“These damn troops of Gene’s suck ass!”
“Think of your options and choose the one that saves the most lives since your objective is secured,” Bruce calmly said and started shooting.
Jake took a deep breath to yell and Bruce shook his head still shooting. “That’s not being calm, son. Think like you do when you’re behind your scope.”
Forcing himself to calm down, Jake looked around and noticed the Apaches were gone from overhead and the blues were being held back two hundred yards. “All Omega elements dig in. The only way home is over the bodies of the blues attacking us,” he called over the radio. “Air supply, bring in more ammo and spare rifles.”
“See? It’s not that hard,” Bruce said, ejecting an empty magazine. “Others can panic, but not the ones in charge.”
Bringing up his rifle, Jake started squeezing off shots. “Can you give me a hint on what else I should be doing?”
“You’re too focused on one area. If it was me, I would move around the entire perimeter to get the entire picture. Your team leaders are good, but only know the area they are assigned. You need to know the entire picture. Don’t micromanage either, let the team leaders do that. You give them the task and let them solve it.”
Hearing a four-wheeler behind him, Jake glanced over his shoulder as the driver tossed a bag of magazines off. “I’m still punching you when we get home,” Jake said kneeling down and grabbing magazines, shoving them in his vest.
“I don’t know what for. I’m doing my job as a handler,” Bruce said.
Filling his vest, Jake yelled, “Buffy, load up!”
Buffy ran over as Jake shoved the last magazine in his vest and looked up, but didn’t see his dad. “Where’s Dad?” he asked as Buffy shoved magazines in her vest.
Jerking her head up, “What?” Buffy shouted.
“Buffy, he was standing right there,” Jake pointed.
“That was a dog handler, Jake,” Buffy snapped and finished loading her vest.
Giving up and knowing he wasn’t crazy, Jake stood up glancing around and saw Ted. “Ted, leave half of your men here with David. Get some of these new fuckers that can’t quit pissing their pants to distribute ammo.”
“You got it, little boss,” he said and moved down the line.
“Buffy, we’re checking the line,” he said, checking his rifle.
“That’s Angela and Stephanie,” Buffy said, grabbing his arm. Jake looked down and saw Buffy pointing behind him and spun around. “What the hell are they doing here?” Seeing they were in Ted’s group, Jake made a mental note to punch Ted as well.
“I don’t know,” Jake huffed and took off in a jog to check the east side.
Moving down the line, Jake checked on the troops and team leaders then moved to the north side of the line and found Danny doing the same thing. When she saw him walking up, she shook her head, “What the hell is Dad doing here?”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Jake snapped. “Where did you see him?”
“Right here with Max ten minutes ago, then he disappeared.”
“What did he tell you?” Jake said glancing up and down the line, seeing the troops were keeping the charging blues two hundred yards back.
“That I had to quit hitting the troops on the line that were crying.”
Giving a startle, Jake whipped his gaze at her. “That’s why you were hitting your troops?”
“Hey, David already said you pulled your pistol on two, so don’t start!” Danny shouted and raised up her rifle, firing into the mass of bodies seeing several matrix kids coming.
Letting it slide, Jake raised his rifle and helped her shoot the bounding kids. When the last one dropped fifty yards from the line, Jake ejected his empty magazine. “Just to let you know, Angela and Stephanie are in Ted’s platoon.”
“What the hell are they doing here?” Danny screamed lowering her rifle and looking at Jake in shock.
“Don’t you yell at me!” Jake bellowed. “Run your area and kill these blue cocksuckers so we can find out!”
Danny took a step back, seeing the veins standing up on Jake’s forehead. “I’m talking to Mary and making sure she’s not rationing your sex because you’re bitchy.”
Wanting to unload but knowing it wouldn’t do any good, Jake walked off pressing his radio switch. “Matt, we are holding the perimeter. What’s the status of that horde to the south?”
“Hey, just about to call you,” Matt called back and Jake could tell he was grinning. “Need your permission to drop heavy ordnance on that horde.”
Jake looked to the south. “Go ahead and send the BUFF unless the horde has moved closer.”
“No, they are still ten miles away and it’s not the BUFF. Mack is dropping a Mohab (MOAB).”
Hearing that, Jake froze in his steps. “That is danger close for a MOAB.”
“Well, the horde is well over a million and still growing. It’s looking like they are about to move to you.”
“Drop the damn thing and clear the helicopters out,” Jake said and flipped channels. “To all troops a MOAB will be dropping on a horde to our south ten miles away. Hold your positions and the first motherfucker I see that tries to run, I’ll shoot your ass and throw you to the blues. In case you haven’t figured out, there is nowhere to run for Omega.”
Buffy grabbed Jake’s arm. “Matt said they dropped it.” Jake looked off to the south as Buffy let his arm go. “Just what is a moe hab?”
“It’s M-O-A-B. Massive Ordnance Air Burst, but the troops refer to it as the Mother Of All Bombs. It’s the GBU 43, the largest bomb that’s not nuclear the US ever made.”
With wide eyes, Buffy whipped her head to the south. “Not to question you, but are you sure we are far enough away?”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Jake said as the ground shook violently. A few seconds later a ‘BOOM’ rolled over them, knocking a few people down and busting windows on the buildings around them. The attacking blues all around the perimeter all stopped and looked to the south seeing a large mushroom cloud rise up. “That’s closer than ten miles,” he mumbled.
The troops on the line never stopped firing and with their targets stationary the blues fell like wheat under a sickle blade. Tens of thousands died in the seconds after the blast, standing and still looking to the south. In a few seconds, the line of blues was pushed back to five hundred yards.
Not even a minute after the blast, high pitched yelps sounded out and the blues bounded away from the ring Omega had formed. “Steve,” Jake said pressing his radio. “When your choppers can, chase those blue cocksuckers down till we get the fuck out of here.”
“Already on our way,” Steve called back. “Getting reports that the entire horde was vaporized, Jake.”
Looking back at the rising cloud, Jake nodded. “I believe it because I think that knocked one of my fillings out.
As the calls from the perimeter came in that all the blues had taken off, Jake looked around wondering what the blues were up to. “Second wave, prepare to evac. Then, first wave,” he called over the radio.
“Bubba, Matt wants to talk to you,” Buffy said and Jake flipped channels.
“Yeah, Matt,” Jake sighed.
“Hey brother, your perimeter is clear and the choppers are coming in to get you.”
“Thank you, Matt.”
“Well, what’s it like being in charge?”
Slowly, Jake looked around seeing troops form up for extraction and keyed his radio. “Being the boss sucks dirty, crusty, nasty ass.”
Chapter 10
Jake moved to the front of the chopper looking between the pilots and saw the base. “Damn, it looks huge,” he said.
“Yeah, it does make you feel good, seeing that,” the pilot said and Jake nodded looking at the line of choppers in front of them.
“Any problems from the air wing?”
“One of the birds had to set down with engine trouble and another chopper landed and offloaded the troops and crew. We wil
l send a recovery team later this week to get the bird.”
Feeling a hundred years older, Jake gave a nod and moved back in the troop area of the Chinook. Grabbing a strap when the chopper banked as it descended, Jake had a new respect for his Dad. “I really need to tell him I’m sorry for all the times I acted like an ass in the field,” Jake said out loud.
“Gives you a whole new perspective, doesn’t it?” Ted said looking up at Jake.
Jerking his head, Jake locked Ted in an icy gaze. “You still have a punch in the face coming.”
“Won’t be the first one,” Ted shrugged. “But before you rant off at Bruce, you may want to get his side of the story.”
“Ted, he brought pregnant women, my stepmoms, into a battle zone that they didn’t need to be in,” Jake ranted.
“Just warning you,” Ted said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. “Those two have done nothing but train. They can kick some ass.”
Before he could answer, Jake felt the chopper touch down and roll along the runway. Gathering his thoughts as he picked up his gear, Jake wondered if he should apologize first or punch his dad first.
As the chopper came to a stop, the back ramp opened up and Jake followed the rest of the troops out as Buffy got up and walked beside him. “You did good, Bubba,” she said looking up with an innocent smile.
Before he replied, he saw Bruce talking to Gene and Carl. Jake stopped. For the first time, he really looked at his Dad and felt shock. Before the collapse, Bruce’s goatee had a few streaks of gray but now, it was white. His face had way more creases than he remembered and Jake started to wonder why he’d never noticed before.
“Buffy, have you noticed how much Dad has aged?”
Letting out a sigh, “Yeah, it seems the more people we get here, the more it ages him,” she said in a low voice.
“I just noticed,” Jake admitted. “I see him every day, I don’t know why I didn’t see it.”
“I didn’t until Momma died and she told me to watch it,” Buffy admitted.
Feeling bad that he’d even wanted to punch his Dad, Jake continued walking over. Bruce turned and saw him coming and grinned. “I’m not the others, son. You hit me, I’ll pop you back.”
Jake dropped his gear and hugged Bruce. “I’m sorry for all the times we acted like asses in the field.”
“Don’t be,” Bruce said hugging him back. “You’ll understand why someday.”
Letting go of the hug, Jake stepped back with a stern face. “Now, why in the hell did you let my pregnant moms go into the field?”
“Boy, you used the word ‘let’, like I had some form of control over that. ‘Let’ me give you some advice, when a pregnant woman wants to do something, don’t get in her way, so she doesn’t flip out on your ass.”
“They wanted to come?” Jake mumbled staggering back.
“I didn’t order them to, if that’s what you think,” Bruce chuckled. “They both told me they were going, whether I liked it or not. Stephanie used words I still have to look up, but Angela said, ‘Our kids aren’t going out their first time alone. We have to make sure they are alright’. Now, she did add a few carnal verbs and descriptions, but that was the gist of her statement. I think that’s what Stephanie said but like I told you, I have to look up some words first.”
“Dad,” Jake said looking off. “When I get to heaven, don’t think less of me, but I’m spanking mom for leaving us with two moms.”
“I will get there before you, son, and her butt will already be spanked.”
“Well, she’s getting one from me as well. Then, I’ll let her spank me for doing it,” Jake grinned turning back.
“Jake,” Gene said moving closer. “I got a lot of reports that the members of Omega that were pulled from the troops in Colorado didn’t perform well.”
“Oh, you could say that,” Jake huffed. “I had to pull a gun on some to keep them on the line, and Danny kept running up and down the line butt stroking them in the head when she saw them crying.”
“I told her to stop that,” Bruce mumbled.
“Dad,” Jake sighed. “When has Danny ever listened unless you used your daddy voice?”
“COWARDS!” they heard two women scream behind Bruce.
They all turned and saw Angela and Stephanie charging two troops standing off to the side. Angela launched her body up in a superman punch and Stephanie jumped in the air, delivering a flying knee.
The two troops turned just in time to see them as one got punched in the face and the other met Stephanie’s knee. Jake saw both of the troopers’ bodies lock up, knowing they had been knocked out as they crashed to the ground like fallen trees.
This didn’t deter Angela nor Stephanie from climbing on their chests and dropping elbows on their faces. “You, yellow belly cocksucker!” Angela screeched, trying to drive her elbow through the unconscious man’s face. “That was my kids you were leaving behind!”
Stephanie grabbed the man’s shirt she was standing over pulling his unconscious head off the ground. “Run now, bitch! You were going to leave my babies!” she screamed and started driving her fist into his face like a jackhammer.
“Yeah, I’m so going to spank Debbie’s ass,” Bruce mumbled. “She leaves me with two that are determined to follow in her footsteps.”
Seeing a man run over to pull them off Gene moved to stop him and Carl grabbed his arm. “Don’t,” he said.
“I’m just going to stop him. If those girls are doing this, then those boys need this ass whoopin’,” Gene said grabbing Carl’s hand.
“You go over there and it will be your ass on the ground,” Carl said letting go and motioning with his chin. “Angela and Stephanie have all the backup they need.”
Gene turned around just in time to see Nancy flying through the air and landing a dropkick on the man who was about to try and pull Stephanie off. Both of Nancy’s boots met his face, taking him off his feet.
As the man crashed down, Nancy landed in a roll before springing to her feet and looking around to see if any others were coming, then dove onto the man’s chest dropping elbows in his face. “See? That’s why you stay the hell away when they open up a can of ass whoopin’,” Carl huffed. “They see someone coming, they just attack.”
Everyone turned to look at Bruce who had his face covered with his hands in frustration. Letting out a puff of air and dropping his hands, Bruce looked up at the sky. “I hope you’re seeing this,” he snapped as he reached and started undoing his vest. “Now, I have to reason with, not one, but two dangerous women and to top it off, they are pregnant.”
Mike strolled over dropping his vest with Matt following him. “I’m only pulling Nancy off, so don’t even ask.”
“I thought you were my brother,” Bruce snapped.
“I am, and that’s the only reason I’m pulling Nancy off. You know as well as I do that we are about to eat some punches.”
Glancing back over his shoulder, “Jake, make sure Danny and Buffy stay out of this,” Bruce said.
“Hey, I’m not going over there,” Buffy said holding her hands up. “Momma Angela has that wild look in her eye and Stephanie is shouting ‘Fuck’ every time she punches. They are pissed off.”
“Well, will you help me?” Bruce asked rolling his neck and making it pop.
“Uh-uh,” Buffy said shaking her head and watching the beatings. “I’ve never seen them this mad.”
Bruce turned as another man ran over and tried to pull Angela off the man she was beating to death. When the man grabbed her, Angela spun around, driving a knee into his groin and lifting him a foot off the ground.
As the man bent over, she climbed onto his back and wrapped an arm around his neck, choking him out. Not able to breathe and pain radiating from his nuts, the man dropped to his knees and Angela started driving her right knee into his kidney. “Touch me again, you little bitch!” she screeched.
The man collapsed face first into the pavement out cold and Angela jumped off his back like a
spider monkey as the first man she was beating tried to sit up. That was when Jake realized it was one of the men he had pulled his gun on to stay on the line.
“Yep,” Mike said, nodding as Angela landed on the man’s chest driving him back to the pavement. “That’s why I’m only grabbing Nancy.”
“Fuck,” Bruce sighed and jogged over and Mike followed.
Reaching down, Bruce wrapped his arm around Angela and pulled her off the man she was beating, then with his other arm pulled Stephanie off hers. Both started kicking and elbowing him as he carried them away.
“You let me go, motherfucker! I’m going to reach down his throat and pull out his fucking heart!” Angela screamed, knowing it was Bruce that had her but she still kicked and drove elbows back into him.
“You’re squeezing my titties!” Stephanie screamed, kicking him and trying to move his arm off her chest. “They tried to run and leave the kids!”
When he had them far enough away, Bruce let them go and moved between them and their targets. Quickly, Jake looked over and saw Momma Nancy throwing punches and kicks at Mike. He was blocking most. Seeing Daddy Mike’s forearms turning red as he blocked, Jake knew Momma Nancy was throwing hard.
Turning back, he saw Angela and Stephanie both crouched down looking at dad. “I hope they never get as good as Momma, or Dad’s fucked,” Jake mumbled.
“Move it, Bruce,” Angela growled. “They are cowards and are going to die.”
“They tried to run away and leave our kids!” Stephanie shouted.
“Girls,” Bruce said calmly but did crouch down, seeing the wild look in both of their eyes. “The team gets to decide their punishment, not you.”
“They can have what’s left,” Angela snarled, dropping lower and moving away from Stephanie.
“Yep, Dad better be glad he never had to fight them and Momma,” Jake said watching the two spread out. Angela sprang into the air trying another superman punch, but Bruce dodged and caught her just as Stephanie snapped a kick catching him in the side.
Blue Plague (Book 7): Hope Page 12