Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Chapter 1217: Rule #1: Cardio! Part II

On that note, Tatiana obviously wore her 5-pound vest to prove a point to our female trainees but even she threw me a slight glare before we started running.

The first few minutes were just all of us enjoying the music blasting through the speakers, but almost half of the participants almost tripped on their feet when the music abruptly changed from hip-hop to metal at the 5-minute mark.

First of all, there wasn't anything wrong with the two genres but music played a very important role in one's training regimen.

All sorts of people had different tastes in this regard because I knew people who'd listen to classical music while lifting heavy weights—and even now, a select few were definitely enjoying the switch-up while the ones that were doing well definitely staggered.

But yeah, this was a small sub-level of difficulty in this challenge, but Tatiana and I were racing as to who gets the farthest distance traveled in this 30-minute run.

Our scores would be combined with the others to dictate how intense this training would be and both of us wearing these vests was actually mercy for these trainees.

Because even if some of them were holding out on their own, Tatiana and I traveled far greater distances—and that's on top of the vests we were wearing. If we went at it without wearing them, whatever was left of their confidence would be gone the second they saw the distance between us because even now, the top scorers were barely on our tail.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RUNNING?!"

"HAHHH! I SUCK AT CARDIO SO MUCH— RAAAAHHHHH!"

"IF YOU FUCKS HAVE TIME TO SCREAM, USE IT TO RUN! CONTROL YOUR BREATHING!"

"YOU GUYS FUCKING SUCK! WE DO THIS IN AN INCLINE EVERY SINGLE DAY!"

"WHO ASKED?!"

"THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"

"WE'RE JUST AT THE HALFWAY MARK, YOU FUCKS AREN'T EVEN TRYING! GET THOSE FUCKING KNEES UP!"

"HAH! H-HAAH! HAAAAAH! THIS FUCKING SUCK SO MUCH! HAH! HAH!

HAHHHHH!"

"DON'T BREATHE OVER HERE, ASSHOLE! FORGOT TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH?!"

"FUCK YOU! FORGOT TO WEAR DEODORANT?! YOU FUCKING REEK!"

"THE FUCK DID YOU SAY ASS-MOUTH?!"

"THE FUCK YOU GONNA DO, REEK-PIT?!"

"EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP, I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS IS GREAT! SO FUCKING GREAT!!! RAAHHHHHH!!!"

From then on, the pace continued as is from their banter with each other but they all slowed down when we reached the 20-minute mark. However, aside from Tatiana and me, James #1 still kept at it with a serious expression while Cindy, Seb, and Tennyson were doing great for themselves.

These four didn't slow down at all and kept at it either with technique or pure fucking grit because Cindy wanted to score higher than the boys while Tennyson was a tad heavier compared to the forerunners.

That was a disadvantage in and of itself because even I bulked up pretty recently—and I felt a slight impingement on my normal movements despite the increase in strength—but yeah, I'm so glad I didn't eat much this morning, or else I'd be slower.

In any case, I was still happy with everyone's cardiovascular endurance because if any of them dropped off at this point, I'd be disappointed. But yeah, I still went up in gear for the last five minutes—which made Tatiana and James #1 do the same—and the sound of stomping almost overpowered the country music blasting from the speakers.

Then we heard June blowing on the whistle: "THAT'S TIME! TIME! EVERYBODY STOP!"

I quickly got off as I addressed everyone who either collapsed on the floor or was hard of breathing, either guzzling water or trying to control their breaths:

"Alright, I'm actually surprised. You earned a 15-minute break before we hop on it again and with that time, do everything you can to rest and recover—maybe even figure out your plan to tackle the following hours we'd be running."

James #1 raised his hand, "H-Ha… Haa… Ha… W-What's the— Ha… What's the— you know… the thing?"

I turned to June and Rin, "What's the thing? You finished tallying them?"

Rin answered, "Ah— Just a sec— You came in first place for running 13.37 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Tatiana running 12.93 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Uno running 11.07 kilometers in 30 minutes—"

"Who's Uno? Is that me?" James #1 asked.

"Y-Yeah, is that okay?"

"FUCK YEAH! I CAME FIRST!"

"Third actually but yeah— technically speaking, you came first. Next is Warren Tennyson, running 11.05 kilometers in 30 minutes, then Seb doing 10.89 kilometers and Cindy doing 9.98 kilometers… then…"

Rin continued to list the following names from best to worst and obviously, the biggest one, Hooper, came dead last with Ruben, clocking around 7-8 kilometers—which was a feat on their weight classes themselves.

However, they couldn't care too much to talk while they were still hanging on for dear life from catching their breaths but when it came to the moment of truth, they weren't too happy—like everyone else—when they discovered they had to run 10 kilometers in an hour.

It's not like the distance itself was difficult if someone was regularly training but doing it for god knows how long with weighted vests on—adding me egging them on—with all the shenanigans I'm playing for them was fucking brutal.

Then I handed Uno a 5-pound increment to his vest:

"Wha— Why?! I came first!"

"Yeah. You technically did. So here's your reward," I said as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Choose from the guys who'd get to use that. Choose wisely."

"Oh. Ohhh~ Fuck yeah, you guys are fucked!" Uno smiled from ear to ear, "Wear this Tennyson! You're not coming near me even with the 3-pound difference!"

Tennyson graciously picked up his punishment as he turned to me, "Do I get a reward too? I'm technically second."

I nodded as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Of course, choose wisely. Seb also gets to give a 1-pound increment to any dude while Tatiana can do the same thing with her group, clear?"

Tennyson cut me off, "Can I give this to you… sir?"

I nodded as I took it graciously, "Of course, that's part of the game."

Uno complained again, "Dammit! I'm second and I got the worst one?!"

I chuckled, "I'll give the next 5-pound one to Tennyson, don't worry."

"Ah—" Tennyson could only look in shock at the mistake he committed.

Uno came up to my face, "What if I won and gave it to you?!"

"Sure, you can—"

"FUCK YEAH!"

"Sure, you can dream on for as much as you like."