Blue Plague Survival

by Watson, Thomas A

  “Leave,” Bruce told them motioning to the house with his head.

  “Bruce. Brother. They’re scared now, just come on inside,” Mike pleaded with him.

  Debbie was just watching Bruce. She felt awe, wonder, disgust, amazement, loathing, joy and desire all at once observing Bruce. She could actually feel him on the wave. The energy he was giving off was intoxicating. Not once did he ever refer to Carla as a human, only a target. Debbie could see it on his face. He was with a target not a person.

  “Leave now,” Bruce told them again.

  “Bruce, you were right, I’ll feel guilty tomorrow. Please come inside,” Nancy begged him.

  Closing his eyes, Bruce took a deep breath. He could feel the rage ebbing from his body at their request. Bruce opened his eyes looking at them. “Mike you’re a good man, with a good heart. That’s why I cherish you. When push comes to shove you are a good warrior and my best friend. Nancy, I love you dearly. You always give me your honest opinion. You have always stood up for the family and you’re a true friend. But you are wrong, you won’t feel guilty tomorrow. You now know I’m doing this because I want to, for bringing anger into your heart. Anger that you were not ready for,” Bruce told her then turned to Debbie, “My true love. You’re the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Everything good in my life has come from you or by you. I want you to leave with Mike and Nancy now. Start on the schedule. I will be in shortly. Nobody is to come out the back door if they need to go to the barn tell them to take another door,” Bruce told her.

  They all just stared at him as he said, “Leave now please.”

  The three started taking small steps toward the door wanting to grab Bruce and pull him inside. When they reached the door Debbie stopped and turned around. “Bruce, when you come inside I want ‘YOU’ to come inside. I want you to leave the rage out here, for me baby. Will you do that for me baby? Get off the wave?” Debbie asked him.

  Bruce looked at her and replied, “Yes baby, I will. Now please go inside.”

  After the three went inside Bruce turned to Mitch, “Now, where should we start big boy?”

  Two hours later, Bruce stood over the last one, the state trooper with a broken arm. All four were naked except for shoes and had felt pain few thought possible. Their spirits were almost broke but he would probably end up killing Mitch and the trooper with the broken arm and leg. Bruce did not think those two would stay broke and he could not do this too many more times in front of Debbie. When she left, he did not like the way she looked at him. It looked like one half of her wanted to join him and the other half wanted to puke at the sight of him. He could take the easy route and just kill the three but he wanted to give them the chance to rejoin the human race.

  All four were crying softly laying on their backs with no restraints but that would change shortly. He turned to the gimp who was still bowed down in the same spot. Bruce was amazed that anyone could stay bowed that long. “Gimp, come here,” Bruce said watching the gimp get up and almost fall down several times as he came over.

  “Yes sir,” gimp said.

  “I have to admit, I’m proud of you. I know several of the others are talking to you and showing you kindness but I have not punished them or you. How do you like it when someone shows you kindness?” Bruce asked him.

  Gimp was not surprised that Bruce knew others were being nice to him but he was shocked that he was not going to be hit for it. Gimp took a deep breath, “It makes me feel good sir.”

  “I’m going to see if you can join the human race again and be a man. You now have a new job. These four will start shit detail tomorrow, you’ll oversee them even the police officers with their broken arms and leg. The cops’ names are dumb and dumber. The others are bitch and bitch boy. That is how they are to be addressed. They are to remain naked until I say otherwise. They are not to use shovels, hoes, rakes or pitch forks when they work. They are only allowed to use their hands, until I say otherwise. Until they work half a day none are to eat or drink, until I say otherwise. Do you understand what I’ve told you?” Bruce asked him. Gimp just stared at Bruce not believing his ears and he couldn’t make his voice work so he just nodded his head yes with tears in his eyes. “Gimp, I would like a verbal response,” Bruce said looking at him.

  “Yes sir, I understand,” gimp replied crying.

  “You are not to hurt these four unless they try to hurt you or others. If they’re not doing their job, you find me or one I have put in charge. Now go over there and bring me those policeman’s holsters,” Bruce told gimp who ran to grab them and brought them back to Bruce. Bruce grabbed the four sets of hand cuffs from one belt and handed them to the gimp. Bruce looked at the other belt it still had the Taser, pepper spray, keys, cuffs and baton. Thinking about it for a minute, he handed it to the gimp. “Put this on and wear it always. If you’re going to enter the world of man again, you’ll start to act like it,” Bruce told him. Gimp looked at the belt then put it on. It didn’t have a gun but that did not matter. “You’re still not allowed to talk to Susan or the kid’s. Is that clear?” Bruce told him.

  “Yes sir, I will never bother her again. I have hurt them too much to be forgiven,” gimp told him.

  “You will hand cuff these four to one of the gates on the pastures every night. When they work, their hands will be cuffed in the front of them. This continues until I say otherwise,” Bruce told him.

  “Yes sir,” gimp replied thinking he was in a dream. He was being given a second chance.

  “When we’re alone, you may call me Bruce,” Bruce told him.

  Gimp took a step back looking at Bruce. He must be dreaming he thought. He replied stutteringly, “I-I can’t sir.”

  “Your choice, but when we’re alone I’ll call you Jim,” Bruce told Jim. Tears started rolling out of his eyes. It had been almost three months since anyone had used his name.

  “Thank you sir,” Jim replied.

  “You’re now in charge of these four. Use my name for discipline and tell them about your story,” Bruce told Jim.

  “Yes sir,” he replied.

  “Now, do what you’re told. Let’s see if we can get some more people back in the human race,” Bruce told Jim as he headed to the door.

  Bruce turned back and watched Jim lead the four to the back pasture. Bruce closed his eyes as the wave left a void in him. Feeling drained of energy, Bruce took a deep breath as he grabbed the door handle and walked in.

  Chapter 13

  Debbie, Mike and Nancy walked in the house and found the others all at the table working. They each grabbed a chair and sat down gazing off into space. The others just stared at them wanting them to say something, anything.

  Mike was the first to break the silence, “Holy ass balls.”

  “Second that,” Nancy said.

  Stephanie put down her pen looking around the table asking, “What the hell was that?”

  “He was riding the wave,” Conner replied in an offhand tone writing on his list. They all looked at him as he continued writing. Feeling everyone stare at him he looked up. “What?” Conner asked.

  “Care to explain?” Stephanie asked.

  Conner put down his pen, “Look, I have only one combat tour, but I was ready to apply to ranger school. I’ve met a lot of meat eaters and most of them talk about it. I have only experienced it once. Other than that it’s all second hand information,” he informed them.

  “First, I don’t care if its second hand information. Second, everyone here is a meat eater,” Stephanie told him.

  “Ma-am, in the military, meat eaters are the warriors at the top of the list. Your apex predators, they live for the job. Rangers, Special Forces, SEAL’s and Recon, those elite forces that live on the edge,” Conner replied.

  “Ok, it’s the boys that are really full of testosterone. Now what is the wave? I’ve heard Debbie mention it a few times but what she described bordered on sociopathic behavior,” Stephanie said not liking the fact that anything about Bruce could be
bad.

  “I’ll try to explain it but until you experience the wave, it’s hard to describe. In my case it started as panic, then, it moved to anger. I could feel goose bumps over my body and I was filled with a rage that I have never felt before. It wasn’t really directed at anything. It was just there. You feel like you can do anything and you can actually, feel, the world around you,” Conner told her.

  “Then you start killing?” Bill asked.

  “Yeah,” Conner said.

  “That’s sociopathic Conner,” Stephanie said leaning back in her chair.

  “It would be. But, you don’t get pleasure from the act. They’re just targets, Stephanie. If you get pleasure from it you release the rage and you don’t want to do that. The first ambusher I shot, I started to feel happy about it and I could feel the rage leaving. I stopped feeling happy or sad and just engaged the enemy. Don’t think about it, you just move through one target to find another one. That’s riding the wave, you hold the rage in. If you let it out like retribution, you slide down the wave. Let’s get something straight, these aren’t nuns and Boy Scouts we are fighting. They want to kill us. We have to kill them first. How you feel when you do it is splitting hairs on morality,” Conner replied looking down the table at her.

  “What about what Bruce said, ‘we have a piece of his heart’?” Nancy asked Conner but Debbie spoke first.

  “You can’t hurt your team because you love them,” Debbie said.

  “My platoon sergeant was a Ranger. He told stories of men riding the wave, jumping in front of bullets, jumping on top of grenades to save the team. Among meat eaters, it’s better to hurt yourself than a teammate with your actions or your inactions,” Conner told everyone.

  “I can honestly say I never felt threatened by Bruce out there but I did feel some pity for those four, but it was only for a few seconds,” Bill admitted.

  “Like I said, once you feel it, you never forget it and you do want more,” Conner told everyone picking up his pen and started writing again.

  “There is a down side Conner,” Debbie told him and he looked up at her.

  “You want the wave more and more like a drug addict. You start to push those close to you away if they do not ride the wave. It slowly eats at your soul until all you want is the rage. That’s the only thing that has ever come between us. I almost left Bruce when he was in the service for it. Haven’t you ever wondered why the divorce rates are so high in the elite forces?” Debbie told everyone.

  “You almost left Bruce? Are you shitting me?” Nancy asked never hearing this.

  “Yes, he was changing each time he came back from an assignment. He was getting more and more distant. His eyes were getting cold to anyone we met and he was indifferent to the world. I told him if he did not leave the Army, I was leaving with Steve and Jake. He chose us and for the first year, I was ready to kill him. None of you have seen him that bitchy and it lasted a whole year. Then he returned to the man I fell in love with,” Debbie told them and everyone was in shock.

  “When y’all came back home from the hospital I could see it in his eyes. It had happened again. I had not seen that look in his eyes in over fifteen years but it was there. Until tonight, I’d never seen him ‘riding the wave.’ I’m not going to lie, part of me wanted to join him. I could feel the energy he was giving off. The air around him was alive. I could see at that moment, he could and would do anything to protect us. The rage came because someone threatened his family, his team. That being said, the other part of me wanted to take off running and puke,” Debbie said stretching her arms out on the table and laying her head down as Mike spoke.

  “Debbie, I can honestly say if it was not for that wave, we wouldn’t be here now and that goes for all the survivors also,” Mike told her.

  “I know Mike, that’s why I didn’t say anything and have just tried to make him let it go until he needs it,” Debbie said lifting her head up tears running down her face. “Part of me wants to go out there right now and tell him to unleash it, live in it and move through the land like a second plague. I know we will be safer but I can’t because I don’t want to lose him,” Debbie told him with tears running down her face.

  “I’ll help you,” Stephanie promised her grabbing her hand.

  “I will too,” Angela said placing her hand on theirs. She was followed by Nancy then Mike as they all placed their hands on top of one another pledging to help Bruce keep the wave in check.

  Then Angela asked her, “How do you stop it?”

  Debbie looked at her, “Ask him to let it go. Now I said ask, don’t tell. Then avoid him for a little while but not too long. Then make him smile and laugh, just to shock him back to himself.”

  “Damn, that’s what Angela and I did after we were hit by that mob,” Mike admitted in disbelief.

  “It’s not hard, unless he’s been in it for a long time. The second time Bruce went to Africa for six months that was the worst ever. When he got home, I could tell he’d been on the wave the entire time. Don’t ask what he did because he never told me. That’s when I gave him the ultimatum,” Debbie told them as she relived the event in her head.

  Then Angela asked, “Debbie, how did you meet Bruce?”

  Debbie laughed, “I’ve known Bruce my whole life. I remember him from Sunday school and first grade. He was so mean to me, always pulling my hair and making fun of me. When he was in sixth grade and I was in the fifth grade, I knew he was the one I wanted to marry.”

  “So he was nice to you then?” Stephanie asked her.

  “Nice hell, that son of a bitch still pulled my hair and hit me with spit balls. But I could see something in him even then, that just made my heart stop,” Debbie told Stephanie which shocked her.

  “How in the hell did you catch him then?” Angela asked.

  “One day I asked him if I could come over to his house so he could teach me how to play basketball. When I helped him with his homework that first time, he invited me over again. After the third time, I asked him to come over to my house and he did,” Debbie smiled with the happy memories.

  “You ambushed him,” Mike said in a shocked voice.

  “Well, yeah,” Debbie replied, looking at Mike like he was an idiot.

  “Did he ever try to go out with any other girls,” Nancy asked curiously.

  “Yeah, in ninth grade, there was a dance and I couldn’t go because I was in the eighth. A girl named Wendy German asked Bruce to go to the dance with her but somehow her dress got all torn up,” Debbie told Nancy as they all started laughing. Then Debbie told them about their first date, Bruce’s first hickey Debbie had put on him, and several other funny stories. The laughter continued until Bruce walked in the door and everyone stopped laughing looking at Bruce.

  “What? Did I fart?” Bruce asked.

  Debbie leaned her head backwards until she saw Bruce upside down. “No baby. If you had we’d all be on the floor,” Debbie told him.

  Bruce leaned over and kissed her then sat down in his seat. “Jim is guarding them and they’re to stay naked until further notice,” Bruce said. All eyes locked on him, except Bill’s.

  “Yes I called him Jim, but no one else can. I have to make sure he’s broken and is ready to join the human race again. I also gave him an empty gun belt. The others will be on shit duty and can only use their hands, no tools and Jim is their supervisor,” Bruce told them.

  “Damn that’s good,” Bill said after Nancy informed him what shit detail was.

  “Now, let’s start making list of work crews and a training schedule,” Bruce said.

  “Here they are,” Stephanie said handing Bruce several pieces of paper to him. “Angela and I made them after looking at what everyone could do,” Stephanie told him.

  “Well, let’s get some laptops in here and get these lists on the computer,” Bruce said.

  “Done Dad,” Jake said lifting his head off the table.

  “Well, I’m going out on the supply runs tomorrow let’s-,” Bruce started
as Nancy cut him off.

  “Already done, I have Danny, Jake, Buffy, Matt and Conner for fire team,” Nancy told Bruce.

  “What the hell do y’all need me for then?” Bruce asked.

  “Well, your shaved head is really sexy Bruce,” Mike said winking at him as everyone laughed.

  “I’m going up stairs to bed and get my ass kicked by a bunch of little girls and a baby boy,” Bruce said standing up.

  “No, you’re not brother,” Mike told him.

  “Why the hell not? Everything’s done,” Bruce demanded.

  “Cassandra is sleeping with Susan tonight, so you and Debbie are sleeping in our bed. Nancy and I’ll sleep with the kids,” Mike told him.

  “What does Cassandra sleeping with Susan have to do with this?” Bruce asked totally lost.

  “Cassandra and Joshua sleep with us at least five times a week and has since she got here,” Nancy said smiling.

  “I’m her Daddy after all,” Mike said smiling. That smile let Bruce know he forgave him for that.

  Everyone got up, heading to bed. Conner had to wake Jake up to make him get up. When Mike opened the door to Bruce’s room, he looked at Nancy.

  “You go in first. There’re bodies everywhere,” Mike told her.

  Bruce just laughed, heading to Mike’s room. After he stripped, he went and took a quick shower with Debbie. Since Mike didn’t have a mirror in his shower, Bruce shaved at the sink as Debbie left to get in the bed. When Bruce was finished he, cleaned the sink out and headed to bed. Debbie was sitting on the corner of the bed waiting for him.

  Bruce thought he was in trouble until she said, “You’re mine buddy.”

  Bruce smiled replying, “Bring it on if you think you’re bad enough girlfriend.” Debbie ran and jumped up on him wrapping her legs around him.

  “I can take ya,” she replied.

  Chapter 14

  Bruce struggled to wake up feeling something sitting on his stomach. With a lot of effort he slowly opened his eyes to find Debbie sitting on him. Debbie leaned down kissing him on the cheek, then, squeezed him in a long hug.