Chapter 28 Clothes make the woman! I should only wear BDU

They packed their things, went shopping and had the groceries delivered to their home, then bought clothes for Liz. 

As far as she was concerned, jogging bottoms, cargo pants and a T-shirt with a hoodie or leather jacket over the top were enough. 

What she always wore or had worn. But instead she was given decent civilian clothes that made her look her age. In addition to the sports underwear, she also had to get the classy clothes, Liz looked confused, the last time she had worn something like that was because of Pierre.

Then came socks and shoes. She had to lug five bags to the car. 

"Hey, why do I have to wear this?" she complained.

"Your clothes" Mei grinned at her. 

" ¾ you forced them on me. "

" You must be up to date, sister." 

" Good, I only wear uniform now, " she mumbled. 

" No no no " Gitte turned to her. " It's enough that your father has this attitude."

" He wears a T-shirt and jogging bottoms at home, doesn't he?"

" Yes, but no suits or whatever's in fashion at the moment."

"And what about Gala?"

"It would be nice and the High Command would do the same."

Gitte's cell phone buzzed, she looked, raised an eyebrow and typed a reply, which was answered directly with a groan. 

"Kids, I have to go. "

" Mom, have you ever thought that it's Dad texting you?"

" Yes, isn't that cute of him."

" Mom, what's cute about him setting you up." 

She grinned. 

"It keeps the marriage fresh."

"You're not married."

"Yes, we are, for the record, but we didn't have the official ceremony." She raised her hand and pointed to a ring on her finger.

"My mom has a similar one," Mei added.

"Then I'm going now. I want to see what your father has come up with." She gave Liz a kiss on the cheek. Mei froze and looked at Gitte.

" I'm not going to drag mom back to bed like last time. She came home with a stupid grin on her face."

" You won't see her until tomorrow morning."

" I hope so. She's supposed to help me look for an apartment."

Gitte grinned and jogged off. 

"So, what are we going to do now? We've got two hours to kill."

" Two hours? " Liz looked at her. 

" Well, it's still a bit from here to home, then the foreplay and so on. "

They arrived at the car, where she loaded the bags. 

 " You have foreplay? "

Mei looked at her.

"Now that you mention it. Even when we were little, they acted like hungry wolves."

" Hungry? "

Mei nodded. They got in the car and drove around the fast food places, stopping at one they liked. They ordered and ate.

"So Liz, tell me about it. Did you just have one?" 

She burped into her fist. 

" Just a fleeting one."

Mei rolled her eyes. 

" Okay. The first time you were gone? "

Liz pondered.

"That was Pierre, he was a doctor in an aid program. He had that French charm. In bed, well, average. He dumped me for a project manager and convinced me I was a mental wreck and had sexual problems and complexes. "

She lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. "Well, after that," she blew out a little cloud and looked at the cigarette. 

"It gets complicated. "

"Pffff complicated. Sis, I'm with a musician because I can't find anything that fulfills me with the boys. Do you understand? They're not enough. "

Liz nodded and took a drag on her cigarette. 

"After South America, I think a month after that. I was just drinking and getting into all kinds of stuff. I found two perfect ones," she looked at Mei. 

She ashed on the plate and looked at her.

Mei sipped the cup, coughing.

"Two?"

Liz looked at her thoughtfully. 

" The first was a mercenary, I think. I don't know. He had such an even-tempered demeanor, you know, paired with a bass. "

She shook herself. 

"He was always unshaven, had such an angular face. Arms full of tattoos, got me drunk under the table and ..."

"And?" Mei looked at her questioningly.

Liz tapped the ashtray with her fingertip. 

"I always had problems after sex, he always took me like there was no tomorrow. Once I was even afraid of getting pregnant."

Mei laughed. 

"I see, and the second time? "

Liz took a drag on her cigarette and looked at her.

"Well, that's why it's complicated, Mei, because of Uther. When I ran away, he took me in, even all the way to South America. I was so drunk and took all the drugs there were. He got me out of the alley, made sure I got clean and was even capable of the other two."

Mei looked at her.

"Mom said you were in college, which means you were the smartest one next to Sue."

" Yep, I was, but I was studying."

Mei scowled at her.

"No parties?"

Liz leaned back.

" No. That was right after the temperance age, I didn't have to worry about that. Who I am or who my parents are. "

"And what did you do?"

She took a drag on the fag.

" Mechanical engineering. "

" Oh ha, Mrs. Engineer then. "

Liz grinned.

"I just barely made it, then I started the Omega program."

"What part?"

She ashed on the empty plate.

" Imagine you start and they tell you your previous military training was crap. Which, if you look at them, is true. That I was faster than my mom, all thanks to Omega. You get scanned, the bio data is analyzed and the training is adjusted accordingly."

"Must be pretty expensive..."

"I've heard that every member of the company is sent for normal basic training. The soldiers from the Free States are also trained there. At a normal level. "

"So you're a super soldier then?"

"No, they told me. I don't have the practical experience. Ergo, after the program, mercenary again. I had more freedom there, as an Omega you're like the military. Better than the North Block, worse than the main squad. They're pure monsters whose only purpose in life is to fight for Uther, mercilessly hunting down and killing every enemy. "

"And how do you know that?" 

Liz rubbed the back of her neck.

" Tes sent me on a mission with them when I was overconfident. I could barely keep up. They're nice and polite, but otherwise they're beasts. They were sent to take a rebel stronghold that was bullying an area and looting everything in the area.

They made the mistake of raiding one of the group's convoys. There is a reason why Uther's corporation is on every continent and even running in the free states and infected, infested areas. Where the group is, there is life. They have defenses against the infected, they have often expanded the facilities so the land can be used. The rule is, attack them and you die."

Mei looked at her thoughtfully.

"Sounds more like a dictatorship to me."

"Yes. In terms of protection, yes, but otherwise things are run by the local people. Look at the big cities that exist in the infected areas, that's only possible because the corporations are there. The warlords know that too. They are trading. But these idiots thought they were better. So they sent the cadres. A pure bloodbath, today there is only landscape. "

"What do you mean by bloodbath?"

" Like he says, bloodbath, everyone was killed, hunted down. Those who were lucky died in a hail of bullets. Those who were unlucky."

She ran her finger across her throat.

" But doesn't that violate ..."

Liz looked at her.

"Mei, we're talking about Uther. They don't give a shit what the States think or want. Who do they get the weapons, the drugs, the vehicles, the electronics from? From him. 

" So that's not why you called?"

" Well, I only realized that earlier. ".

" Then why didn't you call? I was afraid of his reaction. Do you understand? I thought he would be disappointed or angry ... ". "

" Dad and disappointed? Liz, have you seen the last official photos of him? He doesn't look like that, sitting on the sofa in the cottage. Who did you call now? I mean, someone must have told Dad, right?"

"I was actually going to dial Dad's number, but then I called Uther. The fingers dialed on their own. "

" Hhmmm ..."

" And he had the Omegas with him, not security. "

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did some kind of operation, and his bodyguard is the hunting squad."

"Maybe, but the surrender made things easier for Dad. I saw him giving orders on his cell phone."

"Yes, Mom told me that she once took his cell phone because she wanted to check. But" Mei raised her index finger.

"She didn't find anything, so the Nord Block AI was working with him."

" Well, he left it out of the bunker too. "

They joked until they got up and walked back to the house. It was getting dark and Liz got out of the car with the bags. 

"I'm going to pick up April and Sue now."

" They can drive here ..."

" Bullshit, Sue has limited access to the underground and Jannet doesn't give a shit. "

With screeching tires, she sped off, leaving Liz alone with her bags. Sighing, she entered the house. It was quiet and dark. She put the suitcases in her old room. 

It was neutrally furnished. She was glad not to see the kitchen from before. She went into the kitchen to see if the delivery had arrived. She shuffled through the hallway into the kitchen and saw the outline of her father leaning against the counter, his head bowed, she heard him breathing.

"If I'm interrupting ... I can come later ..."

"No. Your mother finally fell asleep earlier. I'm just tired and need to catch my breath."

" Dad... .."

"Yes?" He lifted his head and turned it towards her.

She bit her lip. 

"I'm in trouble, Dad, and I love you."

He came up to her and hugged her.

"Liz, you're my star and I love you and your sisters and your mom and your aunts too. "

She pressed herself against him. "At some point I had to make a choice, Liz, and I decided to do everything I could to make you and the others happy."

She looked at him questioningly.

"Let's just say I had a long talk with Uther about it. "

"Thank you." 

" For what? "

" For everything you've done." 

He stroked her head.

" Do you think I can snuggle up to you outside? "

Alex laughed softly.

" So you were on the phone with Lee. Good, if we have a time buffer, we can do that."

"Thanks." She hugged him tightly.

"I'm going to bed now, Dad, I'm pretty tired."

"Get some sleep, tomorrow will be a busy day when the others arrive." 

Liz nodded and sauntered into her room and flopped down on the bed, where she fell asleep immediately, more relaxed than she'd slept in a long time.