Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

From the perspective of things, I could definitely beat Kaley in a physical fight—which I did, multiple times during our spars—but strength-wise, Bartow had the slight advantage against Quinn but he'd lose against reach.

Take note, Quinn was still a few inches taller than Mikhail—or in this case, Bartow—and with the almost same analogy with speed, strength doesn't mean shit if he wouldn't be able to connect.

But yeah, I'm still a little biased in my observations because in all honesty, Quinn was a mechanical engineer/powerlifter while Bartow was a Marine/Asshole.

I'd bet on Bartow's win if they ever come into blows—though I'll definitely give my winnings to Quinn after to appease her—because not to be sexist, even with Quinn's physicality, there was a much higher chance for Bartow to emerge victorious.

She could outdrink him, sure—probably everyone else in this place too—but she'd just lose this battle with the spinach-eater.

However, much to everyone's shock, Bartow just glanced at Quinn momentarily before he led his group to another smaller building where they could easily clean up.

Because at this point, they had once again relatively "cleared" the streets 100% so they were doing the same thing of barricading the doors, windows, or some other entrance/exit of a reclaimed space so it wouldn't be able to host infestations or intruders.

But yeah, the "cleared" status of the streets could only last for so long because the ones that still needed to be put down—which were inside one of these buildings or houses—could still walk out for some sun, and it'll be an annoying problem all over again.

That was one of the main reasons I wanted them to follow my procedures to the dot but the only saving grace for them was blocking off these sections like we did with the section that involved the Main Harbor.

It was because this residential area was composed of five municipalities stacked together but the section they closed off only involved three of them.

Additionally, the road we used to loop around to get to the Main Harbor belonged to the two municipalities above us that couldn't be closed off because it wasn't this floating island of sorts—like the place we were in and occupying—connected by bridges.

But yeah, as we were about to continue what we were doing until the sun sets, my radio buzzed before I heard the old man's voice:

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*bzzt*

[Kid. Get your crew. The Major here wants to see ya.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Do you want us to get in one of those boats or do you want us to drive?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Eh. You can probably make it if you drive. Don't worry, we cleaned up most of the dregs so it's relatively safe. Didn't burn them though... I kinda want you to see the coastline before getting here. A fresh set of eyes could give us better ideas.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Alright, alright—"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Right. You'd save some time if you off-road once again. Just drive straight the Burgos St. past the shipyard and continue on until you reach this resort that had this mansion that's shaped like a "W". After that, you'll drive a little bit more off the road but do make sure to stay on the left of this high school and you'd reach the road that would lead to this place.

It'll be 30 minutes or so once you reach the gate and I already notified the ones manning the checkpoint to just let you in. You'd probably get here at 7 or 8 depending on your pit stops.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"You need anything else we could bring?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Eh. As long as you promise to not pin the Major to the wall like you did with Mitch, we're good.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"What's his name anyway?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Harper.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Harbor? Quite fitting, no?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Harper! HARPER! H-A-R-P–E-R! HARPER! ERIC HARPER!]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Ah. I see, I see. We'll just stop by the Main Harbor for some stuff then we'll drive straight over there."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Alright. Stay safe, kid.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Sure."

*bzzt*

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As we ended the call, it took us about 15 minutes to get everything right though we only left with my Raptor, one other truck we brought, and Tatiana's HuNovelBinee. We did leave Artem and a portion of the trainees and the cadets here with JP's Raycolt—which almost made him stay back—but Artem specifically asked Kuzma and Bogdan to come with us.

They were driving the other truck we brought with us including their comrade's Humvee while I had a couple of stowaways—Megan and Alexa—in my truck.

"Lots of beaches and resorts here, huh?" Alexa commented.

I chuckled, "Well~ If you're gonna do a business like that, this is one of the best places to do it on, not a freakin' volcano."

"Not unless you're going for a natural hot spring, no—"

"Fuck!"

"What is it now?"

I suddenly remembered one other thing I forgot to accomplish on my trip to Batangas:

"We— I forgot about the sulfur deposit in one of the hot springs Quinn mentioned."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "It's not an actual deposit but you could probably find better ones in the volcano right next to it."

Alexa cut in, "You guys talking about Taal Volcano?"

I nodded, "Yeah… It's this hot spring without boating over to the other side… I forgot about the whole thing coz of the ton of things that popped up. Well, we could always come back or get it straight from the source."

"Ah…"

With that said, we quickly zoomed past the resort we were talking about earlier before we stopped by one of these barangays just past this funeral home to get some valuable information regarding this place's residents either from their hard drives or their archives.

Funnily enough, there was close to a 100% chance that it was always there because we were the only ones doing this shit though there was also close to a 100% chance that this place's armory was looted.

'Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose…'