Blue Plague Survival

by Watson, Thomas A

  “The road south will probably have a smaller ambush. I would put just a small force there to catch those trying to escape. When you find it, tell Conner to load up and when they get close, unload on the area and bring them home,” Bruce told him as Mike started to call Conner, Bruce stopped him. “Tell Conner to make sure everyone is accounted for, those assholes probably want to capture someone to find out about us,” Bruce told him and Mike relayed the plan and about the ambushes in place.

  After Mike finished with Conner he looked at Bruce. “What are you going to do?” Mike asked.

  “I’m going to talk to them. I want to know how they found us. I didn’t invite them,” Bruce said as he walked out of the room and Mike ran after him.

  “Bruce, we can’t repel an attack if you take your team out. That’ll leave us with a lot of people here that can barely shoot,” Mike told him.

  “I’m going alone,” Bruce replied as he grabbed his pack and weapon heading outside.

  “Bruce, don’t go, we need you here,” Mike begged him.

  “Mike, run the battle. Quit thinking civilized and think like a criminal,” Bruce told him heading out back.

  Bruce keyed the radio, “Debbie, meet me at the machine shop. Jake, get me a number on the ambush to the west of Saline.” Debbie did not answer but Jake copied.

  Bruce hopped on one of the four wheelers that Paul had muffled down. Debbie came up to him.

  “Where are you going?” she demanded.

  “I’m going to talk to them and find out how they found us. They make for poor company,” Bruce told her.

  “Let me come with you then,” Debbie said.

  “No, I will have to move fast. If they hit us, it’ll be hard and with a lot of fire power. You’ll be needed here. Remind Mike that wounded will be coming in with this group. Use the community center,” Bruce told her then added, “I love you sugar mama.”

  “I love you too, you better be careful and come back,” Debbie said as she kissed him.

  Bruce started the four wheeler and sped off. Once he cleared the gate he opened the throttle. As usual, the tires made more noise than the engine as he rolled down the road. The ambush was eighteen miles by road from the farm. Bruce figured he could stop half a mile away and move up on foot. Twenty minutes later, Bruce pulled off the road into the tree line and turned off the engine. Mike called him over the radio.

  “Bruce, I’ve been calling you for the last five minutes. We found the ambush site to the south Conner just leveled it and is on the way home. I sent a UAV to Marcus’s farm and we found an OP (observation post) but I can’t tell him. Hold on Jake wants to talk to you,” Mike said.

  “Dad, I’ve counted sixteen, two on the north side of the road in the house sitting alone. On the south side of the road all fourteen went into one house when Conner left,” Jake told him.

  Bruce walked into the woods on the north side and started jogging to the ambush site. Then he asked Jake, “Why do you think they did that son?”

  “I think they were in place to stop the patrol if they tried to escape and now that the patrol has escaped they are just shooting the shit,” Jake told him. Then Jake asked, “Dad the patrol rolled right through that ambush site to get to the school why didn’t they hit it then?”

  “You tell me,” Bruce said slowing down

  “The patrol was too big and they wanted to get the ones sent to rescue them because that would be a smaller force but have a lot of fighters,” Jake guessed.

  “Very good son but the site to the north was the primary ambush site. It’s the direct route to Marcus’s farm. This group was to stop the supply convoy when the main group ambushed the relief convoy, I’m here,” Bruce whispered feeling the rage build the tightness in his back and the chill bumps on his arm started coming up.

  “I can see you. The two story house to your right, on the second floor, room closest to you overlooking the road is where I saw two through the window,” Jake told him.

  “What about the group to the north,” Bruce whispered from the tree line in the backyard of the house. The back door was open and two Harleys were by the back door.

  “About twenty went to the school and Conner and his team killed a lot of the ambushers. We counted twenty seven bodies laid out. The rest just stayed up north, the count up there is a hundred and fifty four not counting the twenty that left. Stephanie is in here and she can count fast,” Jake told him.

  “Watch your Daddy’s ass I’m going in,” Bruce said feeling the wave.

  “Area around the house clear,” Jake said.

  Bruce pulled out his XDM. Feeling great, he ran across the yard stopping at the doorway before he went in the back door. Not hearing anything, he leveled his pistol and went in. The first room was a kitchen that opened into a living room with a hallway on his left. Not seeing anything he slowly walked forward toward the hallway.

  The first area he came to was a circular stairwell. He could hear voices upstairs. He continued down the hall finding a bathroom, office and a master bedroom, all empty. He moved back to the stairway keeping to the side of the stairs. With his pistol aimed up, he slowly moved upstairs and the voices started getting louder.

  Reaching the top Bruce could make out two voices coming from the right where Jake saw two through the window. The hallway at the top of the stairs ran the length of the house. Bruce looked quickly to the left and saw two doors, one on each side of the hall both closed. Looking right he saw only one open door on the left side of the hall.

  Bruce moved into the hall aiming at the open door as he eased down the hall. Stopping at the door he could hear two people arguing why they did not get to kill someone. Feeling a bit brash, Bruce decided to rush the room. Swinging around the doorway, Bruce saw two men staring out the window one had a pair of binoculars, the other one was just looking out the window and he was closer. Bruce moved toward him and launched his boot toward the man’s face.

  The target must have felt Bruce because he started to turn just as Bruce’s boot caught him in the mouth sending him into the wall then sliding to the floor. The target with the binoculars was turning toward Bruce as Bruce brought the pistol down across his nose. Bruce felt the bone crunch as he drove the man to the floor with another hit. The first target groaned as Bruce walked over and stomped on his head knocking him out. Then turning to the other peeping tom Bruce kicked him in the side of the head making sure he was knocked out.

  Bruce zip tied their wrist and ankles then he zip tied their thumbs. Reaching in the bottom pocket of his pack, he took out the fix it all for every man alive, a roll of gray duct tape. He wrapped tape around their head, covering their mouths. Then he quickly frisked them pulling out knives and pistols. Standing up, Bruce looked around the room. On the bed he noticed an AK-47 and a M-16 with a 203 grenade launcher and two saddle bags with ammo. Looking at the window Bruce saw five charging claymore detonators. He disconnected the detonators throwing them on the bed. Then Bruce looked out the window at the house directly across from him. It was a single story brick house.

  “That was good Dad,” Jake told him.

  “What about the others?” Bruce whispered not knowing if the house was clear as he moved out of the room.

  “The ones across from you are still in the house. The group to the north is staying put. Those at the school went south but everyone there is dead,” Jake told Bruce as he cleared the rest of the house.

  “We’ll send them some flowers,” Bruce told him as he headed back into the room with the bikers holstering his pistol.

  “I’ll take the flowers to them. It’s the least I can do,” Jake said.

  “That’s nice of you son,” Bruce said as he looked around the room again. This time he saw a large black duffle bag. Bruce opened it finding a shitload of claymores, C-4 and detonator cord. Bruce closed the bag and took it downstairs with him. Bruce dropped the bag by the bikes at the back door. Bruce figured the bag weighed over a hundred pounds. It is really nice of these guys to bring him new toy
s, Bruce thought.

  Bruce ran into the woods behind the house. Turning to his left, he ran forty yards then moved to the road. Bruce saw two houses, a small house then the target house down the road to his right. He darted across the road. Running to the first house, Bruce stopped on the wall.

  “That’s the house half of those guys came out of,” Jake told him.

  “Checking it out, watch our friends,” Bruce said as he moved to the back finding the door kicked in. Bruce searched the house finding only whiskey bottles and drug paraphernalia. “House clear,” Bruce called.

  “I think our friends are shy dad, they don’t want to come out. The back door is open and I can see several in that room,” Jake told him.

  “Well, let me go and talk to them,” Bruce said as he ran toward the side of the house stopping between two windows.

  Bruce had his back to the house and he eased to the backyard ducking under the windows. Then he looked around the corner into the backyard. Bruce saw over a dozen bikes tucked in the tree line, behind the other house in the backyard. He noticed a small shed on the far side of the yard. Looking down the back of the house Bruce saw three windows.

  Aiming his SCAR at the open back door Bruce eased down the back wall of the house. Looking in the first window, he saw it was a bedroom and could not see anyone. The next window was frosted so he guessed it was a bathroom. Moving to the last window, Bruce could hear the voices real good now. He slowly stood up easing his left eye to the window, then, kneeled back down watching the back door.

  The room was a kitchen with a dining room on the front of the house. It looked like all of the bikers were in those rooms drinking. Bruce pulled two hand grenades off his vest and straightened out the pins and pulled them.

  Bruce let the safety spoons fly. After counting off his three seconds, he ran past the open door. The grenade in his right hand he threw into the front of the house and the other he threw in the kitchen as he passed the door. Then Bruce dove covering his ears. As he hit the ground he heard the explosion behind him. Bruce rolled over bringing his SCAR up and ran in the backdoor into the kitchen.

  The kitchen was covered with body parts, no complete bodies. Bruce moved into the dining room and found more body parts, but did see a couple of bodies. The dining room opened into a living room with a hall, Bruce moved to the hall and found a biker crawling on the floor and stomped on the back of his head. Then he opened the door he thought led to the bathroom. A man was laying on the floor moaning holding his ears. “Are you ok sir?” Bruce asked then stomped on his face twice until he shut up.

  Bruce cleared the rest of the house not finding anyone. He tied up the two he found with zip ties and duct tape. Then he moved back to check on the bodies in the living room. Bruce found one alive but he fixed that problem. The weapons in the two rooms were wasted.

  Bruce stepped out the back door as Jake called, “That was awesome, but, isn’t that cheating?” Jake asked.

  “Not in my game, I have good rules,” Bruce told him heading to the shed in the back yard.

  “I like your game. Can I ask you something Dad?” Jake inquired.

  “Sure,” Bruce said as he stopped at the shed and found what he needed on the side. A lawn trailer for a lawn mower or in this case, Bruce’s four wheeler, to haul shit home.

  “Are you riding the wave,” Jake asked.

  “Oh yeah, what are their friends doing son,” Bruce asked as he headed to the bikes.

  “Nothing, just hanging out. I don’t think they could’ve heard the grenades. They are six miles away,” Jake said.

  “I wasn’t worried about that, the house is brick and contained the concussion real good. If their friends show up, I just want to make sure that I have party surprises for them,” Bruce told Jake as he looked at the bikes.

  Bruce found one with keys in it started it up and took off to his four wheeler. Pulling in to the woods where he parked his ride Bruce just dropped the bike as he climbed on his ATV and went back to the single story house. Heading to the shed Bruce hooked up the lawn trailer and headed to the house.

  “Dad, I wanted that bike,” Jake told Bruce as he headed into the house and picked up his friend’s dumping them in the trailer.

  “Sorry son I just dropped it,” Bruce said as he drove back to the first house.

  Bruce grabbed the two from upstairs one at a time and dumped them in the trailer on top of the others. Then Bruce went back to get the gear. The weapons he strapped to his front rack. Bruce went to the front yard to collect the claymores by the road.

  The claymore mine Bruce had seen from the UAV was sitting by the road. The branches and leaves had blown off of it. That was the only reason he had seen it. Looking up, Bruce told God, “Thank you,” as he grabbed the claymore and traced down the others. Over the next half hour, working fast, he set up some surprises for his new friends. Bruce really hoped the targets enjoyed his work.

  Finished setting up the presents for his new targets Bruce walked to his ATV. Seeing one of the bikers looking around, Bruce kicked him in the head. “It’s naptime asshole,” Bruce said as he climbed on starting the ATV and headed home.

  Turning down his road, Bruce called ahead for the gate to open and for someone to have the bay door on the shop open. Bruce pulled through the gate then he drove to the shop. Bruce pulled the ATV and trailer, with his party guest, into the bay. Bruce got off and walked toward the center where people were gathered around. Debbie came running up to him and wrapped her arms around him as she cried.

  “What’s wrong baby?” Bruce asked.

  “Bruce, three were killed and seven were wounded. Mike has stabilized them but he thinks we’re going to lose two more.” Debbie told Bruce. Then she looked up at Bruce, “Alex was killed, he was on the Mk19 and they shot him first.”

  “Where’s Angela?” Bruce asked suppressing his anger.

  “She ran to our room when she found out. Stephanie is with her,” Debbie told him.

  “I will talk to her tomorrow. I have one more errand to run and then I have to play with my new friends. I really want these guys to appreciate what I do to them,” Bruce told her. “I have to check in at mission control, then I’m going to Marcus’s. You go help Mike.”

  “Why are you going to Marcus’s?” Debbie asked.

  “He has a peeping tom problem,” Bruce told her as he headed to the house.

  Bruce walked into mission control to find Jake and Matt at the UAV station. “Keep one UAV on our friends I left some presents for them and I want to see if they like them,” Bruce told them. Then he said, “Show me the ones at Marcus’s.”

  Jake played the recorded flight over Marcus’s farm and Bruce saw where the enemy OP was at. “Jake, get a UAV ready to follow your Dad again. After I take care of these two, I want you to call Marcus and tell him to meet me at the gate, in code of course. Give me our back-up home radio. I’m giving it to Marcus.” Bruce said and Jake gave Bruce the box with the backup home radio. It was not fool proof but it was like the radios they use to carry. It operated on different frequencies and was encoded thanks to the geeks. Bruce was not really worried about a gang cracking the military radios they carried now. The government however, was a different story.

  Running down into the basement, Bruce grabbed the last thermal scope and headed back outside to the shop. Jumping on another ATV, Bruce took off. The sun was touching the horizon as Bruce slowed down to 15mph and eased down the dirt road and past the drive way. Once Bruce was past the field he eased the ATV into the woods and climbed off.

  The two he was after were 600 yards in the woods at the edge of the field. Bruce pulled out his NVG and put it on his head and entered the woods, moving very slowly.

  “Dad, they’re still in the same spot. Why are you moving so slow?” Jake asked.

  “Savoring the moment son, never rush. You must enjoy the finer things in life and sneaking up on a sniper is one of the best,” Bruce whispered back switching his radio to voice activated.

 
It was dark as Bruce reached the area with the two, with his pistol in his right hand and his knife in his left. It took him a few seconds to find them with his monocular on. They were hiding under camouflaged netting or ghillie blanket. Bruce kneeled down and crept forward silently. One was looking through a thermal scope on a Barrett M82 50 cal. The spotter was looking through a NV scope. The spotter picked up the radio and reported to someone then sat the radio down. Bruce lined up the site and squeezed the trigger. The .45 caliber slug hit the spotter in the back of the head blowing out his forehead. Before his head hit the ground, Bruce put the suppressor on the back of the snipers head.

  “Need I say more?” Bruce challenged. The sniper moved his hands away from his weapon.

  “Behind your back real slow,” Bruce told the sniper as he put his knife up. Keeping the pistol to the back of the man’s head, he pulled out a zip tie. Just as the man’s hands come together Bruce eased the zip tie loop over his hands careful not to touch them. Bruce yanked the loop tight dropping his knee on the man’s back. “I know that move boy. Try anything like that again and fuck what the boss says you die,” Bruce warned him.

  “I’m dead anyway,” the sniper said.

  “Boss seen you out here and told me to ‘bring in the sniper.’ He wants to see if you wanted new employment. That’s why you’re alive and your spotter isn’t,” Bruce lied.

  “You serious?” the sniper asked with relief.

  “Why do you think you’re still breathing dumbass?” Bruce told him.

  “Well let’s go and see the boss,” the sniper replied in a grateful tone.

  “Not so fast,” Bruce said as he zip tied the snipers thumbs together then frisked him removing two knives and a pistol. Bruce packed up the equipment hanging some of it off the sniper. The only thing he left behind was the spotter’s naked body.

  “Head to the road and don’t be stupid, I really don’t want to kill you. Boss is givin’ me a fine bitch for bringing your ass in,” Bruce told the sniper.

  “Boss pays in women?” the sniper asked in amazement.