Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Hearing Mrs. Irene say those exact words with her angelic face, for some reason, sent a chill down my spine and everyone else’s.

I mean, I guess meat was still meat in her eyes and even though I’d take a good-ass steak or a crispy-fried chicken any day of the week, there’s a reason that bacon’s that popular and a staple to one of the countries that were known for guns and people with a high body fat percentage.

So as we continued to spend our time on Mauricio and Irene’s roof, June carefully walked around the nearby roof areas—and tried to take some inspiration from them—and the most common feature was having half or a quarter of the roof covered for privacy while having the rest of the space to take advantage of the sun.

Of course, the presence of a generator, a water tank, and some solar panels couldn’t be exchanged with anything else, some roofs just had simple nipa huts or safe areas where their children could play around.

And yeah, those play areas had higher safety railings and other precautions like not allowing them to play without an adult supervising them—and more importantly, the gate to allow them to walk onto the catwalk would be locked tight.

But yeah, there was one warehouse where their solar panels were mounted on the sides of its four walls while there was another that had only vegetation growing above its roof access area. Still, there were also a few that were like Mauricio and Irene’s where there was almost nothing atop it, not even a generator to power up the place or even a water tank to take advantage of the extra space.

’However, those areas with comfort women never missed a beat… Just curtains for the bit of privacy and hoping to the divines that a gentle wind would blow so that they wouldn’t see the other patrons getting sucked off or whatever the fuck they requested

In any case, It didn’t take long before we actually decided to have lunch on the roof—not just because we worked and finished more than half of the projects quickly, but also because we wouldn’t be able to fit in their small living space.

And please, don’t let anyone take this the wrong way but despite Mrs. Irene’s vision returning, the food she prepared wasn’t that appetizing looking at it smudged together in a large container—but god fucking dammit the flavors were fucking surreal be it this pot of stew or this hodge-podge of this grain, legume, and vegetable medley.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THIS IS DELICIOUS, MRS. IRENE! NO WONDER MAURICIO’S GAINING WEIGHT!"

"HAH?!"

"N-No, Maui~ You still look great!"

"Who’s Maui?"

"Mauricio—"

"HAH! MAUI?! THAT’S— HEY! THAT’S MY BOWL, YOU FOOD THIEF!"

"T-There’s enough for everybody! Don’t f-fight!"

"WOAH! This salad’s also insane!"

"T-Thank you! P-Please enjoy! I promise, I-I’ll work on the presentation a little more when I get there! I-I had to work a little faster because of the time and my cuts on the food weren’t that even a-and the colors aren’t that vibrant… I-I just made sure to nail the flavors…"

I suddenly smacked my head, "Shit! I got too preoccupied with building you a pool and this garden, we should’ve helped you cook!"

"O-Oh! Please, d-don’t blame yourself! T-The surgery— I can’t still thank you enough a-and— I’m gonna cry again, I’m so sorry!"

"There, there, dear… They’re also in a rush but they are enjoying the food, am I right? It’s all good!"

"Y-Yes, dear! You eat too! But not a lot! You ARE getting fat!"

"WHAT?! You told me I still look great!"

"You look great AND fat!"

"N-Nooooo~!!!"

"AHAHAHAHHA!!!"

With that said, after we juggled wharfing down spoonfuls of food and talking about what everyone else did while we were up here, we discovered that not only did Quinn make a big purchase by using Mauricio’s name, but Lori also purchased something quite expensive using mine.

"T-Tell me again, what did you two buy?"

"Hey! Your fucking minions bought shit on your name too! The fuck are you looking at us like that for!"

Mauricio tried to cut in, "Well, I did give you the guarantee—"

I waved him off as I looked at the two, "You should’ve made the purchase using MY name, not his! How about the economy?!"

"Fuck the economy! I’m going home in a 911 while she’s going home with a Ducati! It only costs some hair off your backs! Well— I actually didn’t ask but they’ll prolly send you the invoice soon…"

Lori cut in sheepishly, "I-I didn’t actually purchase it… I just found it quite nice and Quinn p-purchased it under me and yours…"

I almost pulled out my hair from hearing Quinn pull an Oscar move, "Where the fuck are they getting these vehicles from?!"

Jared cut in, "Bro. Remember that resort we passed by last time?"

I then had a realization, "Oh, shit— Jed’s?!"

"Yep."

"I see, now," then I turned to Quinn and Lori, "Those things were always on display and weren’t driven regularly. Even though it ran when you tried to start ’em—"

Quinn shook her head, "I didn’t even check, I just bought them on impulse—"

"WHAT?!"

Mauricio tried to cut in, "Don’t worry about that, if the vehicles they sold you are defective, I’ll make them just give it to you without any sort of payment…"

Quinn huffed, "You should’ve said so! I could’ve made the engine malfunction or something!"

"B-Besides doing that, of course. If you break it, you pay it."

"Dammit! I’ll just do that next time!"

Mauricio shook his head as he bitterly chuckled, "Next time, I’ll probably have some people watch over your purchases…"

"DAMMIT~!!!"

However, the moment I learned that the price for the Porsche 911 and the Ducati was 300 sacks of rice in TOTAL, I almost threw myself over the roof and raced for wherever the hell this shop was to see if I could snag myself another vintage ride.

Because of how the world was at the current moment, luxury goods might still be luxury goods but the difference in value between them and essential items had gotten more and more shorter.

It’s just that I already have an Impreza on top of a Charger and a Hayabusa—so if I’d go the luxury or exotic route, I might just cross my fingers for an LFA.

While it’s true it had some problems and was not as luxurious compared to a Porsche or even a Ferrari, but just the distinct sound it made when running on all cylinders would make the hairs on the back of my head stand on end.

But speaking of things that would make the hairs on the back of my head stand on end, the moment a three-headed white-eyes blue dragon inflatable came into view, the kid in me actually parkoured and free ran towards the roof inflating it and asked if they had more inflatables in stock.

And fucking hear me out here, it might really look childish from anyone’s perspective—and it is, yeah—but if used in certain situations, with how eye-catching it was, it could be used like a mark or something along those lines to easily acquire visibility from drone operators such as June, Ilana, or whoever else was holding the controller.

Of course, it wasn’t just inflatables but just straight-up balloons with vibrant colors would do us good if we’d be looking down a carpet of red and grey tones.

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Still, I’d love a Black-eyes, Red Dragon inflatable in one of my owned buildings, and I would like several red balloons to scare the shit out of kids that would sneak out at night.

So yeah, the delight I felt when the inflatable the dude sells could be made to order so I had several ordered on the spot, and we just waited for it to be done while finishing up the rest of Mauricio’s roof.

Spending most of the afternoon in the Intercity allowed Quinn and Lori to check their purchases—and they were all a-okay, for the most part—and in addition, it allowed us to get some info from the people that’d come and go places just to trade in items or would rent a place to lay their heads on for a while.

Because while I do trust the reports of everyone else I’d hear from the meetings we’d conduct, like the telephone game, some things might be interpreted or said in a different way via word of mouth, and hearing an overlap from different stories would make the information we received more valid or relevant.

And of course, the place where we had a ton of information was this place’s own version of the "Pink House" where men or even some women would pay in goods in exchange for sexual relief or just basic companionship.

I almost made a commotion when this place’s women saw me walk into their establishment but the way they all shrunk down when they saw the women walking behind me was fucking priceless.

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