Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

At the current moment, it was still an hour or so before sunset but instead of driving back to my domicile with my group, I decided it'd be best to at least spend the night—maybe even most of the day tomorrow. Because yeah, Mr.

Garciano's situation was a little special—and even though staying here for a day more wouldn't be the end-all for his problems, it's to give him and everyone else some room to breathe and for them to see that while I was a complete asshole when he revealed his secret, once everything was sorted out and we came to an understanding, I could be a good friend as well.

So while we were still waiting for dinner, my group decided to just look around and do their own thing while I once again sat in a meeting with Captain Dagan and Sgt. Lorraine. It was to discuss their performance among other things but the main thing I wanted to address with their group was that the ratio among civilians and soldiers was almost 1:1.

To give a general view Mr. Garciano was responsible for close to a couple thousand or a little over two thousand people—but the bulk of them came from the scattered DDR Camps that formed into one.

While it was true that while my people back home could also act as soldiers when needed, the disparity between this group was just too much.

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"Is there something wrong with having a lot of soldiers?" Sgt. Lorraine asked.

I shook my head slightly, "Not exactly but what do they do if they aren't in patrol, stationed to guard, or clearing the dead outside?"

"They rest or train?"

I pointed at their list of people, "Uh-huh. But look here, next to the outstanding number of soldiers you have are construction workers—and it is pretty obvious to say the least—but again, what do they do once they are done… you know, constructing?"

Captain Dagan answered, "Well— It's not like they keep building stuff— they do other stuff, obviously—"

I cut him off, "But your soldiers doesn't. You see where I'm getting at?"

"Ah— B-But that's by design, Mr. Garciano also approved of that—"

"No, no, no— You shouldn't be putting the blame on him right now. You don't have to get his approval every single time, ya get me? And right now, you're acting interim Boss Daddy, and I'm just gonna say it: as much as I love your respect for authority, you should start being authoritative yourself."

"That's…"

Sgt. Lorraine never nodded so fast, "Yeah, he does puss out a lot sometimes. It's always waiting for him."

"Wha—"

I chuckled as I looked at the Captain, "See? Even your subordinate noticed. But yeah, there's still merit in that but you gotta step in too while Mrs. Garciano's still occupied with her husband. If you're having a hard time, the Sergeant could also help you though I'd suggest the orders coming out of your mouth at first, not me or her."

Captain Dagan took a deep breath before looking at me solemnly, "Alright, what should we do first— I mean, tell me what should we do first!"

"Pfft— Nice tweak but you still fucking failed. What do you think YOU should do first? You're the Captain here, not me."

"Haa… W-Well… Hearing what you said earlier, we should at least have half of the soldiers protecting this place learn or make use of a trade they know to build this place up and I'm not talking about just construction. I mean, they came from all walks of life and they prolly should know something other than what our job descriptions says."

I nodded, "That's a start. But then again, look at your list of people."

"Hmm? What's wrong with that?"

I rolled my eyes, "Look at it! It just records the name, age, sex, past occupation, and some other bullshit in a grid and it doesn't have any viable infor we could use besides that! Where's their medical records—"

"It's on a separate—"

"What are their hobbies? Music taste? Favorite position? Disliked food? This shit should be a detailed dating profile at the very least! And where are their pictures?!

You could've just written some bullshit names here— and oh! Glad to see you've written down the ranks of your soldiers here!"

"T-Thanks—"

"BUT IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH!"

"A-Ah—"

"I need details! DETAILS! I need to see their Blood Type, STD Panel, their Big 3 lifts— fuck it, include the overhead press too! Make it the Big 4! And while it's true that people lie on their resume, at least we got an overview and we'll just add to their profile that they're a fucking liar! Can you see where I'm getting at?"

Sgt. Lorraine raised her hand, "Question!"

"Just say it—"

"Alright, would confirmed kills and the like matter too?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Of course, it does! I'm nearing six digits myself!"

"WHAT?!"

I rolled my eyes, "See that?"

"Huh?"

"I just lied and you fucking believed me—"

"I KNEW IT!"

"No, the fuck you don't! And I've been way~ past six digits if we include shit I ordered people to get done—maybe even seven digits!"

"Bullshit…"

"Now, you're learning!"

"I'm being serious here! What should we put on their profiles?"

"Literally anything you can think of— better yet, give bonus points to the people that would give dirt to other people! It shouldn't be our basis unless it's verified but rumors always stem from something and it could be that the rumor was true all along or the dumbass who spread it shouldn't be trusted one bit! You see where I'm getting at?"

"U-Uh–huh… A little… But that list is gonna be too long after each of us here wrote on it—"

"I mean, that's the point. Ain't it? If you need to know something from someone, you don't just ask the person and let them fill out the questionnaire. There's also info you can obtain from other people regarding that person but it's important to verify it from what you can also see and maybe even triangulate it with the info they wrote down.

It's gonna take a lot of fucking time but it's 100000x better than your flimsy 20-page list here."

With that said, I kind of shot myself in the foot for asking these two to make a very detailed questionnaire but I never laughed so hard when all they added from their existing fill-up form was the words: Tell me about yourself and be as detailed as possible. You have five pages.

'I mean… It's… Pfft— GODFUCKINGDAMMIT!'

Easily enough, I just had to check the spacing of the last part of their original questionnaire so I could type in that little nub at the end—so as to not waste paper—though it'd be up to the one filling it out to request more paper if they had more things they wanted to be common knowledge.

And before I forgot to mention, this place doesn't have a potluck every single day—only on special occasions and if they had important guests, which they did—so after we enjoyed a nice simple meal to top the night off, we distributed the new questionnaires before Mr. Garciano told everyone about the news.

And of course, it evoked feelings from the people who respected him but they were obviously a small group who were wondering what would happen next.

Those motherfuckers only gave Mr. Garciano a good fifteen minutes before demanding who would lead them next—or even worse, presenting to take over instead—and while it was true they were also being assholes like me, I'd argue that what I did was a little different.

"ENOUGH! CAN'T YOU LET MY HUSBAND FINISH FIRST?! THE AUDACITY!"

However, Mrs. Garciano quickly took the reins when she felt Mr. Garciano getting overwhelmed by the downpour of questions and snide comments, and even though I don't wanna call it at this moment, she has the bearings of a good leader and she'd probably work well with Captain Dagan and Sgt. Lorraine—and yes, even Mr. Garciano for his limited time in this world.

Still, there were people who wanted me to just absorb this place and just have me lead them instead but I quickly shot that shit down because one, I had a fuck ton on my plate already, and two, there were already people qualified for the job. In addition, tackling another job such as this was a huge responsibility and it would just delay and delay my coming trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.

But yeah, nothing was set in stone yet—and things could easily change from the drop of a hat—but this desire of mine to finally link up with my extended family was getting stronger and stronger, I just might request and airstrike to where the Garcia Family was and where those fucking people who spread misinformation against our allied US troops—and maybe even catch a ride to where the Kadena Airbase was.