Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I faintly smiled before I answered.

"Take a look around."

"Huh?"

"Aside from the soldiers stationed at the DDR Camp, we're the only ones equipped enough to get outside without any trouble. Furthermore, most of the civilians have evacuated to the DDR Camp and for the ones that didn't, they'd need some time to think of ways to handle the dead. We're smurfing in a sense."

Russel nodded pensively, "Oh! Have you guys checked the gas station I worked at? Are there tankers still left? You know, like the one we 'borrowed'?"

I shook my head, "Unfortunately, there's none left."

"Fuck… Wait! Have you checked the pumps?! There could still be a few gallons left, at least! Ah-- The tanker's still full though..."

My eyes lit up, "That's actually a great idea."

"Huh?"

"We empty the tanker using the containers we have on hand and we could just drive the tanker back and fill it up again. It'll be better, safer, and faster than to drive there and bring a bunch of containers to be filled up. Better do the time-consuming thing here than outside."

"Right! We can just store them right across our house! I'll get on it!"

"Sure, sure. Ask a few people to help you!"

"I KNOW~ I KNOW~" Russel shouted before disappearing inside.

I just shook my head in amusement but I saw Raphael approaching me from my workshop.

He was the first one to greet me, "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Yeah? What do you need?"

"I see we have a lot of building materials here but what I need are mechanical parts. Do you have anything I could get my hands on? I saw a few by the basement but I don't know if you need them for something else. I'd hate to take apart some of the unused vehicles here..."

Oscar popped up from nowhere, "What do you need?"

Raphael almost jumped back in fright, "Jesus… Umm~ I need pistons, shocks, a working motor, a chain, and different sized gears-- Oh! I also need something a little bit thicker than a fan belt. If you could find a motorcycle that could be a parts donor, I'll try and make it work with just that. What I'm trying to do now is to make something that could hold the weight of that minigun… Wait… How many rounds of ammo are you planning to put in it? 30? 50? I need to factor the weight--"

Oscar and I cut him off at the same time, "30? No, about 1000..."

"Wait, WHAT?!"

Oscar chuckled, "That's around 15 kilos-- Kid, how heavy is that exactly?"

I thought for a bit, "Around~ 17.2 kilograms."

Raphael was still processing everything we just said, "W-Wait… H-Hold on-- 1000?!"

"Yep, 1000."

"Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude… Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How many rounds of a-ammo do you have? You know, all-in-all?"

Oscar and I said at the same time with a blank face, "Yes."

"Wut? N-Nevermind… Glad to be here… Oh, I almost forgot! I had a thought… You said that Ken's shotgun had its barrels sawed off, right? Can we do the same with this one?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, chop off a bit of the barrel of the minigun..."

"Why?" Oscar asked a little too menacingly.

Raphael took a few steps back, "U-Umm… I did some measurements and based on the dimensions of that minigun and the space available from your SUV, we would need to remove some seats in order for it to fit in nicely."

Oscar shook his head, "N-No… H-How much do you want to saw off it?"

"A-About half? Doing that would also remove a portion of its weight so it could be a little bit easier on your SUV..."

I shook my head as well, "If you saw a good portion of that M134, it'll affect a lot of things like how the bullets travel and how it sprays in a given direction."

Raphael scratched his head, "That'll be--"

I cut him off before I turned to Oscar, "Can't we just place it in the back?"

Raphael nodded approvingly at the idea, "Then that would be much easier. We just need to make a mount to place it on and I'll just find a way for it to slide forward once the door at the back opens, adding a stopped so it doesn't collide with the SUV's frame."

Oscar immediately waved us off, "No, no, no… That's not what I envisioned for this project. Just a sec-- I'll grab something from my house..."

"Huh? Where are you--"

Oscar was already halfway towards his house, "I said just a sec!"

Raphael and I just looked in puzzlement as we watched him disappear inside his house but after a while, he came back hauling a medium-sized case almost similar to the case where his M134 was stored.

The only thing difference except for its size was that 'XM556' was printed on the corner.

'Wait… No...'

Oscar revealed the faintest of smiles, "How about this then? Can you mount it on the top?"

Raphael was clueless as to what was in the box but I was already opening it with much excitement. As soon as I did, I couldn't help but shake my head when I actually saw an XM556 in all its glory. It was a smaller version of the M134 that uses 5.56 rounds instead of 7.62s.

I touched it almost inappropriately before I snapped my head back to the old man.

"Where the fuck did you get this, old man?! You didn't even tell me you got one!"

Oscar let out a victorious smile as he saw my reaction, "Hah! I was planning to give you the M134 when I got too bored with it. I bought this in 2017 when it was released though only the military and the police could purchase them, even now. Will this work, now? That's the smallest one I got."

Raphael crouched down to check the dimensions of the XM556, "This… This could work… Much, much easier to mount compared to the first one..."

"For real?"

"Y-Yeah… This is definitely much lighter even with 1000 bullets on it. Also, we wouldn't need to remove the seats completely since this could just be placed on a different mount and it could just be lifted up when the sunroof opens. I'll have to start from scratch but this is more doable..."

I nodded approvingly as I smiled, "It's settled then. I could get mechanical parts from the shop I bought full suits from since they have a few motorcycles available for sale. We'll load maybe three or four in the truck with more parts from the back so you could just pick out what you need from them. Just tell me if you need anything else."

"Sure, sure. I'll just modify the thing I drew up by a little bit."

As soon as Raphael turned around to continue working, Oscar walked in front of me and threw the keys for his M134.

"Here, kid. That's definitely yours now."

I said with a mocking tone, "Sure~"

"I'm serious! I'm not taking it back for the second time!"

I continued with a high-pitched tone, "Aww~ I got a new paperweight!"

Oscar instantly lost it, "DO YOU WANT ME TO SMACK YOU IN THE HEAD, YOU LITTLE SHIT?! CALL THAT A PAPER--"

I instantly waved him off, "Relax, RELAX! I'M JOKING, OLD MAN! Can't you tell? Alright, lemme do this properly. Thanks! I'll place it near my Barrett!"

We shared a small moment but Aya came running and told us that our food was getting cold. Once I checked my watch, it was already past 1:00 PM so we headed to the pool area. Most of them have finished eating but there was still plenty of food available.

What we have for today was fish turned into nuggets and then glazed with a sweet and spicy sauce. It was garnished with tiny slices of carrots and potatoes before it was sprinkled with green onion. As usual, everything was always eaten with rice and we joined the few who were still eating.

Kaley nudged me, "What took you guys so long?"

"Oh, we got too excited talking about the SUV and the minigun."

"Just don't forget to eat, okay?"

"Of course, thanks!" I exclaimed as I stole a nugget.

"Hey! That's--"

"HA-HA! This is for the soft-boiled egg from before!"

I was waving her fish nugget with my fork but Kaley just harrumphed before staying completely silent. Frightened from her actions, I just slowly placed it back in her bowl as awkwardly and as clumsily as I could.

A round of laughter followed but Aya just brought us some more which Tatiana gladly yoinked away from us.

'She really has a huge appetite...'

After a short bit, we finished eating and I went back to my room to replenish bits of ammo that we used in between.

When it was 2:00 PM, we were at the shop I was talking about earlier and it was just closed shut. As soon as I gained access, there were easily tens of motorcycles inside with a lot of aftermarket parts, and the full suits I bought last time.

We hauled five motorcycles on the truck, ten boxes of protective gear, and even amounts of aftermarket and spare parts available. Furthermore, we secured other items such as reflectors, spray paint, stickers, and a couple of cheap cameras that could be mounted atop helmets.

While Mark and the rest were securing the motorcycles for the second time, we saw a group of people coming out of the public market carrying bags of canned goods and wielding handheld weapons. They were in such a hurry as they ran outside, they didn't notice a lone deadhead coming from their blind spot.

I quickly acted by raising my rifle, flicking the safety switch off, looking through my sights, and finally pulling the trigger.

Everything was done in one quick motion and as soon as I lowered my rifle and flicked the safety switch on, the lone deadhead was sprawled on the floor while pieces of its brain and skull painted the roll-up right next to it.

The group of people I just saved was a fraction of a second late to react but once they pulled themselves together, the guy in the middle just gave me a quick nod before running in the opposite direction. The rest of them gave me a short glance but they seem to be in a hurry.

"You know those guys?" Kaley asked.

"No, but they needed help."

"I wonder why they didn't approach us. They seem to be in a hurry."

"They must have people at home needing the food, them too. People who stayed at their homes are starting to run out of food, and they're forced to loot places such as this public market. Hmm… If they talked to us, we could've learned about their situation and invited them to our place--"

"Bro, we're done. Are we heading back now?"

"Sure, we'll just come back to this place right after."

We started to drive back to our compound but we just saw the same group of people trying to force-open the bakery right next to the elementary school.

Kaley mentioned, "Didn't we already--"

"Yeah," I nodded as I tapped on the roof of our truck to make it stop.

As soon as we slowed down, the group we parked right next to wore guarded expressions. They stopped what they were doing but they eased for a bit when they discovered it was just us.

"Hey," I started with a simple greeting.

The guy who gave me a quick nod spoke, "H-Hey… Can we help you? W-We're just looting the place since we ran out of food yesterday--"

A big guy in the back cut him off, "I told you, man! We should've run straight back! I told you they'll come after us! They'll--"

I interjected, "We're not here for your food. Take it easy, alright? For the record, that place is empty because we looted it yesterday. You'd have more chances to find something on that diner across the street because we haven't been there yet."

The first guy I talked to asked, "You guys soldiers?"

I faintly smiled, "Sort of, but we need information. What's the situation at your place? I can point out a few places we haven't looted yet in exchange for that."

"Don't tell him, man! He'd just go to our place and take everything!" the same guy interjected.

'This guy...'

I shook my head, "That's possible or I could've just killed all of you last time. That sounds easier than risk approaching and talking to all of you, right? I told you, I just need some information."

The first guy sighed heavily, "L-Look, we don't want any trouble but we really do thank you for saving us earlier. We just don't feel safe telling where we live with complete strangers..."

"Sure, that's understandable. Let me guess then. Marcelo?... Libo?... Pulo?... Petron?... Elsewhere?" I continued saying different places near here but the moment I said 'Elsewhere', their breathing instantly changed.

'Gotcha.'