“Now apologize,” Bruce said, and Jim begged for John’s forgiveness.
“Now crawl to Paul and do the same thing,” Bruce said, and Jim did as he was told.
“Now that is some justice,” Marcus said from the end of the loft. “Food’s ready. Drag his ass out of the loft,” he said.
“How long have you been there?” Paul asked.
“Since those two took care of y’alls’ feet.” Marcus said, pointing at Mike and Bruce. “He is just the type of person I had him pegged for,” Marcus said, pointing at Jim. “Y’all come on,” Marcus said, walking down the stairs.
Bruce let go of Jim’s scrotum and grabbed a handful of his hair, dragging him out to the picnic area. As Bruce pulled him along, Bruce told Jim if he yelled he would drag him by the balls. Jim never made a sound above a whimper as Bruce dropped him by the tree.
Everyone came out of the loft to eat wearing underwear, but they brought weapons with them. Mike handed Bruce his rifle since he had brought Jim down. Everyone sat down and started eating as Jim lay under the tree crying. Marcus went and told Carroll what had happened as they sat and ate.
As everyone was eating, Susan said, “I’m sorry,” looking down at the table, holding Joshua. Cassandra was sitting by her, eating, never looking at Jim.
“For what?” Angela asked.
“You know what he made me do. That I could not protect Cassandra,” she said, crying.
“What, because a sadistic asshole beat you and your baby and made you do what he wanted?” Angela said.
“I’m a whore,” she said, crying, holding Joshua closer. Carroll got up and went to Susan, and the old black woman hugged her from behind.
“Susan, you done what you had to for you and your babies to survive, just like we are doing now. That is nothing to be ashamed of. Holding it against yourself for surviving is,” Carroll told her, hugging her. Carroll sat and held her until she stopped crying, as everyone had stopped eating in the uncomfortable silence and looked off.
“Daddy won’t hit us anymore, Mommy?” Cassandra asked.
“No, baby, I will kill him myself,” Susan told her with determination.
Carroll turned to Cassandra and said, “He is not a daddy, baby. A daddy is someone who will love and die protecting you from anything.”
“Like my daddy and Daddy Mike,” Buffy said, leaning over, hugging Bruce’s arm, laying her head on his arm, and reaching to Mike’s hand sitting on the table to hold it. Mike grabbed her hand, squeezing it and smiling at her.
Cassandra looked around, not understanding. Her daddy was mean, always hitting her and Mama, but then he was not Daddy. Buffy had two daddies that she liked, and they never hit her. Tears came to her eyes. “I want daddies like Buffy,” Cassandra said, crying.
“Baby, we will find a daddy. I will find you a good daddy,” Susan said.
“Will you be my daddy, and you?” Cassandra asked, looking at Bruce then to Mike.
“Baby, that is not something you ask someone. It is a lot of responsibilities. We will find a daddy,” Susan told her. Cassandra jumped from the table, running around the other side to Bruce.
Bruce watched her run around the table heading to him. Not wanting to run away from the little girl, Bruce started taking deep breaths to be strong; he had already taken on one kid. He did not think he could handle two more as Cassandra came up to him crawling up on the bench seat. Cassandra stood up, jumping and grabbing Bruce’s neck with her arms. Bruce wrapped his arm around her so she would not fall.
“Please be my daddy. I will be good, and Joshua will, too. I will help him,” Cassandra said, burrowing her head in his neck.
“Cassandra––” Bruce started.
“Come on, Daddy, she needs good daddies. I already have four older brothers and two older sisters. Now I can be an older sister, too. I will help Cassandra and Joshua be good,” Buffy asked.
I will talk to Buffy later, Bruce thought as he reached up, pulling Cassandra back to tell her he would be a good friend. Looking in her tear-streaked face and her little eyes, Bruce’s heart crushed. He felt like a big pussy.
“Yes, Cassandra, I will be your daddy,” Bruce told her, and she hugged him, kissing his face. Cassandra jumped out of his arms, ran to Mike, and climbed him until she had her arms around his neck.
“Will you be my daddy, too?” Cassandra asked Mike with hope, looking in his face.
“Yes, baby, I will be your daddy, too,” Mike told her. Cassandra covered his face in kisses then squeezed him tight. The she stopped, leaned back, and looked in Mike’s face.
“What about Joshua?” Cassandra asked, thinking of her brother. Mike looked at her.
“When Bruce,” Mike said, emphasizing his name, “said he would be your dad, and I said I would be your daddy, that means you, Joshua, and your mama now are part of our family. For better or worse, you are stuck with us,” Mike said, looking at the little girl. Cassandra started kissing Mike all over his face. Mike wrapped both of his huge arms around the little girl, with tears running down his face.
Bruce moved his plate back, leaned over, and started beating his head into the table repeatedly. Debbie was going to kill him.
“What’s wrong with Daddy Bruce?” Cassandra asked Mike, turning around to see what the noise was.
“He is celebrating in his own way,” Mike told her as Bruce stopped.
“I love him, but he can be weird,” Cassandra said.
“Now go over and finish eating,” Mike told her, putting her down, and she ran to her mom and said they had daddies now so everything was okay. Almost everyone had a smile on his or her face during the exchange of words. Ben stood up and hit the table.
“It’s not fair,” Ben said. Oh shit, thought Bruce, not wanting to be anyone else’s daddy.
“What is not fair?” Lynn asked him.
“Jim needs to be raped for what he said to John,” Ben said, holding his head up. John was his friend, and this had to be taken care of.
“Do you even know what rape is, Ben?” Lynn asked.
“No,” he admitted, “but it sounds bad, and that’s what he deserves,” Ben said.
“What did he say to John that all of you kids started hitting him like a piñata?” Lynn asked, laughing and smiling.
“I can’t say. It’s bad words, and I will get in trouble, Ms. Lynn,” Ben told her.
“It’s okay, you will not get in trouble,” Lynn said.
“He told John he was just a nasty little nigger that they should just throw to the alligators and do the same with all the other niggers,” Ben said with tears in his eyes. “He hurt John’s feelings so we started hitting like Mr. Bruce showed us.” Everyone just looked at Ben in shock. Jim would threaten children just to have someone fear him.
Lynn jumped up from the table, grabbing a fork. “I’ll kill him,” she said, walking toward Jim. Maria jumped in front of her, and they started yelling at each other. Maria tried to reason with her, but Lynn kept saying she was going to rip his dick off and shove it down his throat. Maria finally calmed her down and brought her back to the table. The kids were looking at Lynn in awe.
As they sat back down, Bruce looked at Jim lying on the ground curled up in a ball. He told the kids to get their staffs and go over, hitting Jim two times each anywhere but the head. The six kids jumped up with their staffs and took off toward Jim.
Jim was lying on the ground wanting the pain to end. He was going to kill Bruce if it was the last thing he did. Just then he saw the little demons coming at him with their sticks as they started hitting him. They may have been little, but it hurt and made him move, setting off the pressure points Bruce had hit earlier. The attack stopped as suddenly as it had started, but the waves of pain were racking his body.
The kids came back to the table, sat down, and started eating. Paul told the kids that was some fine hitting. They all smiled back at him. Cheryl told him not to encourage it. Paul told her he could not wait for Bruce to tell him that he got a turn. Cheryl tol
d Paul he could not hit Jim unless she could, also; it would not be fair.
Bruce stood up telling everyone it was time for bed. They needed to move out in the morning. He told the kids that they would be on guard duty tonight with an adult. They all smiled and started talking to each other with excitement. Bruce did not have the heart to tell them guard duty sucked. They would find out for themselves. Everyone thanked Marcus and Carroll for the food. Cheryl and Maria helped Carroll clear the table as Bruce walked to Jim and knelt down.
“I felt you thinking bad thoughts about me. That’s why you got hit, and it will get worse each time you think bad thoughts,” Bruce told him.
“I didn’t…”Jim started saying as Bruce struck the pressure point over his kidney. Pain raced through his body. How could this man increase the pain?
“Don’t lie, and I can deliver more pain than you can imagine,” Bruce said, grinning. He could not read Jim’s mind, but he knew the type and how they thought––always scheming.
Jim started crying. Bruce could read his mind; he had no chance. Who was this muscle-bound man to hold this kind of power? As he felt Bruce grab his hair, lifting him up, Jim at first did not put his feet down then he felt pain race across his chest. He heard Bruce say follow, and he did so the pain would stop. Bruce threw him in the middle of the floor then Bruce hit him in the side of the neck, sending pain shooting through his skull. Jim had wanted to ask Bruce what he had been thinking lying outside but he passed out.
Bruce told everyone the watch schedule. With six watches, everyone could get some good sleep. He showed the ones who did not know how to use the NVG. He was taking first watch with Buffy. If there was any trouble later, they should wake him and Mike up then wait for instructions. Then he told them to hit Jim really hard as they came on shift. He told them not to hit his head and to try not to break any bones. He did not want to have to carry Jim off the property.
He and Buffy got dressed but did not put on their boots. They sat looking out across the field lit up with starlight and waited for dawn so they could go home.
Chapter 38
Bruce awoke with a hand grabbing his shoulder. He opened his eyes and found Mike leaning over him.
“Company coming. Several vehicles coming down the driveway,” Mike said.
Bruce sat up, grabbing Buffy’s arm, and she sat up. Seeing him get ready, she followed. Bruce looked around; it was still dark but he could see the sky starting to get brighter. Seeing if everyone was up, he saw Ben, who had been on watch with Mike, going from person to person waking them up. Every time Ben walked past Jim, he would kick him. Bruce put his feet in his boots, grabbing his rifle and joining Mike at the loft opening.
“What do we have?” Bruce asked, looking over his shoulder and turning on his thermal scope.
“Five or six vehicles just turned on the driveway and are just creeping down the road, blacked out but coming steady,” Mike told him then continued, “If it was someone who was going to hit us, they would either rush down the road to us or get out and walk.”
“Maybe they are just getting used to being bad,” Bruce offered.
“It might be the family that Marcus is waiting on,” Mike replied.
“Could be. You stay here. I’m going to the edge of the house in case things get hairy,” Bruce said, turning to leave. “Be careful and make sure your radio is on,” he said over his shoulder.
“What, you like the sound of my voice?” Mike asked as Bruce started down the stairs with Buffy behind him.
“No, it’s scary outside when it’s dark,” Bruce replied over the radio, leaving the barn and heading to the house.
On the way, Bruce told Buffy to keep down and only shoot if he told her to. Then he reminded her that she was to aim at the body on these people. When she asked why she just couldn’t shoot them in the head, he explained that is harder to hit, and they were going to be shooting back. She nodded up at him as they reached the side of the house. They kneeled down as Mike told him the caravan was a hundred yards and closing.
In a few minutes, the vehicles pulled to the front of the house and cut their engines off. That did not make sense to Bruce; they had just made it harder to leave for them but better for Bruce and Mike. He heard several doors open up and people get out. Then he heard the door to the house open up. Bruce came out from the corner and saw Marcus hold a hunting rifle and Carroll holding her shotgun, standing side by side.
Bruce looked to the vehicles and saw several people running at Marcus and Carroll with weapons. “Make one more move toward the porch, and you are dead. Everyone slowly raise your hands. I have a thermal scope, so I can see you very well,” Bruce said out loud.
Looking at the group at the vehicles, he guessed there were about twenty-five. After he finished speaking, everyone started to raise his or her hands up, and he saw more than one set of shoulders slump in defeat.
“Paw,” Bruce heard from the dark by the vehicles.
“Darrell,” Marcus said.
“It’s us, Paw, we made it,” came a reply from the vehicles.
“Bruce, put your gun down. It’s them,” Marcus said as he and Carroll ran to the group.
Bruce told Mike to tell everyone to stand down and get everyone ready to go as he headed toward the barn so he and Buffy could get their gear ready.
“Daddy, when we get home, is it going to be like that with our family coming out to us?” Buffy asked, looking up at him.
“Better,” Bruce told her, looking at her, seeing the smile on her face.
They ran up to the loft and started getting gear ready and folding the blankets to take back down. Reluctantly, Bruce made Jim get dressed. Then he looked around to make sure everything was back the way they found it and nothing was left behind. The group followed Bruce down and out of the barn. It was dawn as they came out of the barn and headed to the picnic tables.
The group that had come in this morning was at the tables. Bruce saw black, white, and Asian people, young and old. He saw Marcus talking to several men off to the side. Dropping his pack, Bruce told Angela, Alex, and Susan to stay with it––he would be right back––as he started walking toward Marcus.
“You must drive like shit. I beat you here walking with women and kids, having running gun battles with infected,” Bruce said to one of the men talking to Marcus. The man turned to see who was addressing him like that.
“How the hell did you make it here before us?” Darrell asked.
“Wasn’t easy, and a fight the whole way,” Bruce replied as Marcus was looking at both of them with shocked expressions. Bruce, looking at Marcus, explained how they met at the roadblock. Darrell had changed and was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt, holding in his hands the AK from the gang at the roadblock.
“Should have listened to you. We had five cars shot out from under us,” Darrell said, telling Bruce they had run into the military checkpoint at the dam and they had shot at them. It was the same everywhere they went: Either military or gangs had blocked the roads. They had finally taken old logging roads to get home. Bruce asked if they had gone south. Darrell said they had and hit a military unit blocking a crossroad ten miles from here.
Shit, Bruce thought, there were too many military units moving around. He got more information about the checkpoint as Eric walked up and shook Bruce’s hand. Eric told Bruce he had tried to get Darrell to walk, but he wouldn’t. Then they started picking up survivors and supplies, and they could not carry all of it. Bruce told them he was happy to see them, but they had to go. Marcus held up his hand.
“Carroll almost has breakfast ready, and if you try to leave, I am to go and get her,” Marcus told Bruce. Then Marcus said he did not want to get her. Bruce nodded, saying they would stay for food, but then they had to leave, not wanting another tongue lashing. Marcus said he was going to see how food was coming and went inside.
Bruce asked Eric and Darrell how Carroll and Marcus could have kids so young. They told him that they were their grandparents. They had taken
them in with the two other brothers and sister after their mother and father were killed in a hold-up at the store they owned in New Orleans. Bruce told them he was sorry about their parents but could not have found any better people than those two, but to watch out for Carroll; she had already threatened him with switching with a willow branch. The boys were laughing then stopped suddenly, looking at each other in regret.
Bruce asked if he had said something wrong. Darrell looked at him and said no, but they were going to get beat later. When Bruce looked at him with a questioning look, he supplied the story. Eric had graduated college two weeks ago, and they were in town celebrating. They were drinking and drag racing each other and got pulled over by the cops. They were arrested for DUI along with several other charges. They were in jail for that and would not be able to bond out until next week, after the trial. Carroll and Marcus had come one time to see them, and that was the last thing she told them––a switch is waiting for them when they got home. Eric said he knew it was coming, he just wished she hurried and got it over with.
Marcus came out followed by Carroll and several other women with plates and bowls of food. They spread the food on the tables and said for the kids to come first because they were the future. The kids from his group ran to the table with the kids from the new group. Carroll and Marcus came over to Bruce. Bruce noticed Darrell and Eric looking down and not walking away because that would draw attention. They just looked down, trying to avoid eye contact.
“Bruce, thank you for waiting. All of y’all needed food in ya before taking off. I know you want to get home, but waiting on a good meal now will pay off later. Now, you listen to this old woman and watch yourself out there,” Carroll said, walking up and hugging Bruce, kissing him on the cheek.
“Old woman? Where?” Bruce said, looking around.
“Quit funnin’ me now. What are you going to do with Jim?” she asked, looking back at Jim.
“Take him a few miles down the road and cut him loose,” Bruce told her with no remorse.
“Is that the asshole from the ambush?” Darrell asked, following their gazes. “Who beat the shit out of him?” he added.
Blue Plague The Fall Page 36