Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Our late lunch concluded after everything died down and Anne approached me with Zyra to tell me about what they accomplished while we were away.

"Let's see… I kept some watch on the CNC Machine in case anything broke down or malfunctioned, and since you wrote down what I should make on it next, it is now milling a few iterations of the logo. And yeah, Zyra here came up on me while I was assigning people to make bodyweight equipment and she suggested making use of one part of the wall to make some sort of a bouldering wall."

"Oh! That's great, actually."

Kaley nudged me, "Bouldering?"

"Kinda like rock climbing but the distance is much shorter and you'd only need your shoes and a crash pad," then I turned to Anne and Zyra, "Going all in, huh? You know, a simple pull-up or dip machine can already work wonders given enough time."

"But we need more variety, no?"

"That is true but is there a place where you can get holds? Is a bouldering gym nearby?"

Zyra answered, "We can make them the same way we're making the body for Mr. Alvarez's car, even manually if it comes to it."

"Oh? You have some experience then?"

She added, "I used to work part-time in a store that sells training equipment and they had a portion of their store for bouldering. I can probably put up V3s or even V5s but we'll start with easier ones and with bigger holds because everyone here's a beginner. Also, when I was 50 pounds lighter, I feel like I could float compared to now—this thing really excites me!"

I nodded approvingly, "That's awesome but I'm gonna need a slot for your 3D printer as well. Some of the enclosures for the filters we brought back have some significant damage and patching them up with duct tape wouldn't work."

Anne waved me off, "You can use them now since we aren't using them at the moment."

"I see, thanks!" then I turned to Kaley and Tatiana, "What did you two do while we're away?"

Kaley shook her head, "Aside from taking care of the mess you made?"

Quinn interjected, "I'm a 'mess', now? How far I've fallen…"

"Don't start! I tried giving everyone here part of a medical exam but they always keep telling me to check on you first!"

"Haven't you seen what I've gone through?!"

"Well, it's not like you're the only one who got demoralized."

"Who else?"

Zyra raised her hand, "Me, but not to the extent you experienced."

Quinn turned to Kaley, "See? I'm the only one!"

"Fair. Anyway, this place is pretty chill for the most part but I kinda wanna see the industrial park—where everyone else is. I wanna gain some more medical experience even a little bit. Dirt and spit can only do so much and trying to endure it could make it worse. I patched up some cuts and some bruises but—"

While Kaley was still in mid-sentence, the roar of several engines coupled with hard rock blasting from the distance caught our attention. I was 100% sure it was one of Quinn's no— the De Leon Family's members but I was wondering why they needed to pay this place a visit. Granted they could probably drop by and check in on each other, looking at Quinn's annoyed face right now, our visitors weren't exactly welcome.

I turned to Quinn, "Who's coming?"

"No, they're about to leave right about now."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm kicking them out— FUCKING HELL! WHO OPENED THE GATE FOR THEM?!"

At this point, Quinn just took off with Tatiana while Kaley nudged me to go after them—as she took care of our plates with Anne. But as soon as I saw the crowd of people with the familiar getup and with the more Mad-Maxed vehicles, I assumed the one in front that was almost as tall as Quinn but had a much wider frame—but still packed with muscles—was a high-ranking officer.

The guy was just wearing a smug smile as Quinn was shouting at the top of her lungs—beckoning him to turn around and leave—but the moment we met eyes, he threw me a wide smile before getting clocked the fuck out.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"

Quinn never looked so pissed as she sent a middle kick to the guy's torso, as he was still covering his face, but after taking two attacks head-on from our enraged giantess, he still kept his cool as he turned to Quinn with the same smile.

"You don't understand. Mauro asked me to take the reigns for the—"

"TAKE THE REIGNS FOR WHAT?!"

As Quinn cut him off, she was already sending another hook straight to his face but this time, he dodged by tilting his head back. However, right as he was about to bring his head to the same position, Quinn wound back and threw the same fist as a backhand, cutting up the guy's left eyebrow and making it bleed.

"LEAVE!"

The guy just touched his eyebrow and wore a bitter smile as he saw the blood on his fingers, "Why are you so angry at me?"

"YOU KNOW PRETTY DAMN WELL THAT I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS!"

"Hah! But I hate yours more! You got him killed, right—"

"HAAAH?!"

Right at this moment, Quinn just snapped and charged at the guy, throwing everything from punches to kicks and elbows to knees, and since those attacks would do a lot more than just cut up his eyebrow, the dude started to guard and dodge though he still took some solid hits here and there. However, I just don't get as to why he never fought back and it made Tatiana and I interfere before things get worse.

It's just that when Tatiana managed to hold Quinn back as I stood in front of them, I felt a surge of killing intent and I instinctively ducked.

*WHOOOOOOOSH*

Just as my fingers barely touched the ground, I felt a huge gust of wind pass over my head but once again, I instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the motherfucker's thick quads that almost decapitated and squashed me.

Looking at his face, his smile had already turned upside down but I caught him by surprise when the temperature went down several degrees.

He instinctively covered his face by crossing his arms but my foot still made its way to his chin before his whole body buckled. I thought he'd be on his ass after that but he threw a full-body hook with his right fist. However, I let it slip by my face but just from the way his body was positioned, I definitely felt an elbow lurking somewhere so the head slip turned into a close-contact doumawashi where my left heel found its way to the back of his head.

It would've landed on his face if he didn't follow through with his blow but since he was so eager to give something that had his full weight on it, I opted to do the same.

Both of us landed on the ground but I was the only one that was able to stand up.

It was then that I noticed he had the Number 9 on the same spot my heel landed but Quinn was this close to stomping on that poor motherfucker. I managed to stop her at the last second but I heard a soft groan from the person that I just laid out.

"Fuck… How long was I out?"

'He's fucking tough, I'll give him that.'

"LEAVE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I FUCKING HAVE TO TELL YOU—"

"Wait a sec," I waved her off as I waited for him to get up, "What did Mauro tell you?"

"I'm Logan by the way~ How many times do I have to repeat myself? He told me that since Quinn has guests coming over, I'll be acting deputy for the time being. I—"

Kaley suddenly came up from behind, "If we call him now will he say the same thing?"

Logan rolled his eyes before he scoffed, "Go ahead, I don't care."

I was just about to give Mauro a call when Quinn stopped me, "Don't bother, he's fucking lying as always." then she turned to him, "I can't even contact Mauro at this moment, why the fuck would he give the reigns to you?! Besides, he'll give the reigns to Dave first before he thinks of your sorry ass."

"Quinn! C'mon! We were having such a great time before that jackass interrupted our little dance! I was just beginning to feel it, do you feel the same way? And by the way, Dave's dead. That's actually why I came here."

"WHAT?!"

"HAH! You believed that?! I was lying, of course! But yeah, he looked like a corpse when you all got back! He was so beaten up he wouldn't even drink with me! Almost shot me too when I tried to wake him up!"

'This guy's a little…'

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! I'M GONNA COUNT TO FUCKING TEN AND IF YOU'RE NOT OUT HERE BY THAT, I'LL FUCKING DROP YOU AND TELL MAURO YOU CROSSED THE FUCKING LINE! WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD COME HERE, HUH?!"

At this point, Quinn was already in her third boiling point while I was still confused as hell. I can't fucking believe they'd have an officer like that and a single-digit position to boot. If anything, I'd rank him among the three digits but there seemed to be more to their story as I thought.