Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

With everything said and done, not to nitpick or anything, and no offense—I mean a little—to the cooks but this place's whole maximum security shtick seemed to have bled onto their food as well. I could've understood the strict portions but it's like eating plain oatmeal despite the nice balance between carbs, protein, and fats.

But yeah, it wasn't a problem too much to handle with salt and pepper shakers.

In addition, Tatiana's secret bacon stash and Artem's ability to spawn hot pockets from anywhere he'd wish came into play—and even if everyone else who ate saw what we were doing, they just didn't say much but Morales let out a huge sigh.

"I do apologize for the food, I've just had the best dinner at your place yesterday and here I am serving you something with very little seasoning…"

"It's okay, if it's by choice—"

"It's my wife's choice, not ours, not everyone's. We just had a fight and she's been doing this ever since. We're gonna have another talk after this and she should understand she shouldn't mess with everyone's food just because we had a little spat. She could do it with mine if she's that angry but this is just embarrassing and ridiculous."

Oscar cut in, "Just apologize. It'd be easier that way—"

Morales shook his head, "I will certainly not. It's not even my fault. Besides, with all due respect, it's not any of your business—"

Oscar rolled his eyes, "She made it everyone's business if she pull shit like this, you said it yourself, it's embarrassing. You either take her off the kitchen or you apologize even if she's in the wrong. It's one thing to let her keep doing it but it's another thing to let your fight affect everyone else.

I know it's just food but you're husband and wife, resolve the fucking issue like adults—or partners would, or have her cool off someplace else and pay visits whenever you have the fucking time. You're acting like fucking children."

"..."

"..."

Morales then stood up after placing his meal to the side, "I guess I will do that, again, I apologize."

Oscar scoffed, "At least you apologize when you know you're wrong."

"Excuse me, then… Do inform my officers if you have to leave while I'm still talking with my wife—"

I cut in, "We offer— I mean, my wife's mother, Marisha, offers couple's therapy. Don't be shy to pay a visit once and again if you can't resolve shit yourselves. We're already meddling in a sense but I just want to put it out there. Food still has a bit of flavor though, it's not bad per se but… N-Nevermind that, have a nice talk."

"...alright. Thanks for the advice, kid."

As soon as Morales left for the kitchen, it was obvious from the reaction of his people that they knew shit was going on but couldn't say anything, but they couldn't be that mad at either party for the things they were going through.

Though Oscar piled on, "Haaa~ That guy needs some friends. I thought we already got him loose from the alcohol but it's problem after problem once he got more and more drunk last night."

"Old man— You know what's going on, then?"

"Yeah. We've talked about it in length yesterday, they just needed to compromise, not do this chicken bullshit and see who gives out first."

Kaley joined in, "What happened, anyway?"

"You know, family stuff. The wife wants a safer place for their kids while the husband wants them all together. That's one of the reasons this place looks like a fucking prison but that's not what his wife wanted at all. It's safe in a sense but it doesn't look like a good place to raise kids, yeah?"

I nodded pensively, "I see now. He just asked me before coming here about anything else to add and the first thing I told him was paint. Brightly colored paint."

Alexa never interjected so fast, "That's brilliant! I was just about to say that too! I can even paint a wall here—"

"Hah! That's what I mentioned too aside from the other stuff but yeah, they should come to an agreement. It's either they make a portion of this place a little homely or have the wife and kids back home with all the other wives and kids who are staying with us. He can always pay them a visit and we can always give them a separate house but it should be a little closer with their kids' ages…"

Oscar pushed his plate aside after finishing more than half of it, "He's just being a stubborn son of a bitch, I get it, I do— He kept saying it's not his fault but in this case, it shouldn't be about them, it should be about their kids. I'd hate to say it but I'm with his wife but her doing this type of shit doesn't sit well with me either.

It could be all she could do but they have to have a proper talk with Marisha to properly hear both sides. I doubt they could sort this shit on their own."

With that said, it was pretty obvious that Morales was taking a lot of time—within reason, of course—so in that case, I asked Artem to lead the same group without us, clearing 5th Avenue Station and the kilometer-long railway span between Monumento Station.

The plan used was to clear them surgically but with how my head works, it just works better this way and we'd just have to completely close off the preceding stations before we get to the connecting stations we planned to take over before. And in addition, it'd be a lot safer if we had a path we could safely turn our backs to or have a little less security on that spot.

Still, even if they just managed to hose down the gunk under the railway, it'd be a job well done given the time left before sunset.

'Wait a second… Oh! That could work… right? Definitely!'

And this was where I had a nifty idea for the blockades we left back home. It'd be a pain to have our engineers cut 'em up again and fit something for a special purpose but it'd be much better that way moving forward. In addition, just the flexibility it could provide would prove useful if there ever came a time the LRT Line 1 gets breached.

However, on our drive back, I didn't even notice I was looking at Quinn with a weird smile.

She never looked so weirded out as she palmed my face away, "You— Don't… I'm down to fuck every step of the way but don't fucking look at me with that smile— It's a fucking ick, honestly."

I chuckled as I rebooted to my normal smile, "I'm sorry, remember the blockades we started making last minute where we only managed to make one that we used earlier?"

"Those… Those are words, sure… But yeah, I remember why do you ask?"

"I'm thinking of adding some wheels on 'em."

Quinn shot me down, "That'd be easy but why? It's not like the protective barriers on the side are the same width! It's lucky enough the place we dropped it in was a perfect fit."

"You silly, silly goose… You've never had a Tamiya before, huh?"

"The fuck is a Tamiya— HOLD UP! OH, SHIT! THAT'S PERFECT!"

"If anything, we'd only need one, right?"

Kaley cut in, "What are you talking about again? Tamiyas? Isn't that the old cartoon way back when?"

"That's the one! I even have a few in storage too! I can't display all my shit back home! So yeah, we'll drop by Jude's place first and I'll show everyone the thing so you have a better idea!"