Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"Well, I never really ask for anything. Just a simple head nod or a tap on the shoulder is fine." I said.     

"Haaaaa~ I'm not really used to do that but my wife asked me to. Well, she's right, we can't thank you enough for what you've done for my daughters." Matthew said as he rubbed the back of his neck.     

"I thought you're only gonna thank me once? Is that a second time?" I said as I smiled.     

"Can I ask you something?" Matthew said, looking at me.     

I just raised my eyebrow and Matthew continued.     

"Why did you decide... to do all of this?" Matthew asked.     

"What do you mean why? Isn't it obvious?" I answered.     

"If it was me on your shoes, I would've taken only my family and moved somewhere safe. The way back here… it… it was a harrowing experience..." Matthew trailed while looking at the sky.     

The clouds were moving in a slow pace though the wind would occasionally blow a strong gust.     

"What happened on your trip? I calculated that you would be arriving here in less than 3 days after it started. Your daughters are starting to worry about you two especially Olivia. Kaley is staying strong for her and we could only do so much to busy ourselves to not think of what might have happened." I said while I laid on the floor, staring in the sky.     

"Did you tell her?" Matthew asked with a worried look.     

"…" I was silent.     

"Look at me, did you tell her?!" Matthew bellowed.     

"I didn't." I replied with a frown on my face.     

"I'm sorry, I never believed you when you sent that email before. I really thought it was a joke just to get my attention." Matthew said with a disgruntled expression.     

"It was a good thing that she didn't ask the right question, she'd found out if I lied. What she asked me before is if I've sent her the email. If she asked me if I ever emailed you, I'll get busted. I'm not entirely sure how far she could read people but she didn't discover it. However, we still need to tell her and everybody else involved in that matter." I replied.     

"Bah! Those two women must be psychics or something… but yeah, we have to tell them sooner or later." Matthew said with a bitter smile.     

"Olivia's not the same as them though, I think. Anyway, don't get befuddled by not believing me, I would've still come to your place when the shit hits the fan." I replied.     

"You don't understand, I'm their father. I should've at least tried to listen to what you had to say." Matthew said as he clenched his fist.     

"To be fair, it was around this time when I sent you the email. It's just after Halloween so it's underst-" I was cut off.     

"NO! I almost got them killed! I shouldn't be away with my wife camping happily in the mountains! FUCK! Did you even know what I did just to get here?! I had to kill people with my own hands! PEOPLE! Not those dead ones, those are alive! PEOPLE!" Matthew shouted but it was not enough for the people below to hear us.     

"If it's to protect your own, that is a valid reason. You 'had' to you said, you're an idiot if you let something happens to your family and you're too late to save them." I replied solemnly.     

"Hah! What would YOU know about that feeling huh?! It was either them or my wife! But they're still people dammit!" Matthew exclaimed.     

"I'm the idiot who was too late." I said.     

"...!" he was shocked.     

"You ask why I did all of this? It's because I know. I know that feeling you almost had to feel. To be honest, it fucking sucks. I've killed before this thing started and 'had' to defend myself once and 'had' to kill someone about to turn when we're in here. However, the purpose back then was for vengeance, not to protect someone." I said.     

I told him the story I told Kaley before. How my parents were murdered, how I reacted, everything. Surprisingly, my chest feels light now.     

"Is telling it to Kaley before?" I thought to myself.     

"…" he was speechless.     

"I'm an idiot, right? If only I checked the commotion myself, if only I didn't hesitate, if only did I do what I should've done at that moment… they would still be alive. So, don't blame yourself for doing something you think you shouldn't have done but blame yourself if you didn't do something that you should've done at the moment." I said while I got up and looked at him seriously.     

Matthew looked at me with a pensive and complicated expression. I could feel sadness from his eyes and he seemed to understand what I was saying. He removed his hat and I could see the gray hairs near his temple.     

We just stared off in the distance then I saw Jared from below waving at me.     

"I'm going down now for another run outside. I'll leave you here for now yeah?" I said.     

Kaley and Olivia were still in Olivia's room with their mom and when I rode the truck, I looked back at the rooftop. Matthew was still there, staring at the distance.     

"Where are we headed now?" Unc Zardon asked.     

"Hmm, let's just go a bit further on the right and let's go to a restaurant near the place where we got the propane tanks. It's near to a feed shop as well and if they are not looted yet, we could haul a bit more food." I said.     

We headed near to the last place that we looted a few items, we stopped at a restaurant called Pixels. I held my katana and did my work. I thought the glass doors were locked from the top and lower part but when I was about to pull out my lockpicks, I found out that it was open already.     

"Jared, with me." I said.     

I pushed the door open and I drew my pistol. Jared drew his pistol as well and we headed inside.     

"Someone has been here already? Why are we going in here?" he said.     

"We don't know that yet. It's just open, there are many things to explain." I said as I moved past the counter.     

We went inside their kitchen but no one was there. The kitchen still had its utensils inside though some of the food was taken from their pantry and freezers.     

"This is still plenty considering the circumstances. Let's grab them now, it can be all taken on one trip. Grab the spices and the sauces as well, people always leave them behind. Oh, some of the cookware here is top quality too. Let's take those as well with this stove." I said as I headed to the second floor.     

I opened the small cabinets and I smiled faintly. There were a few miniatures inside neatly placed on a case and I placed it in my bag. A few were too big so I just carried them with my hands after packing them properly.     

"Hey~ I remember those, we used to play that before, right?" Jared said as he saw what I was carrying.     

"Yeah, I taught the owner how to play this and she got addicted and bought a lot of this stuff. I guess we could use this thing every week again." I said while I reminisced.     

"Why did we stop playing though?" Jared asked.     

"Really? DM burnout is a real thing you know? I've been doing it all!" I exclaimed.     

"Oh, right. Ahahaha…" he replied weakly.     

"Well, I hope I could play at least once. I'm thinking Rin could be a Dungeon Master. I'm itching to play my 200 characters that never saw the light of day." I said, laughing.     

"Is that the pile of character sheets on a huge envelope back home?" Jared asked, chuckling.     

"Yeah... it's sad but I still like to create my own characters in my spare time. Alright, let's continue." I said with a smile.     

Dong and Mark helped haul the supplies while I cleared the next-door lot where the place that used to sell feeds was located.     

We hauled everything that we could and I also took the bottles of medicine for animals in the counter. Rotting bodies were getting piled one after the other as Tatiana decided to kill as much as she could, copying me from before. A sprinter never came up so her body count steadily rose up.     

The truck had a quarter of it still empty so I looked around to see if there was any more place to loot a few things. We decided to head back to the bike shop and get five more regular bikes with the baskets at the front.     

I was staring into the distance then Tatiana nudged me.     

"Something is in your mind, correct?" she said.     

"Dammit! Why did you talk to me?!" I exclaimed.     

"What?" she was confused.     

"I was about to yawn… and it disappeared, the sensation that I was about to yawn." I said.     

"Oh, sorry." Tatiana said as she chuckled.     

We reached the compound while I saw Russel with a few people filling the containers with gasoline. We parked the truck and my guys started unloading it.     

I saw Charlotte and Chris carrying a few trays with little cup-like compartments where a small seedling was growing. They went to the farm next to our walls and they waved at us when they passed by.     

I helped with unloading the trucks and Rin followed to make an inventory from everything that was added. Demi and Bobby were helping her now and she was the one giving orders on where to place everything to maximize our storage.     

I then saw Matthew cleaning his camper and he was scrubbing it all over. Olivia was helping him though I didn't see Kaley anywhere.     

I asked Olivia where Kaley was and she said that her sister was still in her room with her mom. I decided to walk back to my house and see what she was doing. I came up the stairs and the door was ajar. I slowly opened the door and peeked my head inside.     

"Kaley…?" I said softly.