Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Everyone's eyes were fixated on me and no one seemed to want to be present.

"We gathered here today not because we wanted to discuss fucked-up individuals treating people-- young people as something even worse than livestock but because we needed to..."

I paused for a moment to briefly sigh and everyone did the same.

"Earlier-- The past few days… I received a confession from one of their-- the kids we're taking care of that she witnessed her parents doing something really 'unusual' to her younger brother…"

I paused for the second time and I saw Kaley looking down while tightly clutching her arm with her right hand. At the same time, everyone had their own way of suppressing what they were feeling from hearing the words coming out of my mouth.

I continued, "Furthermore, she noticed that instance happening not once but multiple times after she would wake up feeling pain from the lower half of her body… but before that, she remembered that she would be given some 'vitamins' to keep her temper at bay, as they said."

Kaley added, "For the record, s-she really used to be given a prescription for her behavior but I guess those 'vitamins' got swapped at some point. Mom told me that S-Sheila said that their taste changed after a time… She also said that she used to crunch down on her vitamins when she was even younger, even normal meds even if it was bitter..."

An officer I met before named Alvarez raised his hand, "Vitamins? You don't mean--"

Kaley shook her head, "Drugs, different kinds that could make anyone vulnerable to anything. We weren't sure at that time but her blood work revealed their presence in her system… I guess she eventually grew some resistance to it that's why she would wake up at unfortunate times…"

Iskoh sighed heavily, "Then… the others… are they in the same… same type of situation?"

I nodded, "Pretty much and the only silver lining was that all of them didn't have any sexually transmitted disease or infections… The only thing we'd have a problem with fixing were the ones that were openly brought up to it… The siblings we talked about earlier were abused in secret but there are a few that were groomed to the point that they treat it as a normal everyday activity..."

Iskoh and a few other officers exclaimed, "What?!"

Kaley added, "Their minds were twisted in a way to make them perceive things you'd only do with your partner to be a normal thing to do with anyone… Mom said it's not impossible to fix but it'll take some time and it'll depend on the person… As bad as it sounds, they're still young… it'll be much easier to get through to their heads compared to an adult..."

Iskoh had a sour look on his face, "So you're saying… Mrs. Payan-- Marisha, was it?"

"Yes."

"She… She'll be able to help them make a full recovery?"

I answered, "Psychologically… it's possible. On the other hand, their physical wounds would eventually heal faster compared to--"

Alvarez cut me off, "I don't want to be the bearer of more bad news but how are you gonna tell those kids that you… executed their parents? In such a way too..."

Oscar instantly scoffed, "What do you mean by that? Feeling sorry for those people?"

Alvarez wore a complex look, "I'm just saying… If I-- I'll obviously do the same but-- n-not like that… I helped clean up that mess and the people with me were more afraid of him than facing one of those evolved things outside… There's a difference between killing someone outright and--"

He was still in mid-sentence and a portion of the people present were partly in agreement with his words, but I didn't notice that I let out a chuckle.

It caught everyone off-guard and that made them look at me much more differently, but I brushed it aside as I quickly changed the subject.

"Those kids will have a tougher road ahead of them but who we needed to help more is Amy. She's waiting for the time and probably staying alive for the reason she could see her mother someday. However, everyone here knows that's fucking impossible… The dream is making her be able to walk again with the help of prosthetics but--"

Alvarez cut me off once more, "Don't just brush me off like that. We're talking about something important here! Those kids are also victims and we should plan whether--"

I frowned before I shook my head, "Fine. Then I'm gonna tell them myself."

"What?! IT'S NOT AS EASY AS YOU--"

"It'll be easy… easy for me. Besides, everyone here could agree that I did them a favor. They'll resent me for what I did but it's up to them if they'll forgive me… or even thank me once they see the whole picture. But do take this into account, if things just went on as they were… they'll be the next generation of lowlives we'd have to put down… Their parents didn't cut off their limbs for a reason… If not all, some of them will continue their family business..."

As soon as I said that, no one was able to utter a word for the longest time. Everyone else was just looking down with complex and pained expressions because it felt like we were thrown into something so incorrigible, it was better if we didn't discover the matter in the first place.

However, I'd still extend a hand to those in need and fuck up anyone who'd try to do something similar or much worse.

After some time, no one was still able to break the silence except for Oscar.

"So… Kid, what's our plan? What are we gonna do?"

I just sighed before I looked at the old man solemnly, and then I opened my mouth.

Our meeting continued for hours but everyone came up with a plan to deal with our current situation.

With the first of few, it was decided for Amy to have a little more to go on.

Finding existing relatives was already impossible so the next thing in line was something a little more intangible.

After scouring through all of her available records, I led a team to bring back anything that she or her mother owned from their last place of residence or from their relatives' houses. Be it their pictures, her old clothes, her mom's jewelry, personal belongings, loved toys, and etc., we would bring it back.

It was difficult to find anything at first but after we found a photo album from their relative's house, we had an easier time procuring items that she might love. Also, I found out a lot more about her past.

Going through Amy's stuff that was carefully tucked away in several boxes, I discovered that she was a smart kid from all the medals and awards she won from academic competitions. If things went as they were, her mom would have nothing to worry about because, with her smarts, she'd easily get a scholarship from any school she wanted.

It would've led her to land a job that she liked with a high salary and it would've been smooth sailing from then on.

'If only… Hmm? Is this her… diary?'

I thought for a bit about reading Amy's diary but I found myself reading everything in a few minutes. I caught a glimpse of whatever Marisha was trying to dig up from Amy and it led me to think about something really, really important.

It was about telling her the truth.

She might be young and was just out of a very difficult situation but I felt that she would catch on with our lie sooner or later. It would've been wiser to establish something in her mind that could possibly recreate a familial bond with the rest of us but it was out of sheer respect that I wanted to do it this way.

Furthermore, it was just a hunch but I felt she'd prefer to be taken seriously. She already decided that she didn't want to be tucked away, so I'm sure it didn't only involve her physical body.

But before that, I called over my elite team and a few others to take care of another cemetery.

It wasn't a special cemetery per se but this place was where Amy's mom was buried.

The problem was this cemetery was fucking huge and it would be like finding a specific needle in a needle factory. Furthermore, it was also right next to a Chinese cemetery which was also as large, if not, larger than our current target.

Combining both of them would be as large as two-to-three barangays in this city and these places' graves weren't as organized compared to the one my team cleared last time.

Some of them were even stacked on top of one another and sometimes, they wouldn't be evenly sized or properly orientated, sowing confusion when a mass of people would come to visit.

However, setting a few photos from their photo album as a reference when we flew our drone over the place revealed the exact location.

We could even read the gravestone that had Amy's mother's name written on it.

It's just that our goal wasn't just to be able to pay our respects to her grave but to clear the whole place out and if possible, exhume her remains to be transported back to our place and sent to our crematorium.

Doing this for a person we just met a few days ago was already too much but we were doing this because we wanted to.

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