Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Chapter 614: 614

I chuckled inwardly before tiptoeing to the door but I decided to turn around and carry Tatiana back to their bed. After that, I just covered her with a blanket that was by their pillows and I silently left the room.

‘A few more minutes of sleep wouldn’t hurt…’

However, the same treatment couldn’t be said to the three sleeping in my room.

Since Tatiana and I were thrown in the middle of the night, I loudly barged on my room and jumped as high as I could, bodyslamming Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia who were soundly sleeping.

“Ack!”

“Ow~”

“What the fu– Sky?!”

I was instantly beaten to death but it was fucking worth it.

It took the rest of us 30 minutes to get ready and we headed down for some breakfast. We had a simple meal that could fuel us for the day but after eating and was now currently sipping on my coffee, Raphael and Jared approached me.

“Dude.”

“Bro.”

I looked at both of them, “Yeah?”

Raphael turned to Jared, “It’s your request, just say it.”

Jared cleared his throat, “Okay, bro. I was wondering… now that my little bro got the custom Civic and you have that Charger, can I have that RX-7 from before? You know, the one we hauled from Navotas? I just want something I could use to drive around with Alex or do a quick pickup if someone needs it.”

I thought for a while and nodded, “Sure, but is it ready?”

Raphael answered, “Pretty~ much.”

“Pretty much?”

“You know, it came in with its stock parts when you brought it in so my team put on all the bells and whistles we could like the bull bars, the reinforced plates, and etc. but…”

“But what? Did he request for more modifications?”

Jared answered, “I got this set of cameras from Carlo and when installed, it could give me a 360 view around the car. You know, the ones already existing on those fancy SUVs. They found those surplus parts that could be installed in pretty much any vehicle.”

“Okay? And you need my help with?”

Raphael revealed a smile, “Those reinforced plates we installed on the RX-7? The ones that could protect the whole body except for the glass panels? It took me a lot of time in the CNC Mill and I have to drill into them so that the electrical wiring could fit. Now, we were working on a different project and your cousin here wanted us to work on the RX-7 once more. You know what I’m getting at?”

I squinted as I turned to Jared, “Almost.”

Jared started scratching his head awkwardly, “I kinda told him that you’ll think about giving him that other F-150 from 2007…”

Raphael snapped, “Hey! You told me he’d ‘give’ it to me not ‘think’ about giving it to me! It’s not what we talked about last night! You–“

“Wait, wait, wait. What are you gonna do with that other F-150? You’re talking about the 2007 Model, right? The Harly-Davidson Supercharged one?”

Raphael’s smile grew even wider, “You see, I love that Killdozer so much but I rarely have any chance to drive it. I just wanted to make something that could ride on the same scale. In my spare time, I’m making a custom tubular chassis and I’m repairing and constructing an axle from the broken down military trucks Jose’s guys hauled from the road. The engine is already great for that F-150 too but you know what I’m making, right? Right?”

I stared at Raphael’s stupid face for a few moments before realization came.

“No…”

“Yes!”

“No…”

“Yes! Yes!”

“You’re kidding… No…”

“YES! YOU NUMB-NUT I’M MAKING A MONSTER TRUCK! SO GIVE ME THAT F-150 ALREADY SO I–“

“Okay.”

Raphael was in disbelief, “What?! Just like that?”

“Yep. What’s the safest thing to drive outside now? Easy, something that those deadheads couldn’t reach. Even if a fucking feral tries to, its head would’ve already been blown into pieces. Yeah! Take whatever you need and start working on it!”

Raphael and Jared were wearing excited faces but this conversation between the three of us couldn’t escape the ears of an old man that was part grease monkey.

Oscar placed his arms over Jared and Raphael, “Let’s talk shop, you little shits. When did this start?”

I was shaking my head, smiling, “Just now?”

“No! Not you! Raphael, was it? How’s your progress on that truck? D’you need some help?”

Raphael was starting to get encumbered by the way Oscar was pressing down on him, “A few weeks? I dunno, I’ve been eyeing that truck for a while now and so far, no one’s claiming it so–“

Oscar pressed down even more, “How about the suspension? You need something great for that, right? Right? The tires too, did you find some suitable ones? Hmm?”

Raphael snapped, “Stop leaning on me!”

Jared sidestepped and leaned to the side, “Me too! You’re too heavy!”

“Jesus, just say so…”

Raphael cleared his throat and stretched his shoulder over and over, “I could make do with the broken down vehicles to use it as a donor car but the hard part is reinforcing the suspension. It should be able to withstand what the truck would throw at it so we wouldn’t have any accidents on the road.”

“And the tires?”

“I have my eyes on this warehouse a few miles away from the Intercity where Mauricio’s team resides and they have a few sets of 59-inch and 66-inch we could use. They’re basically tires used for farm equipment and that what monster trucks typically use. They have no use for that so that’s basically ours if we pick it up. I just need time and a bit of manpower and I could try and make one.”

Oscar’s eyes lit up, “Great! How about firepower?”

Jared tilted his head sideways, “Firepower? Didn’t you mean Horse–“

Oscar’s head suddenly snapped in Jared’s direction, “Did I fucking stutter? Hey! What’re you thinking of mounting that beast? There’s only one, right? Remember my SUV?”

Raphael was at a loss for words for a moment but he turned to Oscar’s SUV. He instantly gave a knowing look and he slowly turned to me looking like an obnoxious merchant trying to squeeze in another deal. At the same time, Oscar was looking at me like he had something that I was keeping for him.

“Dude…”

“Kid…”

‘Of course… the M134…’

But I instantly shut it down, “Nope!”

Raphael and Oscar exclaimed at the same time, “WHAT?! WHY?! IT’S PERFECT!”

“That shit’s mine! Can’t you two just mount a normal .50 cal on it! We have tons of those! Why the fuck would I let you mount it on that if it’s the only thing we have on hand?!”

“C’mon, kid! Imagine pulling up on a 12-foot truck with a fucking M134 on it! That’s the best shit I could ever think of! I’ll give you full access to my armory! Handguns, Rifles, anything you could think of! Just drop even when I’m not there and take anything!”

“I already have full access to your armory!”

“And that’s called being a good friend! Why aren’t you being a good friend?! It’s just an M134, goddamn it!”

“Just? Just?! Hah! You’re not my friend if they kept stealing back the things you already gave me! And that truck? It’s not even done yet! Just make a mount that could hold anything and I’ll think about it! If you want something put on it, why don’t you place that XM556 on your SUV! Just do a quick swap and you could mix and match with your own shit!”

“What?! That’s gonna look silly! Imagine placing an XM556 on that bad boy once it’s done…”

Raphael waved us off, “That’s gonna be a lot more work too…”

Jared chimed in, “My RX-7…”

Oscar roared, “That’s for later! Just make do with what you have!”

“Seriously? You fucking hypocrite!”

“I’m old! I could be anything I want!”

Everyone else finished eating but the four of us kept debating on what to do with our vehicles. Our plans kept changing over and over and some of Raphael’s projects got pushed as well. Despite that, we eventually agreed that the M134 could only be used in emergency situations. Raphael would try to construct a proper mount that could hold anything but for the moment, a Browning M2 will be the placeholder.

A lot more pieces needed to be acquired but the focus now would be to finish up Jared’s RX-7. I even offered to tune the car to his liking but those things would be done after we were finished with our daily tasks.

I gathered my old team once more but due to the nature of our run for this day, I had to bring all of Artem’s men plus a few more soldiers from our DDR Camp. We drove outside in a total of four vehicles in which one of which was a huge truck that could carry two shipping containers.