Blue Plague: Rage

by Watson, Thomas A

  “What are you doing Daddy?” Buffy asked.

  “Making a trap,” Bruce told her.

  “For what?” she asked.

  “I want to catch a blue so no shooting until I do,” Bruce told her and everyone else. Bruce had one of the support personnel get in the truck.

  They didn’t have to wait long. A small group of eleven blues walked down the road and when they spotted the cage, several let out a roar. Bruce lifted his SCAR up to look at his quarry. A female blue caught his eye. She was young, fast and more importantly, in the lead.

  “Let the female in the front reach the cage, kill everyone else,” Bruce told the first platoon. Over a dozen rifles opened up on the group letting the female through. She was fifty yards from the cage when the prisoner realized what was happening and started screaming. The female blue didn’t realize she was alone as she charged into the cage. The female blue hit the cage with such force it fell over.

  She started tearing the prisoner apart ripping chunks of flesh off of him. “Go back,” Bruce told the driver of the truck.

  The truck shot backwards pulling the rope and releasing the door pushing the blue female down into the cage and locking the door. She never noticed as she continued tearing the screaming prisoner apart. When the prisoner quit screaming the blue realized that she was trapped and started to beat the cage. With each blow the cage rocked as Bruce ran up to it holding the propane torch. When she saw the flame she screamed and curled behind what was left of the prisoner. Looking at Bruce she started to whimper.

  “Aww, you don’t like fire huh, little girl,” Bruce said as he waved the truck forward. Reaching out Bruce put a padlock on the door while aiming his SCAR at the blue with his other hand. When the truck stopped, Bruce extended the arm of a hoist that was attached to the bed, hooking it to the top of the cage, he lifted the cage off the ground. Bruce led the driver to drive it to the right side of the bridge.

  When Bruce let the torch go out the blue started screaming. Bruce pulled the trigger again igniting the flame and she shut up. “That’s right I’m a wizard!” Bruce yelled at her. The blue moved to the back of the cage looking at the flame in Bruce’s hand.

  Bruce grabbed the control box to the arm lifting the cage up, swinging it over the side of the bridge. Seeing the water underneath her, the blue went insane screaming and beating the cage. Grinning at the blue, Bruce lowered the cage. The closer she got to the water the more she screamed and beat the cage. Bruce stopped the cage a foot above the water watching the blue panic and scream.

  The hate flooded through him knowing he could bring them pain and fear. Bruce lowered the cage an inch from the water and the screams became louder. “Contact coming from the north looks to be about twenty,” the radio operator told them.

  Willie came over to Bruce and looked down at the blue, “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Giving her a bath,” Bruce replied smiling looking at the blue screaming. Willie looked at Bruce and knew that look. It was the look of ecstasy.

  Willie looked back down at the cage, “That bitch is freaking the fuck out,” he noted.

  “Yeah, ain’t it cool,” Bruce replied giggling. Bruce keyed his radio, “This is boss, kill anything that comes close. If you see a bird flying, I want it dead,” Bruce said over the radio.

  “What are we doing that for?” Willie asked looking down at the cage.

  Bruce looked over at him with the relaxed grin, “Bringing pain and fear in a way they understand,” Bruce told him.

  Willie could tell Bruce was on a plane of the wave he wanted no part of. “I’m good with that,” Willie replied.

  “Two hundred yards north side,” someone called out over the radio.

  There were a lot of shots, all suppressed, then someone reported, “Contacts down.”

  Bruce lowered the cage a foot in the water. The blue started making whooping yells and screams. Ted walked over and looked over the side, “That whore doesn’t like water,” he observed.

  “This is great,” Bruce said lowering the cage halfway into the water. The female was latched to the top of the cage. Not one part of her was wet yet. Bruce leaned over the side and spit on the blue. The blue stopped screaming when his spit hit her. The look she gave him could only be explained as repulsive hatred.

  “I think that bitch can levitate,” Willie said.

  “Willie, shh. You’re spoiling the moment,” Bruce told him as he lowered the cage until only the top three inches were out of the water.

  The female looked at Bruce again this time with a pleading look as Bruce waved at her. Lowering the cage until the top was one inch under the water. They could see her fingers grasping at the air. Bruce raised the cage until it was barely even with the surface of the water. No screams just gasping for air could be heard. Bruce waved at her again as he lowered the cage under the water.

  Bruce keyed his radio, “Jake, what’s the average time a person can hold their breath?” Bruce asked.

  “Forty-five seconds to a minute,” Jake answered.

  “About what I thought,” Bruce said as he raised the cage half way out of the water. The blue was coughing holding onto the ceiling. When she quit coughing she started screaming again and Bruce waved at her lowering her under the water. He repeated this several times when she would scream he would wave lowering her under the water.

  The fourth time when he bought her out she started screaming but stopped when Bruce raised his hand. Bruce smiled and nodded at the blue. Bruce raised the cage up even with the bridge. The blue was crying sitting in the bottom of the cage. For the first time Bruce looked at her. She looked to be in her early twenties and had no clothes on, but seeing her crying filled Bruce with joy. They knew fear and could feel pain. “Cook, bring my bags. Danny and Buffy come here,” Bruce said over the radio in an excited voice. Bruce looked behind him to see he had a crowd. “I hope we don’t get over run,” he told the crowd.

  “We have twenty on each end of the bridge. Since you started playing with your bitch we’ve killed sixty-two blues, two birds, a snake and an opossum,” Willie told Bruce not taking his eyes off the crying blue. Willie still couldn’t believe that Bruce had trained a blue to shut up.

  Cook dropped the bags and joined the crowd. Danny and Buffy ran up to Bruce. “Danny, get out one of the branding irons and heat it up with the torch. Make sure she can see you do it,” Bruce told her.

  When Danny lit the torch the blue started screaming and beating the cage. Bruce started to lower the cage and waved at her. Like before when she saw Bruce’s hand come up she stopped screaming. The blue looked at Bruce with a pleading look as he lowered her into the water stopping the top of the cage even with the surface.

  “Bruce, she stopped screaming,” Willie said, feeling pity for her.

  “But she screamed, she’ll learn and accept the pain. She will take it and be thankful that I won’t give her more,” Bruce said looking at the blue trying to stick her lips above the water. Bruce undid his pants and pissed over the side aiming at the blue trying to breathe. Bruce was rewarded several times with a cough as the stream hit her mouth.

  Willie just watched in awe and disgust. He had watched Bruce do things to men and it made him sick, but this was worse. Looking at the blue, Willie saw it as an animal like Max that was just growling at the dead blues on the north end of the bridge.

  Bruce buttoned up his pants and raised the cage up to the bridge. The blue was crying quietly sitting in the corner of the cage. Bruce grabbed the torch from Danny and the blue jumped up but didn’t scream when he ignited it.

  Bruce started clapping, “You can learn through fear, this is going to be so much fun,” Bruce said handing the torch to Danny. “Heat the iron,” Bruce told her.

  Danny started heating the iron as Bruce grinned at the crying blue. Taking the iron from Danny, Bruce walked up to the cage. “This might sting a bit,” he said and he jabbed the hot metal on her left shoulder. She let out a scream backing to the side of the cage. Wh
en Bruce raised his hand she stopped. Aiming the iron at her, she moved and when Bruce raised his hand she stopped moving.

  “Good girl,” Bruce said as he poked the iron into the cage. The blue was standing still in the center of the cage tears running down her cheeks whimpering. When the iron was over her left breast she closed her eyes. Bruce slowly pushed the iron into the skin prolonging the pain. The blue gave a shudder over her body but stayed still and didn’t make a sound.

  Bruce pulled out the iron, “Heat,” he told Danny.

  “I want to do it Dad,” she said heating the iron.

  “Maybe later,” Bruce told her as she heated the iron.

  Willie came over to Bruce, “Hey man, just kill her,” he said.

  “Later,” Bruce said never taking his eyes off the blue.

  “Bruce, they’re animals, they only act on instinct,” Willie said.

  “Really Willie, why is she crying then?” Bruce asked slowly turning to look at Willie.

  “She’s scared,” Willie said.

  “That’s an emotion Willie. To be scared you must have fear. They know hate and with fear, I can show them pain,” Bruce said as Danny handed him the iron.

  For the next half hour the blue stood still as Bruce branded Omega symbols over her body. Barely moving and only whimpering through the process the blue did what Bruce wanted. Putting down the iron Bruce grabbed the cattle prod.

  “You’re so lucky I can’t touch you,” Bruce told her as he hit the button. The blue jumped at the crackle and Bruce held up his hand. Again the blue froze. Bruce eased the prod in and touched her skin and she exhaled in relief. Then Bruce pushed the button knocking her to the back of the cage then to the floor.

  Bruce grabbed the remote box and started lifting the cage and the blue jumped up to the middle of the cage standing still. Again Bruce eased the prod in and pushed the button knocking her down. Like the last time she bounced up standing in the middle of the cage now crying out loud.

  “What kind of cows do you have for that kind of prod?” Ted asked looking at the cattle prod from hell.

  “I had Jake ramp it up. I used it on myself and it knocked my ass out for ten minutes,” Bruce told him.

  “That’s a tough bitch,” Carl noted.

  When Bruce shocked her the third time it took a little longer to get up. Willie came over again, “Bruce, just kill her and let’s go hit the gang. You can torture them,” Willie offered.

  Everyone jumped back as Bruce spun around looking at Willie. “Willie, you’re kidding right? You’d rather unleash me on a gang instead of this murderous bitch?” Bruce asked.

  “Well yeah, she’s just an animal. It’s like kicking puppies,” Willie told him.

  “Willie, if puppies would’ve killed my wife I’d stomp their little heads in after gutting them. You don’t see this as a dangerous enemy. You can show no compassion because none will be shown to you,” Bruce told Willie as Bruce felt his anger begin to focus on Willie.

  “Then just shoot her, or let me. I’ve killed tens of thousands because they need to die but this is wrong,” Willie said.

  “These things killed my family!” Ted yelled at Willie.

  “They’re animals, they don’t know better,” Willie told him.

  Carl got in Willie’s face, the veins were standing out on his face and neck. “I watched these things slowly kill a three year old. They held him down biting on his fingers then his nose and ears. Just before the kid died they ripped him apart so he couldn’t join them. Five minutes later I watched the same group catch a dog and kill it quick. They know Willie, you don’t,” Carl told him in a low voice. Everyone expected Carl to start beating the shit out of Willie but he didn’t.

  Willie looked around for support and found none. He did see a lot of resentment towards him but no one understood what he was trying to say. “So everyone here agrees I’m wrong?” he asked and everyone nodded their head.

  “Willie,” Buffy said. Everyone turned and saw she had her pistol out. Seeing that, they backed out of the way. “I lost two Mamas to these things. Bad men hurt them but blues took them from me,” Buffy said with tears running down her face. “I’m your teammate and you’re not backing us up with this by feeling sorry for blues. It’s me, Buffy! They took my Mamas!” Buffy screamed as Willie looked at the pistol in her hand.

  “Buffy, I’m sorry I-,” was all Willie could say.

  “Willie, Daddy said you could always count on your teammate. Your teammate is your family, you fight and die for them. I can’t count on you anymore,” Buffy told him in a small cold voice.

  Bruce stepped between them. “Willie, get your gear and get in the LAV. You’re moved to inactive support,” Bruce told him. Willie looked at everyone and turned around heading to the LAV. Bruce watched him walk away and was happy that Buffy distracted him because he was getting ready to shoot Willie. “Get some wood,” Bruce told everyone as Willie climbed in the LAV.

  In a few minutes they had a huge pile of wood stacked up. As Bruce was spraying it down with lighter fluid Danny came over. “I’m lighting it. You figured out how to make them afraid, fear you and bring them pain. This is mine Dad,” she told him her face set in stone. Jake came over to stand beside her.

  “I’m helping her,” he told Bruce.

  Buffy stood beside both of them, “Me to,” she said.

  Bruce gave them the lighter fluid and his zippo, “Marcus gave me the lighter and I want it back. You three stay here until you‘re done. I have a feeling she is going to scream really, really loud with this. Her screams before were bringing them in but this might bring everything in for miles,” Bruce told them in a happy voice.

  “Thank you Dad,” Jake told him.

  “Don’t thank me son, just remember in your heart that your sins pass to me,” Bruce told him and walked away, telling everyone over the radio to expect trouble.

  Danny ignited the fire as Buffy sprayed lighter fluid and Jake moved the cage over it. The blue stayed still enduring the pain longer than any human could’ve then started to scream. Then she stopped as she climbed to the top of the cage. Taking a deep breath she let out a massive roar that hurt their ears. Unlike the roar of a male it was much higher pitched and they could hear it echoing off in the distance. More than one person grabbed their ears trying to block the sound. Jake lowered the cage into the fire as she unleashed another roar, then started screaming as her skin started to boil.

  “What the fuck did y’all do there!? You have blues coming from everywhere heading to you!” Mike yelled over the radio.

  “We made a female blue roar,” Bruce told him smiling.

  “Damn, didn’t know they could do that,” Mike replied, actually shocked.

  “Neither did I, but they can and it hurts your ears more than the male roar,” Bruce told him as he shook his head to stop the ringing in his ears.

  “Bruce, I’m not kidding when I say a shitload are coming. I just sent for Stephanie to see if she can give me some numbers,” Mike told him.

  “How far away are they coming from?” Bruce asked.

  “Bruce, you’re about eighty miles from Pine Bluff and they’re leaving it at a full run. Hold on here’s Stephanie give us a minute,” Mike said as the burning blue let out another roar but this one was different. It was louder and higher pitched but Bruce could feel the roar’s sound waves rattle in his chest. Bruce could tell it was filled with pain.

  “I want an Omega flag on every vehicle. Support group get ready to resupply us,” Bruce told them over the radio grinning. The blue female was letting out its last groans as the fire consumed her.

  Twenty minutes later Bruce’s radio went off. “Bruce, you may want to think about moving real fast,” Mike told him.

  “Just fucking tell me!” Bruce yelled into the radio.

  “Stephanie says close to two and half million are heading to you. From north, east and west,” Mike said.

  “Well it’s time to see just how good we really are,” Bruce replied over
the radio chuckling.

  “What does Willie say?” Mike asked.

  “Don’t know, he was removed from the team. He didn’t wanting us to torture a blue. I think Buffy was going to shoot him,” Bruce replied not admitting her actions had stopped him from shooting Willie.

  “Why in the hell would he do that?” Mike demanded.

  “Don’t know and I really don’t want to talk about it,” Bruce said.

  “Okay Bruce, if you’re going to leave it has to be now, they’re close,” Mike said.

  “No, I’m here to kill blues,” Bruce said feeling the goose bumps come up on his arms.

  “Well one good thing came out of it. The gang by El Dorado just got overrun,” Mike told him.

  “No Mike, that isn’t good. The gangs already fear the blues, they need to fear us,” Bruce informed him.

  “Bruce, it’s Stephanie, please leave. They’re crossing the bridge at Greenville in very impressive numbers. They keep coming like this and you are going to be at three million shortly,” Stephanie begged and tried to reason with him over the radio.

  “No baby, I’m not dying today, neither is Omega,” Bruce told her.

  “We have contact and a lot of it coming from the north!” the RV called out on the loud speaker.

  “I have to go now,” Bruce said running by Danny, Buffy and Jake motioning them to follow.

  Climbing up on top of the RV Bruce could see over a mile. He could see blues coming at them in a shit load of packs forming into a mass then a horde. A bag of magazines was dropped at his side.

  Reaching down Bruce took the mic for the loud speaker on the RV then stood up in the morning sun addressing the team. “Let it be known, on this day Omega Team stood up, in place, to a horde and killed them all. We will not run from them, we make our stand here. We fear nothing and love the taste of battle. In the years to come we’ll be seen as the tip of the spear that reclaimed the United States of America!” Bruce yelled as Omega opened up.

  “Mortar keep at three hundred yards and kill me some bitches!” Bruce yelled into his radio as he heard the ‘thunk’ of the mortar as it began firing.