“BB, I’m sorry, but you’re a princess,” Bruce said.
“Whatever!” she yelled, jumping out of her chair and stomping out of the Center. Danny jumped up and followed her.
Bruce looked around the table and stopped at Marcus. “Marcus, can I sleep in yours and Carroll’s room tonight?” he asked.
“Nope, they might follow ya. I can’t run like I use ta.”
Putting the twins on the floor, Bruce stood, looking down at them. “Let’s get Millie to clean your squirrels, and she can cook them up for us tomorrow,” Bruce told them.
Sherry looked up at him, still holding her squirrel up by its tail, proud of her trophy. “Daddy, why is Mama Angela mad about our squirrels? She shot some with us before,” she asked.
“Baby, like I said, they are going through some tough times. Mama Angela will go hunting with you two again, but it may be a while,” Bruce said, leading them to the back. Millie took the squirrels, and Bruce went back to the table to get the boys.
“Dad, we can take them,” Jake offered.
Putting his arms around the smaller kids, Bruce said, “I’m not going in there alone, son.”
“Chicken,” Jake said, smiling.
“I will remember you said that for future reference,” Bruce said, grinning at him. The smile fell off Jake’s face as he looked at Mary.
When he had the four little kids outside, Bruce stopped and looked at the two boys. “PJ, Cade, I’m still disappointed with you for not listening. Tomorrow after church, you will get back to the front yard and finish that tree. Your mommas told you something, and you did not do it. That is wrong,” Bruce said, leading them to the house when he finished.
Marching his troops in, he found them both in the bed. Stephanie had a towel over her head and a heating pad on her chest. Angela had her face burrowed in a pillow. Feeling like he was herding chickens, Bruce drove the kids to the bathroom and showered all of them, hoping to kill any smell.
Opening the bathroom door, Bruce ushered the kids toward the bed. PJ and Cade ran to the bed and crawled between the two. Cade hugged Angela, and PJ hugged Stephanie. “We’re sorry,” they said. Angela and Stephanie let out wails and hugged the two tight. Bruce picked up the twins, ready to run. He figured he could save at least two if things went bad.
Cade and PJ swapped mommas and apologized again, followed by another wail. Seeing the kids were safe, Bruce sat the twins on the bed, and they crawled up, hugging the mommas. Bruce crawled up in the bed and joined them. It did cross his mind that it would be good to start a war now, but he was better than that. He would stay by them through this. He made that mistake once and was determined not to repeat it as they all drifted off to sleep.
Bruce opened his eyes, hearing someone gagging. He sat up in bed, wiping his eyes, and the gagging turned to hurling. Then, he heard another person gagging. Looking beside him, he didn’t see Angela or Stephanie. Climbing over kids, he raced to the bathroom to find both of them over the commode. The heave would leave one only to hit the other.
He reached under the sink and grabbed washcloths, wet them in cold water, and put one on each of their foreheads.
With a pale face, Stephanie looked up at him, smiling. “Thank you, baby,” she said. Angela was talking to the porcelain altar so she couldn’t say anything. He wet two more rags and placed them on the back of their necks.
Angela finished talking to the altar and looked up at him with a weak smile. “Thank you, baby,” she said.
“I though you didn’t throw up?” Bruce asked.
Exhausted, she said, “I never did with Cade. This is bullshit,” she said, laying her head on the toilet.
He looked at Stephanie. “Are you done?” he asked.
“I think so. Nothing really comes up, and that’s what makes me mad. All that work, I want to see something,” she said. Bruce reached down, picked her up, and carried her to bed. When he went back to the bathroom, Angela was laid out on the floor.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m just going to sleep here. The floor’s cold and feels good,” she said, covering her face with a rag.
Chuckling, Bruce carried her to bed and laid her beside Stephanie. Going back to the bathroom, he wet more rags and replaced theirs. They soon drifted off to sleep again, and Bruce went to the bathroom and pulled out cleaning supplies. For the next hour, he sterilized the commode and the floor around it. When he put up the supplies, he was certain no microbe was living on the toilet, at least for a little while.
It was 0400 as Bruce sat on the side of the bed, caressing Angela and Stephanie’s faces for an hour. Standing, Bruce grabbed some workout clothes and headed to the gym. Working out really fast, he was back in less than an hour covered in sweat. Walking in the room he saw everyone was still asleep. Afraid of the super sniffers the women were now equipped with, Bruce jumped in the shower. Getting dressed, he tried to wake the kids without waking the mommas, but that didn’t work.
“Hey, baby,” Angela said sitting up.
“Hey, Little Foot, you go back to sleep. I have the kids,” he said, dragging Sherry out of the bed by her arm. Standing her up on her feet, he was sure she was awake, but when he let go, Sherry collapsed to the floor. “Sherry, get up,” Bruce whispered at her.
“No, baby, I’m getting up. You’re supposed to be taking time off,” Angela said, climbing out of bed.
With a startle, Stephanie sat up with her auburn hair going everywhere. “Who has a teddy bear?” she shouted.
Startled, Bruce just stared at her, not even going to try to answer that one. “Go back to sleep, Little Red,” Angela said, yawning.
Blinking, Stephanie looked around and realized she wasn’t dreaming. “I’m up,” she said, throwing the covers off. She climbed out of the bed, going to the bathroom. “Screw a goose! Who soaked the bathroom in bleach?” she cried out.
“Ah, I cleaned the commode since y’all are getting real close to it,” Bruce answered shyly, saying a silent prayer that fury wasn’t headed his way.
With wide eyes, Stephanie looked at the sparkling toilet. The bolts holding it down were shiny now, and even the caulk around the base was white. Lifting the seat up, she saw he had even taken it apart and cleaned it. “Holy shit, Bruce, you sterilized it!”
Angela went in the bathroom and stood beside Stephanie to look. The commode was never dirty, but like most altars, it had tattletale areas. Then, Angela looked at the floor, which was composed of small, one-inch square tiles with grout. The grout three feet around the commode was shiny white with the rest of the floor an off gray. “I didn’t want y’all to get sick from anything else,” Bruce called from the bedroom. The twins were finally up, but PJ was burrowing under the covers.
Angela laid her head on Stephanie’s shoulder, and Stephanie put her arm around her. They both walked out that way with tears in their eyes. Not noticing them, Bruce reached under the covers and grabbed PJ by the ankle and hoisted him out. Holding PJ over the bed by one ankle, he lifted PJ up to his face. “I’m not in the mood today, PJ. Get dressed, or you chew branches off that tree,” Bruce said, putting him down.
Looking over at the two women, Bruce’s heart froze, seeing they had tears on their face. “Ah, I’m sorry. Whatever I did, I’m sorry,” he said as they ran over to hug him.
“You’re the best ever,” Stephanie said. Angela just cried.
Bruce hugged them, thankful he would get to keep his testicles for a while longer. “Come on, you two. If you’re up, let’s go eat,” he said. They nodded and started getting dressed. Sherry and Emily dressed themselves as he finished dressing PJ and Cade.
When Emily finished dressing, she ran over to Bruce. “Daddy, I want to go with you to the shop today during church,” she asked. “Me too,” Sherry piped in.
“Girls, Daddy will be at church today,” he said, and everyone froze. Since Debbie�
��s death, he had not gone.
“What?” Stephanie asked, letting her pants fall down.
“I’m going to church with y’all. I’m setting a bad example for the kids,” Bruce said. Stephanie let out a yelp and tried to run to him but fell. Angela ran over the bed at him. Stephanie finally freed herself from the demon pants and ran to them. When the hugging was over, they finished dressing and headed to the Center.
Bruce was walking on eggshells. He knew the weeks before he found out they were pregnant, they were getting moody, but now, that was a mild description.
They all entered the Center to find it was full. Heading to the command table, they sat down. Plates were placed in front of them, and Bruce dove in. Angela put her coffee down. “That’s burned,” she cried out.
“Wait till you taste the oatmeal. I think they put PJ’s diaper in it,” Stephanie said curling her lips in disgust.
Wanting to head this off before it got out of hand Bruce stood and walked to the kitchen. When Millie saw him walk in, she pointed her finger at him. “Shut it, Millie,” Bruce snapped, making her take a step back. “Angela thinks the coffee is burned, and Stephanie thinks the oatmeal has PJ’s dirty diaper in it. I want honey, jam, sugar, and anything else that will flavor something, and I want it now. They are getting close to spinning off,” Bruce said.
In a near panic Millie ran over to some shelves, grabbing jars and handing them to Bruce. When his arms were full, he headed back to the table with Millie in tow, her arms full as well. They set the jars down, and Millie looked at Stephanie and Angela. “I’m sorry I let new people cook today,” she said, putting some honey in Angela’s coffee. Bruce was putting spoonfuls of strawberry jelly in Stephanie’s oatmeal.
“Put’em on shit detail,” Stephanie barked, cautiously talking a bite and liking it with the strawberry jelly. From that point on, only Millie made their food.
***
That night, Bruce was in Matt and Jake’s computer lair. He had watched for the last hour all the cameras over the government compound. The President, along with several others, had webcams, and the boys had turned those on as well. Watching the activity at the government base Bruce just shook his head in wonder. The boys had totally infiltrated the base. Everything that had a computer belonged to them. Matt had even designed a program to infiltrate the helicopters.
The choppers had no outside access, but the maintenance crew plugged up laptops to run diagnostics. Then these were plugged back into the network. The virus would allow the chopper to run for one hour then shut down. If they wanted the chopper back up, the ground crews would have to dump the system, replace the motherboard, and reboot it. Matt figured if they had the motherboards, it would take two hours per chopper to get back in the air.
A part of Bruce really felt sorry for them. Matt and Jake really owned them. Anything connected to a computer was under their control. All the Strykers had the command and control system, but since the government didn’t have GPS, it was not being used. Well, it wasn’t being used by them. Jake had turned it on and could monitor each vehicle’s location to within a few feet, and no one there suspected anything. That was the job of counter intelligence, but there was none, so the group just went through the motions.
There were cameras around the camp, and the clan could see how the people were treated. They had already seen a dozen executions; one was a couple with a twelve-year-old boy. Bruce had broadcast that one out to the clan. He wanted them to know what they were fighting.
On a screen, Bruce saw Gene walking down the hallway to his room. He motioned Angela and Stephanie over to him as he pointed to his lap. They smiled and ran over. Bruce was of the mind that he didn’t care what he had to do to make them happy. Truth be told, if one had told him they wanted a piece of the moon, Bruce would try to get there.
When Gene locked his door, Matt turned on his computer. Gene put his stuff on the table, hung his rifle up, and saw Bruce with the girls in his lap. All of them were smiling at him. “Hold on, guys,” he said, stepping to the bathroom. Walking out, he smiled at the computer. “Sorry about that. I’ve been holding for a while,” he said, sitting down.
“Gene, how are you planning on dealing with Homeland? They have two thousand officers there, and we have seen quite a few executions just today,” Bruce asked.
“I’m working on that, Bruce,” he replied.
“I’ll try to think of something as well,” Bruce said. “Gene, just to let you know, your UAV will go bye-bye tomorrow. I’m getting ready to prepare my field of battle, and I want it gone,” Bruce said.
“Okay,” Gene replied then asked, “What do you mean prepare your field of battle?”
“We are moving out to wipe out the blues forward of your deployment line. Our count is in the thousands, but they are in small groups, mostly thirty to fifty strong, but I want them gone. I’m not deploying my troops with that many infected in the area,” Bruce said.
“What about my troops, Bruce?” Gene asked.
“Hey, y’all are coming here. I’m not preparing your area for you. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want nothing to happen to your troops, but if something happens to you, I have to kill them anyway.”
“I understand, Bruce, but at least one regiment will be defecting to you when we deploy. I have talked to the Lt. Colonel over it. He’s a buddy, and he agrees this is our shot to get out of here and save America,” Gene said.
“That’s good, Gene, but you tell him when he defects, his troops will lay down their arms and equipment until this is over. They will be treated well and will not be harmed unless they try to harm us. We will have an area for them, and one of my groups will talk to them and explain why they are being kept separate from the clan.”
“Fair enough.”
“Gene, you need to find you ten loyal troops to surround yourself with at all times,” Bruce said.
“Why? What did you find out?” Gene asked.
“I think Givens will kill you if he can. He really wants to be the hero of this battle.”
“I’ve been feeling that a lot today.”
Stephanie cleared her throat. “Gene, how about getting ten more troops loyal to you and have them guard the general? That way if he plans something, they can tell you,” she said.
Gene just stared at her on his screen then looked at Bruce. “How do you find these smart, beautiful women, Bruce? I know you and have fought beside you and love you like a brother, but if I was a woman, I would pick me,” he said.
“It’s my hair,” Bruce said, rubbing his shaved head.
“Hey, we have the same barber now,” Gene said, rubbing his own shaved head.
Angela leaned forward and grinned. “He kinda grows on ya.”
Gene let out a laugh. “Yes, that he does,” he said. “Have you given any thought on how we are going to keep in touch when I’m in the field?”
“No,” Bruce replied.
Rubbing his face, Gene said, “Bruce, that is kind of important.”
“I wasn’t thinking about it because it’s been solved for some time,” Bruce said.
“Care to let me know?” Gene asked.
“Well, since you asked now, stay on your planned route down. Stop at the Arkansas welcome station, and go to the men’s bathroom. Inside the garbage can will be a computer and radio that you can talk to us on,” Bruce said.
Impressed, Gene asked, “You already have it there?”
“No, I have this tattletale plane over me. I think even Givens would get suspicious if he saw us moving up and down your travel corridor. It will be placed when we tell the groups in Arkansas and Oklahoma about this party,” Bruce said.
Gene stared at Bruce, slack-jawed. “You have a ton of shit in place that you haven’t told me about, don’t you?” he asked.
“Not even you would believe how much.”
“Bruce, I need to know some
stuff.”
“Gene, I trust you with the lives of my kids and family, but if something happens to you and they make you talk, I have to be ready,” Bruce said candidly. “Once you get your protection squad, I will tell you much more. If something happens, your protection crew can buy you time to get out. I will say this; don’t ride in any chopper.”
“I understand, Bruce, and you’re doing the right thing,” Gene said. “I’m just trying to figure out a way to request it,” he admitted. Then, he caught what Bruce said at the end. “Don’t ride in a chopper?” he asked.
With a shit-eating grin, Bruce said, “Oh, you won’t have to ask for troops. They will be offered and on the chopper; just trust me,” and he winked.
“If you tell me your son has hacked someone’s brain, I’m locking myself in my closet,” Gene said.
Thinking that sounded neat, Bruce raised his eyebrows and leaned over to the side till he could look at Jake. “Can you do that?” he asked.
“Not yet, Dad, but I want to try,” Jake admitted.
Gene heard the exchange and just shook his head. “He says he can’t yet,” Bruce said.
“Okay, then how?” Gene asked.
“Jake is going to send the President an e-mail from one of the Homeland officers suggesting it.”
“What happens if the President talks to that officer?” Gene asked.
Not able to hold it, Bruce started laughing. “He can’t; he’s dead.”
Totally lost and worried about the conversation, Gene said, “So this agent sends an e-mail from Hell, and the President just accepts it?”
Bruce shook his head. “Gene, the boys tell me it’s called a blabbermouth program. You type in shit, and if you don’t type in a password every so often, like ’get killed,’ it sends out this information. They tell me many in the computer world do this. Me, I just have friends that will come and kill you,” Bruce said.
“I feel so old right now,” Gene said, rubbing his hands over his face. “You can make your computer reach out from the grave,” he mumbled.
Blue Plague: War (Blue Plague Book 6) Page 5