Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

As soon as I asked Eden that question, she pursed her lips to the side before looking up, thinking momentarily before her lips turned to a smile. After that, she just looked at us with the same expression before telling us her answer:

"My family, of course! What else?! Wha— Don't ruffle my hair! It's short but it gets— Hmm?"

At this point, Eden was a little confused by our reaction because if I remember correctly, I already mentioned to her my parents' passing but I wasn't sure if she could remember at the moment and/or if she also knew of Tatiana's situation as well.

But still, she was the only person to get out of this room on her feet, and not everyone else who was still asleep in their coffins.

"WAIT A SEC, YOU SAID COFFINS, RIGHT?!"

"Yeah?"

"B-BUT—"

"No buts, just grab a shovel. We're starting Phase 2 right now. They'll wake up in a few."

"D-Don't tell me we're gonna bury them!"

"Sure."

"HAAAH?! SURE WHAT?!"

"I won't tell you—"

"YOU—"

"Jeez, relax~ It's totally~ okay. We didn't actually kill Jeremy, right? That applies to everyone else too. We— You know what? You'll just see, and again, grab a shovel."

"O-Okay…"

From the time we started Phase 1 to our current time, just almost a couple of hours had passed and we started to line up each coffin in our indoor shooting range before piling up a mound of dirt, rocks, and gravel right beside them among other things.

In addition, these wooden coffins were sealed shut with 4-inch screws—and the only way they'd get out was if we'd let them or if they could somehow break out of it with sheer strength.

'It'd be a tad difficult while laying flat on their back though… Unless they Kill Bill the shit out of it…'

With that said, we were just waiting for each of them to wake up but I did bar anyone else from coming close to the indoor range for the day or having any vehicles pass through it. It might be soundproofed for all we know but we gotta preserve the illusion for any of my bullshit theories to work.

On that note, four hours passed in the blink of an eye and none of them had woken up.

Eden approached me, concerned, "Umm… W-What exactly did you inject them with? I forgot to ask?"

"Etorphine. If they don't wake up in a couple of hours or so, we have naloxone at the ready."

"I see, I see… That'll work…"

"You know your shit, huh?"

"N-Not a lot but I've administered some of them to unruly patients before. They're mostly old people and veterans but sometimes, we'd be surprised in the middle of the night with someone running amok.

It'd be safer for everyone if we knock them out that way instead of trying to calm them down the normal way… I've been punched in the face more than enough times to know that sometimes, talking wouldn't work out as much as everyone thought. It's within reason, of course, but you get the gist…"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I do, I do…"

"S-So this ability of mine… H-How does it work?"

"Like this—"

"Wha—"

"See? Or like this—"

"HEY!"

"Or even like this— OW! KALEY!"

"WE'RE ALL HERE, YOU KNOW?! STOP TURNING IT ON AND OFF! EVEN I'M NOT USED TO IT! Eden's— Pfft— EDEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

As I turned around, Eden looked like she was trying to take a huge dump or just had just eaten the most sour fruit or gummy candy known to man because not only were her eyebrows scrunched but her lips were pouting forward while her eyes were getting cross-eyed by the second.

I had to wave her down even if that might be the way she could call upon it but from experience, it was to draw out something within you not expel something out like what she looked like she was doing.

"D-Did I do something wrong?"

"Remember the first time you dipped your toes— I mean, had it activated? What happened then?"

"Umm… I thought… Jeremy… I thought he died. I-I thought you k-killed him…"

"And?"

"I-I… I felt so angry I—"

"Try to recall the memories, the sensations, what you were feeling, was your body tensing up? Was your heart beating so fast it'd almost explode? Or was it the complete opposite? Did it slow down to the point you think you were fucking dead or was it your senses heightening so much everything felt like it was slowing down?"

"I… I dunno… I-I'm really not sure, I'm sorry—"

"Oh, don't apologize… I don't even remember what I did the first time it happened to me like you. I only know what I did when I saw the footage…"

"The footage… You have your bodycam with you still! Can we see it?!"

"Later, heh."

"Ahhhn~ Why later?!"

"We still have a job to do, right?"

"Ah— Right, sorry… Then, someone was training you like this, huh? AH— WAIT A SECOND! I-I'M SO SORRY! I TOTALLY FORGOT! JUNE SAID SOMETHING AND I— I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHEN I HEARD IT! I— JUNE!"

June was trying her best to hold her laughter, "What?"

"WERE YOU THE ONE WHO TOLD ME—"

Quinn cut in, "Keep your voice down, alright?! I'm bored outta my ass here!"

"AH— Shit, shit, shit! Stupid! I really forgot, I'm so sorry—"

I waved her off again, "It's okay, it's okay… It's a little hard for me to try and emulate what happened to transfer it over to you guys but without Kaley and Marisha's help with my noggin' al this wouldn't be possible."

Kaley rolled her eyes, "Psh, I did absolutely nothing. It was all to Mom's credit— That reminds me, you should talk to her too, now that you could do what he did."

Eden nodded a few times, "I-I gotta ask, do you all…?"

As soon as Eden popped the question, everyone else—Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn—shook their heads because even if I saw them do it like Eden did, they couldn't just easily turn it on and off like I could.

In extreme cases, they might've the ability to do so but let's just say Eden was part of this other circle now—though I'm pretty sure there was still a handful of people out there in the world that had the same ability as mine.

'Benjie's one of them, for sure, even if I hate to admit it… Also Old Man Kaiseki… Aoi… Mashiro-san… Fuck it, maybe they all learned it by now… It's only fair… I did steal some of their original techniques by watching… That's why they hate sparring with me… Well— except for Aoi, of course…'

With that said, as our voices echoed through this gun range, it didn't take long before we heard the first tap coming from one of the coffins.

At this point, I reminded everyone present to keep silent and use either hand signals or notes to relay messages so that we could make them go through Phase 2 without issue.

But yeah, the first tap was followed by more and more until they weren't even taps but punches, elbows, and pushed—which was eventually accompanied by a scream which more or less woke up everybody.

Right now, we were just hearing a cacophony of people screaming for dear life and it was safe to say that everyone else who was hearing the same thing as me looked very~ uncomfortable.

It's just that this was when I asked June to play the audio recording she prepared for us and it started with shuffling of feet, either brushing up to their coffins followed by a truck speeding away.

"H-HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEEEEEY! WHO WAS THAT?!"

"A-ANSWER US, PLEASE!"

"W-WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!"

"MEGAN, IS THAT YOU?!"

"ALEXA?!"

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! IS EVERYONE HERE?! THIS IS JP! ANSWER ME!"

"W-WE'RE HERE!"

"DON'T JUST SAY FUCKING WE, SAY YOUR FUCKING NAMES! ROLL CALL FOR EVERYONE IN THE ACADEMY FIRST!"

"WHY THE FUCK DO YOU GUYS GET TO GO FIRST?!"

"DOES IT FUCKING MATTER?!"

"BROWNIE, SHUT UP! THEY THOUGHT OF IT FIRST, WE SHOULD LET THEM!"

"GODDAMMIT, LEE! YOU'RE JUST SUCKING EVERYONE'S DICK!"

"IT'S CALLED COOPERATING, YOU DIPSHIT!"

"HEEEY! YOU'RE RUINING OUR ROLL CALL! SHUT THE FUCK UP! LUCAS HERE!"

"FUCK YOU, LUCAS!"

"FUCK YOU, BROWN ASS! YOU'RE JUST LIKE BRIAN BUT AMERICAN! MAKES YOU SUPER FUCKING ANNOYING!"

"HEEEEY! WHY DID I GET DRAGGED OVER THERE!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP TOO!"

"HEY EVERYONE QUIET THE FUCK UP! DON'T YOU KNOW WE'RE MAKING SO MUCH NOISE?! JUST LET US DO OUR THING AND WE'LL LET YOU DO YOURS! THIS IS SEB!"

"SEB?! FUCK YOU'RE REALLY SAFE— I THOUGHT—"

"NOT NOW, MARV!"

"FUCKING MEN ON MEN SHIT OVER HERE, I'M OUT!"

"FUCK YOU BROWNIE, YOU WATCH TRANNY PORN ON REPEAT—"

"IT'S NOT THE FUCKING SAME!"

"WHAT THE FUCK— CAN'T YOU JUST ALL SHUT UP AND TAKE INTO ACCOUNT EVERYONE ELSE'S SAFETY FIRST?! THAT MOTHERFUCKER'S PROBABLY AROUND BUT WE KNOW JACK SHIT OF WHERE WE ARE! HE'LL PROLLY KILL ME IF I SAY THIS BUT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I'LL RETURN WHATEVER HE DID TO ME TEN-FOLD!"

"YOU CAN'T EVEN BEAT ANY OF US IN A FISTFIGHT, ISAAC! SHUT YOUR FUCKING TEACHER'S PET ASS OVER THERE!"

"CINDY! CINDY! IT'S JEREMY! WHERE ARE YOU!"

"I-I'M HERE! HERE! EDEEEN! EDEN! IS JUNE— NO, EDEEEEN! ANSWER US!

WHERE ARE YOU?!"

At that point, Eden didn't know what to do but if she makes so much as a peep, I'll just knock her out then and there to not impede everyone's growth.