Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

At this moment, I looked like the cat wearing boots voiced by the person who played the fencer guy wearing a black mask as I was melting hearts left and right. But yeah, as sad as it may sound, I actually enjoyed and even if D&D wasn't in the picture, I spent most of my childhood life playing alone, and never did I think I was sad or should deserve pity.

Being alone and lonely had differences and I was perfectly fine and happy being alone at that time.

Even now, even with Kaley and the few others in the mix in my life, I still treasure the few minutes or hours I could just be with myself—and it's got nothing to do with them, but sometimes, the peace and quiet were like an old friend that was always there for me.

Though Mr. Dewey and I shared a moment right then and there as he offered to play:

"You'll DM?"

"Anything for you, Sonny."

"Don't call me Sonny."

"Ah— What do you want me to call you?"

"I'm used to getting called the 'Kid.' but yeah, I'd want you to experience 5th edition and my homebrew world so I'd love for you to sit down in one of my games. It could be even one-on-one and I'd voice your potential party members and NPCs."

"For real. I'll take your Dwarven Cleric every single day—"

"The heck— How'd you know?!"

"Seriously?"

"I mean— Yeah… That's the only thing I play…"

"Great! We'll schedule it in the near future! But before that, here's what we talked about earlier…"

Since our original conversation swerved, drifted, and went into different tangents, we explained to him everything we talked about earlier. But funnily enough, he never changed his expression as he intently listened while his daughter Eden couldn't contain her excitement.

"D-Dad! I-I wanna go visit the Marine Base a-and their other outposts! Wouldn't it be cool?!"

Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Easy now, dear, you wouldn't want to let them know you're that excited."

"B-But Mom! We've all been cooped up here for ages! At least with their group, we'd be sure that they're packing heat! We'll be safe anywhere!"

I shook my head, "I wouldn't say that as an absolute—"

Mr. Dewey nodded at my words, "Precisely. You need to take better reins of your emotions, young lady."

Eden protested, "Oh, come on! I did everything you told me! I understand the layout of our traps in the forest, I check on everyone before doing my own thing, I hydrate, I exercise on top of my duties—alone to boot! A-And I attend Austin's boring~ classes!"

Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Your brother's classes are not boring, dear. He's a great doctor and you don't know when you might need to apply the skills you learned from his classes."

Mr. Dewey nodded, "Precisely." Stay connected through m-v l|e'-.net

"That's true but he doesn't know how to teach w-with enthusiasm! It's like he's just reading from a book!"

"Isn't that—"

"Dad! You know what I meant! You fell asleep in his class and I have proof!"

"Ah—"

Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Dear… You know Austin probably saw you and he won't say anything about it but he'll be hurt nonetheless… You know how he is."

"Hahh… I'll bring it up later but Eden, don't you think Jeremy and Cindy would be better candidates?"

"Why can't the three of us go?"

"Well, for one, we need you here. You have responsibilities now."

"That's not fair. I needed a break at least."

Mrs. Dewey nodded, "That's true, dear. She's been great. She needs some time to be people her age too."

"T-Thanks, Mom!"

Mr. Dewey sighed as he turned to me, "How… How long would this exchange program be?"

"Depends. If she'd just stay around these parts, she could spend a couple of days on each of our three bases and come back here whenever. But if she wants to go farther, for example, Jessica's main HQ or mine, at least a couple of weeks or even a month if you really want her to have a change of scenery."

"A month?!"

"Dad! Please, please, please! I'll even take the couple of weeks and stagger the days as I get back here and spend some time to the nearer bases!"

Mr. Dewey sighed again as he pinched his glabella, "What… What courses do you offer?"

"What does she excel and suck at? Including Jeremy and Cindy— Just a question are they the kid who's like Ranch dressing while the other is like Sriracha?"

'Didn't think I'd use condiments to describe people again…'

Mrs. Dewey snorted, "Hah! Couldn't describe them better! Have you met them?"

"We saw them running up and down the hill earlier."

Eden cut in, "That's them, for sure. I wish I could join them in the mornings…"

Mr. Dewey shook his head, "But you're doing great work, what's wrong with that?"

"Dear, it's like our stock in the basement, alright? We should rotate them once in a while or this type of thing happens. You're the one who taught us that, remember?"

"Ah— It's just that she's the best one for the job…"

"Dad, I do appreciate the compliment, I do but… You know how it is, right? You even change up the entry points and exit points we walk through every couple of days!"

"You noticed?"

"Of course, I noticed! You just said I was the best one for the job! We have— The maze you built looks extremely complex up close and even if you traverse through it every single day, there's a chance you get lost but it isn't as random as you think it is! You still have your own quirks and patterns and I could somewhat pick up on it!"

Mr. Dewey looked a little proud for a moment before he let out an exhaustive sigh to mask it:

"Fine. I'll let you have a vacation for two weeks. You learn everything you could at the moment and you teach everyone once you get back. Is that a deal?"

"Y-Yes, Dad! THANK YOU! I'M GONNA GO PACK—"

"Not so fast—"

"W-What is it now?"

"Your mom and I are gonna talk for a bit with Mr. Goodman. You give the young couple a tour."

"Okay! Easy enough! Come, come! We'll start from the roof and make our way down! It's mostly solar panels anyway but we gotta made ourselves known just in c-case…"

With that said, the three of us made our way to the roof and it was just as Eden stated.

There was a portion of the roof space where most of the solar panels looked uniform and identical and there was another side where it looked like a beginner's attempt at playing Tetris. But yeah, the roof also had several rain catchers and big-ass water tanks that could supply the whole hospital.

And looking from below, we'd see a clear path for the route we took but it was the only road that provided great visibility because everything else that concerned the forested area was covered with leaves, tree branches, and foliage from below.

It would've been easy if we could just use the drone to figure out the exact layout of the Forest of Death, but it was the type of thing that we'd need to experience first-hand.

Then I noticed that Eden was eyeing the blades on our hips:

"..."

"Interested in learning kenjutsu? I'll teach you the basics."

"Woah, for real? Honestly, it could be anything—even guns, because to be honest— Shit, I say honest way too much… B-But yeah, I don't wanna say bad things against what Dad accomplished because it's way~ too effective but I kinda want to actually face one and defeat it on my own. Not set up traps and let it do all the work or even most of it before we take care of it easily… You get what I mean?"

I nodded, "Of course. There's nothing wrong with doing both but as per your argument earlier, doing one simple thing every single day could get tiring. It's not like I'm telling you to stop doing your responsibilities because it IS important—because we just had an incident back home—but I do understand your point regarding this."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Traps are useful in a lot of ways but there are limits to them—or to everything. It's not like I could swing my katana endlessly while you and your dad could reset all the traps you've set indefinitely and have them work every single time. And we aren't even talking about the special ones. I don't wanna jinx it but I could think of a couple that could bypass the traps we've been told about."

"For real?"

"You're preserving the forest, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have anything that could total a car or even a truck when its triggered?"

"N-No?"

"Seriously? I'm just asking for concern. We're not trying to case you out. You're even going to my place for Pete's sake."

"I-I was not— I just haven't seen anything that could survive after going through all that…"

"At least for now. I'm not telling you guys got lucky but you did, a little bit. There are mega hordes and Hulkers—though extremely rare—could pass through a minefield and survive."

"For real?"

"Not quite but it can take quite a beating."

"Oh… That's a relief, I guess? But yeah… A-All of them are a mix of mechanical and primitive ones. There are no traps rigged with explosives or anything that could set a fire."

"Hmm…"

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!