Blue Plague Survival

by Watson, Thomas A

  Bruce was taking a team of twenty-one in both of the SUV’s and the kid mobile SUV all with trailers. Mike, Debbie and Nancy were going to the Snead farm to drop off supplies and to check on their status in Nancy’s SUV with a trailer. They were going to stay at the Snead farm for two hours then come to the dam, drop off Nancy’s SUV and take one of the loaded SUV’s home to make sure the road was clear. When the area was loaded up, the vehicles unloading the police cars would head back across the dam to the farm. The rest of the military convoy would head the opposite way making an eighty mile loop around the lake back to the farm.

  Bruce would love to just travel back across the dam but there were twenty-seven patrol cars parked on it behind the check point. That was too many cars to move and the vehicles they were bringing back made a lot of noise. The Stryker was quiet, for a military vehicle, but as quiet as the world was now it could be heard from a mile away. Bruce had never been around the RG-33L but it just looked loud and he knew the HEMTTs were loud.

  Mike walked up beside him casting a shadow over his notebook as Bruce was making notes. “Let’s go little girl, it’s time to work out. It’s going to be a big day so you can go get more toys,” Mike said with a grin.

  “Toys,” Bruce said throwing his pen down. “We need that equipment so quit your bitching and put your skirt and high heels on, because we’re going shopping. Daddy needs new shoes,” Bruce said standing up and walking out to the gym.

  “I only wear my high heels for Nancy baby, you’re not that special,” Mike said following him out.

  “Damn and I thought I was goin’ to get you dressed up sexy tonight,” Bruce told him putting his arm across Mike’s shoulders.

  “Maybe some other time,” Mike said as he opened the door and Bruce and he went into the gym to start the morning workout.

  Chapter 3

  Bruce was in his room checking his equipment over. He had removed the pistol drop holster on his right leg and made a holster for the P90. He still had the XDM with its suppressor on the left side of his vest, in the cross draw holster. He had four magazines for the P90 strapped to the front of his right leg. He took off the four magazine MOLLE pouch on the right side of his vest and put on a six magazine pouch. Then Bruce added another six magazine holder to his left leg drop platform giving him eighteen magazines for his SCAR. After the mob in the woods Bruce wanted to make damn sure they had magazines of ammo. Making sure his weapons were good he motioned Buffy over to him.

  Buffy walked up to him dressed in tiger stripe BDU’s, like his, and little combat boots. All of it used to be Danny’s, just like the little tactical vest. He had taken her magazine carrier and mounted it on the front of her vest then she had a four magazine pouch on her left thigh. Now she carried fourteen magazines for her UMP submachine gun, plus the one in it. She had her Glock 17 compact pistol on her right in a drop holster, with a suppressor in a pouch on the holster. It used to be Debbie’s concealed carry gun and Bruce had put the threaded barrel on it for her. Buffy still had the switch blade he had given her, clipped on her left shoulder.

  Scanning over her equipment, Bruce made her jump up and down to see if she made noise, when she didn’t, Bruce smiled at her. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail as she looked up at him returning the smile. Bruce told her to put on her tinted safety glasses and like her gloves, she was not to take them off, unless it got dark then she was to put on the clear ones. Grabbing her glasses, Buffy put them on and tightened up the lanyard to hold them tight. Making sure her ear bud for the radio stayed in place and her glasses were in place, she looked back at Bruce. Picking up Buffy’s boonie hat Bruce set it on her head, smiling at her.

  “You ready BB?” Bruce asked. He had started calling her BB for Buffy Baby and she loved it.

  “Let’s get some daddy,” she said.

  “Hopefully not, but let’s be ready just in case. Grab your pack and come on. Until we get back, you stay at my side unless I tell you different,” Bruce told her and she gave him a thumbs up.

  Buffy picked up her pack that also used to be Danny’s. It was a small black tactical back pack with a Camelback in it. It held extra magazines, ammo and a couple of FSR meal packs. They were there for an emergency, along with a few other items. Bruce’s pack was packed the same, just with more. Today he was carrying what he called an assault pack, it was heavy on ammo. Picking up his pack they headed outside.

  When they got to the vehicles Matt and Jake were there waiting on him. They were staying here and were in charge until Mike and his team got back. Tonya was going to stay in the fort with one other person also until the group returned. Matt and Jake did not like being left behind but understood the need to have them here. Jake came up to Bruce as he threw his pack in the beast and turned around to look at Jake.

  “Dad, the area is clear. There can’t be more than twenty blues in a thirty mile radius. We sent the Raven to the dam and seen several people at the Snead farm, but no blues. The check point is the same, no movement except a lot’a dogs eating the corpses. It’s really weird,” Jake said with concern on his face. There were usually over a hundred in the twenty mile radius of the farm.

  “Well, where ever they moved, I hope they build a house and stay there. Blue’s suck as neighbors,” Bruce told him.

  “Oh, hell no, if they start building houses, I’m moving to the arctic tundra,” Jake said.

  “Yeah, I’ll probably be there with ya. When was your last flight?” Bruce asked.

  “Fifteen minutes ago,” Jake answered.

  “Keep the flights between here and the Snead farm and once every three hours make a loop around the area. No one is to be outside unless you or Matt approve it,” Bruce told him.

  “Are you kiddin’, everyone is already in mission control waiting to see how everything goes,” Matt said standing beside Jake.

  Bruce hugged both of the boys as Danny walked up. She had on the same style BDU’s and tactical vest. Her Glock 17 was in a cross draw holster, with a suppressor attached. On her right thigh was an Uzi with a suppressor.

  “What are you trying to be, an Israeli storm trooper sweet pea?” Bruce asked her since both the Uzi and Galil were from Israel.

  “Not my fault they know how to make good weapons. Besides, there’re no more P90’s. Mom took the last one,” Danny told him.

  “Sweet pea, Daddy’ll get you a P90. Are you ready otherwise? It’s going to be a long, hot day,” Bruce told her.

  “Thank you Daddy, this Uzi weighs a ton with the suppressor but yeah, I’m ready,” Danny said hugging Bruce with difficulty because of all the weapons and gear they had on.

  Bruce told her, “That’s why teams knuckle bump while wearing gear.”

  “Remember, the equipment we’re getting is contaminated keep your gloves and glasses on. Don’t touch any exposed skin. Radio check, sound off by numbers,” Bruce said keying his radio.

  Everyone counted off their assigned number with Buffy answering last with twenty-one. Bruce called Mike and asked him if they were ready. Mike didn’t answer but held out his arm giving a thumb up. Bruce told everyone to load up over the radio. Bruce told Buffy to sit on the console between the front seats. With people and gear crammed in each vehicle there was no extra room. As Bruce pulled out he called radio check to mission control and got the loud and clear reply. Pulling out Mike was driving Nancy’s SUV, David was driving Debbie’s SUV, Steve was driving the kid mobile SUV, all were pulling trailers and Bruce was leading them in the beast with Danny driving.

  Keeping the speed at forty miles per hour, Bruce called Mike on the radio, “Don’t forget to call Marcus and tell him his wife’s name is Carroll.”

  “I will and be careful, if things get bad you better leave. We will find you some more toys,” Mike told him. Bruce said he would and signed off.

  The soldiers were with them, so there was no one to come to rescue them. Bruce had no choice, he needed the soldiers with them. He was sure that the batteries in the vehicles were dead. All mil
itary vehicles had what was called a slave cable. It was large cable that plugged into one vehicle then into another, nothing more than a fancy jumper cable. The plug was the same on all vehicles, so a Hummer could jump off an M-1 Abrams. Everyone had been assigned a vehicle to leave in and those that were driving had been taught on the ones at the farm. Two of the Strykers were going to have manned weapons along with one Hummer in case the shit hit the fan. Fifteen were staying with the military vehicles and six were driving the SUV’s and beast back.

  Bruce passed the parish road leading to the Snead farm at 8:18 a.m. and Mike at the tail of the convoy turned down the road and Bruce heard over the radio. “Marcus, your wife’s name is Carroll see you in five,” Mike called out.

  “Copy, boys at tha gate,” Bruce heard Marcus reply.

  Bruce would love to see his friends again but they needed those weapons and vehicles on the dam. He continued on for another ten miles reaching the dam slowing down to twenty mph. He called over the C/B to mission control since the radio was out of range.

  “Sunny sky,” Bruce called out.

  “Clear sky, one cloud seen five miles south of weather station, stationary,” Matt replied. The code was in case someone was listening in on the radio. Clear sky meant nothing by the road one infected was seen five miles south of the Snead farm and was not moving.

  “Thanks for the weather report, call if changes out,” Bruce replied pulling onto the dam.

  When he was fifty yards from the last of the patrol cars, Bruce told Danny to let the convoy pass. Opening his door, Bruce motioned them around and they turned the SUVs around backing up, which was not an easy feat. Turning around on the dam with a trailer was nearly impossible, but they did it. David stopped twenty feet from the last car in Debbie’s SUV and Steve had backed up the kid mobile SUV beside it. Motioning everyone to get out, Bruce reached back to get his backpack as the smell of decomposed bodies hit him like a brick wall. It was a close call if the blues stunk more alive or dead.

  Steve’s group got out and started emptying the patrol cars loading the trailers. Bruce’s group headed to the military vehicles. Walking by the police cars, Bruce noticed state cars and several from other jurisdictions, one even looked like a federal car. There were police suburbans and pickup trucks and even two motorcycles. Those assigned to Bruce moved in single file behind him to the military vehicles.

  When they reached the road block, Bruce stopped and looked around. Guns were laying everywhere on the ground. Except for a dozen or so infected inside the ring of military vehicles there were no bodies. Bruce sent Danny, Mary and David out on watch and told everyone to start gathering equipment. Just looking around Bruce saw twenty M-4’s easy.

  Leaving his group to gather them, Bruce went to the area to the right of the checkpoint where they had seen the civilian cars. Walking closer he saw a huge pile of something under a tree. Getting closer he realized it was guns. The pile was almost as tall as he was and thirty yards around. There must be thousands of them, Bruce thought feeling all tingly. Looking closer he realized they were all civilian weapons, not military. Fuck it, they were taking these also and Bruce called the group on the radio and told them his find, “I just found a small mountain of guns and we’re takin’ ‘em.”

  “What about what’s in those vehicles?” Stephanie asked pointing to the cars parked off the side of the road.

  Bruce turned and looked across the sea of cars and trucks. There was over a thousand easy. “Too many to checkout, I’m gonna check the area out here real quick, keep on task,” Bruce called out everyone copied.

  Looking at the rows of parked vehicles, Bruce noticed a brand new black Chevy 2500 diesel quad cab parked by its self. He walked over admiring it, almost drooling. It had a huge front bumper with a winch, at least a 4-inch lift and huge Super Swamper tires. Bruce had always wanted one, but these damn things cost over eighty grand stripped and this one was loaded. Walking around it he saw it still had the window sticker on the passenger window and almost passed out at the price with all the extras. Yeah, that’s why he always bought used. Walking to the driver’s door, he pulled on the handle expecting it to be locked but it opened. The key in ignition chime started when he opened the door. He looked and sure enough there was a dealer key with two sets of keys and remotes. Grabbing the keys, Bruce put them in his back pocket. He was so coming back for this one day.

  Grinning with his find, Bruce turned around and started walking through the sea of cars with Buffy following, like she was told and as always, on his left side. Hearing something, Bruce stopped and listened carefully swearing he heard gun fire from far off. “Anyone hear that?” Bruce called out.

  “It’s gun fire, comin’ from the other side of the lake. It’s at least ten miles away,” Steve reported over the radio.

  Bruce continued his sweep of the cars, trying to make sense of the area. From his best guess the guards stopped people and took their weapons from them. Then they took them behind the patrol cars to be picked up and transported. But, picked up by what and transported where? Bruce gave up trying to be a detective and walked back to the checkpoint.

  Looking at the area in front of the Strykers and Hummers that formed the check point perimeter, it was piled high with bodies but the road had very few bodies. The Strykers must have cleared it between engagements, Bruce thought. Turning around, he headed to the HEMTTs to see what was on them. Reaching the first one Bruce, saw it had ten pallets on it. Climbing up on the bed, he pulled Buffy up then made a small hole in the plastic shrink wrap on the first pallet. Bruce saw it was 5.56 ammunition. He didn’t even check the rest, instead Bruce jumped to the other HEMTTs bed and did the same to the last pallet and found it was fifty caliber ammo. He called over the radio and said both HEMTTs were coming. Campbell and Kenner would drive them since they had driven them before.

  Bruce radioed Conner, “Conner, see which vehicles need to be slaved off. I’m heading to the RG-33L.” Conner replied, “Ok,” as Bruce jumped off the HEMTT. Walking up to the monster sized 6x6 truck, Bruce stared in wonder. He wanted to drive it through a house, just because it could. Walking behind it, Bruce saw the rear hatch was open so he climbed up the steps to find the back was full of backpacks and ammo cans. “Buffy, climb over this crap and open the front doors if they are locked,” he told Buffy in case the combat lock was on. This was just a fancy way to say the door was locked from the inside.

  As Buffy crawled over the equipment Bruce walked to the driver’s door and found it opened up when he tried it. Bruce climbed in just as Buffy made it to the front. She was looking at the big truck in amazement. Bruce looked at his watch and they had been there for two hours.

  “Does it really drive daddy?” she asked looking around the truck in wonder.

  “Yes it does Buffy and we’re drivin’ it home,” Bruce said looking at the controls.

  “Can we run over somethin’?” she asked with hope in her eyes.

  “Maybe,” Bruce replied smiling. She may not be his child by birth, but she damn sure was in spirit. He flipped the toggle switch on and the panel lights came on. The battery was still charged and the glow plugs were warming up. Bruce waited for them to warm up then turned the switch off. He radioed Conner and told him the RG was ready to go.

  Conner replied, “Only one Hummer is ready. The Strykers and the other three Hummers had radios left on, the batteries are dead and have’ta be slaved. Both HEMTTs are live and ready. We’ll use the one Hummer to slave off the one beside it. Next we will use those two to slave off the other Hummers. Then three Hummers will slave off tha Strykers at the same time while one stays on watch.”

  “Copy that, how much longer till the pile of guns by the cars is collected?” Bruce asked.

  “That pile alone will take several hours boss. I don’t know if we can get all of them. The Hummers and Strykers are loaded with packs, gear and ammo along with the stuff we are puttin’ in them. There won’t be much room left,” Conner explained and Bruce told him to hold.


  “Steve, how many trailers will the cop cars fill up?” Bruce asked him over the radio.

  “One trailer is almost loaded. We might need half of one of the other trailers,” he replied.

  “Big daddy two we are ready for you, do ya copy?” Bruce radioed Mike.

  “Copy big daddy one, we was just fixin’ to call you. Family here says they miss ya,” Mike replied.

  “Copy, tell’em I’ll come and see’em soon,” Bruce said.

  “We’re rolling to you now,” Mike called.

  “Little foot, call and get a weather report,” Bruce radioed Angela. Looking around, he saw Stephanie walking among the piles of infected picking up weapons and taking pictures. Watching her Bruce wanted to tell her that this wasn’t a sightseeing tour, they had work to do. Just as he was about to radio Stephanie, Angela came over the radio.

  “Big daddy one, sky is still clear, small clusters of clouds to the east of outpost moving north. No clouds near weather station, you copy?” Angela finished. Several small groups were east of the farm moving north and no infected were near the Snead farm.

  “Copy little foot,” Bruce told her, then he called Steve.

  “Son number one, how many more presents do ya have left,” Bruce asked.

  “Only a few more presents left,” Steve replied

  “When big daddy two gets here we’re gonna form a line to transfer the pile of goodies here to the sleds. You copy?” Bruce asked Steve.

  “Copy, big daddy two is here. We’re moving around back here and he’s comin’ to ya real quick,” Steve replied.

  “Copy, I see him. Get all your teams and start a relay to move the goodie pile. Leave two people, to clear the rest of the presents out of the cars,” Bruce told him and Steve said he understood as Mike walked up to him.