Walking back to the kitchen, Bruce told everyone that it was time to go to work and lunch was at noon. Everyone was to be in the house unless they were on guard duty. Looking over at the gimp, Bruce told him he was to eat lunch on the patio and after he cleaned up this evening he might eat inside. Gimp only replied yes sir, never looking up from the floor. Bruce shook his head asking Mike to show gimp what to do before heading to his area. Mike said it would be his pleasure. It was a few minutes after 7a.m. when everyone left the house to go do their assigned duty.
Around 10am, Bruce told Joseph and Lance, the two teen boys from the gas station, to get an electric buggy and deliver water to everyone. Joseph and Lance took off to do what they had been told. Finishing taking water to everyone, they returned to finish unloading the trucks. Bruce smiled at the two, then, looked at the five young girls that they had rescued who were unloading trucks. It made him mad to think what those kids had been through. Mindy the oldest at seventeen and in charge of the little group was lean and pretty. They all worked hard to get the task accomplished.
At noon everyone headed to the house covered in sweat from the oppressive heat. Those not in BDU’s and vest had stripped down to t-shirts in the heat. It didn’t really matter in Louisiana; you could walk around naked and still sweat to death. Pam stayed in mission control during the day since her injuries kept her from heavy work for now. As the others worked outside, Susan watched her kids and Cade while helping Lynn with lunch. As everyone filed in to eat, the family and soldiers stripped off vest and weapons putting them in the racks.
When Bruce sat down Debbie told him, “I want gun racks in the den, dining room, and another in the kitchen on a different wall.”
“Why do ya want another one in here?” Bruce asked looking at the big gun rack on the wall.
“Just do it,” she told him. The family just laughed remembering the calamity yesterday when Danny screamed.
After Bruce got comfortable, Conner walked up to him and said, “The loft is done.” Bruce looked up at the four women, who were also rescued, at the counter fixing their plates. They were all very pretty. A chill ran down Bruce’s spine as he looked at them. Everyone they had rescued was pretty, even the two boys. The gang had killed anyone that did not fit that mold. Bruce just looked down at the table suppressing the anger that was trying to fill him.
Conner seeing Bruce look down thought he was disappointed, “We worked really hard and done it as fast as we could,” he assured Bruce. Bruce told Conner that they had done an excellent job he was just thinking that this was a shitty world now. Agreeing with him, Conner went to get some food.
Bruce shoveled his food down then stood up so he could be heard. Raising his voice he asked if everyone could hear him. Everyone said they heard him throughout the house even Tonya in the fort said she could probably turn off the intercom and still hear him.
“After lunch everyone will be assigned a weapon. I’m making groups and those needing trained will report to them. From now on you will be responsible for that weapon. Today we work on weapon training until two. In one week you’ll be tested on the weapon you’re assigned. If you pass that, your weapon will always stay loaded. If you fail, you’ll retrain. If anyone fails three times they’ll be given a butter knife for a weapon and put on shit detail with the gimp until they pass,” Bruce told them. Everyone that did not have a weapon looked at each other knowing they were going to train hard. They wanted to learn so they could defend themselves and they had seen the gimp all day with his wheel barrel full of shit roaming the farm. Nobody wanted that job and secretly hoped the gimp would hold up so they wouldn’t have to do it.
Bruce continued, “In no way will training interfere with the daily chores. We have a lot of work to do and it has’ta be done. Starting tomorrow, everyone’s goin’ to start morning workouts at 5a.m. before starting the day. After weapon training today at 2p.m. everyone will finish unpacking the convoy. Mary and Jake have been makin’ an inventory list as stuff is taken off so we can pass out gear. Work today will stop at five and we are goin’ swimming and relax before supper.” When Bruce paused, everyone cheered at the thought of swimming in the Olympic sized swimming pool after working in the heat all day.
Bruce told them those without a weapon were to come down to the basement after eating to pick one up from him. To clear the matter up he informed everyone the only people that would not carry weapons were gimp, Cade, Cassandra and Joshua. He wanted everyone armed at all times. The new kids were excited that they were gonna learn how to protect themselves. Heading to the basement with Buffy in tow, they each kissed Debbie when they walked past.
One at a time, they came down to the basement to get a weapon and magazines. Then they went back to the kitchen to see which teacher they had. The teachers were Danny, Jake, Matt, Mary, and David spread around the house. Those that already had weapons went back to work unloading the convoy. At 2p.m. the rest of the clan showed up to finish unloading, by 3:30 they had unloaded everything. Bruce told several to get the soldiers’ backpacks and duffel bags that had been unloaded from one of the Duce and half’s and unpack them. He wanted the ACU uniforms and equipment put in stacks by sizes on the back patio. He turned to Conner and told him to make sure that he and the other two soldiers had all of their stuff separated from the packs that the group was going through. Conner, Campbell and Kenner grabbed their packs and duffel bags from the pile.
In less than an hour there was a long line of clothes in piles laid out along the back patio. Bruce had them put all the NVG, thermal scopes and other delicate equipment in the basement. Then he told those from the gas station to go and pick out one uniform, a pair of boots and a tactical vest. As they ran to the piles Bruce told them no fighting, if someone was left out they would find them something. Once everyone had gotten one set that fit Bruce told them to grab a back pack and move back. Then Bruce told Paul and his family to do the same thing. As Paul and his family headed to the uniforms Bruce told Lynn and Maria to take the school kids and find some clothes.
After they had finished Bruce kept sending people back to get another set of digital ACU’s until everyone had three complete sets and an extra pair of boots. Some of the smaller teens uniforms were big but Nancy and Debbie could fix that. Several would have to wear extra socks to make the boots fit but everyone had boots now. Then he told everyone to put their stuff in the back pack and this pack was to stay where they slept. Just as he was fixing to give out more orders for everyone Matt and Jake ran up to him.
“Dad, hold on, ok, we have somethin’ we want to show ya,” Jake said with a grin.
“Son, we have a lot to finish up,” Bruce said looking at him.
“Daddy Bruce, you’re going to love it,” Matt assured Bruce.
“Let’em show us Bruce, they’ve been put off for two days showing us what they’ve made,” Debbie said helping several of the girls put stuff in their packs.
“Alright men, let’s see what you’ve made then,” Bruce said smiling as the boys took off to the work shop. Mike came over to stand beside him.
“Nancy said they worked for over two days, still pullin’ guard duty and not sleeping much,” Mike told him.
“Ya think we should hide then?” Bruce asked looking toward the shop. “Because that means whatever they worked on is dangerous,” he added.
“You know those boys wouldn’t make somethin’ that would intentionally hurt us Bruce,” Mike said.
“What about unintentionally?” Bruce asked, cutting his eyes at Mike.
“Maybe we should step back a little,” Mike said as the overhead door to the shop slide up.
“Too late,” replied Bruce as Matt and Jake were running back to the patio with several laptops and boxes with joysticks and buttons on them. They stopped at one of the covered patio tables and started setting up computers and plugging the boxes into the computers.
Bruce and Mike went over to stand behind them, watching the two set up the maze of wires and turning on computers
. They had no idea what the boys were doing but it looked cool as hell. The boys pulled up chairs and sat behind computers with each having a box with a joystick. Looking at one of the laptops in front of Jake they could see the house. Mike and Bruce looked up at the shop and realized that there was a camera in there looking out at the house. Neither could fathom what the boys had built. Then, Jake turned around.
“I want to introduce everyone to ‘Warlord’,” Jake said turning back around and grabbed the joystick and purposefully moved it.
By this time, everyone was standing behind them looking at the shop. They saw the scissor lift come rolling out, with a damn turret on one end. The turret held a gun with several cameras mounted on it. Jake drove the vehicle past them and stopped it looking into the hay field to the east. Then flipping a switch the platform started to raise.
Mesmerized, Bruce looked at the warlord, then back at the computers. In front of Matt he had a view from the top of the platform with cross hairs. As Matt moved his joystick back and forth the crosshairs moved across the hay field. Then Matt flipped another switch and his screen had a thermal view of the field with crosshairs. Jake turned around to explain as Matt started doing system checks.
“Dad, we took the civilian M240 you had and mounted it on the platform. I know you were going to convert it to full auto but it’s belt fed and we needed it. Then we put it on the robotic arm we built for the science fair last year. We put servos on the lift operating board to drive it and operate the platform remotely. Next, we mounted the suppressor you made for the M240. Now, whoever is in mission control, can send the warlord out to check on any motion detected without havin’ to send people out. If you look on top of the barn we put the other thermal camera up there. It’ll be operated from mission control,” Jake said with a grin from ear to ear.
Bruce looked at the top of the barn and sure enough there was a small tower with windows on all sides. Looking at the boys then at the computers and equipment in front of them Bruce sat there speechless. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face. “How does it shoot?” he asked.
“We thought you’d never ask Dad, we could only test it at night at the back of the property, when everyone was asleep. We could barely hear it at the barn and it can’t be heard from here, shooting at the catfish pond. We have accuracy out to five hundred yards on a head size target,” Jake said still grinning.
“Five hundred yards? We only have fields of fire that big on the east -n- west side,” Mike blurted out staring at the equipment.
“Who cares? That thing is awesome,” Bruce said. “Fire it Matt, let’s see what she can do.”
Matt zoomed in on the far side of the hay field which could not be seen from the house. Only with the platform forty feet in the air, could it be seen. Seeing a small animal inside the tree line he zoomed in. Once Matt zoomed in they could tell it was a small wild hog. Moving the joystick with his right hand, moved the crosshairs on the screen, while his left hand hovered over a button. When the crosshairs settled on the pigs head, he pushed the button. They all heard the suppressed shot and saw on the screen the bullet hit the pig in the head, dropping it in its tracks.
“Holy shit,” David said out loud neither mother telling him to watch his mouth. They were staring at Matt and Jake in disbelief and a little fear, as Matt turned around smiling.
“How far can we send the warlord out?” Bruce asked in amazement.
“It only has line of site capabilities. We set up relays so it can go anywhere in the fence but it can’t leave the property. We didn’t have the transmitters or receivers to make it long range. With all the cameras and servos it only operates for roughly six hours before it needs recharging,” Matt said with disappointment in his voice.
“Boys, that doesn’t matter. This thing will help us out a lot. The warlord can take out small groups of either blues or bandits without having us expose ourselves. I for one will speak for the other parents and everyone else. We’re very proud of you,” Debbie said, as she hugged each of them, secretly thankful they did not build an atomic bomb.
Matt and Jake explained that they had wanted to be able to send it out to check around the area. Conner told them to hold on, as he took off running to the Stryker. He returned a few minutes later carrying a large case. Setting the case down Conner opened it up taking out what looked like a laptop. He handed it to Jake. Then Conner started taking pieces out putting them together. When he was finished he was holding a small airplane.
“Shit. That’s a Raven,” Jake said standing up.
“Jake, watch your mouth,” Debbie scolded.
“Mom, that’s a micro UAV, like a predator only smaller, it can fly for ninety minutes sending back digital video, thermal or high resolution,” Jake said, setting the laptop down and walking over to Conner.
“Think you can operate it?” Conner asked.
“Give me and Matt three hours and we’ll be able to do anything with it,” Jake replied confidently. Conner reached back into the case and pulled out a large user’s manual and handed it to Jake.
“Make that thirty minutes,” Jake corrected, grabbing the manual and sat down by Matt. They started to speed read the manual until Nancy broke the spell.
“You two need ta put your baby back to bed before you start another project,” Nancy told them pointing at the video screens. As Jake lowered the platform to drive warlord back, Bruce walked up to them.
“How long will it take for you two to set up a control station in mission control for warlord?” Bruce asked.
“We can have it set up in less than an hour but we only have twenty inch LED monitors left. The gun site really needs to be on somethin’ bigger. Plus the desk in mission control is already crowded with all the radio’s, computer and monitor control board,” Matt said as Jake was driving the warlord back.
“Take the fifty inch LED TV out of the shop, then, get one of the old desks that we brought out of the top of the barn and set up a complete control system tonight. I want y’all to label every control and starting tomorrow, you two will take turns givin’ classes on it,” Bruce told them.
“Alright,” they said together.
“Now, it’s time for everyone to relax, I still want noise discipline from everyone. No yellin’ period ok,” Bruce turned to look at everyone. He was met with lots of nodding as everyone was ready to get in the pool. Bruce told everyone to find a family member that was close to their size and get a swimming suit from them. Weapons were to stay outside where they could be grabbed if needed. Looking at Buffy and Cassandra he told them Danny had some old swim suits in storage that they could use.
Everyone ran to the house grabbing their packs and taking them to the area where they would be sleeping. The family grabbed shorts and bathing suits laying them out in the kitchen so the rest of the clan could find something to swim in. Danny grabbed Buffy and led her outside to one of the storage containers that held clothes. When they returned they each had an arm load of clothes. Danny dropped several of her old bathing suits she had out grown and several others on the table as she and Buffy took the rest of the clothes up stairs to her room.
Little Angela had to wear a two piece bikini that Danny had worn when she was twelve. Bruce giggled at her as she walked through the kitchen wearing Danny’s old swim suit. It still amazed him she could not weigh more than ninety pounds on her little childlike frame. Yet she had carried a pack weighing at least forty pounds with another fifteen pounds of equipment and sometimes carried Cade which was over three quarters of her body weight. She had done it, kept up and held her own. Bruce knew any of the girls in the family could do that but they had practiced and trained for it. Angela had just done it without training or preparing. He watched the small woman walk out as Debbie came up beside him already in her bikini.
“What are you snickering about?” she asked. Bruce told her what he had been thinking.
Debbie replied after he finished, “That young woman is somethin’ else. She may be small but she’s filled w
ith fire. I like her a lot. She and Alex make good additions to the family. Plus with her here I’m not the shortest adult now at five foot tall.”
“I love my five foot tall woman though,” Bruce said picking up Debbie kissing her.
“You damn well better love me,” Debbie said as Bruce put her down. “Come on stud muffin get some shorts on, let’s swim,” she said hugging him and walking out to the pool.
Bruce went to his room to change, passing Danny and Buffy as they headed to the pool. He changed and went outside to the swimming pool. When he stepped outside, he caught his breath. There were scantily clad women everywhere. They could almost shoot a music video here he thought. He ran and jumped in the pool.
Bruce swam for a while playing with the kids. For the most part they did stay quiet. He only had to remind the kids once or twice to keep their voices down. Bruce then got out and joined Mike at one of the patio tables.
“Bruce, if anyone sees all these women here, they’ll hit us hard,” Mike said looking around.
Bruce had not thought of that. “Well from now on everyone will wear their uniform unless in the house or here at the pool. That also means we have to prepare and train harder,” Bruce replied with Mike nodding in agreement.
Paul came to join them at the table, followed by Conner a few minutes later. Bruce saw Conner following Danny and Mary around with his eyes. Following Conner’s gaze, Bruce turned to look at his daughters. To say they were knock outs would be an understatement. They were tone and had a woman’s body even though they were sixteen. Even though they would be seventeen next month, he would always see them as little girls but knew others wouldn’t. He liked Conner, but he would have to have a talk with him later. Chuckling, Bruce knew the girls already had boyfriends.
Blue Plague Survival Page 2