Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

More importantly, the dude who pulled the gun on us was pointing it at Ibarra who was still holding Missy's nose ring and what was left of her nose, but the shit was quickly shot down when I came up behind him without him noticing. Funnily enough, the guy still had the safety on his pistol but despite all that, the motherfucker still deserved a short beating just for pointing a gun at each of us.

So yeah, let's just say that this guy named "Mistah"—ironic/moronic, I know— was now tied up and looking like a raccoon or an almost ripe banana from his bruises.

In addition, the rest of his group with Richard could only shake their heads and look down in shame at what just happened because that shit doesn't fly anywhere else. If they were complete strangers—which they kind of were—they'd be part of the pile we were burning already.

Richard tried to approach me, "I'm really sorry, sir— He's—"

"A dumbass? Yeah, he is."

"It's just—"

"Don't fucking explain anything right now. We'll hold him here for our safety while we finish up until Bambang Station. It's D. Jose Station right after that so it's just a natural stopping point."

"B-But what are you gonna do to him?"

"Relax. If we wanted him dead your group wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Ah—"

"It's plenty fucking dangerous here, Richard. You fuck around, you find out. Just think of it as a one-time professional courtesy. One more slip even inside our walls and I'd definitely hit harder and do something permanent, get me?"

"Yes, sir—"

"Now hold the same spot and await further orders. You listen to me even if you're under Iskoh."

"That's a given—"

"Go."

"R-Right! Right!"

On that note, Richard sprinted back to his group while we finally felt confident to step inside this gymnasium we power-washed. And obviously enough, there were still some food packs as they've mentioned but even a beggar or someone dying of hunger wouldn't touch these pallets because they were already tainted by the dead's remains.

The only thing salvageable at this point was the gymnasium itself but it'd be a while before we branch out into this area.

So yeah, with our remaining daylight, I helped for a bit on the railway—but ever since finding it so monotonous with our mine cart system and pitchfork buff—we continued following the road below.

Even reaching Bambang Station, the area below still had a ton of pharmacies and other places that sold medical equipment though we were only a few blocks away from where we lost Kristoff and discovered our first Hulker.

But yeah, the only thing different from Bambang Station compared to the other stations we breezed through was that this one had a 7-car train on it on one side—meaning: we'd only be able to use our mine cart just before reaching the station itself.

We'd be doing something similar to what we did in Monumento Station before we could proceed further to the other ones further in—especially the connecting railway for the MRT.

-

*bzzt*

[Now we see what you mean, sir.]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Seriously? You guys are up there and you didn't see those train cars?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Ah. We're too focused on flipping the dead like hay bales… So, what are we gonna do now?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Same shit you've been doing last time only you stop before reaching the platforms in Bambang Station. Where's the barriers we used last time?"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Umm…]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Brian? Ruben? Don't make me pull out that reference from Drake & Josh…"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Umm… We kinda felt sorry for everyone else pushing—us too—so we left it a ways~~~ back… sir.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Uh-huh."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Ahaha… That's totally our bad, sir…]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"..."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Sir?]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"I mean— It's nice for you fucks to take accountability but there's a reason we fucks still follow the chain of command, right? I'm open to hearing suggestions too but why the fuck did you think of doing something so stupid when I ordered something that'd help us save a lot of time later, huh?!"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[A-Ah— W-We just didn't think that—]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Hold up, hold up, hold up, I'll refrain from saying something demeaning but what now? If you just fucking asked for the reason why you're carrying all that extra weight I would've answered but what now?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[U-Umm… W-We go back?]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"And?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[We retrieve the blocks and shit? A-And apologize? To everyone and S-Sir Morales? A-And especially you, sir… w-we really fucked up…]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"It's fine, it's fine…"

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[R-Really, sir?! T-Thank you!]

*bzzt* Read new chapters at empire

-Nôv(el)B\\jnn

*bzzt*

"I'll just have you two serve our guests in Micah's place for a week after this—"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[NO! PLEASE, SIR! ANYTHING BUT THAT!]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Haah?! You fucks won't take responsibility for WASTING EVERYONE'S FUCKING TIME?! HAH?! IS THAT IT?!"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[B-BUT— BUT— BUT, SIR—]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"AT LEAST YOU GET IT! YOUR BUTTS ARE GONNA BE THIS YAY~~~ BIG AFTER THEY'RE DONE WITH YOU! THOSE GIRLS HAVE PENT-UP STRESS TOO, YOU KNOW?! AND BIG BOYS LIKE YOU TWO ARE THEIR FAVORITES! HAVE FUN! BRING LUBE AND RELAX!"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]

*bzzt*

-

Joking aside, I still made them apologize to everyone else because of leaving the concrete barriers behind—but it actually wouldn't matter as much, just a little—since aside from bringing another mine cart tomorrow, I was also planning to plug the pre-reclaimed stations with the static barriers just in case a straggler somehow ended up breaching the area.

It was to ensure that we wouldn't have to clean up the whole place just because of one mistake and instead, it'd be contained to a station or just the railway in between.

But yeah, as we made use of our remaining time, there wasn't anything that stood out or needed any warranted attention as we continued to do what we were supposed to do.

And as we were getting ready to leave, it was easy enough to hand the "Mistah" dude back to his group and just leave Iskoh a call, so with our vehicles full of items and whatnot—instead of driving back to Monumento with Morales' group, we cut into the stretch of road we cleared between Morales and Iskoh's Harbor so we'd have an easier trip back home.

While it was true that we'd be leaving Morales and Artem's group alone, they could handle their shit and we could hold our own.

However, once we got home and had our well-deserved meal, the people participating in Hell Week couldn't believe their ears when I left them with this instruction:

"For tonight, I'd want you all to think hard, like really~ hard about something that's very important to you. It could be anything, anyone, any place, and any-whatever the fuck it is. It could be as simple as a love for food or be genuine and complex as one's feeling for a person or a group of people, but what's important is that you make fucking sure that it's important to you.

I'm not gonna tell you the full reason why but let's just say you're gonna need it for tomorrow."

And as soon as I said that, I made my way to my home gym upstairs and continued as usual.

All sorts of things were running through my head as I jogged on the treadmill—the limitations, my own experiences, and my interpretations for what I'd let them experience tomorrow—but even if I made Kaley and the rest experience the kind of the same thing before, it'd still be different, especially with the guys and the people I don't have a lot of relationship points with.

That "something" I could easily bring out took me a lot of fucking work and luck—and while it was true everyone else had the ability to do the same thing—it'd be more subconscious or when that particular person was on the brink of life or death. However, it's not like I'd break them because that wasn't the point of the exercise but to get to that sweet spot akin to training for muscle growth.

It's just that it'd be a little different from the usual because this thing had more to do with the mind but it wasn't like it didn't have any direct on the body because it almost always did.

If anything, it was like what a Venn diagram would look like when an eclipse was about to happen or had just passed over—and to circle around, what I would like to accomplish from the exercise tomorrow was when the eclipse was about to happen, I would like everyone else to hold onto it for as long as possible, cross over, and then hold it again right at that fucking sweet spot again but in reverse order.

Any sane person would consider what I'm saying as delusional or complete hokum but it'd work for me and I could just hope that it'd work for them.