Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

At this point, it felt like I didn't have a firm grip on life as I kept being surprised one after the other but I guess I'm still lucky because June who was fucking right behind Ilana got fucking stunlocked for a few seconds—worst then when Mikhail first laid his eyes on Quinn.

So yeah, I had to drag her alternative ass to our table—with the three other plates I have on one arm while Ilana was just smiling as she followed us the whole time.

And she greeted everyone before introducing herself to those who didn't know her yet:

"Umm… Hi, I guess? I'm Ilana, you could say I'm his remote 'tech support' and since some of our objectives aligned properly, we decided to pay him and this place a visit. It has been a while and this place— I mean the inside of this compound didn't change at all but in a good and honest way…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…"

And from then on, everyone else in our circle introduced themselves and had a pleasant talk with Ilana, whose demeanor was totally different the last time she was here. It was because she was like this demure gal who likes sweets and needed to be protected for some reason, but now, she's chill as chill goes and she wasn't even wearing a speck of body armor.

'Won't let my guard down yet, she probably had a few knives here and there… somewhere…'

Then I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts as Ilana was literally snapping her fingers in front of me:

"Yo, the fuck? If you stare too long, I might charge ya…"

I quickly composed myself as I finally took my first bite of food and swallowed it whole to assert dominance, "Eh. I pray with my eyes open now, sorry—"

"PFFT— What the fu— I did not expect that, have you been listening to me though?"

"I was prayin', sorry—"

"Riiight… Anyway— I got the files for the people you might be interested in taking in and I'm expecting a little thanks for giving you the full list. Our CO over there's a little scummy with the way he wanted to hand out people but I managed to convince him from picking out the good ones and leaving you with the awful ones."

"Oh! That's really— thanks! I owe you."

Jennifer cut in, "What kind of awful people are we talking?"

Ilana replied, "You know, people with records before AND/OR after the world ended. But if we wanna dial it down a bit, there's a few in there I specially marked for fucking around while at work or have been caught stealing food from other peoples' stash. Caught a few of them while I'm working the cameras."

Tatiana cut in, "And the good ones?"

"I mean— you can put them pretty much anywhere and they'll be thankful for a simple house and a simple meal but there are specialists like dentists, tutors, and even a circus performer."

Ella's eyes had never shone so bright, "C-Circus performer?! Like in Cirque du Soleil?!"

Ilana chortled, "Maybe? If they get discovered? There's one who can handle snakes, there's one with hypermobility, and there's even one that could eat anything and regurgitate it back though that motherfucker's in the naughty list. You can't imagine the number of times he stole something and the owner doesn't want it back because it's been inside that fool."

"Ugh… Ew…"

"I mean— at the end of the day, it's up to you to decide whether to find good even in the bad ones since they just need a place to thrive, right?" Your journey continues with empire

I nodded as I skimmed through the list in her tablet, "Of course… Any soldiers though?"

She looked apologetic, "Unfortunately, that's something I can't take away from our Captain. He took them all and what do you need them for?! You have— *turns momentarily in Jennifer and Rachel's location before pointing at them* You have them, right?! We should be the ones asking for—"

"Yeah, yeah, you pesky snoop."

"Snoop?!"

"I said what I said. Anyway, wouldn't it be better if you bought some of them here? It's much better than seeing their records, no?"

"Well— We actually came with them though that guy in the DDR Camp— What's his name again? Ferdinand?"

"Ah. He's that place's CO."

"Who's under your thumb."

"Suuuure~"

"Uh-huh. We brought around twenty handymen and handywomen with us who could help with anything though they do have an appetite. The Ferdi-guy already put them to work loading a few things in their trucks but I did make him promise to meet you later so you'd see them face to face. They're the ones marked yellow in the list."

"Just handymen, then?"

"For now, yes."

"Alright… That's a start…"

"So, what now?"

"What do you mean, 'What now?' I still have to eat!"

"Ah— Right, right—"

Then June finally got the courage to introduce herself to Ilana, "Umm— H-Hi! I'm—"

Though Ilana cut her off, "'Sup, June? I see you've been doing extra well here, huh? I'm sorry— It's nice to finally meet you offline, I like the vibe you're carrying. I'm like you when I was your age."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"R-Really?!"

Quinn had to cut in, "Hold up, hold up, are you a celebrity or something?"

Ilana never shook her head so fast, "Gods, I hope not. We try to be anonymous but I guess it's safe to say among our peers, just meeting any of us is a huge deal."

Tatiana cut in, "Celebrity my ass, unlike me, she's the real spy here if anything."

Then everyone else exclaimed, "WHAT?!"

Ilana threw her hotdog at Tatiana but the glutton easily caught it with her mouth and even thanked her, "YOU— I'm not a spy, alright?!"

Tatiana never looked so happy, "God, I wanna say this phrase so much— Ilana, that's something a spy would say. You even know who the fuck my benefactor is, stop spouting shit."

"I just have a way of uncovering things unconventionally, alright?! I call it a digital archeologist!"

"Uh-huh… Riiight… Riiight…"

But yeah, at this point, my head's already itching about what to do or prioritize because one, Hell Week is still in effect and two, I'm waiting on our engineers to finish up our Tamiya/Mine Cart to be able to use it on the train stations.

And with Ilana popping out from nowhere, I was fucking sure we'd have to discuss about the files she stole from the Eisenhower and the only reason she's here aside from you-know-what was that she either found something or hit a brick wall.