Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"I mean, just the comfort alone—"

Brian cut in, "It\'s the food for me."

Carlo added, "The things to do. There\'s a lot to do, honestly…"

Ashley followed, "Everyone\'s nice and it\'s really safe."

JP then followed, "It\'s not as strict but it\'s not easy-going either… A little more on the easy-going side but it\'s… you know, a perfect balance."

I let out a smile, "Ding! Ding! Ding! Points to Slytherin—"

"I-I\'m a Ravenclaw, actually—"

"I don\'t give a fuck, it\'s just a metaphor but it\'s a pretty easy question, no? Sure, it still has its set of problems—we just had two of them very recently—but mi casa is the best, no?"

Seb nodded, "I\'m not a 100% sure but among the high-ranking officers, none of them are using their power to abuse the lower-ranking ones. At least not to my knowledge."

Megan interjected, "With how surveillance is and how each of us are wearing bodycams? I highly doubt it."

Ruben nodded, "Most of them are stern but very respectful. They give a lot despite the authority they hold."

Isaac joined in, "Eh. I\'m just happy with how I\'m proceeding with my training. I can\'t find this guidance anywhere else. I\'m even enjoying using guns even without sense teaching us personally. Everyone\'s very competent in their field and they are most welcome to teach you just about anything. It\'s nice."

Then I turned to the "Death Squad", "How about you guys? Care to join in? Brownie, I\'d like you to answer—"

Brownie shook his head, "The leader\'s an asshole but he has a good shoulder throw. Would love to learn that— Jesus Christ! Why\'s everyone looking at me like that?! It was just a joke— a little true— Tell me if what I said isn\'t true, huh?! I\'ll fight all of ya!"

I laughed out loud as I waved everyone off, "Chill, chill… He\'s speaking the truth, let him cook. Anything else? Tennyson? Lee? Williams? Hooper?"

Lee answered softly, "Umm… I really can\'t say much but it\'s way better than any of our territories in Subic Bay. I don\'t wanna offend anybody but it\'s very homely and nice… but I feel safe and it\'s not suffocating…"

"Why would anyone take offense to that?"

"I mean— Won\'t it sound like it\'s an easy target?"

Oscar was about to cut in but I already knew what he was about to say:

"There\'s this saying and some people might say it\'s false but with every blade of grass— You know how it goes, right?"

Lee and everyone else nodded.

"With every blade of grass, there\'s a rifle right behind it… That\'s why the US Mainland can\'t be invaded. It\'s not just the government and its massive arsenal is the threat but each citizen upholding their rights to bear arms and do what\'s right. Going on a tangent like this might sound political but that quote—true or not—is what we\'re aiming for.

While it\'s true that a good number of my people here are able to use guns and whatnot, there\'s still a small percentage that couldn\'t, wouldn\'t, or was still in the middle of their training. And that\'s the reason for Hell Week."

Ruben trailed, "Now I\'m confused…"

I nodded, "A little, yeah… And that\'s my fault but the reason I asked all of you to name some things about this place is for all of you to know one of the reasons it is what it is and why the things I\'ll be putting all of you through will be important.

It\'ll also correlate with the metaphor we just talked about and let me put it in the easiest way I could think of at the moment: All the things you listed keeps most of us at a 100% and since I said mostly, the rest of us at a 100% should overcompensate for the 80%-ers, 60%-ers, and even the 90%-ers to keep this place doing what it\'s been doing for us."

"Please don\'t add percentages… That\'s one of the reasons I joined the Army…"

"Fine, how do you grow a tree? You give it everything it needs, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And isn\'t that what this place does for ya?"

"Most of them, yes."

"Ah— That\'s fair, can\'t please everybody fully but yeah… I don\'t wanna keep saying this but I\'ll guarantee that all of you participating will hate our fucking guts but all I\'m saying is to try and hold out as much as possible because I\'m not even sure all of you will pass.

I\'m not underestimating you in anyway or making you lose confidence but this shit\'s designed to make you fail unless you break through your limits. Even I\'m— a little voice in my head\'s telling me to just make all of you keep doing what you\'re doing because some of you might not even thank us at the end—"

Brownie cut me off again, "Will this shit make me one step closer to beating your ass?"

"Honestly?"

"Just shoot straight with me, sir. I can take it."

"You need more than a week of training to touch me if we got at it for real."

He looked unfazed, "But do I get closer?"

"Sure—"

"So, there\'s a chance. I\'m in."

I scoffed, "You fucks are already in the moment you step into this place. But yeah, at this point forward, I don\'t care what fucking rank you\'re CO fucking gave you but what matters now is what everyone else thinks of you—the next step of Hell Week: Rank yourselves in different aspects."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"How?"

I let out an evil smile, "I dunno. I\'m a proponent of specificity but I want you all to form a straight line as to who you\'d think would finish first to finish last. You got 10 minutes."