Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Chapter 84: 84

“Nothing seems to be here though.” My uncle said as he looked around.

“But why is there a lot of food here though? Did they hole up in the main house?” Dong said as he took a small glance.

“Maybe, want me to mark this house first?” my uncle asked.

“Yeah, go ahead. Eyes up on this big house next. It’s much bigger than my house.” I said.

“Why is it so big though?” Dong asked.

“Oh, the owner of this house were politicians. But this house is already built before they became politicians. Wait, that didn’t explain anything at all.” I said as they shake their heads

I knocked multiple times first and I waited for some sort of reaction. There seems to be no one answering so I pulled out a roll of duct tape from the bag I always carry.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Dong said.

“Oh, just wait and see.” I said as I taped a few strips to a window. After a reasonable size was taped, I elbowed it and a crack was produced and the sound is almost non-existent. The two nodded with a smile when they saw what I did.

“Are you a burglar or something?” Dong said.

“Hey, don’t talk to your boss like that. Hah! I’ll be a good one if I ever become one.” I joked as I peeled the duct tape of with the shards on it and laid it on the side.

I then pulled out one more alarm from the bag and I threw it inside the hole from the window where I peeled the duct tape over.

*tick*

*tick*

*tick*

*ringggggg*

A few more minutes pass and nothing happened inside. I even took a whiff inside and it smelled like nothing.

“What are you smelling the house for?” my uncle said.

“Decay. If anything is dead on this floor, we would smell it right now.” I explained.

With nothing seeming out of the ordinary, I picked the lock and we went inside. I looked for the switch for the lights now but when I found it, the lights won’t open. I pointed my flashlight at the ceiling and I found out the bulbs were missing or broken though a few is still intact. The two saw it and they tensed.

“Someone could still be here or the breaker for this place was turned off.” I said.

We checked the 1st floor first while Dong guarded the stairs. We checked the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the two other rooms inside.

The living room has still all the appliances inside while the kitchen has them too along with other canned goods and several sacks of rice left. The food left is still substantial for a few families when I checked a few from the cupboards and the other drawers.

“They have a lot here; do they have guns too?” I said to myself.

My uncle opened the refrigerator and he found several cans of beer with a few sodas and chocolates inside. On a corner of it is a wine rack with a few dozen bottles of different kinds. He just touched the bottles and moved on. I opened one of the doors and one is a tool shed for brooms and other cleaning materials while the other leads to a staircase for the bas.e.m.e.nt.

We called Dong over and now he’s guarding this side of the door. We headed down and it’s a laundry room with a few washing machines, dryers, and sacks of detergent powder. We headed up and I went to the bathroom. Aside from a few hygiene products, there’s a first aid kit inside their medicine cabinet with a few OTC drugs.

“This floor is clear now. Let’s head up.” I said to them.

We headed to the 2nd floor now and we slowly ascended the stairs. There are four rooms in total and we checked each one. They were the children’s rooms and what we found inside are clothes, smart phones, computers, a few toys, snacks and etc.

“Why are there a lot of their supplies and personal items here? There’s no sign of zombies here though. This is really weird; I really should’ve come here the first time I noticed something was wrong.” I said to myself.

We went to the last floor and we found two doors left and right.

“Get ready.” I told them.

I readied my bullpup and my uncle raises his shield while Dong drew his pistol. My uncle reached for the doorknob on the right and it is unlocked. I stopped him from opening it then I pressed my ear against it but I heard nothing from the other side.

I knocked a few times to check if someone is inside.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

“Hello?” I called.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

“Hello~!” I called again.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

“Hello~! Is someone inside?” I called one last time to be sure.

When I gave the signal, my uncle opened the door and we were shocked. We found the other type here.

There were seven zombies just standing completely still and they are all looking at us except for the one by the window. They never moved, they never breathed and they never did…anything. They all just… stared. They still have several bitemarks on their bodies and the blood on their clothes are dried and black. A few bits and pieces of their body is on the floor and it is like a Pollock painting.

“Is this what I felt from before?” I said to myself.

“Are this the completely still ones?” Dong said.

“Yeah, it’s really off-putting seeing them this close.” I said.

“What do we do? Kill them now?” My uncle said.

“Wait a moment. I’ll call Oscar. Close the door first.” I said.

*bzzt*

“Oscar? This is Sky, copy?”

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

“Kid? Copy.”

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

“Contact Rod for me, will you? We found seven of those still ones in the Pineda residence. Ask him if he needs more samples.”

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

“Roger.”

*bzzt*

While we waited, I opened the other door and we saw a meeting room but there was no one inside. It has a long table with chairs and a monitor and at the far back is an isolated room separated by a glass door. I went inside the glass door and I found a note in the table.

“To anyone that might stumble upon this house in the future, please, just do it for me. There’s a gun inside the safe behind the painting. Please, I can’t pull the trigger, they’re family. Why us?! Why am I the only one left?! Why?! This is unfair!”

I left the note there and looked behind the painting. There’s an unlocked safe with the keys to this place and a revolver with a box of ammunition sitting inside. It appears to might have contain more but it was already taken. I took a look at the family picture in the desk and I saw everyone inside the other door except one, Karen Ann Pineda.

“Could she be the one looking from the window on the other door last time? But there was a zombie at the spot now.” I said to myself.

*bzzt*

“Kid, he said that they have enough samples. Besides, it’s too far.”

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

“Okay, I’ll dispose of them then. There’s still an unknown risk of these things being here if we left them alone here.”

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

“Sure kid.”

*bzzt*

“Do we just kill them here then?” asked Dong.

“No, we kill them outside. Let’s cover them with blankets first and tie them just to be sure. They’re doing nothing for now and we’ll be cleaning the houses later so let’s just do it outside.” I said.

“Can’t we just leave them here?” my uncle said.

“I won’t bet on the risk that they would stay like that forever. Remember the videos? The effects progress after an indeterminate amount of time. Who knows, they might move around in a few days and infect people. However, we have never seen normal zombies turn to this type or the sprinters.” I said.

I looked at the seven bodies and I noticed something peculiar. Their eyes are moving. When they see a moving person, their eyes follow. I started walking from left to right and their pupils follow me though they never did anything else. The two saw what was happening and they tried to do the same. What’s weird was their pupils could look at different directions like a chameleon. I felt chills run down my spine everytime their eyes move in different directions.

“This is really weird.” Dong said.

I readied my bullpup rifle just in case they move while the two covered them with blankets and tied their arms. It took a while but we finally led them below.

“Bro, what’s that?!” Jared asked while he saw the figures covered in blankets.

“Those still ones, I think we’ll call them sentries, you should see their eyes. I’ll kill them outside.” I said.