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Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 9b: Undermoutain


Dawn OOC

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She didn't quite make it back to the sun; Cerberus, in the form of three guards at the main level. "Hey," one said in surprise, forgetting the more formal words, "you're not supposed to be up here."

The second man said, "The general didn't say you would be coming through. So you'll have to go back."

"Ira just wants to see his car, check and make sure it's alright," Felicia said. "Could we just slip out?"

"Come on, you know we can't let you," the third said. "We'll get in a lot of trouble."

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"Well," Ira said, holding his arms out in supplication, "one of you could come with us. I mean, dudes, you've got guns and I've got someone in hospice and another with bandages nearly covering her eyes, what are we gonna do? Run?" Ira scoffed at the end, judging his own statement to be entirely preposterous.

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The guards looked uneasily at one another. "We can't leave our posts," one said.

"Good for you," Felicia replied with a grin. "I was wondering if you gents would recall that." She gave them a thumbs up, and her tone was just bland enough to make them wonder if she was mocking them, without being able to say she was. "So I guess we can go, then?"

"One of you will have to stay here," the guard said, looking from Ira to Cassie. "The Sergeant can go, but we need you to stay."

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Ira smirked, "Fair enough men. Though really, don't ya think you're being a bit paranoid? All our crap is still down in our luxury suite. Can't leave without my tunes now can I?"

"Cass, Baby. Why don't you stay here and keep these boys entertained while me and the Hotness here go back to the Upchuck." Ira said, putting an arm around his Lady, "Should be back in two shakes of a zombie's limb."

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Her purple eyes went wide at his request, her social anxiety rearing its ugly head. But her trust in him was complete and she just nodded. Ira gave her a kiss on the cheek for being so helpful while one of the guards let them out.

Felicia inhaled deeply as she entered the tunnel. Despite being thick with the smell of so many people in too-close proximity, the air in the tunnel also had that fresh smell of freedom. With a bit of effort, they commandeered a golf cart and soon were zooming toward the end of the tunnel. "So is she going to follow?" Felicia asking him softly, her dark eyes concerned as she leaned in toward him. "Or is this just a test run?"

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"If she can hold it together, I'm hopin' she'll wait. It'll be easier to get this done if the guards trust us a bit. Right now, they're all paranoid, like they're staring at a corpse, waitin' for the the finger to twitch so they can shoot it. Besides, I wasn't kiddin'. I want my stuff."

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Felicia didn't look entirely like she believed him; she grinned and took his arm, laughing, "If she runs, I'm sure she'll be willing to pop back for your things, Ira. Cassie would pop to the moon for you, she's crazy about you." She leaned against him, and he could feel how tired she was, just from this exertion.

They burst out the end of the tunnel into daylight, leaving both of them blinking at the sudden visual assault. Felicia sighed with satisfaction and held out an arm, letting the sun soak into her honeyed skin. "It's easy to forget how good this feels when you're stuck in a hole. Thanks for getting me out."

Ahead of them, he Up-Chuck waited, looking all the trashier for its association with the well-maintained military vehicles.

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Ira pulled the Golf Cart SS up to the Nova, making sure to ease it to a stop for Felicia's sake. He hopped out of the cart and pulled the keys from the pocket of his pants, the place they rarely left outside of the ignition.

"Yeah, I've got a thing for her too, I guess." he said, flipping up the trunk lid after beating it the requisite amount of times.

"Wanna make this good? C'mere and help me find where a bullet lodged in my stuff."

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Felicia carefully got out of the cart and moved to his side, holding onto the car and making every attempt to not appear to be clinging to the car. "Bullet?" she asked. "From what?"

As they leaned over and rummaged through the trunk, Ira explained his run-in with the crazies. Felicia shook her head. “That’s nuts,” she exclaimed, groping under a bag of cans. Suddenly, she jerked her hand back; it was wet and slick. “Eww!” she groaned, then cautiously sniffed. Her face twisted more and she hissed, “Tuna.” With the classic expression of someone trying not to hurl, she tottered over to a patch of grass and began to wipe her hand clean. “Sorry, strong smells make me sick to my stomach.”

They had found the bullet and the mess it had made passing through a can of tuna.

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"That explains the fishy smell." Ira said, with a wry grin. "It is the Up Chuck after all, I mean, c'mon, whaddya expect?"

Ira grabbed a roll of paper towels and a bottle of cleaner and went to town on the bare metal of the trunk, making quick work of the mess. The only casualty being the can itself and a sickly cleaner/tuna smell hovering in the area.

Confident there wasn't any fish or oil left to go rancid, he gathered the used materials and shoved them into a plastic grocery bag and tied it off. As he leaned back out of the trunk, he grabbed a Snickers from his box and held it out towards Felicia, raising his eyebrows and nodding at it, "Too strong a smell Hotness, or is chocolate still okay?"

His answer came in the form of a weak punch in the shoulder as she took it from him and turned around to lean on the Nova as she peeled open the rare treat. "Chocolate is always okay, Ira." she purred, savoring the first bite a little too much.

He smiled at her back and gave a slight huff of amusement as he grabbed another four bars before bringing down the heavy trunk lid, jumping Felicia out of her reverie.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, baby. Her rear ain't as smooth as it used to be." he answered, pocketing the keys and his pea-nutty goodness. "Let's see how Cass is faring 'fore she blows a social gasket."

Sliding into the driver's seat again, he waited for Felicia to get in, her mouth tantalizingly wrapped around the Snickers, giving her two free hands to ease herself in.

Once she was set, he pulled away, heading back to the entrance.

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Cassie was really happy to see him return. The two guards were staring at her, clearly unnerved. It would have been funny to see the two big guys clearly freaked out if Ira hadn't had a pretty good idea why they were so upset. Cassie came to him and grabbed him in an enthusiastic hug; then she gave Felicia the same.

Felicia took one last deep breath of unfiltered air and followed them inside. Once they were alone, she said, "That was nice, to be outside! What's the next step on the plan?"

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As they pulled away from the two guards, Ira quickly pulled out two Snickers from his pocket and tossed them back at the guards, holding out a 'thumbs up' as the swerved away.

Almost forgot to feed the dogs.

Originally Posted By: Felicia
Once they were alone, she said, "That was nice, to be outside! What's the next step on the plan?"

"We keep it up, make them get used to us, every day stay at the car a little longer. Then, when we get our supplies..." Ira shrugged, "We don't come back, simple as that, baby."

~~~

And that is exactly what they did. Everyday, returning at the same time, conditioning the guards to their habit and rewarding them with junk food from Ira's trunk. It was costing him heavily in his stash, but if it got them out with Felicia and no fight, it was worth it. They kept there promise to bring Felicia to the medbay, regardless of her protests, Ira didn't need any reason for the military to take any more notice of him than they already were.

The casual pumping of information also continued, Tyler trying more than once to get Ira ensnared into a dialogue. Only Ira's quick wit and previous experience keeping him from falling into the charming man's web.

Ira finally remembered to check their room for bugs thoroughly, but found only the ones he was sure he was meant to find and kept the conversation in the luxury suite more to the language of love, which Cass seemed more than happy to do.

He had a deep, nagging itch about Cass' last 'outburst', the nature of it striking a nerve, but he wasn't willing to bring it up in the Undermountain and had kept his mouth shut about it except for a mention to Cassie to talk about it at a future time.

He found himself thinking about it again as they drove out of the tunnel and into the daylight, having been notified that supplies were at his vehicle and he could pack them as he wished. Ira was hoping that this excuse would get all three of them to the vehicle and they could finally blow the joint.

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The first sign that things wouldn’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped occurred when he saw the approaching cart. A familiar form leaned out, clearly peering more closely at them, then waved, clearly asking them to slow down. Because ignoring the general of the place would be suspicious, Ira brought his cart to a stop next to where the general’s had stopped.

“Ira, Cassie, Sergeant. I see you’re going out to inspect the reward. I’ll come with you.” He looked at the man driving, and the underling nodded.

“Oh, that’s alright,” Ira said, trying to seem casual about it. “We can get it.”

“Nonsense, no point in not coming to help. Plus, I want to make sure you’re happy with it,” the General added.

There was no dissuading him, so they had little choice but to allow him to follow them out. Next to the UpChuck was several plastic containers. They were a bit bulky, so Ira opened up one and began to sort it into his trunk. Several sets of clothing, most of it actually civvie garb, some food and some of that was pure junk food. There was a couple of cans of gas and a small box of various batteries. But the best was a handful of military-grade equipment – some binoculars, a couple of flashlights and even a compass encased in plastic and steel. It looked like he could roll the tires of the Up-chuck over it and not break it. This was going to turn out to be a profitable run for him, helping Felicia notwithstanding.

The general and his lackey helped him load up, following his directions about where to put stuff. “That sufficient?” the general asked.

“Sure.” Ira would have accepted less than that; it was a reward, and he didn’t have any say in what they gave him.

“I imagine you’ll be taking off soon,” Nelson remarked idly. “We’ll miss you, won’t we Felicia?”

“Yes, sir,” she said quickly, doing a reasonable job of looking sad at the prospect. It was Cassie who looked too wary suddenly but General Nelson didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, before you leave, let’s let you meet the president. When I told him you might be going soon, he promised to cut out some time for you.” He glanced his watch. “Right about now, in fact. Shall we?”

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One last time they drove down the long corridor, unloaded themselves and headed down the elevator. This time it kept going and going. The sense of being deep under the earth became a crushing pressure; the part of them that was still hardwired with a tree-dweller's responses knew that this was where the predators laid in wait.

The doors opened on a lushy appointed suite; soft music piped into the room, the blue grass tunes at odds with the interior. General Nelson walked past the guards to a door and opened it for them. As he did, Felicia took a seat in one of the spare chairs to wait for them.

The next room held the prize. A massive and very clean desk occupied the far end of the room, which was familiar. With a start, Ira realized it was a replica of the Oval Office, down to the window behind the desk. This window looked out into a green room, where a small hydroponic garden grew. The lights were odd, and Ira guessed them to be the green-lights, the ones that emulate sunlight.

The man at the desk was exactly who he expected to be, grinning at him widely. "Mr. President," General Nelson said, "this is Ira Sagebrush, and Cassandra. They're the ones who rescued our personnel."

"Oh, yes," the president drawled, his voice thick with his usual Texan accent. He looked old and tired, as if he'd aged years in the last six months. "We're most grateful for that, and for your continued service."

"Oh, hmm, I hadn't gotten around to discussing that with them," Nelson said smoothly, not at all perturbed by the slip-up.

"Oh, well, oops," the president laughed. "I'm tasting sole, now, aren't I? Hmm, fish sounds good for lunch. Would you kids like to join me for lunch? Cook does some wonderful stuff to catfish - you'll never notice it's been frozen."

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Ira had fully expected it to be 'W', but still breathed a mental sigh of relief that it wasn't Darth Cheney. Despite all the insubordination and zombie apocalypse, standing in front of the President still imbued a sense of awe and nervousness in Ira and the hand he extended to offer his greeting was clammy and shaking a bit.

Recovering his wits as quickly as they were gone, he cleared his throat and glanced at the General before quickly looking back to George, "Um, lunch, yeah, that'd be great, but you can nix the extended service there. I'm not a taxi."

He knew that wasn't what they were talking about, but playing dumb gave you the advantage when you weren't, especially dealing with one who was obviously a dimwit.

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He took Ira's hand and shook it, not reacting to Ira's nervousness. Cassie's hesitantly offered hand was shaken more gently. "Well, what would you like to eat?" Bush asked, standing and moving around the desk. He opened a hidden door and waved them casually through, as the ubiquitous men in suits watched them all sharply. The new room was long and had couches in one half and a small dining table in the other end. "We have plenty of stuff frozen, despite how fast our specialists go through it. Boy, I tell you I wish I had their metabolism. Love to be able to eat Bar-BQ all day, right?"

He was surprisingly charming with a definite 'good ole boy' vibe. "You know," he continued, "Bar-BQ sounds good. How about it?"

"Yes, Mr. President," Ira said, not at all willing to pass up such a treat.

"Ah, call me George. We're all friends here, right?" Bush grinned happily, as if treating the two vagabond guests was a pure delight.

"Felicia," Cassie murmured softly.

"You want her to join us? Not a problem, especially for a pretty lady," the president joked, winking at her. Cassie blushed and squirmed, and it was impossible to tell if she were flattered or not. "John, bring her in, will you?"

"Yes, sir," Nelson said, rising and leaving the room.

"So," Bush said, taking a seat on the couches and waving them to another, "what did you two do before this zombie thing?"

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Ira's mind raced with the possible answers and how that would affect the line of discussion. How it could be used against him to draft him into further service.

Basically his mind decided that if he said anything remotely positive, they would try to hold it up to a 'remember when...' and 'wouldn't it be nice...'

So he went with the most horrible aspect he could dredge from the Utopia that his previous life seemed to be now.

"Wal-Mart, you?" Ira responded, wishing he had something to drink right about now.

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"Walmart! The backbone of our country, that was." Bush sighed. "I miss that place. Where else could you pick up a nice tie, a gun and dog food at the same time? What'd you do there?"

He seemed genuinely interested in Ira's response, as if his former job was a matter of great importance to the man. And maybe it was.

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Ira couldn't help but be infected by the charm, it was nice to be around positive people, in a non-dreary, zombie-torn environment with the imaginary smell of BBQ in the air. That did not, however, remove his caution and self-preservation instinct.

What did I do? I dealt with the public.

Even that memory had turned fond in these twilight times.

"Sporting Goods; fishing poles, bowling balls and camping gear, ya know, the usual." he reponded, a faint smile on his lips.

But they're all dead, thanks to you.

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"Aw, hell my favorite department!" Bush laughed, slapping his leg. "Let me tell you, I miss fishing something awful. There's a pool here, but they get upset if I try to cast into those waters."

The door on the far side opened, bringing the scent of cooking meat and a familiar older woman. She moved to Bush's side, a pleasant smile on her face. "Hello," Laura said, taking their hands before sitting down. "I heard we had company and couldn't resist. I'm Laura Bush."

"I was just talking with Cassie and Ira here," Bush added, putting an arm around his wife.

"It's so nice to meet you," Laura said. Whatever else she started to say was cut off when Nelson returned with Felicia. Their friend quickly sat down next to Ira, her body language relaxing as she pressed her shoulder to his. "Hello, Felicia, how are you?"

"Better, now that I've got the needle out of my arm," Felicia said, smiling.

"Yes, your color is better," Laura said. Her calm smile seemed to be a permament part of her expression. With that, she defty guided the conversation to more pleasant topics, even managing to draw some fond stories of pre-Z-day out of them. All save Cassie, that is; Ira's Lady remained silent, holding his hand, watching the others talk.

The door that Laura had come through opened again, and this time the smell of bar-BQed meat rolled into the room. Ira's mouth started to water as kitchen staff - still in military uniforms - began to bring out corn on the cob, french fries, cole slaw and, last, a massive platter of bar-BQ. There were several pieces of different types of meat.

It was a feast that once would have been standard fare at any bar-BQ shack in the south. Now, it was divine manna, straight from Heaven. Bush didn't hardly need to say, "Let's eat!" Everyone was already rising, their eyes on the food.

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