Blue Plague The Fall

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Bruce was sitting in the back of the Stryker with Angela working on his leg. A bullet had hit the magazines that were on the drop pouch on his thigh. The polymer magazine had exploded, sending plastic shards into his leg. Eight in total. Angela had taken them all out with the equipment from the medical kit from his bag. She had wanted to numb it with Lidocaine, but Bruce told her that would take too long and just sew it, please.

  Angela did not want to hurt Bruce, and in truth the stitches were hurting her more than him. He had that look on his face again, and she did not like that look. She knew he would never hurt her or her family, but when he had that look, it was like he wanted to find something. Finishing her stitches, she told him to take it easy. She turned, hearing a suppressed shot behind her. They had shot over a dozen blues since she had led the camp to the store two hours ago. Looking at her watch, she saw it was 7:52; they had been here too long. Granted, they had gotten tons of stuff––over thirty M-4s, several SAWs, and other weapons she did not know––that the outlaws had taken from the military or police. One of the big trucks with four wheels on the back, that Bruce called a deuce had four pallets of ammo. The other big truck from the side of the store had two pallets of MREs, two pallets of ammo, and packs for the troops that the gang had killed yesterday.

  Conner had told her that his platoon had been ordered to back up and reinforce the post on the dam. They had stopped here at the gas station to get fuel as they had driven in from Mississippi. While they were here, the gang came out, killing a lot of the troops. The lieutenant ordered everyone to lay down their weapons when the gang started killing the women and kids. They were the only ones who survived. Then the gang beat them, trying to get them to show them how to use the military weapons, night vision goggles, and thermal scopes.

  The group had already filled both Hummers, the big army trucks with trailers, and what they called the Stryker. Then they got one of the gang’s trucks, a huge Chevy with a trailer. It was making Angela dizzy thinking of all the stuff that they were getting. Bruce and Mike did not want to leave anything. Bruce told her with the military vehicles they could fight through an ambush so they were going to ride. Since they were riding now, it was time to take everything they could.

  Only two women did not want to come; they wanted to try it on their own. Angela had told them good luck––since moving without armed friends worked well the first time they had tried it––as they shook her hand, thanking her. They both took their hands back, looking at her, then Angela turned to Alex, telling him that these were some stupid bitches as she pointed at them. They grabbed some bags of food and left. They will be dead by tomorrow or captured and raped again, Angela thought, watching the two leave.

  Angela was not one to depend on a man, but if you don’t know shit, find someone who does and learn. In the past four days, she had learned more from Bruce and Mike than she thought was possible. At times, she wished she had a notebook so she could take notes: Learning how to move in the woods, always listen to what is around you, never trust what you see, and the list just goes on.

  With those two gone, the group was now at thirty-one. She could see from the look on Mike’s face that he wanted as much stuff as they could get and to not leave the farm unless they had to. He did not seem worried yet with the increasing shots. With the three soldiers, at least they had others trained in combat. When she mentioned this to Bruce while she was sewing his leg, he looked at her and said they would need a lot of work but Conner was going to be good. Then Bruce said any of the kids at the house could take them in combat or hand to hand. This sent a shiver up her spine as she thought about what Buffy had done to the man she shot.

  Bruce and Buffy walked up beside her as she was sitting in the back of the Stryker watching the kids with Susan. He called Mike and Alex to meet them at the Stryker so command could get this cluster fuck moving. It filled her with pride when he referred to Alex and her as part of the command personnel. Looking down at Buffy, Angela thought she looked like a small version of Bruce; they were both covered in blood. Buffy was looking up at Bruce with an awe-inspired look that spoke volumes. When Angela had gone into the store to get supplies, Buffy grabbed her hand, dragging her down the aisles to see what her daddy had done.

  Mike and Alex joined the group as Bruce said, “It’s time to go. We have been here way too long.”

  “There is still a lot of stuff here, Bruce,” Mike protested.

  “Mike, a mob is going to show up soon. When those women killed the other hostages they made a lot of noise,” Bruce said. At mention of a mob, Angela almost took off to drive the Stryker off and leave them. “We can come back for it, Mike. We do not have enough fighters here and too many depending on us for protection,” Bruce told him.

  “It won’t be here,” Mike replied.

  Bruce looked at him like a parent looks at his kid in a toy store and said, “We will find some more. I will even look for a teddy bear for you.”

  Mike gave Bruce a pissed-off look. “All right, douche bag, let’s go,” Mike shot back.

  “Buffy, Conner, and me will lead in the Hummer with the fifty cal. Mike and Kenner will take the Hummer with the Mk-19 covering our ass. Paul will drive one of the deuce and a half’s. Cheryl and Alex will take the other deuce. Chad will drive the truck and trailer,” Bruce told Mike. Angela had no idea what they were talking about. Then Bruce knocked the shit out of gimp as he walked by the group, telling him that was for the bad thought he had when Angela told the group that he had been shot. Gimp just looked at Bruce like he held all power. Gimp got up, walking into a truck and hitting himself in the face. Bruce chuckled, saying the gimp was kicking his own ass.

  Bruce leaned over, kissing Angela on the cheek, which startled her. Angela smiled up at him then jumped up and hugged him, and he hugged her back. Then Bruce told Angela to watch the driver to see how he operates the vehicle. She promised, watching Bruce knuckle bump Alex, telling him to do the same. Angela was riding in the Stryker, and Alex was riding in one of the big army trucks. When Bruce finished talking to Alex, she ran over hugged and kissed Alex then climbed in the back, yelling, “Clear.” The private closed the ramp, and she started moving over equipment and ten people, including the kids; it was no mean feat. She climbed behind the driver to keep her promise.

  Bruce walked to the lead Hummer, opened the door, and turned around as Buffy had already opened the back door and jumped in, closing the door behind her. He sat down in the seat and closed the door and slid the window down. He picked up the internal headset, or CVC, turned around, and pointed at one for Buffy, and she put it on. Bruce started telling Conner where to go. Then Bruce asked Conner his first name, and he replied, “Jeff.” He told Jeff in less than thirty minutes they would be home. Jeff replied that was good because he was from Olive Branch, Mississippi, and it was burnt to the ground, and his family and home were gone.

  Bruce looked at Conner, telling him, “No, son, you are wrong on two accounts. One, you are with your new family, and, two, you are going to your new home. I like Conner better than Jeff.” Bruce did not see the tears on Conner’s face when he told him that.

  They turned off the main road and started taking back parish roads. Fifteen miles from the farm, they passed a burnt police car, and Bruce started to worry. The last time they had heard from the farm was Friday morning. He knew they could handle themselves, but anyone could be overwhelmed with firepower. In a few more miles, he would call home. If he didn’t get an answer, he would park and walk up; he did not want to scare them with the convoy.

  Just a few more miles then he could call home.

  Chapter 41

  Danny was sitting in mission control watching the monitors, listening to the police radio that they took out of the police car, and listening to the guard radio and the outside radio. That was the one she wanted to go off more than any. That would mean Daddy was home. She told Mama yesterday she had cried herself to sleep the night before because Daddy was not here. Mama told her she had cried
herself to sleep every night since he had been gone. Danny had asked if they could go look for them. Mama asked her, “Where would you start?” Danny told her, “Anywhere. Let’s find both of the daddies.” Trust her mother to break out the logic when she told her if something could stop the duo, the family would not stand a chance. Danny looked at the monitors and, seeing nothing, laid her head on the desk.

  Mama had worked their asses off yesterday filling sandbags for the house, and everyone had worked from dawn till dusk. Then Mama had let everyone sleep late but not her; Danny had guard duty. Danny threw her tantrum that it was unfair everyone else got to sleep late and she had to get up at 5:30 for guard duty. Then she had mission control. At least in the fort, you might get a chance to shoot something. So far she had killed three blues; one was a runner. Danny had never seen a person move that fast. On the day Danny had shot a fast blue, Mary had called over the radio from mission control saying she saw something run by the camera at the end of the road. Then Mary said she saw him on the gate monitor coming toward the driveway. The blue man just ran right by the driveway down the road when he got to the dead end. He just stopped, looked at the woods, and turned around and started walking back. Opening the back window and bracing her AR10, setting the crosshairs on his head, she slowly squeezed the trigger. His head popped like a melon, and he just dropped. Danny would not admit it, but that one scared her. She could not run that far that fast.

  But in mission control you had to be in full dress with BDUs, vest, and weapon. If something attacked, you couldn’t leave, you just had to watch someone else have fun. She could hear everyone else just now getting up. Mama and Mama Nancy had set the start today to 9 a.m. Smelling food, Danny got up and ran to the kitchen, finding all the boys were downstairs. Their boots were lying on the floor along with their vests. At least they had put their weapons in one of two racks. Both mamas were cooking as Danny grabbed a plate and fixed some coffee. Her mom looked at her with “the eye.”

  Danny said, “Mom, I’m just getting food. You have not even said anything to the boys about throwing equipment all over the kitchen. If those were my boots in the middle of the floor, I would get in trouble.” Debbie turned around, giving her the eye with the raised eyebrow. Danny knew she was pushing her luck, but she didn’t care right now.

  “What, they can make a mess but I get in trouble? If Mary or I had done that we would be on stables and shit detail for a month. But the boys, oh no, it’s okay, just throw your crap anywhere,” Danny spouted off. Then Mama Nancy turned around with the eye, and Danny fled the room. You never made both mamas mad. She and Mary could get the daddies to do what they wanted almost all the time. When they couldn’t, it was because of one of the mamas had usually intervened.

  Daddy and Daddy Mike, all you had to do was give them a hug, tell them you loved them, and give them the puppy dog eyes. They just melted, but that never worked on either mama. They would just say, “The look does not work on me.” She was sitting in mission control eating her biscuit and sipping her coffee when Danny heard, “Base, it’s Big Daddy 1. Do you read? Over.” Danny dropped the coffee cup, and it hit her plate, making a loud clank.

  She heard her mom yell from the kitchen, “That had better not have hit the computer.” But the words did not mean anything to her. Danny turned to the radio that had “Outside” written on it in a daze. She saw the lights come on the outside radio and heard, “Base, it’s Big Daddy 1. Do you read? Over.” She knew that voice; it was Daddy. Just staring at the radio, Danny stood up slowly as she heard, “Base, It’s Big Daddy 1. Do you copy? Over.” Danny took a deep breath and screamed at the top of lungs, “DADDY!”

  Everyone else was sitting at the kitchen table dreading the coming day. Jake and Matt had finished their project and were going to show it to everyone today. Mama Nancy had given them a one-hour block open today at 1 pm. Then it was back to work. Everyone looked up as Mary walked in, laying her vest on the table, putting her M-4 in the rack, and heading to the food. Nancy turned from the stove with another skillet full of bacon when she heard Danny scream at the top of her lungs.

  Danny may have said “Daddy” but all everyone else heard was a scream from a teenage girl at the top of her lungs. Then they heard it again. Everyone moved at the same time heading to a gun rack. Ten people cannot occupy the space meant for two no matter how hard they try.

  As the skillet from Nancy’s hands hit the floor, Jake attempted to jump the table to get his weapon first. Jake overshot his jump, knocking every plate and cup in his path off the table onto the floor as he landed on his face. As Jake landed on his face, Mary dropped the coffeepot on the floor, breaking it and sending hot coffee and glass across the floor as she lunged for the gun rack.

  Debbie heard her baby scream again as panic set in. She was fighting to get to the rack, but stuff was in her way; Danny was scared and needed her. Something blocked Debbie from the rack, and she shoved it hard. Debbie had pushed Tonya down just as she was about to grab her gun. Like everyone else, Debbie did not see the other family members, just stuff in her way. As Debbie turned, she slipped on the food Jake had knocked over, landing on the floor beside Jake. Matt and Steve came around the table; neither of them saw Tonya tripping over her, and both fell to the floor. Matt hit the back door before falling down on top of the sea of bodies, crawling over them to the rack. Steve hit the table, turning it over, spilling everything that Jake missed, but instead of the floor, it landed on people. Food, water, and coffee fell, but nobody felt it as they heard another scream coming from mission control.

  Nancy slipped in the coffee, landing by Debbie. Both were crawling over bodies to the gun rack telling people to get the fuck out of the way. Debbie heard her baby scream as she reached the gun rack, throwing Matt out of the way and grabbing her rifle. Debbie stood up and saw an open spot in the mass of bodies. Jumping over Steve and landing on Tonya, Debbie never stopped running toward Danny. Rounding the knocked over table, Debbie yelled, “I’m coming, baby,” as she heard another scream that tore at her heart; something was scaring her baby.

  It was going to die, she thought, as she chambered a round in her AUG ready to kill as she ran down the hall to mission control. As Debbie ran out of the kitchen, Nancy, Matt, Mary, and Jake had their weapons and were fighting each other to get to the fight. Danny was in trouble, they thought, as everyone chambered a round, heading for the kitchen door. Steve finally made it to the rack, reaching for his weapon just as Tonya knocked him back down. Tonya turned, heading out of the room and chambering a round. Nothing was going to hurt her new family or her fiancé. She did not realize she had just bowled Steve over into David.

  Debbie ran down the hall with tears in her eyes, hearing another scream. I was just mad at her; that will be what’s on her mind. I’m a horrible mother, Debbie thought. Leveling the gun ready to kill what was hurting her baby, Debbie came around the door, pointing the gun in the room and expecting demons from hell. Debbie saw Danny standing staring at the monitors, and her heart sank. Lowering her rifle, she ran to see what was scaring her baby. Fuck the gun, Debbie thought, I’m going with a knife to bring them pain. Standing by Danny, she looked at the monitors, finding all were empty except the livestock monitors. Nancy, Matt, and Mary came through the door with weapons leveled, seeing only Debbie and Danny. They were looking at the monitors; as fear gripped them, they ran to join Debbie to see what had scared Danny. The others entered the room the same way; seeing everyone at the monitors, they walked over to see what hell was coming.

  Debbie turned to Danny, who was just standing looking at the desk. Debbie’s heart was beating a thousand miles an hour. If she is throwing a teenager fit, I will kill my child, Debbie said in her heart. She grabbed Danny. “What is it?” she asked.

  Danny just pointed at the radios. Debbie knew if anything got Stephanie they could see it, when she heard, “Base, this is Big Daddy 1. Someone had damn well be in mission control. Over.”

  Then they heard, “Base, this is Big Daddy 2.
If the mailman or delivery man are there, you damn well had better throw them out. Over.”

  Everyone started screaming at once, jumping up and down, until it dawned up on them that the weapons were live. Almost at the same time, they stopped jumping, clearing their weapons. Then Debbie picked up the mic and called back, “Big Daddy 1 and 2, base copies.”

  “Base, this is Big Daddy 1. So you wait until Big Daddy 2 calls to answer? Am I not important enough? Over,” Bruce complained.

  “Base, this is Big Daddy 2. Ignore Big Daddy 1. He is jealous because I’m sexier,” Mike shot back.

  “Base, this is Big Daddy 1. Big Daddy 2 has been a worrywart. We had to stop and get him a teddy bear because he was scared to sleep in the woods. Over,” Bruce kidded them.

  “Big Daddy 1 and 2, this is Little Foot. If you don’t tell base we are almost there, I’m going to kick both of your asses. If I get shot by one of your kids, I’m going to kick your ass twice.” After a few seconds, they heard, “Over.” It sounds like a kid, Debbie thought.

  “Base, Big Daddy 1. We are coming in a convoy of six vehicles and twenty-nine extras. Have gate open. Meet us at the barn. We will be on our road in two mikes. Do you copy base.”

  “Big Daddies, this is Mama 1,” Debbie said––hell if she would ever say big––“six vehicles, twenty-nine extras, meet at barn. Did you leave anyone in north Louisiana on your trip here? Over”

  “Base, Big Daddy 1. We might have missed one or two, but hell is a much friendlier place now than Earth. I can see the turn now. Have gate open. Big Daddy out,” Bruce called back, excited.

  Debbie turned to start giving orders; everyone was covered in food and coffee. “Steve, Matt, go to the barn now. David, Jake, you two in the front yard to point the vehicles where to go. Danny, as soon as the last vehicle is in, close the gate and then go to barn.” She thought, Oh shit, grabbing the guard radio and saying, “Stephanie, six vehicles coming. It’s Mike and Bruce. Leave fort, come to barn.”