Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Chapter 1225: Wanna talk about it?

Right as I said that with a straight look on my face, I thought Johnny would blow up at me but he let out a huge sigh before taking a swig of his glass. After that, he let out another huff as he shook his head, not even bothering to say anything back as I slowly stepped away from the conversation.

From then on, I just gave Oscar and Matthew a nod before I closed the door behind me—but as I made my way to the pool area, I almost had the shock of my life as I saw almost everyone lined up side by side, still wearing their bikinis, and completely passed out.

"What the fu— Here, too?"

Kaley was the first one who saw me, "Ugh… They fell asleep one after the other— We wanted to call for help but Quinn could just stand on the pool so… She just picked all of them up and threw them to the side… Completely knocked out… I want to laugh but—"

Quinn chuckled, "I still am, hah! Look at Tatiana on that pool table, she's fucking asleep but she kept her elbow tight so the food doesn't get wasted— The fuck, how are you still up?!"

"Me?"

"Yeah! How much stamina you got?! There should be a limit!"

"At least I could help you with moving them— you guys take care of the ones not in our… y-you know… they might wake up and see me carrying them and it might lead to other conclusions…"

Quinn rolled her eyes, "Or we could just wait a bit and see if they wake up— if not, then we wake them up. They'll cramp up sooner or later—"

Chloe cut in, "We should cover them, at least. The cold will—"

Dr. Nichols waved her off, "I already asked Rin for blankets. June and Ella are helping her bring enough down. The best we could do right now is dry them off and lay them down somewhere comfortable…"

Kaley then noticed something with my face, "You look mad, something happen?"

I looked around first before I replied, "Where's Jennifer?"

"They called the night early— Did you just avoid my—"

"Not exactly, no. It has something to do with her, albeit slightly."

"Wanna talk about it?"

I looked at everyone first before I sighed, "Sure. But not here."

After some time, after we safely sent off everyone to the vacant rooms in the houses available—or just straight to their own personal rooms—most of us gathered back in our room for some decaf and luckily, Jennifer and Rachel were just watching a movie together.

And since my cool-looking, futuristic-ass freezer was my room's new center of attention, I just discovered that almost all of them were itching to ask what it was about because not all of them knew the fact of the "Peptides" the Admiral was peddling over to us.

With how secure it was and how I came back with it—or should I say the Chinook—right after we made contact with the US Government, all sorts of eyebrows were raised but they were just respectful enough to not pry until it was talked about in the open.

Dr. Nichols threw the freezer a curious look, "That… Unfortunately, I'm not that well-versed in that department but would it hurt for me to test some of them?"

"I could give you a copy of the file they sent me over but even if they told me I had free rein of those injectables, I kind of wanna hold onto them longer for safekeeping.

Not that I don't trust you or anything but those doses don't come by aplenty, they had to send me a freezer just for that because their soldiers were fighting for a dose—leading us back to why I looked how I looked by the pool area."

Jennifer let out a sigh, "Dad prolly on a cycle, huh?"

I nodded, "Yeah, and Johnny was prepared to suck dick for a fucking dose—"

Kaley cut in, "H-How about D-Dad? Did he—"

I lightly bumped her shoulder with mine, "Nah, your Dad's with me, actually—even Oscar, it's kind of hypocritical of him to tell Johnny to stay away but he has his reasons."

Jennifer looked like she was a little conflicted about the situation, "I mean, it's his choice—"

I shook my head, "That's the problem, it is HIS choice whether to take it or not but that shit's just very, VERY experimental. They said it themselves. If something were to go wrong or if something were to happen to him— I'd hate to even think about what would happen to him but what would happen to everyone here?

The old man's already dangerous with a shot of whiskey and an hour less of sleep, what the fuck would happen if he became a super mutant or something? I am joking right now but I'm also kind of not… It's just… we're a whole group, y'know? We should at least have a discussion like I tried with Johnny—"

Dr. Nichols asked, "What kind of injectable did he take anyway?"

"I mean— I trust you all and I hope this conversation don't reach anywhere else but… He took something for increasing his lifespan for a couple or so years and another thing to improve his brain's cognitive functions. He said he's been eating a lot but his head has never been clearer and he seemed to remember things now and his brain fog's disappeared.

It's mostly positive shit since the negatives are very manageable according to him but I have to be the pessimistic one in this… I'm afraid he might start asking for more because everything feels great for him."

Quinn shook her head, "That's how Mike was when he started taking PEDs… It's all good and the negatives are manageable until he became completely blind to it… I know they're completely different things but—"

I waved her off, "Nah, it might be different but that's just the thing I'm afraid of happening. At least now, I'm the only one that could open that freezer."

"For real?"

"Yeah, it's programmed to my voice, my prints, and a special code that changes every day—which isn't a problem to me—and once someone else tries to break it open, it notifies me, and I have the option to make the freezer destroy everything inside."

"Shi— How great is that?!"

"Of course, I'm lying—"

"YOU— I ACTUALLY BELIEVED YOU!"

I lightly chuckled, "But which one did I lie about? Hmm? I won't tell anyone— that's the thing. Everything inside that shit could be our first step toward the future but we should be very careful about it because it could be the one I'm dreaming of or the hell I'm dreading about."

Kaley nodded pensively, "I can understand that but you gotta take it from their perspective as well… I dunno, being at that age is probably very tough for them, and from their backgrounds, they wanted to be as useful as possible—and even if they already are, they just wanted to do more.

I'm not saying they're blind about the negatives but what I'm saying is that they're willing to put themselves to that much risk for all of us… and yeah, also for them. That's something to think about, at least."