Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

After a short bit of introductions, we discovered that the two were actually brother and sister—Jean being the older one—and the rest of their family was in the Marine Base instead of the Main Harbor.

In any case, we tidied up and gave them a lift so they wouldn't walk all the way back but there was some unbelievable awkwardness in the air because the two couldn't even look any of us in the eye for more than two seconds.

But yeah, we can't just force the weirdness away with a snap of our fingers so I just went ahead and cooked up a hearty rice porridge for breakfast after we dropped them off at the same location.

It might sound like a very basic dish—which it was—though the sides more than made up for it because it was the perfect vehicle to have a bite of a combination of boiled eggs, fried garlic, green onions, slices of porkchop, ginger, etc. Despite being used as somewhat of a dish only served when someone was sick, this was usually a staple for breakfast in this country.

In any case, it didn't take long before more people from the Marine Base came in via a smaller boat they used to sail to this country—because it's much, much faster—and a couple of them were these Maine and Janice dudettes—a Private First Class and a Lance Corporal respectively—who looked to be on the same age as us.

Mitch had already given them a brief run-through of their would-be responsibilities yesterday—and a little bit more currently—though there was an audible stomach grumble when they got a whiff of the garlic I was frying on the pan.

Maine tried to hide the fact that she hadn't had breakfast yet, "This… This is a lot… *stomach grumbles* more than what Clay cooked up for sure, but I'd rather we use this… Pretty intuitive too… Fuck, this is so embarrassing… Traded the protein bar for a pillow… Haa…"

Janice chuckled, "Who's the cook? And why does Bartow look like he got in a car crash?"

Mitch answered, "He's the kid who made that template and made Bartow look like that. I got some strays too but any normal person would've been heavily injured if it wasn't him taking all those hits."

"Jesus…"

"I'm just glad we could have some of what he's cooking because we were woken up this early and there's no breakfast till seven…"

I then came at them and handed them a bowl that had an even distribution of toppings with steam coming out of it:

"Yo, have some breakfast first. That template's pretty easy to understand but the real challenge is the accuracy of what you put in them and mark off. It'll be up to you two if what's in there actually reflects what you guys have in those warehouses and a minor discrepancy could cause a lot of problems—"

"Fuck!" Maine didn't hear a lick of what I just said as she was busy slurping down and getting burned by our breakfast.

"Maine! Keep it together! We're— I'm sorry," Janice said as she turned to me offering a fistbump, "She just needs to eat and she'll be functioning, thanks for the food! I'm Janice!"

I returned her fistbump with a chuckle, "Sky. Nice to meet you two. Anyway, I did say to have some breakfast first but other than what I told you two earlier… Jotting down inventory can be pretty daunting but it's better to start small before trying to do the whole thing.

It would be less overwhelming if you start room by room though you should still keep an eye out or ask other people if they stored or took out some stuff from the room you just logged while you weren't there. That's pretty much it—"

"Fuck, dude! This is so good! Why's the porkchop still crispy while still in this soup?!"

"Maine!"

"What? I heard everything he just said! You're the one who kept on staring at his eyes!"

"What?! I didn't—"

"You're cute but you'd be jumping on a lot of hoops for Mr. Popular here to notice ya—"

I cut in, "Mr. Popular? Where did that come from?"

Maine looked at me while her face had a green onion sticking out by her cheek, "You aren't? Huh. I swear a few ladies were looking at you differently. Especially that brunette with the huge jugs."

"Maine!"

I almost facepalmed, "That's… That's my wife…"

"Oh. Oh! I see, I see~ You have good taste bud, anyway… why do that blondie over there and that Amazonian freak look at you the same way?"

"It's… It's complicated."

'That's some good observation…'

She then scoffed, "See? Mr. Popular. Not gonna lie, if you cook for me like this every single day too, I'll start to like ya! Good shit bro, good shit."

I chuckled, "Okay? Thanks. There are seconds though so stop stealing from Janice's bowl—"

"MAINE!"

"WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU AREN'T EATING IT?!"

"I WAS SAVING THAT FOR LAST!"

"He already said there are seconds! Just get another egg from that pile— You! Give me back that porkchop or I swear to god—"

"Give me back the egg!"

Mitch had to cut in, "Where's Marge anyway? I thought she was supposed to come with you two?"

Janice answered, "Ah— Yeah, well…"

"Something wrong?"

"Mrs. Adams felt something snap on her back yesterday. She was trying to move this coffee table to the other side of the room by herself so… But yeah, Marge's been keeping an eye on her so that she won't try anything stupid. We said she couldn't move at the moment anyway but she said that Mrs. Adams with definitely try to wiggle out of that bed she's in."

I interjected, "Do you have doctors that came in with you?"

Mitch nodded, "We do, fortunately, though we're still building up a proper clinic for everyone else's sake by looting around the area. It'll be up in no time soon. Anyway, what's your plan for today? We have a few objectives to meet, right?"

"Hmm~ I think we'll try and clear the dead from that flour mill first."