Blue Plague: Hope: Book Seven

by Watson, Thomas A

  “Stephanie, I swear, I forgot just how bad he got. Bruce was really hurting,” Mike pleaded, still holding his hands out.

  “My tit hurts!” Stephanie screamed. “Angela had to choke him out to make him stop!”

  “Did Bruce say he was sorry?” Carroll asked, trying not to laugh.

  “Pfft,” Stephanie snorted. “He doesn’t remember it, just like all the times he takes strong meds,” she said and looked around the table. “And the first motherfucker that tries to remind him, loses their face,” she growled. Everyone leaned back, not use to harsh language threats from Stephanie.

  “Um,” Paul said slowly raising his hand. When Stephanie nodded at him, he stuttered, “Just what are you going to tell him about the spot on your breast? I mean, you aren’t telling him anyone else did that, are you?”

  “No,” Angela snorted as she giggled and Stephanie glared at her. “I told Bruce that I did it on the way down there.”

  “Oh,” Paul said with relief.

  “Fuck you, cocksucker!” Stephanie screamed at Paul and Angela slid out of her chair laughing. “He wants to watch her put another one on!”

  Willie raised his hand with a grin. “Can I watch?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  With a scowl, Stephanie slowly turned to look at him. “Never mind,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’ll get Gene to put one on me.”

  “When did the meds wear off, so we know what to talk to him about?” Danny asked with a groan.

  “This morning,” Stephanie said as Angela climbed back into her chair. “I can’t believe you,” she huffed and walked around the table to her chair.

  “It was the first thing I could think of,” Angela laughed. “You saw his face, Stephanie. He was getting pissed, seeing a hickey on your boob. You tense up when he hugs you and then he sees a hickey? It was either me or Nancy.”

  “Fuck that,” Nancy said. “I have shoe-fetish-boy here to deal with and that’s enough.”

  “Mom,” Matt groaned.

  “Matt, shut it,” Nancy snapped. “I guess I shouldn’t tell you, that’s how each one of you were conceived.”

  “Oh, man,” Matt groaned and Mary gave a visible shiver.

  “I’m not telling David,” she mumbled.

  As Mike sat down, Stephanie leaned over the table, “We aren’t done, bitch, but Bruce will be here soon and I don’t want to explain why I’m removing your face with my fist.”

  Mike’s jaw fell open, staring at Stephanie. He snapped it shut and grabbed a pen, “I’m hanging with Bruce for a few days.”

  “You will be alone some time,” Stephanie said, leaning back in her chair.

  “Stephanie, so you’re the reason the doc wouldn’t give us the meds for Bruce?” Ted asked and she nodded. He leaned over to Carl, “No wonder that fucker put up such a fight.”

  “Shit, I would’ve kicked our asses,” Carl mumbled.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Bruce said, walking in with Buffy. “Somebody wanted to drive Prometheus and went off-road.”

  “I told you it would knock down the trees,” Buffy said with a grin.

  Slapping the table, Gene looked down at Bruce. “How come she gets to drive it and I didn’t?”

  Bruce looked up and shrugged. “Well, she is really cute when she wants something and she is one of my little princesses.”

  “Bruce, you let her chase blues in that damn thing when we rolled through Jackson,” Gene snapped, leaning back in his chair.

  “Yeah,” Stephanie said, looking up at Bruce with a glare. “When she went through that- Building!” she screamed the last. “That behemoth vehicle bounced everywhere!”

  “Ah, I said I was sorry,” Bruce said sitting down. “I didn’t know Angela put a hickey on your boob making it sore.”

  Her body convulsed out of the chair as Angela snorted and Stephanie raised her fist and frogged her leg hard. “That hurt,” Angela cried out, rubbing her leg.

  “Not as much as my boob! Buffy had a sixty-foot-long, twenty-ton rig airborne! When we landed, I just wanted to cut them off!” Stephanie screamed, waving at her chest.

  “Well, we got to ride with Danny and her driver didn’t hit any bumps,” Angela said, rubbing her leg.

  “Someone tells me I hit a bump, I lose my balls. I wouldn’t hit any bumps,” Jake mumbled and Danny elbowed him in the side.

  “Momma Stephanie, I’m sorry,” Buffy said with a frown.

  “Buffy, I will forgive you this afternoon, but not right now,” Stephanie said as she started digging through the folders. She grabbed one and handed it to Bruce. “Here,” she snapped.

  Taking the bound folder, Bruce opened it and flipped through the pages. “What the fuck do you want me to do with this?”

  “You asked for it, babe,” she said, looking up with hard eyes.

  Giving a sigh, he looked back at the pages as he flipped through them again. “Okay, but what is it?”

  “You wanted to know why europium kills blues. That’s the best I can figure out without live specimens and an electron microscope,” she said and Sandy raised her hand. Gene, who was sitting beside her, grabbed her hand and lowered it, whispering in her ear.

  “Stephanie, this folder looks like an English book got fucked by a chemistry book and an algebra book and this is the demonic offspring,” Bruce said, holding the folder at arm’s length. “I’ve never even seen equations like this.”

  “You asked me to do it,” Stephanie growled.

  Dropping the folder on the table, “Hey, I didn’t put a hickey on your boob, she did,” he snapped, pointing at Angela as several around the table snorted.

  “You want her to put another one on!” Stephanie shouted.

  Bruce stumbled back with a confused look. “Well, yeah, I’m still a boy.”

  Stephanie just glared at him. “Well, could you explain this folder in one sentence?” he asked carefully.

  “Europium short circuits their nervous system, shutting down all nerve pathways,” she said in a quivering tone.

  “Ah, okay, but we know a severed head lives for a long time, so can they, like, get immune?”

  “What-the-fuck — is the brain made of-- babe?” she snarled.

  “Oh,” Bruce said, thinking. “Yeah, that was stupid on my part.”

  “And asking the snorting-giggle-monkey to put another hickey wasn’t?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “Um, Angela, forget that request,” Bruce said, running a finger around his collar.

  Stephanie looked at Angela and smiled. “Oh, he can ask, but you have to sleep,” Angela snorted. “You squealed like a pig.”

  Leaning back in her chair, Stephanie pulled out her phone and started scrolling through numbers. “What are you doing?” Nancy asked, not liking the look on Stephanie’s face.

  “Calling the doctor,” Stephanie said, putting the phone to her ear.

  “Why? Something wrong?” Bruce asked, moving around the table beside her and feeling her belly.

  “No, asking her to get her ultrasound ready because I’m going to beat Angela down, then carry her to the hospital and make sure she’s okay,” Stephanie said. “Hey, Stance,” she said into the phone.

  Bruce looked at Angela in alarm. “I’m not worried, I’ll just hit her boobs and she’ll stop,” Angela said, waving her hand with indifference.

  Feeling tired, Bruce walked around the table and dropped in his chair. “You can sleep in our room, brother,” Mike said, leaning over and patting his arm.

  Stephanie hung up the phone, “He does, and we do, Mike,” she said looking over at Mike.

  “Never mind,” Mike said, sitting back in his chair.

  “Okay, since Mike drugged my ass, Gene gave me the rundown on what happened,” Bruce said turning to the girls. “Someone, erased my little video camera,” he said, more than a little irritated.

  “Babe,” Angela snapped. “You were yelling about your dick and nobody, not even you, were going to relive those moments.”

 
“Oh,” Bruce said, leaning back from the table. “Okay, I can understand that.”

  “You did promise to have a tea party with the twins,” Stephanie said with a gentle smile and turned to Mike. “And Mike said he was bringing Cassandra.”

  “Hey,” Angela said, tapping Stephanie. “We need to bring little Debbie, too.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Stephanie smiled.

  “Okay,” Bruce said looking at Mike who nodded, hoping this was his punishment.

  “Now,” Bruce said looking at the girls. “From what Gene and Willie reported, the attack went great so now, I want to address the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about.”

  “I swear, if you’re talking about me, I’ll punch you,” Angela said in a low voice.

  Ignoring her for his own safety, Bruce reached in his rucksack, pulled out an envelope and opened it. He took out a stack of photos and threw them on the table. Everyone stood up, grabbing a picture to see an infant with horns. “What the fuck does it have horns for?” he asked, raising his eyebrows and looking around the table.

  Gene tossed the photo down. “Hey, I just kill them,” he said with a shiver.

  “Bruce,” Sandy said, raising her hand.

  “Yes, Sandy?” he said and she drew in a breath to start. “Sandy, use little words today.”

  She closed her mouth, thinking. “Well, they do have antelope DNA to deal with lactic acid build up. In the animal kingdom, many male species have horns to show dominance,” she said slowly, hoping she had explained what he wanted.

  “Sandy, you sat in this room and told me the blues have thirty-four different animal genes and plant DNA in them. Will each show up? Like you said they had cuddle fish, will they change colors?” he asked.

  Sandy leaned over the table, looking at Stephanie. “Use big words, he has a dictionary,” Stephanie said with a straight face.

  With a sigh of relief, Sandy looked at Bruce and started talking. The more she talked the further back from the table Bruce scooted. When she’d finished, fifteen minutes later, Bruce stared at her with an open mouth. “She explained it very well, baby,” Stephanie smiled.

  Scooting back up to the table, Bruce picked up his pen. “Mike, how do you spell paratransgenesis,” he asked with his pen over a notepad. “I’ll have to replay my video to get the rest of the words.”

  “Shit, I don’t know. I’m a medical doctor,” Mike scoffed.

  “With his head up his ass,” Stephanie snapped.

  Putting his pen down, “Hey, in Mike’s defense, I was hurting. I’ve never had a cramp that bad. The last thing I remember was handing my knife to somebody to cut my glute off,” Bruce said.

  “Hey, that body doesn’t belong to you,” Angela said, slapping the table.

  Stephanie nodded. “It’s ours so you can’t abuse it, like getting dehydrated.”

  Bruce looked at Mike for help and Mike just shook his head. “Prank my ass, I don’t give a shit. I’m not helping you out,” he mumbled.

  “Guys, that was my fault,” Bruce started and was cut off.

  “Yes, we know,” Angela said. “Do we need to make arrangements to stay in the field with you?”

  “No,” Bruce said with a sigh.

  “Bruce, what Sandy said was the blues are proof that the spliced genes worked. Nobody can know what else the blues will pull out of the spliced genes,” Stephanie said and Bruce looked down at Sandy who nodded.

  “Why didn’t you just say that?” Bruce asked.

  “Stephanie said I could use big words because you have a dictionary. It was much easier for me to explain like I did.”

  “I’m getting a headache,” Bruce said, grabbing his pen.

  “Babe, you’re not even getting ibuprofen, I’ve had enough of you and meds for a few weeks,” Angela said with a sigh.

  Stephanie stood up and passed out folders. “On this, Little Foot and I agree, babe, so suck it up,” she said, handing him a folder.

  Groaning, Bruce opened the folder and saw it was a report. Laying it down, he dug in his ruck, pulling out some reading glasses. “Dad, when did you start wearing reading glasses?” Jake snorted.

  “A few months ago,” Bruce said, looking up at Jake. Reaching up, Bruce pulled his reading glasses to the end of his nose. “Son,” he said then looked at Mary. Letting out a sigh, “I don’t want to know,” he said.

  “Hey, it was on the way back, so that doesn’t count,” Mary said, slapping the table. “You clearly put out in a memo, no hanky-panky while on patrol or on duty.”

  “You tell ‘em, Mary,” Angela shouted. “We want to ride our men like cheap toys when the fighting’s done? We can.”

  Putting the folder on the table, Bruce stood up. “Meeting’s over till 0900 tomorrow.”

  “What?” Stephanie gasped.

  “I’m hearing way too much,” he said grabbing his rucksack. “Danny has two hickeys and Buffy has one,” he said walking out the door. “Ted, Carl, you can kill Marty, just throw his body in the lake. If his dad asks too many questions, you may kill him as well,” Bruce called back down the stairs.

  Buffy jumped up, glaring at them. “You touch Marty and we play with Herman,” she growled.

  Danny grabbed Buffy’s arm, “Dad thinks Marty put that hickey on you.”

  Buffy dropped in her chair with wide eyes. “Oh boy,” she mumbled and looked at Ted. “Tell Dad you did it when I wrestled you. You know, like to tickle me.”

  Ted jumped up. “Bring out Herman because fuck that!” Ted shouted. “I will chop my own balls off and give them to Bruce before I say some shit like that,” he said walking out.

  “Pussy,” Buffy said and turned to Carl.

  “No, Buffy. I’m with Ted on this one,” he said, getting up and walking out.

  She turned to Danny in a panic. “What the hell do we do?”

  “Relax, girl,” Danny giggled. “We tell Dad I did it because you wanted to know what it was and if it hurt, then I let you put them on me to practice.”

  “He won’t believe that shit,” Gene laughed and Danny and Mary looked at him.

  “Why not? He and Daddy Mike did,” Danny said.

  Mike jumped up, “Who put those hickeys on you?”

  Jake stood up heading for the door. “Those little punk-ass bitches we played paintball with.”

  “Any of those fuckers alive?” Mike asked as Matt headed for the door.

  “Not here they aren’t, but I have photos out and if any are found they are to be brought to me and Jake,” Matt said walking out.

  Letting out a gasp, “We did it to make you jealous,” Danny cried, jumping up and running after him.

  “It worked,” Matt shouted from the top of the stairs.

  Mike gathered his papers, “Too much information in one day.”

  Willie leaned back, pulling his phone out and looking at the screen then answered it. “Hello?”

  Listening for a few seconds, he looked around the table. “There’s an ambulance outside, Who called for it?”

  “Oh, I did, but you can tell them I don’t need it anymore,” Stephanie said getting up. “Angela’s being nice now.”

  Angela looked over at Mary who was slowly gathering her stuff. “Aren’t you going to check on Jake?”

  “Nope,” she said, slinging her rifle. “When he’s mad I give him some space, then I talk to him.” She walked out with everyone else following.

  “That boy is like his Daddy,” Angela said, getting up and gathering her stuff. “Stephanie, find out where Bruce is at.”

  Reaching for her cellphone, “You know we need to give him some space, right?” Stephanie asked.

  “Not this time,” Angela said, slinging her rifle. “Bruce is putting pieces together. He thinks he did the hickeys and is wondering what else he did.”

  Jumping up and looking at her phone, “He’s in the shop yelling because Paul has already started building him a new one and half his stuff has been moved,” Stephanie said.

  “Pa
ul was supposed to be done before he got back.”

  Putting her phone away, Stephanie looked at her. “Hey, I can’t build or I would’ve built the damn thing.”

  “Follow my lead,” Angela said, walking out with Stephanie.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, their guards fell in behind them as Stephanie leaned over, whispering. “My boobs don’t hurt that much today after all that jarring around, so if we have to, let’s just jump his bones.”

  “Debbie said that was to be used as a last resort in a fight with Bruce,” Angela said, opening the back door.

  “Bruce will feel real bad if he finds out he acted like an ass,” Stephanie said.

  “There are too many people around him now so he will find out, but we’ll have to convince him we are right and they are wrong,” Angela said as they walked out.

  “Right, jump him,” Stephanie nodded.

  Angela laughed as they walked over to the shop and heard Bruce long before they got there. When they walked in, he turned around with fire in his eyes, which quickly died on seeing them, “Yes?” he said, taking a deep breath.

  “Okay, you were right,” Stephanie said to Angela and walked over to Bruce. “What’s wrong, baby?”

  “Half my shit is gone and they are moving the other half,” Bruce said, waving his arm around at the group moving his equipment out.

  “We told you and you agreed,” Stephanie said, rubbing her nose on his. “Now, what’s really wrong?”

  “Why did you let Angela take the blame for that hickey?”

  “Ah, because she did it,” Stephanie said, leaning her head back and Bruce just looked at her.

  “What did I do on that Valium?”

  “Yelled about your dick,” Stephanie nodded as Angela came over.

  “Sorry, Bruce, but I knew you seeing a hickey on her would drive you crazy and make you stop yelling about your dick and smelling colors,” she grinned.

  Bruce pushed away from both of them. “Not buying it. Buffy would never let Marty put a hickey on her,” he said spinning around.

  “Well, you’re right,” Angela snorted. “Danny did because Buffy wanted to know if it hurt. When she found out it didn’t really hurt, Danny taught her how to do it.”