Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I looked at the rugged detonators Mr. Cuervo placed on the table and if things went as they should, there would've been three less seats surrounding the round table. Truth be told, every head in Mr. Cuervo's organization seemed like they were friends for a long time but if we're talking about their deep history with each other, they have enough reason to slit each other's throats given the chance.

From the top of my head, I know that Mauro and Sal knew of the plan—even though I had no idea they were the heads of their families—but they too had to have a person or two to confide in: Quinn and Elsa respectively, as far as I know.

At first, I actually didn't care who the fuck was gonna survive but Mr. Cuervo actually made the right decision of choosing allies if he had to let go of a few to move forward. If I was in his shoes, I would've done the same thing and to have a political/genuine wedding to merge the other two families that would be left was a great choice.

It was because with the nature of the other three families' business model, they had to fucking go.

First and foremost, Mr. Castillo and 99% of his blood relatives were just fucking psychos and they had an army—much like the Alvarez family—to mobilize at the drop of a hat. Secondly, the Alvarez Family was pretty much the same thing and since they had also reclaimed the town they were in and the surrounding areas around it by using violent means, they had the highest heat level compared to everyone else's.

And lastly, the Garcia Family—even though they were kinda peaceful in nature—still had to go because from what Mr. Cuervo told me, Mary and Brian seemed to have the goal to replace him in the future but not by regular means. The Garcia Family had connections that Mr. Cuervo didn't even have an ounce of an idea about and knowing that they also deal in organs—even after the world ended—didn't sit well with me.

If Mason didn't tell me that one of their guys would be "harvested" because of incurring a ton of debt, I would've considered letting them live.

But since our original plan had gone to shit, we were gonna do it the long and difficult way.

It was supposed to be a hostile takeover of some sort but much like what Castro was trying to do with his own family, we'd slowly restructure this organization into something "passable" in the president's eyes.

Mauro and Sal knew of our plan but they have zero clue I was connected to the president of this country. Mr. Cuervo eventually knew of this fact but he had zero clue that I could've easily had this place burned to the ground.

I've seen it happen once when I was in Iskoh's territory and I'm pretty sure that was just a taste of what the president could call upon. However, the president had zero clue I was connected to this organization—and have a pretty high standing—and Jose was the only one of the officers who knew the real story after coming with us.

From what I told Morales, Ferdinand, and a few other officers back home, I was playing the "cold game" of sorts—which was technically true—to find out more about this place that had a "few" narcotics circulating around. But since I downplayed most of what this place was, they assumed I could eventually take care of it or this place would eventually just run out of resources, and it was just a waste to have it reported to the president who had better things to do.

Furthermore, if push comes to shove, Morales and his soldiers owed me a ton for taking in the majority of their family members, and since the president didn't send over their able-bodied family members and conscripted them as his soldiers, it made a small damper on their relationship.

I was the guy supposed to be transparent about all this but if this blew up in my face, I would be in serious fucking shit.

But to be completely fair, I had no intention of being a family head or a government's dog but it was required to bridge the two factions together.

This fucking shit would be over at the earliest if these two parties just focused on what's fucking important, and I was willing to play a dangerous game just to get back to the olden days. It was a decent but a little idealistic goal in my head but the payoff will be tremendous if I managed to succeed.

"Hermano?"

"Hmm?"

"You've been quiet for a while there, something wrong?"

"Oh, I was inner monologuing, don't worry about it."

"Sure…"

"Yep," I replied as I motioned to walk towards the exit.

"Wait, you aren't gonna take them?"

"Nope. Keep the C4 too—well, hand them over to Jericho. I'm sure he'd like what I have planned for those."

"Alright, he'd probably wake up in an hour or so but don't forget to tell me when you're about to leave."

"Sure."

At this point, Mr. Cuervo and I just shared a glance before I turned around and exited the room, but I did see him breathe a sigh of relief once everything was over… for now. Even if I did say that all of them had some bad blood with each other, some good was mixed in it as well.

It was safe to say that Mr. Cuervo was actually more than just acquaintances with the other family heads, and even if he witnessed allies and enemies go—from the time he was active, it was also safe to say that it would've been difficult for him if half of them disappeared in a single night.

Once I closed the door behind me, I walked inside the elevator and it didn't take long before I was brought to the surface.

I thought I would start finding everyone else again but Kaley, Quinn, and Edith were actually waiting for me.

Quinn let out a sigh, "Took you long enough. Right, Edith here has something to say to you."

"Hmm?"

Edith slowly inched closer with an embarrassed look, "About t-taking me in…"

I waved her off, "You don't have to if you don't—"

"I— I want to though! B-But… all of my stuff is still back home…"

Quinn interjected, "You could come with us or Sal. You're not gonna take a few days just to pack your things, right?"

Edith looked a little dejected, "N-No… It wouldn't take as long but I have to hand over my responsibilities to a few people so that Aunt Sally wouldn't take them all. T-That's why we're here, I'm asking if you could wait a few days so I could—"

"That's no problem at all. We'd probably spend a week at most at Quinn's place and we'll just pick you up if you're ready."

"Huh?! You're only gonna spend a week at my place?!"

Kaley let out a chuckle, "Why? Gonna miss us that much?"

"I'm n-not saying that… I… I just want to make sure you thoroughly f-fix my car— Right! You're gonna fabricate a Shelby's body too, right?! Won't that take longer?!"

I shook my head as I let out my show-off face, "Quinn, Quinn, Quinn…"

Quinn rolled her eyes, "What? What? What?"

"I can do both in a day and it's up to your machines if they could keep up with me. I can do that in three days or so but I added a few more days because I wanted to drop by my old uni. But yeah…" I trailed as I turned to Edith, "Is a week enough for you?"

Edith nodded, "That's m-more than enough but I have one more favor to ask."

"Sure, anything."

"If… If you decide to c-come by here again… I'd like to visit Aunt Sally if possible. I know that Elsa would keep her company but I want to do the same thing too…"

"That's not a problem but it's gonna between a month or a couple of months at a time. We'll be opening up a trading route and you could ride the ship with an escort."

"That works!"

"Great."

"S-So… What are you guys up to now?"

Quinn replied, "My guys are still packing shit. It might take a while and since I don't have a working car, I'm gonna ride with these two lovebirds so they won't take a detour."

Edith turned to Kaley and me, "How about you two?"

I held Kaley's shoulder and pulled her close, "Kaley's gonna do some psychic shit."

"A what?" Quinn and Edith said at the same time.

"Eh~ You'll find out soon. It seems like the line is still outside the house Mr. Cuervo gave us so I'll let Kaley hold the reign for that part. She's psychic, have I told you two before?"

"I'M NOT PSYCHIC!"