Blue Plague: Hope: Book Seven

by Watson, Thomas A

  Running out the back and raising his rifle to shoot three blues coming out of the warehouse they were surrounding, Matt stopped thirty yards from the chopper. “Form defensive circle!” he shouted as the chopper took off.

  He looked around and saw all the choppers leaving. “Well, we are in the shit now,” he said, swinging his rifle over and snapping off shots, dropping ten blues that were coming out of the massive warehouse. The warehouse was near the port, and covered acres under its massive roof.

  When the blues stopped pouring out of the warehouse, Matt turned around to look at his team, seeing those facing away from the warehouse were being hard pressed to keep back the charging blues.

  “First platoon, stay facing the warehouse. Second platoon, form up on the left, extending to next team!” he shouted, dropping his empty magazine. The ground shook under his feet making Matt look around, knowing bombs had been dropped somewhere.

  A few seconds later, the rumble of hundreds of explosions filled the air. “That was the cluster bombs,” Carl said beside Matt, shooting into the charging blues.

  “Buffy, how are they reporting the success of that strike?” Matt said, bringing his rifle up and squeezing the trigger.

  “Daddy’s cussing because the pilots didn’t blow up the bridge, but they did damage it,” she said as she aimed at a running blue.

  “Cluster bombs aren’t made to blow up a bridge,” Matt said, dropping his empty magazine.

  “Mack is telling Daddy that,” Buffy said, ejecting her empty magazine.

  Slamming the magazine home, Matt looked at his team. “Okay line, spread out to the left,” he shouted and turned to see the other teams slowly spreading their troops to surround the warehouse. Unlike the last time, the line was over a hundred yards from the building. The team going in would be using submachine guns instead of rifles, to lessen the chance of hitting those outside. It was a risk, but any further away from the building spread the line too thin.

  “Matt,” Mary called over the radio. “We are still getting blues from inside the warehouse here on the west side.”

  “Copy, sending you some troops,” he called back, then looked at first squad. “Half of you move to the west and help them cover the building.” The young girl over first squad ran down the line, tapping every other troop on the shoulder to follow her.

  “Ground, coming in from the north,” David called over the radio and gunfire to the north slackened. Looking to the north, Matt gave a sigh, seeing the line of MRAP’s approaching with the other half of Omega.

  “Fifteen hundred ground troops placed by air and two thousand delivered by ground better be able to hold this,” he said, moving down the line. The three hundred massive vehicles circled the building becoming mobile firing stations but more importantly, they gave the troops something to climb into if shit went sideways.

  When the vehicles were on the line, Matt hit his radio. “Breach team up,” he called out and his platoon formed up around him.

  “There better be some left inside,” Buffy said, jogging beside him to a small pedestrian door.

  “I would be just as happy if they’d all ran outside,” Matt said, stopping by the door. Even with all the weapons firing and diesel engines running, he could hear the roars of blues from inside, not to mention the stench.

  “Stack up,” he said as the team formed up on the door. One man came down the line with a sledge hammer, raising it and preparing to strike the door.

  “All teams, preparing to enter,” Matt called out letting his SCAR hang and pulled up a P90.

  “I like my big gun better,” Buffy said, pulling up her MP45 and letting her SCAR hang under her arm. “It blows holes in shit.”

  “Breach,” Matt said and the man hit the door with the sledge hammer knocking it open and three men threw in concussion grenades. Everyone cringed when the explosions sounded inside and without being told, the first troop charged through the door.

  Matt didn’t like being in the middle of the line, especially when he heard gunfire from the point man before he even entered the building. Like a river, the team flowed into the building, forming a perimeter around the door.

  “Shit, this building is big,” Buffy said, shooting a blue that was charging them.

  “Team, advance to the north,” Matt said, watching the line move down the wall of the building. “Breach Team needs to be bigger,” he mumbled and hit his radio.

  “Mary, I need my troops back and one squad of yours. This warehouse has too many fatal funnels,” he called over the radio.

  “Copy, sending them to you,” she called back.

  The steady sounds of suppressed shots filled the building and were suddenly filled with the sound of full automatic suppressed fire. “Run, bitch, I don’t care!” Buffy shouted as Matt turned.

  A female blue had jumped off a stack of pallets running away from the line, only to be cut down by a full magazine from Buffy. “Buffy, magic bullets, remember?” Matt said, snapping his P90 up and shooting a blue up in the rafters.

  “That bitch was running away,” Buffy shouted, slamming in a new magazine. “I’m not used to shooting at shit running away from me.”

  When the extra troops arrived, Matt felt better giving the word to advance into the building. “Matt, Daddy wants to know how long until we clear the building,” Buffy said then gave a squeal as a blue kid leapt from between a stack of pallets.

  The kid’s head exploded in midair ten feet from her as Buffy squeezed the trigger, sending a .45 slug to meet him. With so much momentum, the kid’s limp headless body sailed through the air, hitting Buffy in the chest and knocking her down.

  “Cocksucker!” Buffy shouted, rolling the body off of her. Jumping up, she kicked it then spun around as a female blue came out from between the same stacks of pallets. “Yeah, I capped your kid,” Buffy said, calmly squeezing the trigger as the female started to roar charging her.

  Two slugs hit the female in the chest cutting the roar off like a switch. The female looked down at her naked chest at the two bullet holes. Before she could move, the blue dropped in her tracks.

  “Yeah, you had saggy titties, bitch,” Buffy said, swinging her sights to another blue and squeezing the trigger. “Teach your kid better manners.”

  Pulling another magazine out, Matt shook his head as he dropped the empty from his P90. “You okay, Buffy?” he asked, glancing at her.

  “You see that little fucker fly at me?” she said, snapping off two shots to drop another blue.

  Letting out a sigh, “Yes, Buffy, are you okay?” Matt asked.

  “Yeah,” she said nonchalantly, dropping an empty magazine.

  “Matt, need to hold. We have a pocket over here on the left flank,” Carl called over the radio.

  “Copy. Breach Team, hold your line until cleared to press forward,” Matt called out.

  “Why in the hell aren’t we on the left side?” Buffy snapped as she aimed at a blue trying to hide behind a trash can.

  Taking a deep breath, Matt looked around at his platoon and called for two to keep a watch behind them. “Buffy, I’m not in the mood,” Matt said turning to her, as Buffy shot another matrix kid out of the air. “You’re killing blues, so be happy.”

  “But there are more over there,” Buffy whined, scanning around but not seeing any more blues.

  The barrage of suppressed gunfire on their left suddenly died down. “Clear to move, little boss,” Carl called over the radio.

  “Copy. Breach Team, continue to clear the building,” he called out and switched channels on his radio. “Handlers, start to clear the building behind the breach team.”

  Slowly, the breaching team moved down the cavernous building, hearing dogs barking behind them when one of the handler’s dogs found a blue. “Bitches need to quit hiding,” Buffy snapped looking down her gun barrel, sweeping in an arc as she moved.

  “Little boss, hold, found another pocket,” Carl called over the radio as the sound of suppressed shots rang out in a storm.
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  “Damn it, let’s go over there,” Buffy snapped as Matt called over the radio for the team to hold.

  Bringing his hand back to his P90, Matt shook his head, “Buffy, you can’t go somewhere else just because it’s more exciting. We have a job to do here.”

  “Well, let’s take our job over there,” she said, waving her hand. “To the damn port side,” she huffed.

  “I’m getting neutered,” Matt mumbled.

  Hearing barking behind him, Matt turned to see a handler pulling a dog that was barking at a recycle bin. The handler lifted his P90, sending a dozen rounds into the bin and was rewarded by a blue, popping out like a jack in the box.

  The blue moved like he was about to jump out, then just collapsed. “Love the magic bullets,” Matt said turning back around and saw Buffy creeping past him. Before he could say anything, Buffy pulled out Herman, flipping the blade open.

  Wondering what the hell she was doing, Matt looked toward where she was creeping to and noticed two fifty-five gallon drums sitting next to a support beam. “What are you doing?” he asked as Buffy continued to creep up on the drums and didn’t answer him.

  Glancing back at the drums, Matt saw movement between them and brought his P90 to his shoulder as Buffy jumped in the air. Landing on her belly on one of the drums, Buffy swung down with Herman.

  Even from fifteen feet away, Matt heard Herman pierce bone, followed by a groan. A body fell from between the barrels and sprawled out on the floor. Beyond pissed, Matt stormed over as Buffy jumped off the barrel. “Yeah, shit stain, I’m the best at hide and seek,” she shouted, reaching down and yanking Herman out of the dead blue’s skull.

  Looking down, Matt saw it was a blue teenage size kid. He reached over, grabbing Buffy’s vest. “You have guns, use them!” he shouted. “We don’t have time to play!”

  “Hell, we were just stopping and he was trying to hide,” Buffy said, trying to shrug and blow Matt off but could see he was pissed.

  “Buffy,” Matt said taking a deep breath. “You will control yourself from here on out, do you understand?”

  Slowly Buffy nodded, leaning down and wiping Herman off on her pants. “Now, Herman got to kill so put him up and get on your gun,” Matt said, not liking the sad face on Buffy.

  “Okay,” Buffy moped, folding Herman back up and clipping the knife to her vest.

  The steady sound of suppressed gunfire stopped on the left. He could hear several people shouting and reached for his radio as Carl came on. “Uh, little boss, what’s your location?”

  “Center of the line,” Matt called back. “Any casualties?” he asked, feeling sick.

  “Negative, and could you be more specific about ‘center of the line’? I need to show you something,” Carl said, making Matt feel much better.

  “Look for a yellow roof support, I’m beside it.”

  “Copy, moving to you,” Carl said as Matt looked back at Buffy.

  “Buffy, they are still dangerous. If they bite you, you die,” Matt said, looking around and hearing shots behind them.

  “I know,” Buffy said lightly, kicking the body.

  Hearing running footsteps, Matt turned to see Carl carrying a dead blue baby. “Little boss, you’re not going to believe this shit,” Carl said and tossed the body at his feet.

  Looking down, Matt noticed the needle-sharp teeth and the black claw-like fingernails. Just as he was about to tell Carl he had seen dead blue infants before, Matt let out a yelp, jumping back. “It’s got fucking horns!” he shouted.

  Buffy moved over to look and saw the two small horns on the side of the infant’s head. “Holy shit, I want to kill one like that!” she cried out, looking around and raising her MP45 up.

  Matt looked at Carl, “Leave it and let’s clear the warehouse. We can tell the others when we get back.”

  “Just wanted to show you,” Carl said, trotting away.

  It took them another two hours to clear the warehouse and Matt could hear the increase of airstrikes outside. “Mary, the warehouse is clear and we are looking for the material,” he called over the radio.

  “Not to be a nag, but can you move it along? It’s starting to get interesting out here,” she answered.

  “Bring my equipment to the offices,” Matt yelled out and several people rolled over a small generator.

  Moving into an office marked ‘Manager’, Matt reached under the desk for the power strip the computer was plugged into. He turned around as a young kid, that was one of his and Jake’s cyber ninjas, handed him an extension cord.

  Plugging it up, Matt moved behind the desk, hearing the generator crank up in the warehouse. Walking around the desk, Buffy stood behind him. “There better be some stuff here,” she said.

  “Oh there is, but we don’t know where or how much,” Matt said, turning on the computer. “The computer companies receive supplies from this port.”

  Leaning back against the wall, Buffy watched the computer come to life and Matt hit the keyboard. “Yeah, I got your password,” he said shoving a thumb drive in the computer. The screen blinked as the desktop opened and Matt went to work.

  Before long, spreadsheets were opening and Matt typed on the keyboard. When he was done, he leaned back as the computer searched. When the new spreadsheet opened, Matt let out a long low whistle. “Holy, shit stain,” he said, staring wide-eyed at the screen.

  Moving up, Buffy just saw a bunch of numbers on the lines. “So, they don’t have much?” she asked.

  “Wrong,” Matt said, grabbing his radio and turning it to the command channel. “Base, this is One, um…. can I have some more troops?”

  “What’s happening?” Jake called back in a panic. “We don’t see anything.”

  “No, um, we miscalculated big time on the ‘nuclear material’,” Matt said, using the code for europium.

  A long silence came over the radio before Jake came back on. “Like how much?”

  “About twenty times our estimate and we still need to send people out to look in the containers in the yard,” Matt said. “If their weights are nothing but material, then it’s closer to thirty times our estimate.”

  “Hold,” Jake said and Matt looked up at Carl standing in the door.

  “Aisle ten, section seventeen through thirty-four should be the material, confirm and start moving it to the door.” Matt said, glancing back at the computer screen.

  “On it,” Carl said jogging away.

  “Matt, are you sure on your assessment?” Jake called back over the radio.

  “Hey, scrotum slammer, I know how to read a spreadsheet!” Matt shouted, very offended.

  “Just relaying Big Daddy’s question,” Jake answered back.

  “So, can you send me some more troops because this is going to take a while,” Matt called back, very glad that question hadn’t come from Jake. “Will have to visually check the containers out in the yard.”

  Suddenly, Bruce came over the radio. “Matt, you concentrate on keeping the site clear. Troops are loading now, do you copy?”

  “I copy but with only five Ospreys, it’s going to take like a week to ferry this stuff back,” Matt said.

  “Negative, I have someone there that will take over the loading. We will ferry it to your airfield, then haul it back by road,” Bruce told him and before Matt answered, Bruce spoke. “Big Daddy Two, this is One, you copy?”

  “This is Two here,” Mike answered.

  “I trust you heard?”

  “Yes, we heard,” Mike said.

  “Find your son and take over the loading. You can empty and organize a convoy better than anyone. Let Matt keep you covered and get that shit,” Bruce said.

  “Copy and I’m standing outside the office,” Mike called back as he walked into the office, letting go of his radio. “Hey, son,” he said with a smile.

  Matt grinned. “Hey, Dad. Should’ve known you and Mom would come.”

  “How did you know Mom was here?” Mike asked, walking around the desk.

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sp; “You said ‘we heard you’ and you only refer to ‘we’ as you and Mom,” Matt said, then pointed at the screen. “Our information never revealed this much moving through the port of Mobile.”

  Reading the numbers, Mike leaned back from the desk, “Well, son, you found it, so let me figure out a way to get this shit home,” Mike said, taking his SCAR off and laying it on the desk as Nancy came in with Max.

  “You borrowed Max just to come?” Matt huffed, getting up.

  “Borrowed,” Nancy snapped. “This mangy mutt has chewed up ten pairs of my panties, Max owed me this.”

  “I have Carl moving loads to the doors for the Ospreys coming in,” Matt said, walking around the desk. Buffy moved to follow and Mike reached out, grabbing her vest and pulling her to his face.

  “Buffy, I see you sneak up on another blue and shank him, I’ll blister your ass. Do I make myself crystal clear?” Mike growled in her face.

  “Yes, sir,” Buffy said meekly, leaning her head back.

  Letting her go, Mike turned to the computer as Buffy ran over to Matt. “Come on, Dad. The blue never knew she was there,” Matt said as Buffy hid behind him.

  “Son, I can still blister your ass,” Mike said, looking at the computer screen.

  “Yes, sir,” Matt said, spinning on his heel and moving quickly for the door.

  When they entered the warehouse, Buffy looked up at him. “Sorry I got you in trouble.”

  “Ah, forget it,” Matt huffed. “But don’t do it again, that scared the shit out of me.”

  “Danny would think it was awesome,” Buffy said cheerfully.

  Adjusting his SCAR, Matt waved his team over. “Buffy, that doesn’t really help your case. I love her, but Danny can act very immature,” Matt said, then looked at his team. “Troops, we have to buy a lot of time. There is more material here than we expected, so let’s show the blues that Mobile belongs to Omega now.”

  The troops around him let out cheers as Matt got on the radio. “To all units, dig in and form defensive lines. Change of plans, we are staying for a while.”

  “Mobile isn’t that great,” Mary came over the radio with torrents of gunfire in the background. “How about we invade Panama Beach?”