It was quiet for a few seconds before my words registered in Ruben's head—and the crowd watching—though once it did, he just straight up ran down the stage before quickly running back up, giving me another deep bow, before eventually making his way back to their dormitories.
And the murmurs and gossip started from the small group right in front of the stage.
"W-Wait a sec… He got accepted on the get-go, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"That means everyone before he got on stage was already rejected!"
"What?!"
"NO WAY!"
"N-No… It's basically just the golden buzzer, right?"
"Oh!"
"OHHHHHHHHH~!!!"
"But then again… Is he just looking for tough dudes or short dudes? Or just dudes?"
"Definitely not someone with your analytical skills…"
"The fuck did you just say?!"
"He probably has his own criteria but Ruben's not the first one to get accepted…"
"HUH?!"
"WHAT?!"
"Alexa from Seb's group was already accepted even before the audition started."
"Huh? Isn't she just Seb's girl? Of course, he had to bring her in."
"Does that mean Janet's gonna get in too?"
"Pfft! You don't know anything, huh?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"They cut it off a week ago, I believe he's dating Megan now. For sure."
"Megan?! I thought she was into girls?"
"Not anymore, I guess."
"Man~ Being the Baron has its perks, huh?"
JP suddenly spoke to the group that was talking at a volume loud enough for everyone to hear but stupid enough to notice that the subject of their conversation was right fucking behind them. In which case, I didn't perceive what JP told them but they quickly shrank down and made themselves scarce.
To be fair, they didn't actually badmouth him but it's totally different when the person who knows his secret could hear what that group was saying out loud.
Isaac gave me a quick nudge as he whispered while looking directly at the crowd, "Saw that, bro?"
"Yep. Just keep quiet, I'll handle it."
"Handle what?" Kaley and Quinn turned their heads to me at the same time.
"Some guy stuff, not important… for now…"
As I said that, Quinn just fixed the way she was sitting on her chair and continued looking disinterested about the whole talent show while Kaley was definitely using her fucking psychic powers to somehow read my mind or connect the dots. And yeah, if she figured the whole thing just with that, I'll 100% believe she had some actual powers.
But going back to our current situation, we actually had two more people that would come with JP and Seb—Alexa and Ruben—and I'm probably gonna need a couple more to even the numbers.
I wasn't with my complete group even if I had "replacements", so I'm gonna make use of the added numbers to make up for the lack of familiarity—not quality. I've uncovered some pretty dark shit or history about these people but we need more time together in order for me to use them like extended limbs.
In any case, it didn't take long before #1 came up on stage and introduced himself.
"Yo, I'm James Chu—and yeah, I'm Filipino-Chinese… I grew up here most of my life and I'm turning 20 this year. I don't have any unique skills to be completely honest but I was the last man standing when Major Perez made us run around the academy when one of us fucked up."
I turned to Major Perez, "For real?"
He nodded a few times before he answered, "Yeah. He ran two laps more than everybody before he realized everyone tapped out."
Isaac interjected, "How about that guy who can hold his breath for more than five minutes—"
Major Perez scoffed, "Hah! I don't even remember that other kid getting close, to be honest. It's impressive he could hold his breath like that but it's a different ball game when you're doing something strenuous. It's a mix between jogging and running but you understand where I'm getting at, right?"
I nodded as I turned to #1 with an approving look, [Large VO2 Max Capacity, nice.]
"What?"
[Let's just say you're really~ great at cardio, something a certain family I know should do more of…]
As soon as I said that, Quinn gave me a "gentle" nudge with her elbow though I kept a straight face right until we saw #1 off the stage. I didn't accept him like I did with Ruben but he had the top spot just for having Rule #1 of Zombieland down to a T.
Because in Ruben's case, it was more to his knowledge about trees that had good-quality or even premium-quality lumber because this far in the apocalypse, we can't just rely on the warehouses we were cleaning up for building materials. Sooner than later, we'd have to start chopping our own trees—like our main goal for visiting the hot springs: acquiring a sample of its sulfur to analyze it to have a source in the future.
And right after #1 came #2.
"Greetings, the name's James Tiu—"
[Hold up, you two also have the same last name? I thought—]
"No, no, no, James' last name is spelled as C-H-U while mine's spelled as T-I-U."
[Ahh…]
He chuckled as he gave me a smile, "Confusing, huh? We get that a lot. You can stick to #1 and #2 if it's easier."
[I will do that—]
Tatiana interjected, [But how do the other people call you two? Do they call one of you James and the other one their last name just to avoid confusion or something?]
"Great question! The answer is: no. We just embrace the confusion and move on. Every day has been boring lately so that few seconds of confusion is a lot."
[Hah! Can we take this kid? He's kinda funny.]
I chuckled before I turned to #2 again, [You're already getting some favors from my group, huh? But before we get into that, what can you put on the table? Your talent, I mean. Because on your sheet of paper here, you wrote that you're the guy to call if anyone wants to have a good time. How true is that?]
"Well~ It's because I could really check the vibe or read the room really well— And since we're going on a road trip, I got a good mix of tunes in my drive but if you're gonna put me in the back, I can hand out snacks and shit and refill them when you're about to run out. Also! I'm kind of an insomniac so if we ever drove at night, you can fucking trust me that I'll be awake the whole time. Just don't freak out if you woke up and mistake me for your paralysis demon, I have no control over that… happened to my friend once, it's crazy~"
[Ah…]
"Wait! Wait! Wait! I'm not done!"
[Go ahead, your two minutes are still going—]
"Right! I'm also a great 'trip'-sitter, if you know, you know~ I can do your laundry, cook your meals, take point, clean the car, etc. but the one thing I'll never do is listen to fucking bullshit. Trust me, if I ever smell a whiff of that shit, I'll fucking call you out! And I'm talking to fucking everybody here! *turns around to face everyone* You know who you are! That's why I fucking stopped talking to you, you need a fucking father figure, not a fucking 'daddy' to call you babygirl— Blech~ I'm not your fucking step-dad but I'm gonna be your fucking dad who stepped up!"
At this point, it couldn't be more quiet because #2 started going on a rant that we didn't think would air out some dirty laundry about his peers. However, my group was already egging me on to press the golden buzzer because sometimes, a companion like #2 was what anyone would need even if they're 'already set', and like #1, I put #2 on the waitlist—making my preferred number of people to take with me complete.
I could easily say that the audition was already over but I still have tens of cadets to go through, and I was just making sure that I sorted through all of them before heading out.
But yeah, a quick glance through the list didn't awaken something in me or made me excited because the majority of the talents left were something we already had or didn't need. However, it didn't take long before someone with an impressive resume came up but I sure as hell was already bent on pressing the red buzzers the moment we met eyes.
It was JP's right hand who fought tooth and nail just to deny me his megaphone, but right now, he looked like he'd suck dick and sell one of his kidneys so that I'd let him accompany the Baron.
"G-Greetings! I'm Lucas, 21 years old, #2 on the kill rankings with 2,212 confirmed zed kills. I'm adept at using rifles and handguns, and I hold the top 5 record for stripping our M4s and putting them back together blindfolded—the same with our 1911s. And with our shooting drills, I'm only second to the Baron and I'm 3rd on CQC. I can—"
[Lucas.]
"Sir?"
[Look around you, everyone can do that. My instruction to all of you is to put something that sets you apart from the rest AND at the same time, it should be something that's totally unrelated to what you're doing here. Do you only listen to JP or do you have a hard time listening to instructions?]
"I-I'm—"
[I'll give you 30 seconds, give me something that'll make you ride with us.]
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