Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

As soon as I asked that question, he pondered for a moment if I was trying to catch him off-guard or was trying to wisecrack him but once he figured out that I was genuine, he simply dignified it with a proper response.

"Yeah, sure. By what does that have to do with the conversation?"

"Well, you can also hide bodies in a cemetery. Catch my drift?"

"You mean— Oh. Oh, fuck…"

I nodded from his realization, "Now, you get it. I don't wanna sully this place's great name for tourists and local tourists alike but it does have a dark side to it, covered by the fancy resorts and whatnot. The Manila Bay always gets the flak from illegal imports besides the floating garbage but this place has them too.

If you piece two and two together, a few syndicates or something similar had a system and it almost always involves making certain people go quiet and that cemetery was one of those places they keep them hidden in plain sight."

"Fuck… So what do we do?"

"It's gonna be the weirdest unboxing video you've ever seen, pal."

"Uh, the name's Paul."

"Did you just—"

"I did. You catch on pretty quick, huh?"

"Hah! That was perfect."

"Thanks! So what do we do?"

"You guys sit tight for a while because we can't do this with the old man, but if his schedule is nothing but waiting till his daughter comes, we'll take a crack at it and then another crack at it and hope we don't get haunted by their departed souls."

"Ah, fuck…"

At that point, the person I first talked to gave me some camera footage that was taken by a drone of theirs before I exchanged it with something that could help with their stress levels and overall mood for the duration of their stay.

Because it seemed like their lodging was inside this expressway—which wasn't the safest area to lay their heads on—but they do strict rotations between guard/watch duty.

Hearing that, they greatly appreciated the top off of instant coffee, some sugar, and some creamer because we once again made use of the technique husbands/boyfriends would do whenever their significant other was feeling lonely or pissed off.

This group wasn't technically pissed off at us but aside from social workers—just a general thing, really—we should always be nice to people who've been nice to us except for obvious exceptions.

'What's in the box though… The coffins, I mean… Is there even one or do we need an excavator to— One at a time… One at a time…'

In any case, we continued our drive to the Freeport Zone here in Subic Bay and as we passed by the moderately-sized high school facility after going off-road, we were now driving in a residential that slightly gave the vibe that we were in the provinces because the there were just trees everywhere unlike the cities we came from.

It felt like we were on an actual road trip to have some fun—granted we were—but it only just involved a bit of decapitation, looting, and a bit of gunpowder.

Twenty more minutes into this ride, we only stopped twice to quickly get in and out of two barangay halls—just for their records—before we had to stop right by this soda factory which was right next to a bus terminal, a delivery hub, and a small parish.

Adding to that bit of information, the facilities across the street were just houses that had were just randomly built without any theme or direction, mostly due to having individual owners and we were still a bit off from the biggest residential which definitely had some rules to follow in regards to housing construction.

But yeah, the reason we had to stop by this area was because if we cut into this playground and went off-road for a few meters, we'd be able to get into the Main Harbor, The Port of Subic Bay, which Oscar and everyone else should be much, much faster.

However, I wasn't exactly sure why the old man had to drive through the biggest residential area, then coast another medium-ish residential area right next to it which had another cemetery just by the edge of it, before looping back and using the farthest bridge to get to the place they were supposed to meet up.

The way I thought of was the easiest and the fastest way to get from point A to point B, and there must be some reason why he had to take the scenic route.

So I tried calling him:

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*bzzt*

"Hello? Is this the hotline for lonely old men who are trying to get the approval of their estranged daughter? Hellooo?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[I'm not even biting that, kid. Where you at? You were supposed to be here at lunch!]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"By this soda factory right next to the bus terminal—"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Ah, you're pretty close! Why bother calling, it's only an hour if you follow the route we used.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Can't we just cut into this playground and use the nearest—"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Nah, don't go that way! A flour mill exploded in that part and there's a wreck by the— didn't the people by the gate tell you that?]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"They told me about the wreck, not the explosion."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Right, they wouldn't know about the explosion but there has been one pretty recently. Well, it happened before we got here but some schmuck probably tried to light a cigar inside and we know where that's gonna land him, right?]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Over there, over there, and up there."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Hah! You still remember! Anyway, if you have the time to clear debris and everything else from that side, feel free to drive to that spot. But if you're already short on time which you are, use the longer detour because it'll be faster. Don't ask any questions. We've been trying to clear shit all around but the people around here don't trust foreigners as much as they used to.

Total night and day.]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Huh."

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[Anyway, did you bring Irene's package with ya?]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"The fuck are you on about?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[BUT—]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"You said don't touch it, right?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[WELL— WHERE IS IT THEN?!]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Manila?"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[YOU LEFT IT AT THE SHIP?!]

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

"Heh! That's the reaction I'm going for, see you soon. Bye~"

*bzzt*

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*bzzt*

[KID—]

*bzzt*

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Then I abruptly ended the call. If this old-timer thought he could be cool and collected, he was dead fucking wrong.