Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Time continued to pass until it was sundown, and our meeting and our dinner went on as they should.

We had a hearty meal prepared for everybody and after that, I received the report about what happened from the days I was gone. It was going swimmingly for the most ports right until I gave them my report.

To spare most of them the details, I just used obscure words only the adults could understand but then we officially introduced the new people that would be staying with us.

Granted it was a little awkward to officially welcome the kids and their representatives to our compound after the few days they have been here already, everyone still gave them a warm welcome.

It's just that I couldn't help but notice Ethan and Melanie barely touching their food when they ate with everyone. Nevertheless, they still talk when spoken to but they were really out of it compared to Sheila.

But to my surprise, Ethan was present at the gym when Kaley and I went up.

He was wearing gym clothes that I was sure Lois wore a few times and I just assumed he was given a few hand-me-downs. It was lucky they had almost the same exact body type though Ethan was a little taller.

The only problem was that he was out to look for something to pick on.

His eyes were scanning around for a 'target' but as his luck would have it, his eyes landed on Chris.

'That isn't stage one but– If you gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough…'

Kaley was just about to voice her concerns but Tatiana was already there to stop her.

"Just let it happen…"

"But–"

"He'll learn soon enough…"

I didn't know what possessed Kaley to try and help Ethan but almost everyone didn't give a fuck about the beatdown that was about to happen. In all honesty, it would be just an amateur match between two teenagers but Chris had already progressed a lot during these months of getting beaten up over and over by our top fighters. I would've called him a masochist at this point but each time he hit the mat unconscious, he would learn something new.

I found a treadmill that would allow me to see everything but a select few stopped what they were doing to watch the show.

Everyone watched Ethan approach Chris with a nasty smirk and he opened up with a 'new guy' vibe. He kept his smirk hidden from Chris' notice before he introduced himself.

"Hey, I'm Ethan– I kinda wanna have someone to spar with but–"

Chris' eyes lit up, "Spar?! I'll spar with you. Here, wear this. For safety and all…"

"This headgear? Is it really– Wait, where's yours? And those gloves are for boxing, you'll be–"

"Nah~ It's fine, it's fine~ I prefer it this way. You can throw kicks if you want to too…"

"Ah… S-Sure… but I'm not gonna wear that headgear… I'm not used to it…"

"Okay?"

"But I'll throw in kicks… I dunno… I'm new to this stuff"

"Sure…"

It was supposed to be a red flag for somebody if someone offered you gear that would give you a ton of advantages but Ethan was just too out of it to notice. He was too focused to let out some steam from thinking that he could just beat up somebody, and he just discovered it all too late.

As soon as they touched gloves, his head instantly blew back.

'That was fucking crisp.'

Chris threw him a jab that he practiced a million times and it bore some fucking fruit.

Ethan didn't even know what him the first time but as soon as he met eyes with Chris, his head blew back for the second time.

"What the–"

Chris' eyes after hearing the bell just changed from Mr. Nice Guy to Mr. I'mma-Fuck-You-Up-And-You-Wouldn't-Even-See-It-Guy. His mind was just so in the zone, he moved like he was facing me or everyone else above his weight class.

The movement of his shoulders before his quick jab was barely noticeable and not only that, the way he'd retract his fist after a solid hit was also lightning quick.

Ethan already ate five jabs one after the other and he wasn't even able to throw a single punch.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Tatiana casually commented, "Eyes on your opponent~"

"What–"

Chris didn't give a fuck whether his opponent wasn't looking at him because he just threw another job straight at Ethan's face. Those jabs weren't able to knock anyone out in singular form but the damage sustained would definitely pile up.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Ethan just made sense of the situation he was in but his response was a big fucking swing of a right hook.

Chris's eyes looked at Ethan's fist for a moment before he stepped forward and delivered a compact left hook straight to his chin. Everyone watching saw Ethan's head jolt but Chris followed it up with another hook that came from his right fist. It was as compact as the left hook he threw earlier but everyone here knew that he wasn't a Southpaw.

Ethan's head just flung left and right but even if he managed to throw a hail-mary punch before falling down, Chris was already out of his punching distance.

Chris' footwork had improved by leaps and bounds compared to the first time I sparred with him, but he still got lots more to work on. Nevertheless, he could easily score a knockout among the people his age and he'd be able to drag on a fight and possibly win against opponents higher than his weight class when the conditions were met.

It's just that he totally wiped the floor with Ethan and the latter wasn't having it.

Ethan stood up groggily, "O-One more…"

"One more? Let's wait for a bit since you–"

"I SAID ONE MORE!"

'Oh, boy…'

Ethan just rushed at Chris with a flurry of punches but unfortunately, it just turned into a flurry of misses.

Chris performed something close to the five D's of dodgeball but he didn't even try to time a counter for each of Ethan's punches. It would've been over with the first swing but Chris was more worried about shaking up Ethan's head even more. However, he subconsciously lowered his guard when he heard the bell.

Everyone else was supposed to stop moving when they heard the bell while they were in a spar but Ethan didn't.

A lucky punch made its way to Chris' chin and he just fell on his ass. Almost immediately, everyone else watching the match just frowned.

It would've been dismissable if it was an accident but from the look on Ethan's face, it was fucking deliberate.

He was breathing heavily as a smile was plastered on his face and he was looking down on Chris who he just fucking sucker punched. I even thought he'd start tea-bagging Chris in front of everyone but he was enjoying his lucky hit a little too much.

"I WIN, RIGHT?! I WIN! I BEAT YOUR FUCKING ASS! I–"

Chris just stood up with a different expression, "Sure, but one more."

"Wai–"

All of a sudden, Chris opened up with an overhead right that smashed against Ethan's half-assed guard. It instantly broke through the guard Ethan put up but Chris followed it with a right straight where he twisted his arm like a corkscrew.

It easily went in the gap that opened up from his earlier punch and it went for Ethan's face.

"PUU!"

Ethan's head blew back once again but he was fucking lucky it landed on his forehead. If it was his chin or any place besides his thick skull, he would be knocked the fuck out almost immediately.

With that said, Chris started a rush by following it with a left body blow aimed at Ethan's liver, a right hook aiming for his temple, and a solid one-two before sending another one of those twisted straights.

Ethan ate everything Chris served him from the last few seconds and he just sprawled on the floor before the bell managed to save him.

It was admirable to know that Ethan has a strong jaw but it was the only thing we saw from him today that was admirable.

After that, Chris and I eventually woke him up and he never looked so fucking stupid when Chris offered a handshake and apologized for 'acting up'. Even I was surprised that Chris would do such a thing after all that but the two had a short moment with each other. Ethan was taught the basics by Chris for the moment but Ethan's new 'brothers' wouldn't let it slide.

Jared, Lois, Russel, and especially… me walked up to him while wearing an angelic face, and the look of dread when he saw us was fucking priceless.

"You know the basics, right? Right?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Cool, you're so cool! C'mon, let's spar."

"Wut?"

"Spar!"

"I-I'm–"

"C'mon that one hit from Chris earlier was so fucking~ cool!"

"I didn't mean to–"

"Of course, you did! C'mon! Teach me that–"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

After a while of lynching– I mean, 'sparring'... Ethan was just like a bruised hotdog on a corner of the gym and Chris was the only one tending to him. Charlotte would've helped a lot given that she was attending a few classes on taking care of people but she was still pissed about Ethan's behavior.

However, once Ethan recovered and actually apologized to Chris, all was well even if we did put him through a bit of a hazing process.

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