they touch something. The sun had already set and a few lamps and candles were lit around their territory. I could see the most lights coming from the places in which I think were their gates where people are watching for anything that comes.

Irene started to gather everyone inside a covered basketball court for dinner. It's the same soup I've tasted for years and they kept to the recipe for the most part. It's a rich but light soup with different cuts of meat but now it also has vegetables. The cuts include tripes, hearts, immature eggs, livers, etc. from different animals. It's tasty as it is but it's the best food to take when you're having a hangover. Almost everyone was gathered at the court except for the elderly that cannot walk and a few exceptions like Arturo, Jared, and Alexei.

Irene introduced us to everyone again and we're welcomed warmly because of us helping Michael with his wound. How this community treats each other like family is a plus for me. The cooks were giving Tatiana helpless smiles when she came back for seconds five times. I asked for two bowls for Jared and Alexei and we started to head back when we found out that they don't have meetings everyday for what happened during the day.

"Hey! We have a few houses available if you guys want to sleep in a bed." Ilya caught up to us.

"Thank you but I'm comfortable with the tents we brought. Ask them if they want to, you could catch up with a few things since the night is still young." I replied.

"Is that so, how about you guys? We have Lambanog at our house. I'd still prefer Vodka but it could get the conversation rolling. How about it? I also have something to say that I don't want to tell you simply over the radio." Ilya looked at his group solemnly.

"What is it? Something serious?" Alexei asked while drinking from his bowl.

"Something like that." Ilya replied.

The three looked at him but they decided to follow him with Aurora. Jared looked at me and asked what it's all about. His face turned solemn at the thought but he nodded a couple of times in understanding Ilya's situation. We then started to pitch our tents up since we decided to stay on top of this convenience store near our helicopter.

"If that was me bro, would you be fine with it?" Jared asked.

"Yeah. It's fine." I replied.

"Really?" he tried to confirm.

"Yeah, I just don't know where that SCAR-17 I have back home would land in the end though." I baited.

"Hold on, hold on. You said you wouldn't fucking give that to anyone, right?! Why bring it up now?!" he exclaimed.

"What? We're talking hypotheticals, so I'm just thinking hypothetically. Kaley might use it… or someone else… if he's- or she's… at the house..." I trailed.

Jared started to have a mental breakdown. Kaley and I could see that he's struggling and we wished we could hear what he's thinking. He wasn't moving after a few moments though we let him be.

"Is that the one that looks kinda big?" Kaley asked.

"Yeah, somewhat but it's lightweight. I only have two of those since those are fucking expensive- well, I have one SCAR-16 and one SCAR-17. The 16 uses 5.56 that we use while the 17 uses 7.62x51 that he uses. Oscar on the other hand has several for each kind, it's crazy. Don't get me started with his shotgun collection." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Enough talk about that! You're just dangling the SCAR-17 so I- fuck it, nevermind." Jared sat down.

"Giving up already? So soon? Hah!" I chuckled.

"Well, you have me at my balls with this AR-10. I'll just stick around until you give me that SCAR-17, heh." Jared is smirking.

"Hah! You learn from the best. Just find someone to stick around to first before you ask me if it's okay if you're in the same situation with Ilya." I replied.

"Hey, someone's got their eye on you back at home. You don't have to travel this far." Kaley chuckled.

"Really?" Jared's head snapped to Kaley, almost breaking his neck.

"You know, we girls talk. I hear things and I believe that someone's definitely interested." Kaley laid her traps.

"Is she shitting me bro? I think she's shitting me? She's shitting me, right?" Jared confided at me.

"Don't ask me, would you even risk not knowing?" I chuckled.

"Well if you don't want to believe me, just know that your little brother was first to find someone. He has a hard road ahead of him but you're not even in one." Kaley then harrumphed and went inside our tent.

Jared was stunned from the revelation and it seemed that his loyalty suddenly shifted from me to Kaley.

"Kaley- I mean Big Sis… can you please enlighten this peasant as to who might that person be?" Jared was already kowtowing outside our tent, calling for Kaley.

Jared started to call out to Kaley several times but she snapped.