Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

In any case, the "select" markings I discovered weren't on land but actually on a body of water, and with the number of supercarriers and carriers the USA possessed—including the ones not run by nuclear power but still fall under a Nimitz-Class carrier—I'm just gonna assume that these markings were their last known or current location.

But yeah, before I had the chance to look around and assume shit that was hopefully spot on, the Admiral beckoned me to sit down before he projected a family picture on the table we were sitting at.

It was a picture that not only showed that people who served had probably a dozen or so of either their combat or service uniforms—because that was what they would always opt for clothing even in the fucking holidays—but joking aside, it was one where a wacky shot which was taken by their daughter for laughs was treasured by both parents because it was a time where their work hadn't interfered that much with their marriage.

I could be fucking talking out of my own ass right now but I've never seen people working for the government smile that genuinely except for a few exceptions.

'So that's what she actually looks like…'

I turned to the Admiral, "When was this, if I may ask?"

"Probably a decade ago or so ago. A few months before our divorce."

"I see."

"Hmm."

"Ah— W-What was her name again? I can't remember you—"

"Jolene."

"Oh. She's— She looks really different here—"

The Admiral let out a bitter chuckle, "I didn't do half-bad, huh?"

I nodded a few times, "Yeah. Ella's so fucking lucky she didn't take after you— WOAH! Don't start throwing shit around! That's a good brand of stapler! Jesus!"

"I'll throw this paperweight next if you can't just give me a single compliment, you dick!"

"I'm sorry! You aged really great! And your wife's gorgeous! I wish I could grow a full beard like yours! Happy?!"

"Hmph."

"A-Anyway, why are you showing—"

As I was still mid-sentence, I was cut off by another picture that only showed Jolene alone wearing a hospital gown and she looked like half her foot was on death's door.

The pale skin almost imprinting her very skinny body, loss of at least 90% of her hairline, sunken eyes, etc., and all of the telltale signs that someone was on a ton of medication and clinical trials just to keep her alive—not even turning once to hospice care.

"What the— How— When?"

"That was taken a couple of years after our divorce. And before you ask, I'm not the fucking devil and I had no idea—our daughter too—that she was going through all of this at the time, but yeah, our divorce was for some other reason that's not relevant to this scenario."

"But—"

And for the second time while I was still in the middle of my sentence, he showed another picture of his wife, probably in the same hospital and wearing the same outfit, but this time, she looked more like the first photo he showed us.

It's just that I wasn't sure if it was a before or after photo.

However, knowing that everyone else in this group still referred to her as the "senator" and Ella not knowing of her mother's current situation, I'm gonna assume that her meds and whatever clinical trial she was in worked but still failed at surviving the end of the world.

But yeah, the Admiral continued posting more photos of her life after the treatment and how she funded several foundations in cancer research—right until we were shown a CCTV footage the moment she turned over to the other side.

To my surprise, it was dated only a few months before D-Day, and with the familiar markings on the walls and the same equipment in the background, I assumed it was at the same place she got treated though this time, it was now for the other hopefuls that were granted the privilege to be like a normal person.

It's just that I was waiting for a maintenance worker or any fucking personnel to come in and take a bite out of her neck, but Jolene just happily talked with one of the patients before she got out of the room, sat on one corner for a good fifteen minutes before a nurse checked in on her and discovered she was no longer breathing.

Almost immediately, CPR was given to somehow revive or resuscitate the victim, but the moment the nurse pressed on Jolene's chest for the first compression, Jolene's chest cavity caved in like it was made of twigs and her brittle bones made a pincushion of her insides before it broke out of her skin, making blood seep out of her clothes and giving the nurse the fright of her life.

Despite that, the nurse tried her best to keep her composure before calling every fucking doctor on the floor, and it gave her a slight glimmer of hope that she could still keep her job when she saw movement coming from the Admiral's wife.

It seemed that Jolene had started to choke on her own blood despite the broken chest cavity and her body not expelling air a few fucking minutes ago.

But as the blood on the nurse's hands who touched anything and everything—from the panic of calling everything to her exact location—got onto and into her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, it didn't turn her into a flesh-eating abomination we refer to as the undead but it just… it just killed her.

Within a few minutes of having Jolene's blood in their bodies caused a fatality, but the biggest and most confusing surprise came next.

Once the doctors and any other emergency personnel arrived, all they saw was the dead nurse on the floor lying next to the senator, who supposedly had the freakiest CPR accident recorded in history, had the fastest recovery.

Not only did Jolene's skeletal system 'recollect' itself as the Admiral mentioned earlier, she would've lived to this day if she hadn't been given CPR that caused the bone fragments to pierce through all her organs.

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