“Sorry,” Marty mumbled.
“So you’re not going to promise?” she snapped and Marty shook his head and Buffy dropped her hands. “I’ll punch you,” she threatened and Marty shrugged his shoulders as he stared at the ground. Everyone, including Ted and Carl felt sorry for Marty.
Putting her hands on her hips, Buffy gave a huff. “Well, um,” she stuttered. “Carl and Ted are taking me and their girlfriends to the movies tonight if you… Well, you know… would like to come, I guess it would be okay.”
Marty slowly lifted his gaze up as Buffy reached up twirling a finger in one of her curls. “We usually go to Ted’s and play Call of Duty after, so I guess you could come,” she added and Marty gave a small smile and nodded. “I’m first player and you better not get me killed,” Buffy snapped and he nodded with the smile falling off his face.
“We leave after supper,” Buffy said and Marty nodded. “Now, will you promise not to do that again?” she asked with an edge to her voice as she rubbed Herman clipped to her pocket and Marty shook his head.
“Errr,” Buffy groaned throwing her hands up. “I swear, if you do something like that again, I’ll kick your ass!” she screeched and Marty shrugged his shoulders.
Letting out a huff and blowing her bangs off her face, Buffy calmed down. “See you after supper,” she said with a tone of dismissal.
Marty looked up with a grin and nodded, then spun around and took off running. “Boys are so stupid,” Buffy sighed and turned around to see everyone smiling. “What? The dumbass tackled a blue that I knew was there, it’s not like he did anything other than act stupid.”
“We know, BB. Angela was about to shoot it but I stopped her,” Bruce grinned as Angela drove an elbow in his gut making Bruce double over. “Uffff,” he grunted, grabbing his belly.
“You yanked the fucking gun from my hand in a battle!” Angela shouted.
Stephanie nodded, “Yeah, Bruce, that was stupid as shit. Angela was kicking ass and you just yanked her pistol from her hand when she was helping Buffy.”
Rubbing his stomach as he looked at both of them. “She knew it was there and I wanted to see if Marty would really charge it.”
“You saw him?” Buffy asked and started tapping her foot.
“Yeah, he saw you kill that first one and dropped his rifle, charging the other one. I wanted to know if he would really do it,” Bruce snorted, rubbing his gut where Angela elbowed him.
“He could’ve got hurt!” Buffy shouted. “He sucks in hand to hand, Daddy.”
“What do you care?” Bruce snapped.
“Well, um, I… I don’t….,” Buffy stuttered then lifted her chin up spinning around. “I’m not talking to you till supper,” she declared and stormed off.
“Ted, Carl, if that boy acts disrespectful to her, I’ll kill both of you slowly,” Bruce told them.
“Dude, he was willing to die for her. Marty would never do that,” Ted said in shock.
“Shit,” Carl droned out shaking his head. “She demanded a promise, even caressing Herman for him not to do that again and Marty didn’t give it to her. That boy is in love.”
“I don’t care. If he doesn’t treat her nice and you don’t stop it, I’m coming for you,” Bruce said.
They both held up their hands. “Don’t worry,” Ted promised.
“Bruce,” Carroll snapped strolling over with the switch.
“Yes, ma’am,” Bruce answered immediately.
“Those two yellow bellies took off runnin’. Go catch ‘em and bring ‘em back so I can switch ‘em. I tried to catch ‘em, but they be too fast for me ta catch,” she said pointing the switch at him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Bruce said and took off running and Carroll looked around at the other men. Jake, Gene, Mike, Ted, and Carl all took off after Bruce to help. She moved over to the other women smiling. “Angela and Stephanie, I understands why you hads to go, but I still didn’t like it.”
“Sorry, but we had to see with our own eyes that they could do it,” Angela said in a low voice looking at the big switch in Carroll’s hand.
“I knows and that’s why I be proud of ya, but don’t be doin’ that again. Yous two get hurt out there, Bruce would lose his mind,” she said looking over at Stephanie who was staring at the switch.
“Yes, ma’am,” Stephanie said never taking her eyes off the switch.
“I wants both of you to go see the doctor now,” Carroll said.
“I’m fine,” Angela said finally looking up at Carroll.
“No, sweetie, I think you broke yo hand hitting that man in the face,” Carroll said, pointing at Angela’s hand. She looked down and saw it was covered in blood and very swollen.
“It’s f…” she stopped as she looked in Carroll’s face. “Yes, ma’am,” she said grabbing Stephanie’s hand and pulling her.
“Nancy, you make sure they dos it,” Carroll said turning away.
“Yes, ma’am,” Nancy said taking off in a run.
Carroll watched Bruce and the others dragging the two men back and looked over her shoulder at Danny, Mary, and Ted and Carl’s girlfriends. “You ladies might not want to watch this switchin,” she said and they took off.
Marcus walked over with another limb, shaving off the leaves. “You sure you want to do this and not me?” he asked, finishing off another switch and stuck it under his arm with the others.
“Yeah, you be the man and have to hold the fear that you be worse than the momma,” Carroll said swinging her switch. “This be the only way these two don’t go and get killed by the others. I don’t want anyone gettin’ in trouble over them.”
“I knowd that, woman, I was just askin’. I don’t like seein’ you gettin’ wore out,” Marcus said.
As they pulled them over, Bruce shook his head as the one he was helping to drag over fought them. “Dude, I’m telling you to take it like a man because I’ve seen her swing that switch. The more you fight, the more she’s going to hit and I’m telling you now, I’ll hold you here until you die, as long as she doesn’t hit me with that switch.”
“No shit,” Mike said dragging the other one. “I’ll nail you to a tree.”
“That’s not a switch, it’s a fucking tree branch,” Ted huffed. “I’ll nail these fuckers to the ground if she doesn’t hit me with that damn thing.”
“Now I know why Eric and Darrell are so well mannered,” Carl said.
They pulled the two in front of Carroll and stopped. The two kept struggling as she walked over with a stern face. “You best be still or I’ll still be swingin’ when the sun comes up,” she snarled.
Both men froze and those holding them swallowed hard. “Drop your drawers,” Carroll said. “Let’em go and if they takes off runnin’, Marcus is gettin’ the plow line after ‘em.”
“Yes, ma’am,” all the men said letting the two go as Omega came over, watching the two men drop their pants. Nobody counted the hits but watched for over an hour as Carroll switched the two, leaving bloody stripes across their legs and butts. Marcus had to make two more switches after Carroll broke the first five.
“You twos, turn around,” Carroll said wiping her brow panting hard and they did. When they were looking at her, she raised the switch in their faces. “Next time, you be gettin’ it from Marcus’ and it gonna be a thousand times worse. I had to always make him stop on our young’uns, but I won’t for you. Do I be makin’ myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in breaking voices.
“You take what punishment the team give you and take it well. Don’t be makin’ me get Marcus on ya. You won’t be likin’ it,” Carroll said dropping her hand.
“Yes, ma’am,” they answered.
“Now, go to yo rooms till they tell you what they gonna do. Don’t make them look fer ya either. In your room.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said, pulling up their pants and taking off running.
Carroll looked around at Omega. “That be from me. You don’t be leavin’ family in danger
. If someone would’a gotten hurt, I’d just let Marcus on ‘em and they’s wouldn’t be walkin’ for a week. Now, you decide what’s they punishment be.”
“Jake,” Bruce said looking over at him. “Handle that.”
“Yes, sir,” Jake said spinning around. “Break down by platoon and address this, then platoon leaders, see me!”
Marcus came over supporting Carroll to the truck he’d driven over. “Bruce, walk with us a spell,” Carroll said and Bruce got on her other side.
When they were away, Carroll looked up at Bruce. “Sorry, that’s as long as I could go.”
“Shit, I don’t think I could’ve went much longer,” Bruce grinned, helping Carroll to the truck.
“I don’t think anyone will try to take justice in theys hands, but you need to be makin’ sure,” Carroll said as they helped her in.
“Um, Carroll, I wouldn’t be surprised if the others don’t let them off,” Bruce snorted. “Granted, several were talking about really hurting the two, but I don’t think they will after that.”
Carroll settled in the seat and looked out at Bruce. “Make sure. I don’t want evil bein’ in these walls, Bruce. Theys enough outside.”
“I will, Carroll,” Bruce said, leaning in and kissing her cheek.
“I told her to let me handle it, but she wants them more scared of me,” Marcus said shutting the door.
“Well, I think she succeeded. I see you coming at me with a plow line, I’m eating a bullet,” Bruce said with a straight face.
“I need to get her home so she can rest,” Marcus said patting Bruce’s back, then ran around the truck.
When they drove off, Bruce shook his head. “Just the thought of a spanking from her makes me tremble.”
“She only gave me two in my life,” Eric said, coming up behind him with Darrel. “Man, I can say I didn’t want another one. You don’t know how much we appreciated you telling her you would take that last one.”
Bruce spun around, “You can damn sure know I’ll never do that again.”
“Bruce, she doesn’t go that long or that hard on us,” Darrel said with a chuckle.
“I know that but I’m telling you, I’ll never offer that again and to let you know, I’ll catch your ass if you run.”
“That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about,” Darrel huffed. “I ran once from her and holy shit, I’ll never do that again.”
“You need to get back to your platoon to talk about what to do with those two,” Bruce said walking back to Mike.
“We’re done,” Darrel said as they followed.
“What did your platoon decide?”
“Move them to the support team until they prove themselves. Since they stood there and took it, we all figured they deserved another chance,” Eric said.
“Have to say, that old coot figured right,” Bruce mumbled.
“Huh?” Eric asked.
“Just thinking out loud,” Bruce said as they reached Mike and the others.
Chapter 11
The next morning Bruce walked into the gym and smiled, seeing it was empty. “Bruce, we told you, the others like the new gym,” Ted said behind him, yawning.
“Well, it’s not the one Mike and I had, but I like working out here,” he said tossing his gym bag down and pulling out some weight lifting gloves.
“What are we doing today?” Carl asked.
“Chest and triceps,” Bruce said moving to the dumbbell rack. “So, how did Marty do last night?”
Carl came over shaking his head. “Bruce, I don’t think that boy said more than five words.”
“The only reason he said some of them was because Buffy made him,” Ted said coming over as Bruce grabbed some dumbbells and laid back on a bench doing flys to loosen up.
When he was done and sat up, he looked at them. “So, did Buffy act nice?”
“Oh, yeah,” Ted chuckled. “She only threatened to kill like six people.”
“What?” Bruce asked, narrowing his eyes.
“We had some behind us that wanted to talk during the movie. Buffy stood up in her chair and pulled out her gun, lighting them up with the laser,” Ted told him, trying not to laugh.
“I’ll talk to her,” Bruce said getting up and racking the weights.
“Ah, Bruce, how about we let it slide?” Carl asked, grabbing some dumbbells. “You know how many times I wanted to do that before the Fall?”
As Carl laid back on the bench, Bruce nodded. “Fair enough, but I will tell her to issue verbal warnings first.”
When Carl was done, Ted took his place. Carl wiped his face off with a towel. “I can say, Marty is damn good at Call of Duty. I think he was letting Buffy win because he stomped my ass.”
Ted let the dumbbells hit the floor as he sat up. “Carl, you suck at C-O-D. Marty is good, but Buffy was beating him fair and square.”
Bruce laughed, grabbing the hundred pound dumbbells and laying back on the bench. “I have to agree with Ted on that. You suck at C-O-D and Buffy is pretty damn good,” he said then gave a grunt, pressing the dumbbells up.
“Everyone’s a critic,” Carl huffed.
They went through the workout and Bruce headed to the Center and found Mike already sitting at the table with a stack of papers. “Grading papers already?” Bruce asked, walking past.
“Bruce, I’m not in the mood,” Mike said, taking a sip of coffee. “You would think since civilization collapsed paperwork would go with it, but I’m here to tell you that it has survived. I’m up to two hours a day.”
“Yeah, the girls are always on my ass to go over plans, memos, and rosters,” Bruce said, sitting down and Millie brought over his coffee mug from hell.
“I know some of these are yours,” Mike said, setting his coffee down.
“Shit, I’ll get to them,” Bruce said, taking a sip of coffee as Ted and Carl sat down.
Not looking up, Mike nodded his head. “Sure you will, that’s why I’m going over requests from two months ago.”
“Hey, if it’s not on my roster, it can wait,” Bruce said.
“That’s why I’m doing them,” Mike said finally looking up and around and didn’t see anyone close. “Do you agree with Omega’s recommendation to put those two on the support team?”
“Yep,” Bruce nodded. “They took their punishment.”
“Just wanted to make sure,” Mike said grabbing a pen and writing on the paper he was looking at. “Gene had all the troops in formation that came down with him last night. He screamed at them for the better part of two hours, then made them do two hours of PT. You wouldn’t believe how loud that man can yell.”
“Bullshit!” Bruce snapped and Mike looked up. “You do realize, I served under him for almost four fucking years. I know how loud that fucker can yell because he did a lot of it at me.”
Tilting his head as he nodded, Mike raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I can definitely see that. I think the Virgin Mary herself would scream at you for the shit you do.”
“Toss my salad,” Bruce said, taking a sip.
“I’m agreeing with Mike on that one,” Carl said, leaning over to Ted.
“Shit, Bruce could piss Gandhi off enough to kill someone,” Ted chuckled.
“Thanks, guys,” Bruce said dryly.
Ted raised his hands, “What? You’re saying we aren’t right?”
“I’m a kind person,” Bruce said, taking a sip as Ted and Carl stared at him with open mouths.
Mike chuckled, “Yes you are, but only when you really want to be.”
“That’s right,” Bruce grinned.
Glancing at Carl, “When he is being kind, you tap me,” Ted whispered.
Smiling at that, Bruce moved his hands as Millie sat a plate down. “So Mike, just what else is in that stack of papers you say is mine? It can’t be that important.”
“This stack is,” Mike said tapping a stack that was about an inch tall. “This pile isn’t and I’ll take care of them,” he said tapping a stack several inches tall, the
n tapped a stack twice that. “This is the stack I’m going through, deciding where they go.”
“What is so important in that other stack?” Bruce asked, grabbing his fork.
Mike snatched up some of the papers in the stack for Bruce. “Oh, let’s see. This is a requisition for Bonnie Lewis to join Omega and a letter from the doctor stating she is cleared for duty. It was sent to you three weeks ago-,” Mike stopped as Bruce jumped out of his chair, hearing the name of the young girl that was raped.
“I told her to come and see me when she got out of the hospital!” he shouted and the worker that was bringing food to the table turned around and headed back to the kitchen.
“Bruce, trying to see you is kind of difficult,” Mike said. “What time you have, we try to make sure you’re spending it with family. If we didn’t, you wouldn’t have any free time at all.”
Dropping into his chair in shock, Bruce just stared at Mike as Millie came over carrying the plates. Bruce’s yelling didn’t scare her. “I’m just Bruce,” was all he could mumble. “Why would anyone want to talk to me?”
“Well,” Mike said, digging in the stack of papers for Bruce. “Here is a request for you to be present at a wedding of one of the Praetorian guards that’s been with us since we got here. He came in with Conner, you and I rescued him then. Here’s another request for you to come and talk to the ten-year-old gun class. And this one-,” Mike stopped as Bruce held up his hand.
“Okay, I get it,” Bruce sighed. “Can I just ask why Bonnie wasn’t already on Omega? She seems tough as hell.”
Mike nodded, “Oh she is a tough cookie, but we always choose the top of all the classes and she always missed by a few points.”
“Points?” Bruce asked.
“Yes, they receive points on how well they shoot, how fast they run, how fast they do the twenty-mile march with a rucksack. How well they drive-,” Mike stopped as Bruce held up his hand.
“You mean to sit there and tell me, I have thirteen-year-old kids that are outscoring her?”
“Yep,” Mike said staring at him. “The last draw for Omega and Gamma, the cut off was six hundred and fifty points and Bonnie had six hundred and forty-two.”
Blue Plague (Book 7): Hope Page 14