章節 10: Our Story - Jack of 'most' trades

As soon as Kaley asked that question, a few heads turned to me, especially the ones that weren't living in this compound. It included Jo and some of the friends of my workers because I never had the chance to talk to them about it. All that Oscar and I managed to relay to the group of people in front of us was that something bad was about to come and they all needed to go to our place.

I finished chewing my food before I answered Kaley, "I want to tell you guys everything later in the meeting but some people are not here yet. Tell you what, I could tell you more things when Oscar and I met. Sounds good?"

Kaley nodded and some of them seemed to be very interested.

"Oscar and I like watching or reading topics about nuclear fallouts, power grid attacks, alien invasions, economic collapses, and you know, a zombie apocalypse. I never actually did anything about it and just enjoyed perusing through the shows, books, and whatnot but it all changed when we met at a convention in San Diego. We got seated next to each other on a panel about a TV show, 'The Pacing Unliving', which featured zombies or the undead as the enemy."

Oscar chuckled from the other table. "Who fucking knew it would come to this, eh?"

"Yeah, who would've thought?"

Kaley interjected, "You two really met at a convention, huh?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I smiled at Kaley, "Yeah. Anyway, we got to talking after that and we just exchanged emails. There was a lot of back and forth that eventually turned to more than just discussing about a zombie apocalypse scenario, and that was when he introduced me to prepping."

"Prepping?"

"To give it a short explanation, prepping is, you know, a 'preparation' for a certain or all types of scenarios. It's like having a backup plan that also had a backup plan WHICH also had a backup plan. It's actually a rabbit hole if I go into more detail because there are different ways to create said 'backup plan' for every scenario."

"Like?"

"For example, after watching 'The Pacing Unliving', if you're the viewer, you'd think that there should be some things that you could have done to prevent deaths, accidents, or anything bad that happened to them, right? It's umm… thinking about what should have been done but actually acting on it."

Oscar added, "You need to ask yourself: What would you do if you're in that situation? Would you go with a group or go solo? What would you bring with you? Are you gonna bug out or fortify your home? Do you have weapons to protect yourself? Do you know how to use it? How are you gonna feed yourself? There's a ton of factors to be considered but it's something along those lines."

I nodded as I continued, "But yeah, most preppers are thought of as nutjobs—some streaming channels even have a TV show for them… well, us— but who do you think has the last laugh? Sure, some of them go over the top but prepping could be as simple as having an extra stock of food on your shelves, having a spare gasoline can for your car, having some cash tucked somewhere inside your home, etc."

Some of the people listening nodded pensively though most of them were still focused on eating.

"It's really fun if you're like me though, especially when I got myself my own gun. Oscar helped me with that and I got a good deal for a brand-new Glock 17, he even taught me how to use it. I knew jack shit about guns until a few years ago and I eventually learned that Oscar used to be a Combat Medic for the US Army."

Kaled added, "You did mention that when we're at the airport," then Kaley turned to Oscar, "If you don't mind me asking, how old—"

"I mind," Oscar cut her off before he chortled.

I shook my head as I said, "He's 64 now but it doesn't look like it. Yeah, he got a few white strands on the side of his head but—"

"But I'm still strong as an ox," Oscar finished my sentence for me, laughing as he shoved another spoonful in his mouth.

"What he said," I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

Kaley asked, "Do you have family here, Oscar?"

"Nope," Oscar flatly replied.

"Oh…"

I chuckled as I sliced a potato that was too big for my spoon, "He still had a daughter— which I believe is in the Navy, but we still haven't met. And yeah, you could include me in the mix but among his friend group, I'm probably the youngest."

"Hah! What do you think is the age group that I would be hanging with?! Cheh, that Glock 17 should've been a 1911 if you didn't stop fucking whining about it." Oscar grumbled as he pointed at me with his spoon.

I rolled my eyes amusedly, "Yeah, yeah, I know it won two world wars but I don't want to fucking die if I encounter more than 7+1 people."

"Bah! I— nevermind, bullet capacity has some merits… I don't want to get into that argument again…" Oscar was about to explode but he quickly shrunk down.

"O-Okay… what else happened then?" Kaley asked me to continue the story.

"Alright, let me continue… Hmm… It didn't take long before I had to go back here but we still kept in contact. You see, I still have to continue my parents' business but I still trained with using my gun. I even have a membership on a range in Quezon City and I learned to use different kinds."

As soon as I mentioned the range, Oscar let out a chuckle— catching the attention of everyone, but I continued.

"Oscar's laughing because, to be honest, the trainers and the collection here are limited compared to the US. So, I took a ton of classes in the US when I had the time to fly back."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And did you know? Unless you're a member of a gun range and unless you join the competitions for shooting here, you're only allowed to stock up to 50 rounds of ammo all in all?"

"What? Really?" Kaley looked surprised.

"You don't know? You trained with guns, right?"

"Well, d-dad just kept on buying ammo after ammo… I'm pretty sure we had more than 50 rounds at home and he's not a member of any ranges…"

"Then your dad's something else. I don't know much about him but I'm sure he's fucking American in spirit, heh." Oscar chuckled when he discovered that Kaley's dad was doing the same thing as him. Anyone could hoard ammo as long as you're good at hiding it and you have the hookup.

'I got a membership just so I could buy a fuck ton without anyone's suspicion.' I chuckled inwardly.

"I see… what else did you do aside from learning to shoot then?" Kaley asked.

"Hmm~ Aside from already knowing Kenjutsu and Karate ever since I was young, I took a few more classes for self-defense. I even managed to learn different disciplines but they all vary in proficiency. You see, a gun is always the equalizer but there will be times when a gun is off your hands. Whether you know more than pulling the trigger or not could be the difference between life and death." then I turned to Oscar, "What's that saying again?"

Oscar chuckled, "Better to have and not need than to need and not have. But in your case, kid… you went a little crazy."

Kaley was staring at me for a few moments, "Wow, this is very different from the things that you used to geek about."

"Hah! Geeking out about something could be about anything, really. But yeah, I also learned how to cook, grow my own food, catch fish, take care of certain animals, perform basic first aid, fix household problems, perform advanced car maintenance, etc. I learned as much as I could during these years and having a photographic memory helped a ton. The easiest ones to do are the things that only need memorization," I paused as I drank a sip of water.

"With that said, the ones that took me a bit of time to learn are things that you need to practice over and over. You know, some practical or manual stuff you need to dig deep on. I'll say that I'm probably the Jack of 'Most' Trades but as I said earlier, there are differences in skill level. Oh! I remember that time when Oscar dropped me off to one of his old buddies—"

Oscar suddenly cackled, "Hah! I remember that! That was fun—"

"No, it wasn't! I thought I was gonna die!"

Oscar doubled down, "But did'ja?!"

"No— But that's not the point! I thought I was just gonna fucking sightsee with this old fuck but next thing I know, I was full-sprinting uphill with a 50kg bag, getting knifed while covered in mud, getting pulled down the water, and shit! I was there for six months and I later found out it was actually what a few soldiers go through. There wasn't even Internet!"

Oscar started cackling again, "And it was the fucking no Internet that broke you— heh, just kidding. But you finished it though! Much earlier than expected too! You would've been kept there for a year but my friend told me you were basically breezing through the training after a month. I didn't tell you before but they would've drafted you with all the benefits plus extra but I know you'll fucking refuse."

"Hah! Ready for what? Vietnam?" I joked.

The moment I said that, Oscar was fucking shocked and he almost choked and died on the spot. However, he just shook his head amusedly after drinking a copious amount of water.

"Jesus fucking christ, kid. Fucking chill."

Olivia chimed in, "But how did both of you manage to get this place? It's really~ big."

Oscar and I said at the same time, "Money?"

"N-N-Not what I meant, I mean… this place must've cost a lot! You must be loaded! You're a veteran, right? How much money did they—"

Kaley suddenly cut her off, "Olivia, that's rude."

Olivia just realized what she was about to ask but Oscar just laughed it off. However, his eyes turned solemn after a few moments before he sighed and turned to Olivia.

"Well listen here, young lass. I may have some money stored but most of the veterans in the US are treated very poorly after they retire. You might see some good things from your computers or your phones but it's just the other side of the coin. Some of them would have a hard time transitioning back to society because all they know from all those years away from their family is war and conflict…"

Oscar continued, "Yeah, a few of them would be lucky to have a roof over their heads because most of them would be left with no money, homeless, cheated on, and much worse that I'd rather spare you the details of. So much for being called a hero, eh?"

"That… That sounds awful… I'm sorry..." Olivia said with an apologetic expression.

"It's all good… Hmm, good thing I have saved a bit so I could help myself. I could say that I'm one of the lucky ones…"

"And your daughter?"

"What about her?"

"What's she doing right now?"

"Honestly? I don't know."

"Huh?"

"She's still in the Navy, probably… but we haven't had much contact since my wife passed…"

"I-I'm sorry…"

"No problems, young lass. It's been a while, I'm over it. If you don't already know, I'm enjoying retired life as you see, heh."

"T-Then what did you do before you met each other?" Olivia followed up with another question.

"Hmm~ Oh, I just lived alone in my house and even though I'm getting by good from working 40 years in the army, boredom always comes knocking. So, I had to entertain myself. It took me a bit of time but I eventually learned how to look for good shows on the internet— and I'm already prepping at the time so it was nice sharing what I know from a few old folks that were doing the same thing."

"I see…"

"But after a time, I discovered this zombie undead genre, and to be honest, this was the last thing on my mind that I thought was gonna happen in real life. But, there were a lot of entertaining shows that came with it so I booked myself a ticket to attend one of the shows I liked that was gonna be on this convention thing. Fuck me, I thought it was gonna be like the old conventions I used to attend but the shit I saw was fucking wild…"

This time, I was the one who started to cackle because what happened at Comic-Con, stays in Comic-Con.

Oscar glared at me, "Ha-ha, laugh all you want, kid, but I swear that thing I saw in that section isn't supposed to go there. A-Anyway, as luck would have it, I met this little shit at that hellscape. We got to talking and I don't know what it is but I got really interested in this little fucker. The way he looks at things from a different perspective and how his head works is fucking different from normal people. I'M normal people, so I know what I'm talking about."

I never looked so confused, "What do you mean by that, old man?"

"Bah! You'll never get what I mean. To make the long story short and to tie our stories together, we became really good buddies. When I got the news that he was flying back, I decided to follow after him. So, I sold all my property in Texas and decided to move here. There's nothing keeping me there anyway and most of the stuff here is very fucking cheap. That means I could live the life of a king while using only a fraction of my savings."

Olivia nodded a few times, "I see… that's smart."

Oscar chuckled, "Yeah, then I asked him for help to find a place that I could move into. He said that it'll take some time to find the right one but he generously offered his home so I could avoid sleeping at an expensive hotel. While we were looking around, we 'remodeled' his house for the time being but after a good bit—"

Olivia interjected, "You found this place, right?"

"Bingo!" Oscar pointed at Olivia with an approving look, "Yeah, this was the place we bought," then Oscar turned to me, "We bought this from the Cruz Family, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, that's right. The Cruz Family was planning to move to Australia and they were selling this place lower than the market price. It even helped us greatly that my parents knew them so we got a really good price, it's basically a steal. They planned to sell everything for PHP 64 Million (1.25 Million USD) but they sold it to us for PHP 42 Million (825 Thousand USD). It's still pretty steep but Oscar footed most of it."

"And what we got to thank for that is the conversion rate, kid. US Dollars converted to Philippine Pesos goes a very long way." Oscar added.

"Hmm, that's the reason why most people here tried to work overseas. Anyway, did you guys buy this place already like this, or did you guys remodel it as well?" Kaley asked.

The moment Kaley asked that, Oscar and I started laughing.

"W-What's wrong?"

"Why don't you answer, kid?" Oscar was shaking his head with a huge smile.

"Umm… essentially, we tore the whole place down and built it from scratch. Everything you see here was built through our design. It took a lot of time and money but I still couldn't say that it was fully completed. I wanted to add more things to it but this fucking zombie thing happened. Well, we'll still continue to work on this place while we're dealing with our other problems."

Oscar suddenly exploded, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THE FUCKING LOOK ON THEIR FACES WHEN WE MOVED IN WITH A WRECKING BALL!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"A-Are you two serious?!" Olivia was shocked as well as the few people that were listening to our conversation.

"Yep, every word of it," Oscar and I simultaneously said.

"B-But why though? Just from a thought that something might happen?"

"Yeah, and because we can," Oscar answered, then we looked at each other.

We stared at each other for a short moment before we started laughing once more. My relatives and friends that thought we lost our minds before couldn't utter a word because this place was Noah's Ark and the things we would encounter would be the flood.

"Seriously though, we really just wanted to build something of our own. There's nothing bad to come out of that, right? We just wanted to feel secure and not blame ourselves when shit hits the fan. Honestly, I just started prepping as a hobby at first too. We just rushed on building this thing when we witnessed 'that' shit. However, if you want to do something, you need to do it right or it'll come and bite you back in the ass."

Oscar put a lot of emphasis on the word 'that' that made Kaley and the rest of them give him a questioning look.