“I checked your pulse several times this morning to make sure you were all right,” Mike said as Bruce poured some coffee.
“I feel like someone ran over me with a truck, brother,” Bruce said, taking a sip of coffee. Looking around, he asked, “Where’s Angela, and what’s in the bottles?”
“She is in the shower. When Mike told her we had to hike around eighty miles, she wanted to take one last shower,” Alex told him. “Get some food. It’s on the stove. Angela made some breakfast. The bottles are bleach and water to decontaminate stuff if we have to.”
Bruce said thanks, thinking that was a good idea as he grabbed some food, trying to make his body stop its protest to moving around. Getting old sucks, he thought. He was standing at the bar looking at the monitors, and there was nothing outside. Then Bruce looked down at his cell phone, finding it was dead. Oh well. I hope it went through, he thought. The charger was in the Mini, and he was not going to get it.
Mike, seeing Bruce look at the monitors and his cell phone, said, “I got up around 5 a.m. and saw a few infected walking down the road, but when the sun came up, they left. I don’t think they like sunlight. Angela was up before me, and she said there were a lot wandering around when she got up with Cade. Last night before I went to bed, I tried to send a text and call the farm but couldn’t. We have no Internet still, and the only TV broadcast is emergency broadcast system.”
Bruce just stood there shaking his head. The world was crashing too fast. None of the scenarios he had ever read or heard about predicted society to fall this fast. It had only been eight days since the virus arrived on the shores of America. In that time, society had almost collapsed. Bruce figured in another eight days it would be all gone if the rate stayed the same.
Just then Angela walked in drying her hair. She was wearing a pair of Bruce’s boxers and one of his shirts. Staring at her then, Bruce looked down at her little feet.
“Bruce, I have nothing to wear so I grabbed some of your clothes. Your wife’s panties will fit me but she has some big boobies, so I can’t wear her sports bras. Besides, you have seen me half naked––I have a right to some of your clothes,” Angela said, grinning.
“Angela, every woman at the house wears my t-shirts and boxers, so help yourself,” Bruce said, still looking at her feet.
“That is no lie; even my wife wears his boxers because I wear briefs,” Mike said, laughing.
“Bruce, why are you looking so hard at my feet. Do you have a foot fetish?” Angela asked, with Alex and Mike laughing.
“Actually, I do have a foot fetish, but those feet are eighty miles from here. I was just thinking we can’t leave yet. One of the uniforms we took off the soldiers will fit Alex, and one of the pairs of boots fit him. You can’t walk eighty miles in Crocs, Angela,” Bruce said, looking up at her. “We have to find you some shoes.”
“We are not going back into town. I will walk barefoot first,” she said firmly.
“We can check some of the trailers around here,” Bruce said, turning toward Buffy, who was still playing with Cade. “Buffy, is there anyone about the size of Angela that you know of in the trailer park that goes hunting?” he asked her.
After thinking for a minute, Buffy replied, “Yes, the Wallace’s who live right across from you. His wife is a little bigger than Angela, but his daughter is about her size. They always go hunting and stuff, so they should have some stuff for her to wear.”
“Mike, get dressed with everything but your pack. You will probably have to pick the lock for us to get in. You keep your SCAR out. I will put the suppressor on my XDM,” Bruce told him, going to his pack and pulling on his clothes. After he was dressed, he put on his knee and elbow pads. Then he pulled out the XDM and fitted the suppressor to it, chambering a round.
“Why aren’t you using the other .45?” Alex asked.
Bruce held up the 1911 and said, “Six rounds in a magazine.” He then held up the XDM, “Thirteen rounds in a magazine.” Alex nodded in understanding.
As Mike finished getting dressed, also putting on his knee and elbow pads, they walked to the front door. Buffy was right behind them, fully dressed. She had on her hiking boots, blue jeans, and a blue tank top. Bruce looked down at her and could see determination on her face.
“You can come, but you will keep your hand on me the whole time. If you see something, you are to squeeze my leg. You will not yell or talk, understand?” Bruce said.
“Yes, Daddy,” she replied.
“Now go and get your batting gloves on. When you are outside, they are to stay on,” Bruce said.
Mike just stared but did not voice his opinion as Buffy went to get her gloves. When she came back, Bruce asked Angela if she saw anything on the monitors. When she said all was clear, Bruce opened the door and walked out. Closing the door quietly behind them, they moved to the front of the trailer. Bruce stopped looking around and did not see anything moving. He led them across the road to the trailer that Buffy had pointed out. Keeping his pistol where his eyes looked, Bruce moved up to the front door. Bruce tried the handle, but it was locked, of course. He motioned for Mike to move up and pick the lock. This was one area that nobody could compete with Mike; he was a master lock pick. In less than thirty seconds, he had the door open, picking both the handle and the deadbolt.
Bruce went in first with Buffy and Mike following him in. When Mike entered, he closed the door gently behind them. They stood in the living room listening for any sound. Not hearing anything, they moved forward to the back of the trailer where the bedrooms were. There were clothes all over the house like someone left in a hurry. After they cleared the house, Bruce sent Mike into what could only be a girl’s room to look for what they needed. He and Buffy went into the master bedroom, and he opened the walk-in closet. One side was filled with a man’s clothes; the other was filled with women’s clothes. A section in the back held hunting camouflage. Bruce grabbed a set and looked up at the top of the closest. There were two top-of-the-line hunting backpacks. Pulling them down, Bruce felt both held equipment. They would take them back to the trailer to go through them.
When he met Mike in the hallway, he saw that Mike had a bag full of clothes, several pairs of shoes, and one pair of boots. They looked small enough, but Bruce could not tell; then around Mike’s neck were several pairs of sunglasses and safety glasses. Nodding his head, Bruce followed Mike as they made their way back to the front door. Cracking it open, Bruce could not see anything outside. Moving in single file, they went back to the trailer.
When they got back inside their trailer, locking the door, they handed over everything to Angela. Bruce had to admit Buffy had done well. Granted, it was only a short run outside, but she had kept her cool watching what Mike and Bruce were doing. As Angela tried on her clothes, Bruce walked back to the bedroom, pulling out a pair of two-way radios like his and Mike’s from the closet. He could almost slap himself for not getting them out before. It would have been nice to talk to Alex and Angela before they came back across the street.
Bruce walked back into the living room to find Angela had a set of hunting camouflage on with the boots Mike had found. They had emptied the backpacks of almost everything. They kept some binoculars, shooting gloves, and other survival gear. Each pack had a Camelback for water like his and Mike’s. Bruce gave each a radio with ear buds that they put on. Bruce and Mike helped them both set up their packs with ammo, food, water, and supplies. Alex put two of the spray bottles in his pack as Angela put two in hers.
Alex and Angela put on their ballistic vests. Earlier Mike had tightened all the straps on Angela’s vest, so it did fit her better but was still a little big for her. The drop holster was at the bottom of her thigh instead of the top. They each had a Beretta with four fifteen-round magazines and an M-4 with eight thirty-round magazines. In their packs, they put the rest of the ammo they pulled off the soldiers, about hundred rounds of nine millimeter and two hundred rounds of 5.56. Alex had offered to carry Angela’s extra ammo, but
Mike told him he couldn’t. If she got separated from the group, she might need every last round.
Bruce called everyone together, telling them the order of march. He and Buffy would take the lead, with Mike in the rear and Alex, Angela, and Cade in the middle. They were going to leave the trailer park through the woods until they got to Highway 79, which they would take to Fillmore, staying single file in the ditch. He told them no one was to get on the road until they had no choice. They would rest every two hours, and everyone was to drink lots of water. No matter what, everyone was to keep his or her gloves and glasses on at all times.
It was 10:30 when they walked out of the trailer, locking the door. Bruce and Mike put on their sunglasses and boonie hats. What they could not carry they left in the trailer in case they had to come back. Before they walked off, Mike showed everyone where the extra keys were hidden in the backyard. Walking down the road of the trailer park to get to the front so they could enter the woods, each was watching everything. When they made it to the front road, Bruce stopped, holding up his hand in a fist for everyone else to stop. Looking around, Bruce saw an infected dark blue man step out from behind a trailer about sixty yards away to his right. The man turned his head, looking at him, and let out what could only be described as a roar. Then the man took off at a dead run toward Bruce after his roar. Bruce had never seen anything but an animal move that fast as the infected closed in on him. Raising his SCAR up, Bruce started firing at the running infected. His rounds were hitting the man in the chest and neck until one went through his skull. The blue fell ten feet from Bruce. Looking down at his SCAR, Bruce saw his bolt was locked back. He had just shot at the runner thirty times to kill it. All throughout the trailer park they could hear moans and growls from other infected stirring.
Bruce turned and said, “Run.” With him in the lead the others followed him into the wood line beside the trailer park. They ran through the trees for over half a mile. When Bruce held up his hand for everyone to stop, everyone just collapsed in the heat. Changing the empty magazine out with a fresh one, Bruce put the empty back in a pouch as he tried to control his breathing. His legs felt like jelly, and they had only run over a half mile. Granted, they ran like scared kids, but this was bullshit. He hoped they did not come across any more runners. They all took long drinks then Bruce said they had to move. They each fell in line, following him hopefully to someplace safe.
By noon, they were at Fillmore when Bruce called a halt. On the road up ahead, there were cars blocking the road. That by itself would not cause much concern, but all the cars were shaped into a V, funneling in any approaching car headed into town. Bruce called Mike up front.
“What do you make of that?” Bruce asked, pointing to the cars up ahead.
“Someone set an ambush,” Mike replied. Alex and Angela were behind them listening and learning from the two.
“If someone set an ambush then we are in trouble. We don’t know where they are, and if we try to pass it, we could walk up on them,” Bruce said.
“It’s about six hundred yards from us now. Let’s sneak up to about a hundred yards and get a better look,” Mike put out.
Bruce looked at Cade asleep on Alex’s shoulder. Only a kid could sleep in this kind of liquid heat, he thought. Bruce just hoped Cade would not wake up crying. So far Cade was a very quiet kid; through this hike so far he had not made any noise. Bruce thought the kid could feel the fear off his parents and that made him scared.
The small group eased up the road, hugging the tree line in the ditch. When they got to a hundred yards, they stopped. They could now see a van parked in the ditch they were following under the trees. Listening closely, they heard voices coming from it. As they were watching the van someone in a car was heading down the road toward the roadblock. They heard a yell from the cars behind the van.
Bruce and Mike looked down the road at the car, a Mercedes Benz. Five men jumped out of the van, running up to the parked cars hiding behind them. From the Benz view, it looked like he could squeeze through until he reached the bottom of the V. Just when the driver started to back up, the five popped up, opening fire into the engine of the car.
The driver jumped out and took off running back down the road the way he had come. It was then Bruce saw a young woman get out of the passenger side holding a baby and grabbing an older toddler. Before she even made it to the back of the car, one of the gang had grabbed her by the hair. The man was a hundred yards down the road when the person they had heard yelled out, jumped out from behind a truck, and hit the running man in the stomach. The driver collapsed in a ball at the gang member’s feet. The gang member reached down, grabbing the crying man by the hair and pulling him back to the van. One of the gang members grabbed the baby from the woman’s arms, throwing him or her back in the smoking car. When the toddler, a small girl, ran to her mom, he kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying. This earned a round of laughter from everyone.
Bruce turned to Mike, and Mike gave him a nod. Dying time was here. Bruce motioned with his hand he would take the left and for Mike to take the right. Turning and looking at Buffy, Bruce pointed to the ground, motioning for her to lie down flat. After she lay down in the ditch and Bruce saw she would be okay, he turned to Angela and Alex, waving them to the ground. Then Bruce and Mike moved forward, raising their rifles. Bruce shot the furthest to the right and Mike the furthest to the left then they started working toward the middle. Bruce had one down and Mike had two down before the assholes even knew they were under attack. The gang member that had pulled the man back to the van started shooting what looked like an AK-47 in Bruce’s direction.
Bruce dove to the ground and started rolling, seeing blond hair on the ground behind him. The man and woman who were pulled out of the car hit the ground when AK opened up on Bruce. Mike lined up his red dot on AK’s chest and put three holes in it. Another gang member fired a shotgun at Mike, missing him by a mile. Mike turned his rifle toward the gunfire and put two bullets in the shooter. The last gang member took off running to the cars in the blockade. Bruce raised his rifle, sighting in on the man’s back and squeezing the trigger three times. Each round tore through the running man’s back, blowing out his chest. He collapsed just feet from the blockade.
Bruce called out, “Two.” Mike answered, “Four.” All the gang was accounted for. The group moved up as the young woman ran to the car, grabbed the baby, then picked up the toddler. Alex handed Cade to Angela and went to help her. Cade was just whimpering but not crying as his mother held him, trying to comfort him.
Mike was walking around shooting the wounded in the head. As he shot the last one in the head, a shot rang out from the other side of the road. Everyone hit the ground. Bruce watched as a gang member fell out of the tree line, rolling down the ditch behind the van, still holding a high-powered rifle.
Bruce stood up looking at the far side of the road and saw two black men wearing orange jail suits coming toward them. Bruce felt a hand grab his pants leg and looked down to see Buffy looking at him. Looking back up at the two men in orange jumpsuits, he saw each had a lever action 30-30. Bruce did not point his gun at them but did turn it in their direction. The action did not go unnoticed by the two as they walked up. Each raised their hands as they approached.
“We ain’t going to shoot you,” the bigger one replied. “We just wanted to check on the family. Don’t know if we could have saved them with these 30-30s here. Glad that you two showed up.”
“Much obliged for taking that last one out,” Mike said. “We did not see him.”
“My name is Darrell, and this is my little brother Eric. We ran up on these punks early this morning and knew what they were doing. So we waited, trying to figure out how to take them out when that car showed up,” Darrell said.
“That was my car and my family you put in danger, assholes,” the man from the car said, getting up and walking toward the group.
“If I’m not mistaken, we just saved you and your family’s ass, boy,” Br
uce said, looking at him. “Besides what do you care? If I remember correctly, you took off running, leaving them to die,” Bruce added.
“I told the stupid bitch to run,” the man started saying.
Bruce walked over to the man, punching him in the mouth and knocking him down in midsentence. He then turned to Darrell and Eric, “I am very grateful for you taking the last one out, but we need to get out of here before the infected show up.”
“Yeah, we are heading to our dad’s farm. You are welcome to join us,” Eric replied.
“We are going to our farm as well,” Mike said.
“Just a few pieces of advice, guys. Lose the clothes and take some of these guys’ weapons,” Bruce offered a few words of wisdom.
“Thank you, we will. If you don’t want the van, can we take it?” Eric asked, looking at the van.
“Be my guest, but you really don’t want to be driving now,” Mike said. “Just take a look around here.” He motioned with his hand back to the roadblock.
“We will take our chances,” Darrell said. “Sure you won’t come with us?” he asked Bruce.
“No, we will stay on foot,” Bruce assured them.
Darrell and Eric gathered up the weapons, throwing them in the van. Eric got behind the wheel and started the van. Darrell opened the passenger door and climbed in, looking back at Bruce.
“You be careful. Some of them blues can run fast and for a long time,” he informed them.
“Yeah, we have seen that. You two stay safe,” Bruce said as they pulled off.
Alex walked up with the young mother holding the toddler and a diaper bag. The mother had another diaper bag across her shoulder and the baby in an infant backpack she had put on. She came up, hugging each of the group and thanking them. Bruce told everyone it was time to move; they had been there too long.
Blue Plague The Fall Page 24