“Well, duh,” Buffy droned. “Yes, I have school and Stephanie is my teacher.”
“Hmm,” Gene said as they walked over to his rig. “You, um, think she could teach me with you?”
Buffy stopped and looked up at Gene in shock. “You want to go back to school?”
“Not really, but I need to know what the fuck Sandy is talking about sometimes when she talks about work. Hell, she read every book at the base on combat and can talk about my work,” Gene said, looking down at Buffy.
Spinning on her heel, Buffy walked away. “You can ask her because I’m not learning that shit,” she snapped. “I do enough pushups learning what Stephanie tells me.”
“Tough family,” Gene mumbled, following Buffy into his RG. Closing the rear door, Gene told the driver to head to the interchange.
When they pulled up to the interchange, vehicles and troops were everywhere with the huge work lights on each RG extended and turned on. He found the kids with Ted, Carl, and Willie arguing. The cage with the blues was hanging over a large pile of wood.
“Let’s get something straight!” Willie screamed. “I’m lighting this shit or I swear to God, I will shoot each of you in the right knee!”
The others stepped back, looking at Willie’s wild eyes. “Dude, you need to chill,” Matt said, watching Willie’s hands.
“Matt,” Buffy said, running over. “Let Willie do it.”
The others looked down at her. “He chickened out last time,” she said, jerking her head toward Willie. “I don’t think it was his fault, but let him show us he’s part of Omega.”
Each looked at the other and all nodded as Danny moved over beside Buffy. “I’m with you, I don’t think Willie had a choice that day,” Danny said, patting Buffy’s back.
“Momma said he didn’t,” Buffy said looking up. “But I’m telling you, if he doesn’t cook their asses today, I’m capping his ass,” she said and turned around. “And I can promise you, it won’t be in the fucking knee!”
They all turned to Willie. “Bring that cage down and I’ll go Bruce on their asses!” Willie shouted, holding a lighter in one hand and a knife in the other.
“Yeah, I think Willie has a clear head today,” Ted nodded and walked off.
Jake and Matt nodded at Willie and Willie looked up at the cage, then over at the truck mounted crane that was holding the cage up. “Move the cage up another ten feet. I want these fuckers to cook slow. I like my meat well done with a slow sear,” he told the crane operator.
“Good man,” Carl said walking off.
Gene moved over beside Willie. “You have twenty minutes before the bonfire, so don’t light early,” he said as the wild look intensified in Willie’s eyes. “Willie, you light that fire before we are set, you deal with me before Buffy and I’m worse because I have more experience.”
“I won’t light until you give the order,” Willie said, lowering his hands.
Patting Willie’s shoulder, Gene nodded. “You stay as long as you need to, son. I’ll run the section.”
Willie just nodded and turned, looking up at the cage with a sneer. Walking away, Gene shook his head, “Blues aren’t the only ones that can scare with a look,” he mumbled, heading to his troops.
Walking around his area with Buffy beside him, Gene checked the placement and soon found a big difference in those Omega troops that had been in the field with Bruce and those that hadn’t. The experienced troops were relaxed and set up perfectly, while the others were nervous and set up too far apart.
Grabbing his radio, “To all units, give an all clear if you are set up,” Gene called over the radio.
“About fucking time, old man. I’m getting cramps sitting on this damn RG! Let’s kill some shit!” Danny screamed over the radio.
“Danny is so cool,” Buffy grinned beside Gene.
“Danny, you are in next to last in the body count, so shut the fuck up!” Jake shouted.
“Bitch, I’ll monkey stomp your ass!” Danny shouted back.
“Children!” Gene bellowed over the radio and the radio went silent. “Unless you are calling out you are ready or not ready, stay off the fucking air!”
“Ready,” Danny shouted back.
Gene looked up, “The last time I talked to Bruce, Danny was three and he said she was going to put him in an early grave,” he said, shaking his head and looking down at his radio. “I think he was right.”
When the other sections reported ready, Gene called Willie. “Wild Willie, start the fire.”
“Make the fuckers scream loud!” Carl shouted over the radio.
Gene turned around, seeing a fire start a hundred yards away. The blues in the cage started yelping and shaking the cage. There were eight females, four matrix kids, and six males in the cage bouncing around making the cage move, but there were cables on each corner so the cage wouldn’t swing.
It amazed Gene that the original team members of Omega had done that so many times, they’d even set up fire extinguishers to spray on the fire so the blues wouldn’t die right away and keep screaming.
Watching the cage get lowered, Gene heard one of the males roar, sending a shiver up his spine. He had heard that enough, but had only heard a female over the radio program Bruce did during his insane runs.
All of a sudden, a shrill roar split the night. “Holy shit, did you hear that? That was a matrix kid!” Matt shouted over the radio.
When the cage was almost to the flames, Gene grabbed his ears, even though he had ear plugs in. All six females let out a high-pitched screaming roar that he felt in his chest a hundred yards away. “Fuck!” he shouted, but couldn’t even hear his own voice.
He turned to look at Buffy with her hands over her ears and saw her moving her mouth. “Can’t hear you,” Gene shouted and felt a thumping in the air and looked back at the cage to see someone shooting at the cage.
When he took his hands down he heard two screaming roars. It still hurt his ears, but not like six did. “Killed all but two females,” Willie shouted over the radio.
“Let’s make a note, no more than two females in the future,” Gene said looking at Buffy.
“This is Prometheus. We have contacts closing fast from all sides from a hundred miles out.”
“Well, guess it worked,” Gene said, looking at Buffy who was opening and closing her mouth trying to pop her ears.
She looked up at him shaking her head, trying to make the ringing in her ears stop, “Wonder if that’s why Daddy only did one at a time?”
“Well, we had a lesson then,” Gene said.
“Contact on Battleship Parkway,” Danny called out and gunfire erupted beside them. Gene moved over to the side of the overpass looking toward Mobile and saw the road packed with charging blues. They were still over a mile away and only the heavy guns were engaging, but it wouldn’t be long until everyone got to play.
“Contact on I-10,” Ted called out.
“Contact from Bridgehead,” Carl shouted over the radio.
“Guess it worked,” Gene said, raising his rifle as the blues reached three hundred yards. A thousand troops opened up with aimed shots and the front section of the group just collapsed.
Dropping an empty magazine, Gene slammed in another and saw the parkway starting to fill up with bodies of blues already. “Yeah, I have to give it to the kids, they learned well from Bruce,” he said, bringing his rifle to his shoulder.
Mary looked over at Danny as she changed magazines, “Damn, that pissed them off,” she said with a grin.
“Yeah, they’ve never charged like this before,” Danny said, squeezing the trigger in a steady rhythm until her bolt locked back. “I have to say, I really like being able to shoot them in the body and watch them fall.”
“Don’t tell Jake, but I hated aiming at their heads,” Mary said, squeezing her trigger rapidly with aimed shots. “I couldn’t hit them till they were like a hundred yards away.”
“Neither could I,” Danny chuckled as they both changed magazin
es.
Another chorus of roaring screams sounded behind them. “Guess Willie is still playing,” Mary said, bringing her rifle up.
“Glad Buffy didn’t cap his ass that day,” Danny said softly as she squeezed the trigger.
On the other end of the exchange, Jake turned to Matt. “Matt, if that fucker on that minigun doesn’t quit spraying the countryside, I’m giving him a knife and telling him to go hand to hand.”
“No shit,” Matt said, squeezing the trigger. “Look at all his shots that are hitting the water.”
“So, will you go tell his ass?” Jake said, aiming at the mass of blues and started squeezing the trigger.
“Alright,” Matt sighed, getting up as the two female blues screamed again. “Glad Willie capped the others because that hurt my ears,” Matt said, jumping off the RG. Slinging his rifle, he stopped as the mass of blues charging them roared as one, making him grab his ears.
“They never did that before,” Matt said, looking toward the mass charging them. He was very proud of the troops because they never paused their fire, even with the earsplitting roar.
Calmly, Matt walked over to the RG with the man behind a minigun in the turret. The young man was literally holding down the trigger and hosing the countryside. He was making no effort to keep his stream of bullets on the parkway in the mass of blues.
Matt climbed up on the RG as the others turned to look at him. “Excuse me,” Matt said, taking his rifle off his shoulder and walking across the roof. When he was behind the gunner, Matt hit him with the butt of his rifle and the gunner turned around, trying to grab his pistol.
Matt dropped his muzzle, aiming at the man. “Boy, you pull that pistol and you won’t live to see if you got it out of the holster,” Matt yelled over the gunfire and the troop raised his hands.
Slinging his rifle, Matt kneeled down beside the young man. “Troop, you aim or I’m giving you a knife to go and fight them hand-to-hand, got it?” Matt said with cold eyes. The troop slowly nodded.
“Keep your fire on the road where the blues are. If I come back, you are getting a knife, understand?”
“Y-y-yes, sir,” the young man stuttered.
Patting the troop on the shoulder, Matt stood up. “Glad we could have this chat before Buffy got here,” Matt smiled and saw the young man glance around.
Jumping off the roof, Matt ran back to his RG. When he climbed up, he turned to see the minigun’s stream of tracers staying on the roadway. “Thank you,” Jake said, changing magazines.
“Oh, I just gave him a pep talk,” Matt said, bringing his rifle up.
“You told him Buffy was coming, huh?” Jake laughed.
“Yep,” Matt grinned.
Hearing a chorus of ‘thunks’, they both smiled, “I love the mortars,” Jake said.
Pops sounded as flares lit up the area around them, letting them see all the way to Mobile. “That is a shitload of blues,” Matt said, squeezing the trigger.
“Nah, we had more than that from Lafayette,” Jake said, putting his rifle to the side and reached down in the RG getting one of his spares. Seeing a group of troops coming toward him with one in the center staggering, Jake let out a sigh. “Dad’s awake.”
“There’s no way,” Matt said, lifting his head off his stock. “Dad said he gave him thirty milligrams of valium IV.”
“Dude, he’s right there,” Jake said pointing and Matt looked at the group walking toward them from the command vehicle.
Matt let out a chuckle. “He might be up but the way he’s staggering, he’s still fucked up.”
“Yeah, I hope they took his weapons away,” Jake sighed, standing up.
“Even drunk Daddy Bruce had excellent gun control,” Matt said, getting up.
“No, Matt. To keep Dad from charging the blues,” Jake droned out.
“Oh, yeah, I can see him doing that.”
“You good without me?” Jake asked, turning to Matt.
“Sure, what are you going to do?”
“Keep Dad occupied,” Jake huffed and jumped off the RG.
As Jake walked toward the group, one of the troops broke away and ran over. When they got close, Jake noticed it was Bonnie. “Bonnie, what is Dad doing out?”
“Um, he’s the boss,” she said, skidding to a halt then leaned real close. “Jake, he’s fucked up. He’s talking about hearing colors and seeing smells.”
“That is Daddy on any strong medication. You should’ve seen him when Carroll made him some tea. Boy, that knocked his dick in the dirt,” Jake said nodding.
“Well, he wanted to come out and smell the colors,” Bonnie said with a shrug. “One of the crew called Mike, but um…,” she stopped as she bit her bottom lip. “Well, Bruce sort of mooned Mike on the video prompter.”
Slinging his rifle, Jake nodded. “You’re lucky that’s all he did,” Jake said, walking past her and watching his Dad use one of his guards as a walking aid. “Glad he doesn’t have weapons.”
“Oh, uh, we hid those and said you and the other kids took them,” Bonnie said, clearing her throat and Jake stopped.
Bonnie cringed, thinking Jake was about to unload. “Bonnie, that was pure genius,” Jake said with a smile and Bonnie looked at him in shock. “I’m serious, that was good. He unloads on us, we call home and have two pregnant women jump his ass.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t be mad,” Bonnie said with relief.
“Nope, you did good,” Jake said as Bruce staggered to a stop with his guards. Jake could see all his guards were trying not to laugh.
“Dad, what are you doing up?” Jake asked, shouldering his rifle.
Narrowing his eyes, Bruce looked at Jake as he wobbled standing still. “Jake!” Bruce shouted. “I’m going to kick Mike’s ass.”
“Can I ask why?” Jake asked as Bruce’s eyes slowly closed and his wobble became more pronounced. One of the guards moved over to Bruce’s left, catching him before he leaned over too far.
Bruce gave a jerk, opening his eyes, “I smell purple,” Bruce said looking around.
“Dad, why don’t you go smell purple in the command vehicle?”
“I can’t,” Bruce said and stumbled back and another guard ran up, catching him before he fell. “All I can hear in there is green.”
“Green isn’t that bad to smell, Dad,” Jake said trying not to laugh.
Bruce looked at Jake, blinking his eyes and wanting Jake to stay still. “Did you see the thunder?” Bruce asked as another guard ran up to his right, catching him before he fell. “It was so pretty,” Bruce said, looking up at the clear night sky.
“Dad-,” Jake started.
“Jake, where the hell am I?”
Seeing his Dad lean forward Jake stepped up, putting his hand on Bruce’s chest and stopping him from falling. “Dad, we are in Mobile.”
“You sure?” Bruce said looking around. “It doesn’t sound like it.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Where’s Mike?” Bruce shouted and leaned forward till his nose was touching Jake’s. “I was just talking to him, son, and he- ‘poof’- disappeared.” Bruce said, waving his hand around. “I can’t go poof.”
“Mike turned his camera off after Bruce mooned him,” Bonnie whispered to Jake.
“Dad,” Jake said, grabbing him before he fell. “Daddy Mike won’t show you how to go poof until you take a nap.”
“I don’t care, I have to kick his ass!”
Jake stepped back to take a deep breath to stop his laugh. “Why do you want to beat him up?”
Looking down, Bruce waved down at his crotch, “He stole my dick!”
Looking down at Bruce’s pants, Jake cleared his throat. “Are you sure?”
“Look,” Bruce pointed. “It’s gone! That was my first toy and he took it!” he shouted as the mortars shot another barrage. “Did you see that thunder?”
Jake laughed, “Dad, you have your pants on.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that, I’m naked!” Bruce shouted and st
umbled back into his guards. “I have to pee and I need my dick!”
The flares exploded over the mass of blues and Bruce looked up in wonder. “That lighting smells so pretty.”
“Dad, why don’t you sit down and I’ll go find Daddy Mike?” Jake offered, grabbing Bruce’s arm.
“I can’t sit down!” Bruce shouted. “I can’t find my ass,” he said looking over his shoulder and started stumbling in a circle, trying to look at his butt. “See? It’s gone and I don’t know where it’s at. I only wanted one side cut off, not all of it.”
Reaching out and stopping Bruce’s wobbling turn, Jake grabbed both of his arms. “Dad, you need to sit down before you fall.”
“No shit, can’t you hear the world turning?” Bruce said in awe as Mary ran up beside Jake. “Hey, did your dad give you my dick?”
Mary skidded to a halt then took a step back. “Uh,” she said looking at Jake and Jake very minutely shook his head. “No,” she said, looking back at Bruce.
“I need to pee!” Bruce cried out. “Will somebody find me a dick!”
“I knew Dad shouldn’t have given him drugs,” Mary said, looking at Jake.
“Something going on?” Jake asked as Bruce stumbled back as the female blues roared again.
“That’s a fucking dragon! Did you see that roar?” Bruce shouted, looking up in the sky as three A-10’s dove in, ‘Brrrrrrrr’ from the chain cannon resounding across the bay as the road full of blues evaporated. “You smell those dragons breathing fire! Where did we get dragons from?”
“No, the blues aren’t advancing. Matt called out that Daddy Bruce was awake and you were keeping him occupied, so I thought I would come and help,” Mary said as Bruce looked around for the dragons.
Jake smiled at her, “Thank you,” he said as Bruce stepped up to him.
“Where’s my guns? I’m going to kill the dragon,” Bruce said as his body bobbed backwards.
“Dad, those are our dragons. I took your guns because they said you were mean to them,” Jake said with a straight face.
“Those lying bitches,” Bruce shouted. “I always take care of them.”
Down the road, Buffy looked back to see Jake and Mary talking to Daddy. “Gene, are we going to help?” she asked, changing magazines.
Blue Plague (Book 7): Hope Page 24