Blue Plague The Fall

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “I’m glad you called to tell me about the military convoy coming at me. It was scaring the hell out of me,” Stephanie replied from the fort.

  Debbie and Nancy looked at the monitors at the convoy heading down the road toward them. They both ran to the kitchen and saw someone had set off a bomb in there. The table was turned over, and food was everywhere. Well, someone’s getting in trouble, they both thought, wondering how that happened and how they had missed that. Once they got outside, they stopped, looking at each other, each cleaning the other off, picking egg out of the hair, bacon stuck on clothes, then they turned, walking to the barn. They heard the door close behind them as Danny flew by them.

  Debbie hoped that Danny had waited until all the vehicles were in before she closed the gate. But Debbie knew without a doubt Danny closed it only after being sure because that would disappoint Bruce, and the one thing Danny could not handle was Daddy disappointed in his little princess. Danny would always do her best just for his approval in anything, never realizing Bruce was happy with anything she did.

  Debbie watched as a Hummer pulled around with a fifty cal on the roof. When it stopped, she saw a young, handsome soldier get out of the driver’s side. Debbie could see trouble on the horizon, but she put that out of her mind. Then she saw Bruce get out of the other side. Debbie smiled, seeing Danny and Mary jumping up and down on their toes with their hands clasped together like seven-year-olds expecting a present. As soon as Bruce turned around, Danny flew at him like a fighter jet. Danny jumped from eight feet away, hitting Bruce square in the chest and wrapping her arms and legs around him. Bruce had to throw his hand back to catch himself from hitting the Hummer. Then he wrapped his arms around Danny, holding her tight. Once Jake and Steve realized they were not going to get killed by Danny’s hysterics, they ran to Bruce. Jake ran up, jumping on Bruce, forcing him to the ground, then Steve joined in.

  Mary, not seeing her daddy in the first vehicle, took off in a dead run to the last. Poor Mike never saw it coming. As soon as he got out of the Hummer, Mary hit him full force in midair like a bowling ball just as he turned to face her. Unlike Danny, Mary got to build to a full run, and unlike Bruce, there was no Hummer for Mike to catch himself on so they hit the ground. Mary had already wrapped both her arms and legs around Mike, kissing him once before she braced for the impact. Matt and David ran, jumping on the two on the ground.

  Nancy looked at Debbie. “How come we always come last?” Nancy asked her.

  “Save the best for last, maybe?” Debbie said.

  “You believe that?” Nancy asked hopefully.

  “No, but what I do believe is we have the best husbands in the world and we gave them the best kids in the world, so we must not be half bad,” Debbie said.

  “I can live with that,” Nancy said, walking to Mike, who was getting beat down with lovin’.

  Debbie came around the front of the Hummer as Bruce was getting up from the ground. Danny was still bouncing up and down, waiting until after Mama hugged Daddy so she could hug him some more. Bruce looked at Debbie, and his heart skipped a beat as he smiled at her.

  Debbie’s heart almost stopped when she saw it in his eyes. He had fought out there and fought hard coming home. The last time she saw that look in his eyes was when he got out of the service. She had made the ultimatum: me and the kids or the Army. Bruce chose her and the kids. He was different then; he still loved her and the kids, but he chased the wave, as he called it. He loved the rage. Never had he raised his hand to her or the kids, but very few others were safe from it. She ran to him, putting her hands in his.

  “What happened out there, Bruce? I can see it in your eyes,” Debbie asked.

  “Just ran into a few hiccups, that’s all,” Bruce said, looking at her.

  Debbie looked him up and down. “Holy shit, your clothes are soaked in blood! Are you okay?” Debbie almost screamed.

  “It’s not mine. Well, most of it’s not mine,” he said, looking down at his leg. Debbie followed his gaze.

  “You got shot,” Debbie screamed this time, seeing the torn magazine pouch and ripped pants with the bandage on his leg.

  “Daddy, I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Danny asked, wanting to cry, afraid she had hurt him.

  “Princess, the day I can’t catch you is the day you put me in the ground and throw dirt on my face,” Bruce told her.

  “Where is the son of a bitch that shot ya?” Jake asked with malice in his voice.

  “Jake, watch your mouth,” Debbie said.

  “He’s dead and all of his friends are, too,” Bruce said.

  “Where is his family then?” Danny asked, stepping beside Jake.

  “I don’t know, it was just some gang. I didn’t think to check his wallet,” Bruce said, trying to calm his kids down. But he was very proud of them.

  “Where’s the body?” Steve asked, trembling with anger.

  “You kids will not go off on some vendetta; your father took care of it,” Debbie said, trying to bring the testosterone down. With that said, Debbie looked at Danny and could see anger on her face. I need to make sure she does not have balls, Debbie thought.

  “His family is probably dead already; the blues are bad out there. We got hit by a mob of infected, over a thousand easy,” Bruce said, trying to get to the back door to introduce Buffy.

  “Over a thousand?” they all said together.

  Shit, I wasn’t going to say anything about that yet, Bruce thought to himself. Oh well, now he could introduce Buffy.

  “It took all of y’all to kill a thousand?” Steve asked.

  “No, it was only me, Mike, Angela, Alex, and Buffy. The kids from the school beat a few to death with the help of the teachers,” Bruce said.

  “Is that where this came from?” Debbie asked, motioning to his clothes.

  “Blues don’t shoot, babe. This came from a little camp we hit last night,” Bruce said, moving to the back door.

  When he said “little,” Debbie immediately locked eyes with Bruce. “How ‘little’?” she asked.

  “A couple, babe,” Bruce replied nonchalantly.

  “Bruce Williams, how many,” she almost yelled.

  “Fifty-two, and we killed all of them,” Bruce replied quickly.

  “So this entire group with you attacked the gang?” Debbie asked hopefully.

  “No, most of them were captives there. The group at that time was Angela, Alex, Maria, Lynn, Paul, Cheryl, Susan, gimp, and the kids.” Bruce replied, pointing out the people as he said their names. He could see the look in her eye. Bruce admitted to himself he felt safer with the mob coming at him.

  “So just five or six of you attacked fifty-two?” Debbie asked, raising her voice.

  “No, I didn’t want to risk the others, so just me, Mike, and Buffy did it, and when we started, we thought it was only forty or so,” Bruce admitted, hoping the wrath of Debbie would pass quickly, leaving him intact.

  “Three of you! Just three of you attacked fifty or so, and who is this Buffy?” she yelled at him with tears in her eyes.

  Bruce turned around, opening the back door of the Hummer with flair. When Bruce opened the door, they all expected a badass bodybuilding bitch with a bone stuck through her nose to step out, but they did not see anyone get out.

  Bruce, not seeing Buffy get out, looked into the back of the Hummer and said, “Buffy, come on and meet the family.”

  “No, they won’t like me,” they heard a little voice say.

  “Buffy, come on out, it’s okay,” Bruce said gently.

  “No, they won’t like me,” they heard a little voice on the verge of tears say.

  “Buffy, you come here right now!” Bruce snapped at her. All of Bruce’s kids moved toward him on impulse because that’s the voice he used when you were pissing him off. And pissing off Daddy was bad because the wrath of Mama followed.

  They saw him reach in, pulling out a little pre-teen girl with blonde hair and deep-blue eyes and holding her in his arms. She had an UM
P submachine gun across her chest and magazine pouch on her hip. They all looked at Bruce with shocked disbelief to see if he was kidding.

  Then Debbie, looking at Buffy, said, “Oh my god, she is covered in blood. Was she hit?” She ran to the little girl, feeling her over.

  “No, she was not hit, but she saved our asses several times,” Bruce said with pride.

  “You took a little girl into battle!” Debbie yelled.

  Bruce had had enough. His leg hurt, he was hungry and tired, and even if the wave came, he couldn’t ride it. “I would take Danny out there right now. I would feel comfortable sending any of them out. I have trained them. Buffy had to fight to live, and she might be as good as Danny one day. But you cannot sit there and judge me or my actions. Women and kids are being raped at every turn out there. Infected are everywhere you go, and you have walkers, joggers, and runners. When they come, they come to kill. So do not judge my actions until you know what you are talking about. She has saved my life once and Mike’s twice,” Bruce told her.

  “Actually, I put it at eighteen with all those that she shot in the field. But when the mob hit us, we had mowed down about three hundred at that time. Let me tell you, it was closer to two thousand. Then another group of runners came back, and one hit me, knocking me down. Had me on the ground and was trying get him a little nibble. Buffy jumped over Susan, who was protecting the babies, and laid the muzzle of that UMP on its head, almost blowing its head off. Then Buffy kneeled down just like Bruce showed her and took out several more runners. Get this, she waited so they could get real close before she popped them. Then Bruce ran out of ammo, pulled out his Hollywood machete and tomahawk, charging the last group just chopping them son of a––” Mike stopped, seeing he went a little too far with the story. “Anything to eat?” Mike asked, trying to cover.

  Debbie looked around, noticing everyone was watching them. She felt ashamed that she had doubted Bruce’s judgment; it had brought him home. She looked at Buffy, who was trembling. Debbie brushed Buffy’s hair out of her face. “Baby, I never was mad at you. I am mad at myself because I did not trust in his judgment, believing he endangered you and foolishly risked his life,” she told Buffy, rubbing her face.

  “I did what Daddy told me to, Mama,” Buffy told her then quickly added, “Debbie.” Then she laid her head on Bruce’s shoulder.

  Turning to the crowd, Debbie saw the teen girls, two teen boys, and four women. The group had sheets and blankets wrapped around them; the one had a t-shirt on and nothing else. Bruce was right; he had to do it. She reached up, kissed him and hugged him, then kissed Buffy. “Forgive me?” Debbie asked.

  “For what?” Bruce asked, thinking this was a trick question.

  “Being bullheaded,” Debbie said.

  “That’s what I married ya for. Now if you had a cow’s ass then I might have a problem,” Bruce said, making everyone laugh.

  Debbie reached up, kissing his face, then kissed Buffy again. Buffy almost leaned to her but stopped.

  “Danny, Mary, get those girls upstairs. Give them anything that fits and let them shower. David, Jake, take those boys to your rooms, get them clothes, and let them shower. Steve, Tonya, start cleaning the kitchen; we will find out who messed it up later. Matt, I want you to take the guests on the tour of the farm so they have the layout down. Nancy, let’s get these women upstairs and get them some clothes. Everyone, we will do introductions later,” Debbie shot out orders. “I understand why you did it. But please let it go. I need the real you, not the one looking for the wave,” Debbie said, walking away.

  “What is she talking about, Daddy?” Buffy asked.

  “Nothing. Come on, let me show you the farm,” Bruce said, carrying Buffy off to the horses and trying not to limp.

  Several hours later, Debbie came downstairs to see if the kitchen was done. As she walked into the kitchen, it was spotless and she smelled food. She saw Steve and Tonya sitting at the table watching an elderly woman cook. “Nice job on the kitchen, guys,” she said in amazement.

  “We didn’t do anything, Ms. Lynn did. She told us to shoo,” Steve said, looking at the woman with awe. “After we moved out of the way, she opened every cupboard and drawer, looked at them, then in thirty minutes, the kitchen was spotless. Then Ms. Lynn asked me if she could start something for supper. I told her to knock herself out. She made stew, and it tastes great. Not saying you and Mama Nancy can’t cook, but just taste it, Mama,” Steve said, watching Lynn.

  “I can’t cook, son. The dogs don’t like what I cook,” Debbie said.

  “I love your cooking,” Steve said in an injured tone.

  “Thank you, baby, that’s why you were first to make me feel better, but you will eat anything that does not eat you first,” Debbie said. “Hi, I’m Debbie. Let me help you,” Debbie said, introducing herself to Lynn.

  “No, honey, you let me cook for ya. You go and be with that husband of yours. You got yourself a good one there, and if I was twenty-five years younger, I’d wrestle ya for ‘em. That’s yours and Danny’s bowls of soup there,” Lynn said.

  Debbie tasted the stew, and it was delicious. “You would not have to wrestle me. If he would have tasted your cooking, I would have lost,” she said.

  “I doubt that; that’s why I said wrestle ya for him. Every time those boys spoke of you girls, I could see the love on their faces. I am not going to lie, I thought both you would be the kind that is mean to those kind of boys. They are the kind that gives all or nothing, and they don’t usually get good women. I’m glad I did not have to take either of you to the switching tree,” she said, cooking.

  “What about when they got here?” Debbie asked.

  “Debbie, anyone could see you were angry that you could have lost him by attacking such a large number of bandits. Not by what he did. I have to admit he threw me for a loop for a time or two,” she answered.

  “Like the gimp?” Debbie asked. That’s one she could not get the story on, and she really wanted it.

  “Yeah, and if you don’t mind, I really don’t want to talk about him,” Lynn said in a flat tone, looking at a knife.

  “Bruce meant that much on the trip?” Debbie asked.

  “Debbie, no one would be here right now without him. Then you have to take into account all the evil he has removed,” she told her.

  “What about Mike?” Debbie asked.

  “Just like I told Mike, his job was to hold Bruce in check. Bruce can do something I have never seen in all these years on this earth. He can unleash something in him, and you can feel it around him. When that mob came, we were all ready to die. Mind you, we were going to fight, but until you see it, feel it––and I pray you never do––seeing that much hopelessness coming at you. Bruce turned something on, and it infused us all. Those five kids in there I have known for over half their lives. They started banging their sticks on the ground feeling what he was feeling. I even felt it, and even I kicked some ass that night. But I can tell you when that feeling left, I wanted it back. Mike, he is not afraid of anything but second-guesses himself too much. Bruce does not. If his plan does not work, he will make it,” Lynn said, putting a pan in the oven.

  “Danny has not come down to eat?” Debbie asked.

  “No, I think she is with those girls,” Lynn said. Debbie had seen those girls outside an hour ago.

  Debbie said thanks and went back upstairs, heading to Danny’s room. She knocked and said, “It’s Mom” and then went in. Danny was lying on the bed with her face buried in a pillow, crying. Debbie sat beside her, rubbing her back.

  “What’s wrong Danny?” Debbie asked.

  Danny lifted her head out of the pillow. “I’m a bad daughter that’s ugly, fat, old, and Daddy wants to replace me,” Danny wailed.

  “Is that all?” Debbie asked her.

  “Is that all? She took my daddy,” Danny cried out, putting her face in the pillow.

  “Don’t you think this is a little immature for you?” Debbie asked her, trying not to smil
e.

  “Why hasn’t he come and talked to me? I’m his baby girl,” she said as she cried.

  “Because he is trying to make Buffy feel at home,” Debbie answered.

  “I’m his little girl,” Danny shot back.

  “That’s why he expects more from you. You are his daughter,” Debbie tried to make her understand.

  “He hates me,” Danny said, feeling her world collapse.

  Hearing enough, Debbie jumped off the bed. “Danielle Alexandria Williams, you of all people can say nothing like that about your father. Who wanted a Galil even though all the parents said ‘no, it was not compatible with everyone else’s weapon,’ but who got one? Last summer I wanted to go the New England for a weekend with your dad but someone comes in saying if they did not go to this concert in Dallas, they were going to die. I wasn’t in New England, but someone had their dad drive them and six friends to Dallas. Who gets the newest phone whenever they want it? Everyone in this house has phones over a year old. Who goes clothes shopping with Daddy once every other month and stays out a whole day? I can’t keep him with me in a store for more than ten minutes. You throw a temper tantrum or just bat your little eyes then, wham, he is sitting in a chair watching you change clothes like a fashion model. Need I go on?” Debbie yelled at her. “Now sit up,” Debbie ordered her calmly.

  Danny sat up, knowing Mom was really mad, calling her by her full name. Feeling a little bad for the things Debbie pointed out, Danny looked at Debbie to listen.

  “Have you heard how they come across each other?” Debbie asked. Danny shook her head no.

  “Long story short, they escaped the hospital with almost no sleep in over eighty hours. When they got to the trailer, your daddy heard a scream. They had heard a lot of screams since they left the hospital, but he had to go to this one. He sneaks into this trailer and four men are raping Buffy’s mother in front of her and fondling Buffy to make her mama scream. Buffy watched and endured this for hours. Your daddy saved her life then gave his word to her dying mother that he would care for her and make sure she could do it herself as she got older. And do you know your father almost said no? You want to know why?” Debbie asked.