Tunnel Rat Chapter 284 (Raw) (Patreon)

Head is hurting something fierce after writing. Still recovering. Will edit later.

================================================================

Bunnies?!"

The shout from Min was followed by a rush of feet as all of the children and teens rushed out the front door, followed by Brad and Butch walking slower as they tried not to gape at the houses and trees. Seeing pictures of trees was one thing, but this was like another world. Butch's gang had been on a field trip in the last year outside of the habitat, experiencing the smoggy sky above the city and visiting a small park with brown grass flattened by many feet and trees struggling for light between the tall buildings. This recreation deep underground was more enchanting than that dried-up slice of urban nature.

Mama sighed and said to Milo, "Hon, trying to warn hab kids about the possible dangers of live rabbits is a lost cause. They only get to see a live animal once a year when someone brings in a couple of goats and calls it a 'petting zoo'. You'd have had better luck asking them to give up video games for a month."

Based on the results, Milo had to agree. The group invaded the park, searching and finding its fuzzy and surprisingly tame inhabitants. The younger rabbits were a bit skittish, but the older adults hopped into laps to be petted and fawned over, although a little disappointed by the lack of treats. The Roomba circled the park and took up stations,  and Milo relaxed.

The trip down the elevator had been filled with questions that Milo tried to answer, but only confused everyone more. They started to understand as he led them through the security area and into the upper story of Independence Hall. Curiosity turned to surprise as they saw hallways with wooden paneling, colorful wallpaper, and polished oak floors. Surprised turned to awe as they descended the stairs further and finally came to the large meeting rooms on the bottom floor and got a glimpse of the trees through the windows. The children had abandoned their burdens as they ran to the park, and now the adults did the same as they stared at the realistic sky overhead, the park, and curving streets dotted with 'outside houses'.

James started to slowly walk around the park, chuckling at the names of the houses, possibly the only person there that knew the history of each one. He saw a rabbit scamper out from behind a house, stopping to chew something green before running to the park. He slowly walked that way to take a look, snorting when he saw a half eaten carrot. He picked it up and smelled it. "Someone isn't keeping their 'ponics running good, Milo. Too much fertilizer in the mix."

Milo had looked at the overgrown hydroponics area he'd found, but not given it much thought at the time. "I don't think anyone's looked at it in years, James." The old man nodded and kept walking slowly around the park.

Big Butch turned to Milo, "Real wood houses? Hydroponics? And the trees! Amazing. But who lives here? This can't be as empty as it seems."

"I live here! Hi! I'm Rusty! Milo told me he was bringing friends to live here. This is going to be great!" Rusty's voice came from a speaker in a lamp post on the corner, startling everyone but Milo.

The idea of a lamp post talking wasn't too odd to Big Butch. He took it for granted at work that someone was always watching, and the boss might suddenly address everyone over speakers from some office. It was the enthusiasm and rapid speech that surprised him. Whoever Rusty was, he seemed friendly. "Hi, Rusty. Thank you for letting us shelter here, we'll try not to take up too much space. Is it alright that the kids play in the park? And what room should we take."

"Oh, the park? Yes, everyone can play in the park. The rabbits get lonely. I've tried to talk to them, but it only confuses them. The birds just ignore me.  All the houses are empty and no one uses them. Everyone can have a house. And Milo found some stuff inside them that made him happy. You can have all of the stuff that's left inside, I don't need it."

Mama looked at the size of the houses. "Thank you, Rusty, that's very generous of you. We'll start with part of one, they look awful big."

"Rusty? How is Belinda? Mama, I need to show you where Belinda is so someone can keep watch on her. She's been sick again and needs to rest, but it worried me to leave her here. Rusty doesn't know enough about medicine or how to read the data from the pod."

"Belinda is sleeping, and nothing on her pod is beeping, booping, lit up or doing anything you said was bad, so I think she is ok. She's asleep, boring, and not watching anime with me. Maybe when you go to check on her you could show the others the large video complex where we can watch movies together? Just a thought I had. I'll get everything set up while you walk over!"

Butch and Brad looked at each other and smiled. "Now that sounds like a wonderful idea."

Mama shook her head in wonder. "Sounds like Rusty will fit right in with this crowd. And show us where that girl is at. We'll watch over her."

The medical lab drew more shocked gasps. It was a small hospital, in and of itself, and far larger than the clinics in the hab that served thousands of people daily. Belinda's pod was undisturbed and she was fast asleep. Milo had to remind himself it had only been a couple of hours since he left her here. He explained some of her condition, and watched the adults grow angry and concerned.
"One of us will always be here. We'll take turns watching over her. I suspect you have more mysterious work to get done."

Milo sagged against the wall. "More than ever. There are more of those mercenaries running around upstairs, and Belinda is upset about it. She's worried about her friend Eric. I have to talk to him and see what I can do. And then there's the problems with her Dad. He's going to explode when he hears about what happened today. And her Uncle Victor is still pulling strings. But she should be safe down here. No one can find us, trust me on that. I'll be back in a few hours. Keep everyone busy and don't go past the big double doors, the air gets bad. I saw some food in the houses, and I can bring more here from freezers I found in the bad-air sections."

He would have said more, but Rusty's voice yelled out, suddenly, "MILO! Quick, I found it."

"Found what?"

"One of the injured security drones activated while you were gone and I've been looking for it. I have all the others accounted for, but not Black13. It just activated and is moving towards the hydroponics area."

Milo started running and then heard the unmistakable sound of James firing his gun. The antique was powerful, but it wasn't as fast as a laser wielded by a robot. With dread in the pit of his stomach he burst into the room to see a white-faced Kenji staring at James. The old man twirled his gun and put it back into its holster. Nearby was the security Roomba, unmoving with a smoking hole where it's laser should be.

Milo was relieved but puzzled. "How did you shoot first?"

The old man shook his head in disgust. "Fool thing got the drop on me, but started yelling something about 'intruders' and 'kill the humanoid'. That was my clue to shoot it. If you don't mind, I'm going to get to work sorting out these hydroponic farms. Loads of work to do and Kenji here has his eye on some of my games and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, so I've got a helper. It's all been growing wild for years with the automatic systems dumping seeds and fertilizer willy-nilly. The place is jam-packed with half eaten carrots. No wonder those rabbits are so fat."