“Hey brother just wanted to tell ya Eric and Darrell were out raiding empty houses yesterday along the south side of the lake and saw a mob of thousands pass them. It took over three hours for the mob to pass them by. There has been gun fire and explosions on the north end of the lake. They think that’s where they were headed. So don’t go around the lake. Just rough calculations they were puttin’ the number close to ten thousand,” Mike told him making shiver run up Bruce’s spine.
“No shit, we will take the short way home and pray we don’t hit a parade that size on the way,” Bruce told him wondering what a group that size was doing out here in the middle of nowhere.
“Didn’t want to say anything over the radio in case bad guys might be listening, we’re staying here to help. Three more bodies, means we can move that much faster,” Mike told him.
“Well, let’s get moving then,” Bruce said jumping down and joining the relay line.
By two o’clock they had finished and Bruce told everyone to drink some water then move to the vehicle they were riding in. Paul called him over the radio said he needed to talk to him. Bruce told him to meet up at the RG. As Bruce drank the last of his water from the camel back, he threw his pack in the front cab. When Buffy had finished hers he threw hers in as Paul came up to him.
“Bruce, I want to take my family to the house and grab some of our stuff please,” Paul asked as Cheryl and Chad stood beside him. Bruce looked at the family, knowing he would ask the same thing if the roles were reversed. But, he had to think of the group’s safety also.
“Paul, we are leaving here in thirty minutes, that’s how long Conner says it will take to slave off all the vehicles. If you get into trouble, I’ll only be able to send one Hummer to help and if it meets a large mob, it will have to back out and leave you. We’re spread too thin in a lot of vehicles and we need the supplies we’ve gathered,” Bruce told him point blank.
“If we see anything we’ll bug out but we accept the risk. So can we go please?” Paul asked with a pleading look.
“Down there in that group of cars is my new truck. It’s a black Chevy 2500 take that, but please don’t hurt it, ok? You have until the vehicles are ready, then we’re leaving, with or without you. With this many diesel engines running it’s bound to attract attention that we do not want,” Bruce told him and handed Paul the keys he pulled out of the truck.
“We’ll see you in twenty minutes,” Paul said, as he grabbed the keys and took off running to the truck with his family behind him.
“Son number one, three of your return parties are making a side trip. Have Mama ride with you, little foot and her other half together in another vehicle. Big daddy two and wife will ride together. David and Danny will still lead y’all in tha beast. I want you gone in five minutes, do ya copy?” Bruce ordered over the radio.
“Copy, we are rolling in five minutes. Good luck big daddy one,” Steve replied as Bruce watched the big Chevy pull out to the road and head to Paul’s house.
“Corporal, start the slaving now,” Bruce told Conner.
In fifteen minutes, all the Hummers were running. It took another twenty to get the Strykers running. During the time it took the get the vehicles running, seven runners had shown up along with a large group of joggers and all were cut down. Bruce was on the radio telling everyone to load up when he saw Paul and his family return, the bed of the pickup was full of stuff. When Bruce started the RG, he could almost see the ground shake. He pulled forward telling everyone they were taking the alternate route and he had the lead. Bruce told Paul to get between the two flat beds as he pulled forward.
He headed west to Highway 71. When he reached it he turned south heading home. When Bruce came around a blind corner, he saw a mob of a hundred or so walking down the road. Seeing the vehicles, they started moving toward the convoy. Bruce called contact and floored the RG. He didn’t even feel the impact as he centered the mob. They had moved right at him, not even trying to get out of the way. What he missed the Strykers and HEMTTs got. In his rear-view mirror he only saw four or five still standing. He was glad Paul had not hit any in his truck. Bruce turned to look at Buffy who was just shaking her head.
“What?” Bruce asked her.
“They’re crazy as a shit house rat Daddy. They just ran right at this big truck,” Buffy said looking out the window.
“That’s what worries me. They have no fear BB. If they were afraid they would avoid us,” Bruce told her as he continued down the road heading home.
Chapter 4
It took three days to unload the vehicles from the check point. They had to make a lot of crates for all the weapons. Then they numbered each one and stacked them in the bottom of the barn after each weapon was wiped down in oil. Keeping his promise, Bruce gave Danny a P90 from one of the police cars. Then Buffy started whining she wanted one too, so she got one. Bruce got four more SCARS’ from the escapade. Three were selective fire, found in the squad cars. The other was a single shot like his use to be. His and Mike’s now fired single shot, three round burst and full auto, using the equipment from the buried cases.
They had scored big time with the convoy. They now had over half a million rounds of 5.56 alone. Ammunition could now be measured in tons. One of the pallets held a crate of AT-4s, which were rocket launchers, used to take out armor or fortifications. From the Strykers they pulled out ten Javelins, a fire and forget rocket launcher. Once it locked on a target and fired, it would chase it down. It could take out an Abrams tank. In the back of the RG were two cases, one held another Raven and the other held a Puma. The Puma was a larger micro UAV but you could move the camera in flight instead of turning the whole plane to look at a target. To Bruce those alone made the trip worth it.
The convoy had attracted a lot of attention from the blues but only a few, forty-six, few being a relative term, found the farm. Those that did were quickly shot and fed to the growing gator population. It started raining the day after they finished storing equipment so everyone stayed inside learning weapons. Bruce had everyone get an M-4 and several had the M-4A1. The military M-4 came standard with a 14.5 inch barrel unlike the civilian one that had a 16 inch barrel. Bruce told everyone in the family they had to get two military M-4’s and one had to be an A1. The A1 had a heavier barrel and could be fired on full auto instead of three round burst.
Now, they had fourteen 40mm grenade launchers and hundreds of rounds of, HE ( high explosive), HEDP (high explosive dual purpose), tear gas, some XM1060 thermobaric grenades and even buckshot rounds but no practice rounds. That was why only the people who had fired the M203 were given one. The three soldiers each had one and Paul had one. Mike and Bruce each had two one on their SCARs and one on an M-4A1. Everyone would train on the M203 but not fire it. Shooting the weapon was not really loud but the grenade exploding did make a little noise. Bruce had never fired the thermobaric grenade since it was new to the inventory and he was really fighting the urge to. When Danny found out she couldn’t shoot the grenade launcher, she started throwing a fit. After Debbie had calmed her down Debbie gave Bruce the ‘look’. “Your child,” she told him as if that explained everything.
They did not find many pistols at the check point on the ground like they did rifles. Bruce figured from the rifles and packs there had been fifty-five army personnel at the checkpoint. Then he figured about fifty cops with them. They had only gathered thirty pistols most being police issue. He figured that number should be doubled at least.
This did not include the mountain of weapons that had been taken from civilians. In that mountain, they had gotten over three thousand two hundred rifles and shot guns. Everything from high quality civilian assault rifles to black powder muskets, in hundreds of different calibers. There were over sixteen hundred pistols, again, everything from high quality weapons to pieces of crap. From pea shooters to hand cannons. Also in that pile were hundreds of pounds of ammunition in everything from Wal-Mart bags, boxes, ammo storage boxes and just loose rounds on the ground. Th
e calibers the clan did not use went in boxes, and were moved to a storage shed. Some of the weapons from the pile Bruce had only seen pictures of and others he had never even heard of.
They had put all the high quality weapons in the basement in racks they had made. It turned the open area of the basement into a maze. Bruce issued everyone a pistol because now everyone had tactical gear. He told those not trained on the pistol yet, were not to loaded it until they were trained on them. He would make suppressors for them later.
Lynn did voice her opinion about giving the kids pistols. “Bruce, I can understand about the rifles but pistols are much more dangerous. The kids could hurt themselves or others,” She told him.
“Lynn, the days of childhood are gone. The kids have to learn how to fight and survive, just to live. What if we’re attacked and something happens to us and they manage to escape? If we don’t teach them, we’re killing them. The same as if you took a gun and shot ‘em yourself,” Bruce told her. Looking at the kids Bruce said, “Anyone caught playing with a weapon will be beaten, then they will be the gimps bitch for a month. I don’t care if it is child or adult.”
Lynn looked at Bruce in shock as she replied, “That’s a little harsh but you’re right. I didn’t look at it from that point of view.” Bruce was glad she agreed because that woman could cook and he wanted her to keep doing it. With her doing the cooking, it freed up a lot of people to do other things.
It rained three straight days then on one afternoon at lunch Bruce made an announcement. They were moving some of the vehicles off of the farm to the dead end area of the road and tonight was movie night for the clan. Both the HEMTTs and the convenience store gang’s trucks were going to be left down there because it was getting a little crowded and they served no useful purpose. After the vehicles were moved and everyone was back at the farm, preparations started for movie night.
Only those on watch didn’t come to watch movies in the game room on Mike and Bruce’s high definition projector. After the first movie they stopped and ate supper then returned to watch another. It was such a big success in boosting moral that Bruce declared every Saturday night would be movie night.
The next morning after movie night everyone was eating breakfast and relaxing. Bruce had told everyone that Sunday was a day of rest if nothing came up. Workouts were not required even though most did, just later in the day.
Bruce was eating and making notes in his notebook when Stephanie called his name from the middle of the table. It wasn’t until Debbie kicked him under the table that he finally looked up. “That hurt damn it,” Bruce said glaring at Debbie, as he rubbed his leg.
“Stephanie has called your name several times, baby. It’s my job to keep you alert,” Debbie told him, as she continued to eat.
Bruce grumbled at Debbie, then turned to Stephanie, “Yes, Stephanie,” he said.
“I’m ready to give my report now. How about this afternoon in the game room?” she asked.
“Sounds good to me, let’s say one o’clock after lunch,” Bruce told her.
“Ok, I will get ready,” Stephanie said getting up.
After lunch, Bruce went into the game room for the briefing. On the small table between his and Mike’s recliners was a projector aimed at a sheet on the wall. Bruce sat down in his recliner as everyone found a place to sit. He took out his notebook to make notes and questions to ask Mike later, because he was sure he wouldn’t understand much of what was said.
Stephanie walked up to the front and set down a stack of papers on the coffee table. “Can everyone hear me Ok?” she asked. Everyone said they could even two voices from the intercom replied.
“First, I want to tell Matt and Jake thank you for getting the information from my e-mail account. Before anyone asks, yes some of the net is still up but we only have connection here via satellite and there are people trying to trace signals down. We don’t know if it’s government or someone else, but when Matt and Jake went to my e-mail, someone tried to track them. Whoever it was tracking them, was not able to, so we are safe. Until the tech team says so, no one is allowed online,” Stephanie told everyone seeing happy faces that at least others were out there. It was going to break her heart to kill that little bit of hope that they had.
“The tech team downloaded my account that a colleague at the CDC, Sandy, sent. It is the information about all the research that was being done on the blue virus. It has been over a month since the outbreak began. After I left the CDC, Sandy agreed to send research information every day. She did until a few days ago, since then nothing. We should assume the CDC is down.”
Stephanie continued, “Now, let me start on the virus. The virus-” she stopped as Bruce spoke.
“Hold on a second there pretty woman. I want you to explain this virus and infection using words that don’t make me feel like a dumbass. Just use words I can understand,” Bruce told her. Mike, Nancy and Debbie just stared at Bruce with astonishment on their faces.
“Bruce, you are not a dumbass, so what are you talking about?” Stephanie asked looking at Bruce, not understanding him.
“Stephanie, when you start talking about viruses and DNA you use words I can’t even find in a dictionary. Well, I might could if I could spell’em. Molecular density of the helix strand, the ‘whatever’ transfers to the ‘do hicky’ to change the genetic makeup and code for that gene complex. I can understand the verbs and conjunctions you use. After listening to you talk, I run to Mike, Nancy or Debbie to get them to explain what the hell you said. I’ve even bought several books to try to get a grip on what you’re saying, but I’m still lost,” Bruce admitted out loud for the first time. He could not understand something that he had tried to learn.
Debbie got up from the couch, ran over, jumping in his lap hugging Bruce while Mike was patting his shoulder. “I’m so proud of you stud muffin. In the lifetime we’ve been together you finally admitted you didn’t understand something, for the first time,” Debbie said kissing him.
“What, you’re proud I’m a dumbass and no matter what I try, I can’t wrap my brain around the molecular world? It’s too small for that much crap to be taking place. Once you go smaller than a single cell it gets complicated for me,” Bruce said disgusted with himself. He had not wanted to admit it out loud but he really wanted to know what they were up against with the virus.
“Bruce, other than Stephanie, you are the smartest person I have ever met. You commit things to memory easily and know lots of information. You can explain how a medication works to someone, take apart a car and put it back together, cook a gourmet meal then fight a battle. I’m proud you admitted that you’re human baby,” Debbie told him.
“You mean in the four, almost five years I have known you, all the times we have talked about my work you did not understand Bruce?” Stephanie asked with shock on her face. “You know everything, why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would never make you feel bad on purpose Bruce,” Stephanie said, on the verge of tears.
Mike looked at Stephanie as he was holding Bruce’s shoulder, proud of him. “Stephanie, it has nothing to do with you baby. I’ve watched Bruce read those books and throw them in disgust. Last year he took two books, Physics of Atoms and Molecules and Advance Molecular Biology, on our hunt to Canada. I watched him over the period of four days try to read both books in a huntin’ blind waiting on a bear. When he was three quarters of the way through one, and half-way through the other, Bruce started ripping pages out yellin’ the whole time. Then he burnt the pages along with the books as our guide just stared at the crazy man. Not one time did Bruce ask me for help. Bruce wants to teach himself and understand somethin’ on his own,” Mike told her.
“I wondered what happened to those books. They were pretty good,” Nancy said to herself.
“Oh yeah, just rub it in Nancy, that I’m an idiot that should be kept in the basement wearing a rubber helmet, playing with crayons,” Bruce snapped.
“Bruce, if you think I understand everything Stephanie says,
you’re so wrong, ninety-nine percent of the people on the planet don’t understand the molecular world. I only understand the nuts and bolts of what she says. Then I research what I don’t understand big man,” Nancy told him.
“Those damn books might as well be written in hieroglyphics to me,” Bruce replied pissed off that everyone knew he was a dumbass now.
“I never meant to make you feel bad Bruce, please believe me. I would have helped you to understand me,” Stephanie said with tears in her eyes. She loved this family more than her own. They always treated her like one of their own. Bruce was her idol. He treated her the same as everyone else. He taught her how to shoot, change a tire, hunt, fish and so much more.
Debbie got off Bruce’s lap as Nancy got up from the couch and they went to Stephanie. “This is a boy thing Stephanie and Bruce is the king of the boys club. Until you came, he thought he could learn anything on his own. He doesn’t realize that it’s a lot easier to be taught something by someone who knows the subject. In college, he would read the night before class until he understood the next day’s lecture. When he got to class, it was only to reinforce what he’d already learned. He graduated with a 3.7, but if he would’ve asked for help sometimes he would’ve had a 4.0. Most men have that stubborn streak of not wanting to admit that they can’t understand everything. Bruce’s streak is just a mile wide. That is why most men don’t read instructions, they just do it,” Debbie told Stephanie.
“Mike had it, but medical school knocked that out of him real fast,” Nancy told Stephanie.
“That’s no shit. The four years of college in pre-med I just bulled my way through but the four years of med school and the information you have to take in made me humble very fast,” Mike admitted to everyone. “We all knew Bruce was lost every time you talked about your work. Bruce would come up to one of us later and steer the topic towards what you had talked about. We would then tell him our understanding of it,” Mike told her.
Blue Plague Survival Page 6