Blue Plague: Hope: Book Seven

by Watson, Thomas A

  “Ted, shut it or I’ll make you run to each area on foot to check on the companies,” Bruce said and Ted snapped his mouth shut. Glancing at the tablet, “Bonnie, tell the driver we are going to Bravo since they will be the first to bed down,” Bruce said. “Ted, the only reason Danny is restrained somewhat now is because I’ve taught her that. Buffy is a work in progress.”

  “Wonder how Randy did, driving Buffy?” Carl asked as Ted called over the radio, telling the rest of the company where they were heading and to follow.

  “Randy’s driven with me since the start and knows how Buffy acts,” Bruce said as the rig bounced, hitting a car that was blocking the road.

  Letting the radio go, Ted grabbed the minigun, chuckling. “He still cried the last time she jumped in his lap.”

  “Ted, Buffy ran through a house,” Bruce said.

  “Hey, she’s sat in my lap driving and I didn’t cry,” Ted popped back.

  Carl chuckled, “That’s because Buffy dared you to cry.”

  Three Blackhawks flew over them heading south as Bruce just swayed in the cupola to keep from hitting the sides with his waist. His hips were already sore from getting thrown around. A blue jumped out of the ditch and Louis yanked the wheel hard to the right, throwing everyone in the rig around but missed the blue as Bruce brought up his gun shooting it.

  Letting out a groan as his hip crashed into the hatch, Bruce looked around and lowered his rifle, hearing Ted and Carl getting up off the floor behind him and cussing very loud. “Hey, dummy!” Bruce shouted over the intercom. “Run their asses over, you won’t get a ticket! Don’t dodge them!”

  “Louis!” Carl shouted. “My nose is bleeding, cocksucker! When we stop, yours will be too!”

  Rubbing his hip, “Maybe Buffy was right,” Bruce mumbled.

  ***

  With her boots off and in a tank top lying down in her hammock with one leg over the side and swinging making the hammock sway, Buffy sighed reading her tablet. Hearing the sigh, Danny leaned over, looking in the back of the rig and saw Buffy reading her tablet. “Is it a good book?” Danny asked.

  “I wish,” Buffy said. “Basic Molecular Biology. Stephanie said I had to have it done before we got back.”

  Dropping down from the roof inside the rig, Danny looked at Buffy in shock. “She gave you homework while you’re out in the field?”

  Tapping the screen and changing the page Buffy shook her head. “Not really, she just said a good student would have this done before they got back.”

  Seeing Buffy’s boots on the floor, Danny picked them up and set them on the bench. “I can write you a note,” Danny offered, suddenly very happy she didn’t have Stephanie as a tutor.

  “Nah, I’m not doing anything,” Buffy said, swinging her foot a little faster and making the hammock rock. “I am giving Bubba a hug for thinking of these hammocks.”

  “I am, too,” Danny laughed. “Dad will be here soon. You coming to see him?”

  Tapping the screen, Buffy jumped out of the hammock and unhooked it from the left wall. Folding it in half, she hung both ends on the right wall and then sat down, putting her boots on. Tying her boots, she glanced at her watch. “What took Daddy so long? We were the first ones on the stop,” Buffy asked, standing up and grabbing her vest.

  “He had to go find third battalion’s Delta company commander,” Danny grinned. “Angela said Dad found the commander thirty miles from where he was reporting. Since he could see the commander’s location because the vehicles send out their ID with the low jack, Dad was chasing him down and telling him to stop, but the commander said he knew where he was and was heading to his rally point. The commander was heading south to the Gulf of Mexico at fifty miles an hour. Dad had a Blackhawk fly down and land in front of the commander to make him stop.”

  Pulling her shirt on and strapping her vest tight, Buffy snorted, “Dummy.”

  “Well, Dad used several other words,” Danny said as Buffy grabbed her rifle. “Um, Buffy? We are probably losing Randy.”

  “What? Why?” Buffy gasped.

  “Carl punched Louis and Dad was screaming at Louis over the radio.”

  “What the hell did Louis do?”

  Taking a deep breath, Danny cracked a grin. “Just over an hour ago, Dad told him to turn left and Louis turned right. Louis turned down a dead-end road with Dad’s entire company behind him. There were creeks on both sides of the small dirt road and they had to back out as blues charged out of the woods at them. The blues jumped the creeks and that’s the only time you had a clear shot. The road was that narrow and trees that close.”

  “Are they okay? I hope they are with the way you’re grinning,” Buffy said, letting her SCAR hang across her chest.

  “Please, we are talking about Dad,” Danny scoffed. “The trees used to be right up to the edge of the road. They were cut down with machine gun fire almost two hundred yards back. Most of his company is experienced Omega members; they looked at it as a fun time.”

  “So, why are you grinning?”

  Reaching back, Danny flipped the radio off headset to speaker. “- you stupid motherfucker!” Bruce’s voice bellowed out. “I dare you to take another wrong turn!”

  “Bruce, your microphone is on and you’re transmitting over the regiment channel,” Angela called out.

  “FUCK OFF!” Bruce screamed. “Louis, you see that road on the right just ahead?! You will turn on it and not the one going left! If you hold up your hands with your thumbs out, the hand that makes a L is your fucking left!”

  “Bru-,” someone tried to cut in, but they couldn’t tell who it was as Bruce continued.

  “THAT’S THE WRONG FUCKING WAY! I SAID RIGHT, YOU SLIMY CUNT SANDWICH! Are you trying to fucking make me stroke out! I’m coming down there and fucking you so hard, your momma will grab her stomach wondering who punctured her lung and got her pregnant!”

  “Boss, the rest of the convoy is stopped on the road and waiting on us,” Ted called over the radio, stifling a laugh.

  “Because they know Forrest Gump turned the wrong fucking way AGAIN!” Bruce bellowed so loud, the radio broke up. “As God as my witness, you will fucking learn how to drive, Dummy! You will learn left from right if I have to cut your balls off for proper instructions!”

  Danny reached over and flipped the speaker off. “Shit, I’m glad he went with Dad. I think I would’ve shot him,” she chuckled.

  “Damn,” Buffy said, staring in awe at the speaker. “I think Louis just gets rattled.”

  “Not the place to be if you get rattled,” Danny laughed.

  Shrugging with a nod, “Yeah, I would’ve pulled out Herman,” Buffy smiled.

  “Come on, let’s see what happens when they stop,” Danny said, climbing out. With a big grin, Buffy followed her up. Climbing out on the roof, she turned to see Danny, running along the line of MRAPs.

  They stopped at the west corner and looked at the road that led into the field they were set up in. “Think Angela will get mad at Daddy for yelling at her?” Buffy asked.

  “She’s pregnant, so I can’t say,” Danny huffed. “Normally she wouldn’t, and she really shouldn’t be mad.”

  Buffy nodded, patting her vest, “Danny, do you have your holy pills?”

  Giving a startle, Danny looked at her, “Buffy, you don’t start for another week.”

  “You hear how loud Daddy was yelling? His head is going to be hurting, if it’s not already.”

  Raising her eyebrows and nodding, “Yeah, that’s a good point,” Danny said, patting her vest and pulling out a bottle of ibuprofen. “He only gets a head rush with these, but I’m thinking not today.”

  Hearing engines, they looked out over the field to the road and Buffy only noticed a few bodies in the field. “So, not many blues showed up?” she asked.

  “Shit, we haven’t killed any in the last hour,” Danny huffed as a line of MRAPs pulled into the field. Even over the roar of the engines, they could hear Bruce yelling at Louis when the lead veh
icle was two hundred yards away. “I wish Dad would’ve gone to check someone else first.”

  When the lead vehicle was fifty yards away, “Stop, you stupid fucking sack of monkey ass!” Bruce bellowed and the RG jerked to a halt and they saw Ted and Carl in the back get thrown down.

  Bruce jumped out of the cupola then jumped off the roof, landing beside the driver’s door. “Get your stupid ass out here before I come in there and stab you to death with my dick!”

  “Shit,” Danny grumbled and jumped off the wall, and took off running toward Bruce.

  “Let Daddy beat some sense into his ass,” Buffy called out then jumped down, running after Danny.

  As Danny ran over, the driver’s door opened and Louis jumped down in front of Bruce. Getting in Louis’ face with his nose touching Louis’ forehead, Bruce roared. “Do you think I’m a stupid sack of shit?! Do you really expect me to believe you are in my unit and can’t tell your fucking right from your left?!”

  “No, sir, I just got confused,” Louis shouted, standing at attention.

  SMACK! Sounded out and Louis realized he was on the ground and the left side of his face felt like it was on fire. “What fucking side was that, DUMMY?” Bruce screamed so hard it seemed his feet left the ground.

  “Left side, sir,” Louis said, scampering back to his feet.

  “Are you fucking sure, DUMMY? Because the last two times I told you to turn left, you fucking turned right! So you did it just to fucking piss me the fuck off?!”

  “No, sir,” Louis said as Danny stopped behind Bruce.

  SMACK! Sounded again and Louis realized he was looking at the ground and the right side of his face was numb. Blinking his eyes, he shook his head, getting back to his feet. “What fucking side was that? Now fucking think, it could be a God damn trick question!”

  “Right side, sir!” Louis shouted.

  “Are you absolutely certain, cock jockey? Because the last three,” Bruce screamed so loud his voice became hoarse as he held up three fingers in Louis’ face. “Three, that’s after two and before the number four. The last three fucking times I told you to turn right, you fucking turned left!”

  “No excuse, sir!” Louis shouted, waiting for the beat down to begin.

  Bruce moved up, touching chests with Louis and growled. “That’s the first fucking answer you’ve given me that makes sense.”

  Standing behind her dad, Danny could feel the anger radiating off of Bruce as he screamed. When Bruce pulled his pistol, she stepped up and Buffy grabbed her arm. “We aren’t getting in this, sis. Herman will stab me and you if we try,” Buffy said as Bruce stepped back. “You realize Dad can use the word fuck as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, pronoun, and participle? Hell, I think he just used it as a conjunction, that just shows the diversity of the word,” Buffy said as Bruce screamed at Louis. Danny nodded and made a mental note to ask Stephanie to lighten up on Buffy’s lessons.

  Louis stood at attention looking straight ahead. “Louis,” Bruce said in a raspy voice. “If I ever get in another vehicle and don’t see you in the driver’s seat, I will find you. I don’t care if you climb up inside someone’s ass. I will climb up inside them and gouge out your eyeballs and skull fuck you to death. You will drive my hearse to my funeral. If I want to go for a ride on a fucking unicycle, you better be the cocksucker peddling the wheels!” Bruce shouted.

  Louis nodded as Bruce moved back up in his face. “If you ever take a wrong turn again, I want you to remember your balls as they are now. Because whichever way you turn wrong, I’m cutting that nut out and will feed it to you slowly, do I make myself crystal fucking clear?” Bruce said in a voice dripping with malice.

  “Yes, sir,” Louis shouted, just happy to be alive.

  “You are the only person in Omega now that’s not allowed to quit. You can leave Hope but I swear, I will stop this fucking war and find you. I will teach you or you will become my personal bitch until death,” Bruce said stepping back. “Ted!” he bellowed.

  “Yes, boss,” Ted said, standing up on the roof.

  “Bring me two full ammo cans,” Bruce snapped, staring hard at Louis.

  Ted jumped out, carrying two metal ammo cans. “Here, boss,” Ted said, holding them out.

  “Louis, grab one with your left fucking hand,” Bruce said, gripping his pistol in two hands and holding the barrel low. Seeing Bruce getting ready to shoot, Ted held the cans out at arm’s length to Louis.

  Reaching up, Louis took the can and Ted sighed with relief. “See? Your right and left aren’t that fucking hard to get,” Bruce said, holstering his pistol. “Ted, give him the other can in his right hand. Call out a side and Louis is to hold that can up for five minutes. If he fails in any way, wrong side or not holding it up, you and Carl find a horse with the biggest dick you can to fuck him to death.”

  “You got it, boss,” Ted said, handing Louis the other can. “Left,” Ted snapped and Louis raised the left can out.

  Spinning around, Bruce froze as Buffy held out her hand to him. “Holy pills, take them,” she said. “They will work on your headache and not make you stupid.”

  Snatching the pills, Bruce swallowed them dry. “Even fucking stupid, I know my right from left!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  Carl walked over and Buffy and Danny jumped back from his swollen face. “Did you piss Daddy off?” Buffy asked timidly.

  “No, that fucker dodged a blue and rammed my face into the hatch!” Carl shouted and spun to Bruce. “I want a piece of that boy’s ass right now.”

  “Carl, I’m the boss, my punishment is first,” Bruce snapped. He took his drinking tube off his vest and tried to drink but it was empty. Letting it go, he reached over, taking Danny’s off her vest and sucked down water.

  “So when can my punishment start?” Carl growled as Ted yelled out right.

  “When we get to the next company,” Bruce said, clipping Danny’s drinking tube back. “Carl, I’m not kidding. If I ever see another driver in any vehicle you two have for me, we are stepping the fuck outside. You better be prepared to kill me, but my mission in life will be to teach that boy how to follow directions.”

  “Fine with me,” Carl snapped. “I’ll beat the fuck out of him every day.”

  “Dad,” Danny said and he turned to her. “You sounded like that drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.”

  “Danny,” Bruce sighed. “When I was in basic, AIT and Ranger school, you would be surprised at how many sergeants did that to whoever fucked up their right from their left. That’s why I didn’t laugh at the boot camp scenes in Full Metal Jacket. I’ve seen and experienced that in real life.”

  “You didn’t forget your left or right, did you Daddy?” Buffy asked quietly.

  “Nope, not one time,” Bruce said and pulled out his map. He passed it to Danny. “Copy your company’s route tomorrow. We move forward ten miles and hold for an hour, then move forward another ten miles. We will rinse, wash and repeat until I call for everyone to stop. Kick off time will be 0500.”

  Taking the map, Danny spun Buffy around, using her back as a desk. “Dad, you handled the problem,” she said, marking her map. “Hell, I bet none of my guys will make that mistake.”

  “No, I have another problem I need to fix,” he said as Ted yelled out right again. “I have a company commander that doesn’t know the directions of a compass.”

  Danny chuckled as she continued marking her map. “Yes, I heard Stephanie send a chopper down to land on the road to stop him.”

  “What was he doing?” Buffy asked over her shoulder.

  “Oh, the dumb ass thought ‘she’,” he stressed, “was heading north back to her company. She thought she could outrun me back to her company and she wouldn’t get in trouble,” Bruce spat. “Danny, Stephanie didn’t send that chopper down there to stop her. She got that chopper down there to airlift that stupid fuck out of my grasp.”

  Stopping her writing, Danny looked over at her Dad. “Oh,” she said swallowing hard. “Don’t be
mad at Stephanie, Dad. She’s pregnant.”

  “Oh, I’m not mad at her, pumpkin. Stephanie saved that girl from a beat down of the ages,” Bruce said. “I’m an equal opportunity ass chewer. Black, white, yellow or brown: male or female: young or old, I don’t care. Nobody is above my ass chewing, if you fuck up and endanger my troops. Incompetence kills and won’t be tolerated, I know we are human and make mistakes but if you’re in charge, you better work twice as hard as anyone under you.”

  Danny laughed, “Shit, Dad, I can attest to that. Being in charge means working twice as long, twice as hard as anyone else.”

  Nodding as he hugged her and Buffy, Bruce turned as Louis lifted the left can up and held it out. “Make sure you rotate your troops so they get some rest, we are pushing for twenty-four hours. The troops need to see this war is a 24/7 war. We don’t stop at night just because it’s spooky.”

  “I’m glad,” Buffy said. “If we are constantly fighting, I don’t have to read my school assignments.”

  Spinning around, Bruce stared at her. “What?” he asked in a droning voice.

  “Dad,” Danny sighed. “It’s nothing. We have to be the best and any downtime, we use it to get better.”

  With his eyes getting big, Bruce stumbled back in shock. “Damn, that is tough,” he mumbled and spun around. As he walked by Louis, “Get your fucking ass in the rig and I dare you to make a wrong turn,” Bruce said casually.

  As they drove away, Buffy looked at Danny, “What was that about? He knows Stephanie is a hard teacher,” she said.

  “Hard but fair,” Danny mumbled and glanced down at Buffy. “I don’t want Dad to have any reason to ask a question that could upset them.”

  Turning around and heading back to the Bravo Company, Buffy grinned, “Man, you’re smart.”

  “Nope, been around Dad long enough to know he can piss off a monk without even trying,” Danny laughed following.

  Chapter 29

  In the false dawn, Danny walked around the wall, making sure the platoons knew their assignments. She was in no mood for Bruce to come and chew on her ass. Walking onto the roof of her rig, Danny heard Buffy. “Take ‘em off, I fucking dare you.”