Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

With the noise we made yesterday, it was safe to say that we attracted a good 90% of the dead from the immediate vicinity and then some because we barely encountered a cluster worth stopping for. Granted any deadhead we encountered should be put down, but I meant it in a way that we wouldn't need to spend a lot of time as usual.

In any case, it didn't take long before we approached a fork in the road—where one leads to the GDMWC or to this telecommunications port with ground satellites that used to provide internet connectivity around these parts.

But yeah, it seemed like the people from the medical center used the place as its first checkpoint because it did have a few dozen people guarding it with a mix of weapons—and at the same time, the road to the medical center had several barricades to keep humans, deadheads, and vehicles away.

So, I picked up my radio to inform the crew:

-

*bzzt*

"Slow down for a bit but keep a close eye on our surroundings. Visibility's bad around here with all these trees…" Stay connected with m-v l|e'm,p| y- r

*bzzt*

-

Just a side note, we were leading the convoy with a military jeep with a mounted SAW, followed by Tatiana's Humvee, our Raptor, a closed van, my old six-wheeler, and JP's Raycolt.

However, I was already made aware that the Admiral was using one of his drones—which would eventually be mine—to give us eyes from the sky but so far, it seemed like these people didn't have goons hiding by the woods.

'That's good…'

So yeah, once I got down my truck with Oscar, we were still being eyed by the group a few dozen feet away without putting down the couple of guns pointed at us.

'This is stupid, they should already be expecting us—'

But while I was in mid-thought, I spotted one of them holding his ear—which seemed to have an earpiece—listening intently before he tapped the two other guards to lower their weapons. In doing that, the silent tension between the two groups lessened—significantly more when they beckoned the two of us to come close.

I muttered while I was walking with the old man, "Imagine if we got shot down at this moment?"

"Hah?! Is this what you think about in a regular basis— Hold up, of course, you do… Hah… At least I met with my daughter. Only regret is that I haven't seen my future grandkids yet—"

"Grandkids?! Seriously?"

"Pah! She's hanging around with that other chick so relatively speaking, what you make in her is probably my grandchild too!"

"..."

"Hah! Got you there, huh? Hehe! It's been a while~"

"Pfft… You did, you did…"

With that said, once we made their way to this other group, the moment they saw Oscar's 'Murican features—additionally when they saw him walking in front of me—they thought he was the fucking head honcho commanding everyone in our armed convoy. But yeah, both of us decided to go along with us as we greeted them with a smile:

"Morning!/ Morning, ya hardworkin' folks!"

The guy in the middle with the earpiece and an M-16, who seemed to be their acting commander, responded after the two guys with the same getup nodded in kind:

"Pleasant morning to you two. It seems like your group is just about to pay the med center a visit? Is that right?"

Oscar nodded, "You weren't briefed?"

He forced a smile, "Apologies but yes, I was just told a few minutes ago—hence the gun pointing…"

"Ah… What's your name, young man?"

He chuckled, "I'm not young—"

"Well compared to me, you are!"

"Ahaha… That is true… I'm Cisco Batiancilla, nice to meet you, sir~?"

Oscar nodded with a smile, "Colonel Goodman. Oscar Goodman," then he turned to me, "This here's my nephew— Introduce yourself, kid."

I chuckled inwardly, "Sky Ishiyama, great to meet you, Mr. Cisco."

He turned to me with a faint smile, "Likewise. These two here's Cory and Manuel… So… I could introduce you to everyone but Lisa upstairs had already given me the go-ahead to let you gentlemen through. We'll just have to move the barricades here and you can go back to your vehicles—"

Oscar cut in, "You kids okay here? Need anything?"

"Umm… What do you mean, Colonel?"

"Just being a good neighbor, as you can see, we recently moved, so…"

"Ahaha… T-That's right… I'll extend the first thanks, we were able to send a group or two by the freeport zone this morning. It's the first time in a while, we just hope to get some despite the groups you've sent to sweep the streets."

'There we go…'

Oscar waved them off with a smile, "Actually, the kid here convinced the Admiral to bring you some stuff WE cleared ourselves just for you guys—because you were here first and everything—but we're just keen on talking with your CO so we could work on an arrangement. You see, we like what your place stands for and we'd be glad to work with you all in the coming days."

"Ah. That's great to hear, Colonel. That's great to hear—" then he snapped his head towards me, "Many thanks to you too, any help is great help."

I nodded with a smile, "Don't worry about it, you seem great folks."

Oscar then cut in once again, "So yeah, before we drove uphill again, do you need anything? A smoke? Some coffee? A protein bar? Anything?"

"W-We're good, Colonel, thank you."

"Alright~ Suit yourself—"

Then the Manuel dude interjected, "Actually…"

Oscar huffed with a smile, "There we go, what do you want?"

Manuel removed his cap and revealed somewhat of a Hispanic persuasion, "Umm… Do you perhaps know of a John Robert Caguia? He's uhh… he's one of the uhh— He's one of our contacts in the airport you just cleared. I'm just wondering if there are survivors that go by that name."

"Hmmrgh… Doesn't ring a bell— Hey, kid! Does the name 'Robert', I mean— John Robert mean anything to ya?"

I kept a straight face as I turned to Manuel, "I'm not exactly sure. What does he look like?"