Blue Plague: Decisions, page 12
Jake turned and jumped off, landing on his feet. He turned, expecting to see Bruce climb down but Bruce had already jumped off and continued to scream at him. Danny came running over to Bruce. “Daddy!” she yelled as Bruce grabbed her by the front of her vest. With one arm Bruce lifted her off her feet.
“I’m not some little punk, girl. You yell at me again I will put my foot so far up your ass the water on my knee will quench your thirst!” Bruce screamed out. Danny, like Jake, knew they had screwed up big time. Bruce put Danny back down on her feet as he bellowed out, “Matt, Mary, Mindy, David, and Buffy, get your ass over here now before I find you and break your legs slowly!” The five ran over to stand in front of Bruce as Angela came running over and Stephanie grabbed her arm.
“Debbie said mammas don’t interfere when Daddy punishes unless he goes too far,” Stephanie told her. Angela just looked at her, then turned back to the kids. The kids looked up at Bruce and saw a vein standing out on his forehead. Seeing that, they all just prayed when he hit them they would die immediately. Bruce turned around and for the first time noticed several people working in the wheel well of his RG. Walking over, Bruce saw a red car door jammed in it.
“What the fuck is a door doing there!” Bruce yelled out. He looked around but nobody would answer. He spun around and looked at Jake. “You want to pop off at me? That means you don’t respect me as your father. Well when I kick your ass you will respect me as your better!” Bruce screamed.
“Daddy Bruce—” Matt started to say.
“Did I tell anyone to talk? No! Get down on your face!” Bruce yelled at Matt. Matt dropped down into a pushup. Bruce looked at the other kids. “What the fuck are you waiting on? If I put you down it will be because you are knocked out!” he yelled and all of them dropped down like they had been shot. “Don’t just stay there, start knocking them out!” Bruce yelled as the kids started knocking out pushups.
Turning around, Bruce saw the rest of Omega looking on. “Did I tell anyone they could watch? Everyone here get down and start knocking out pushups!” he yelled. Even the snipers that were covering the area dropped down. They covered their areas but they still did pushups. The only two not down were Little Foot and Little Red as Bruce yelled at everyone for ten minutes. When he was finished, he told everyone to get up. Turning around, Bruce headed for the RV and everyone cleared out of his way.
When Bruce was inside Willie ran over to Jake. “What the hell did you do to piss him off like that?” he demanded.
“I disrespected him,” Jake said, looking down.
“I’m not telling you your business but you need to amend that fast,” Willie told him.
“We all disrespected him,” Danny said.
“Well it seems all of you have some fences to mend,” Willie said as the kids headed to the RV.
Willie walked over to Angela and Stephanie. “Think they heard that back at the base two hundred miles away,” he told them.
Bruce was sitting down at the table, rubbing his temples. Jake walked over. “Dad, I’m sorry,” he said with tears in his eyes. Then each one followed him over, apologizing. Bruce looked up at them.
“Kids, I’m sorry I lost my temper. Let’s forget about it, okay?” Bruce told them as he stood up. “Get ready to move out,” he said after he hugged each one. They left the RV and Bruce walked over to Angela, Stephanie and Willie. “I want to move in ten minutes,” Bruce told Willie.
“Okay, but Mike will be here in a few minutes,” Willie told him.
“You let me sleep long enough that Gamma is going to catch up with us?” Bruce asked in a cold voice.
“Bruce, you said to wake you at 1500. You never once said if Gamma gets close wake me up,” Willie said.
Angela stepped up in front of Bruce. “It’s my fault I wouldn’t let him baby. You looked tired,” she told him.
“Little Foot—” Bruce started to say, then just let out a breath. “It’s so not worth it,” he said, heading to his RG.
“Everyone, we are leaving in nine minutes, get in your rides,” Willie called out over the radio.
Carl snapped back, “Look around you butthead! We heard him and everyone is loaded up. Only you three are left.” The three looked around and sure enough Omega was loaded up. They ran for their trucks and climbed in.
Angela and Stephanie put on their CVC and looked up at Bruce in the cupola. Angela squeezed in beside him and looked up as the RG rolled out. “I’m sorry I made you mad, Bruce,” she told him.
Bruce didn’t look down as he replied, “Little Foot, you and Little Red can piss me off like pushing a button. Only one other person had that kind of power. Except when she did it she would throw punches at me.” Bruce sat up on the roof as the convoy rolled down the road. “Come on Little Red,” Bruce told Stephanie and she joined them in the cupola.
“If it will make you feel better, Bruce, I’ll throw punches and kicks at you,” Stephanie offered.
“I can fall down and bite your ankles,” Angela chimed in.
Bruce laughed as he looked at them. “No that’s okay, and Stephanie, thank you for not jumping in back there,” he said.
“Uh baby, actually she stopped me from jumping in,” Angela admitted. Bruce kissed both of them as Willie called over the radio.
“Where are we going, Boss?” he asked.
“Head to the Air Force Base and lets help Gamma clear it,” Bruce replied. Angela and Stephanie laid their heads on Bruce. They could see signs of Buffy’s rampage as they drove on. When they drove by a trailer park they saw where she’d driven through a trailer.
“Buffy, don’t ever ask to borrow my car,” Angela said over the intercom.
“I got ‘em though,” Buffy said.
“I hope so Buffy,” Stephanie said, then saw a small car with a tire track down the middle. “Buffy, why did you drive over that car?” she asked.
“A blue crawled under it,” Buffy replied. Looking closer, Stephanie saw a blue arm sticking out from under the car.
“There is no escaping you, is there?” Stephanie asked her.
“Stephanie, you should’ve seen it. One blue climbed a tree and Buffy kept ramming the tree until it fell over, knocking the blue out. Then she chased him down and flattened him,” Danny told her.
“You knocked over a tree with our truck!” Bruce exclaimed.
“It was a little tree, Dad. If I remember correctly you cut down a huge tree just to get out a squirrel that Danny had shot,” Jake informed him.
“I gave that squirrel every chance to come out peacefully,” Bruce responded.
“Dad, we ran out of bullets shooting the squirrel’s corpse trying to get it out of the tree,” Jake replied, making everyone laugh.
“Well you wouldn’t climb the tree,” Bruce shot back, laughing.
“It was ten feet around,” Jake answered.
“I was going to throw you up to the first tree limb,” Bruce reminded him.
“Dad, it was twenty feet off the ground!” Jake clarified.
By the time they reached the air field the tension was gone and all of Omega was laughing about Danny’s squirrel. They saw a few blues but they were mostly walkers and they were quickly put down. Bruce climbed out with Angela and Stephanie beside him. Max stuck his head out, waiting to see if the yelling was going to start again. When it didn’t, Max jumped down and walked over to Bruce.
Looking around at all the C-130s, Bruce smiled. “Let’s clear the hangers until Gamma gets here. Fourth Platoon, you have east and south security. Third, you have west and north security,” Bruce called out as he headed to the hangers. An hour later they were done as Mike rolled up with Gamma.
Mike climbed out and Mary ran over and hugged him, then he walked over to Bruce. “Bruce, why was your entire Omega team doing pushups with blues still around?” Mike asked.
Bruce was fixing to tell Mike why in great detail but Stephanie put her hand over his mouth. “It’s a secret Mike, and we can’t tell you. I’m sorry, it’s an Omega secret and you’re with Gamma.”
Mike looked at Stephanie like she was insane. “Is she serious?” he asked.
“Yes Mike, she is,” Angela told him.
Mike looked at Bruce and Bruce nodded his head. “I’m sorry Mike, it’s our trade secret.”
“Whatever,” Mike said, throwing his hands up in the air.
“Mike, we have the hangers cleared so the crews can load those tonight and move to the rest of the base,” Bruce told him.
Mike held up his hand. “Bruce, you command Omega. I command Gamma, so go command somewhere else.”
“Fine, we will see you in Fort Smith in two days,” Bruce said, hugging Mike.
“What if we empty the base sooner than that?” Mike asked.
“Mike, we will leave a lot behind; there is no way,” Bruce told him as the rest of the family gathered around and hugged Mike.
“We’ll see,” Mike said.
“We are stopping by the National Guard post before rolling on Fort Smith,” Bruce told him.
“See ya soon,” Mike said, winking at Bruce.
When Omega pulled off, Bruce announced over the radio, “Mike has something planned.”
“Yeah, but I’m not in the mood to figure out what it is,” Willie replied.
Omega drove on and halfway to Fort Smith they pulled off the highway and headed to a National Guard Armory. Thirty minutes later they pulled through the gate and drove through the base. There were no military vehicles to be seen. Several buildings had holes knocked in them. Bruce stopped the convoy and looked around.
“Dad, this base has been stripped,” Jake told him.
“No kidding, I see that. RV, do you see anything around us?” he asked.
“We have contact with blues one mile away but closing. Close to a hundred,” the RV radio operator replied.
“Willie, pull Third Platoon up and take them out,” Bruce said. “RV, do you see any humans around?” Bruce asked.
“Negative, none close, but we have seen small groups since we’ve been in Arkansas. I have called out their position and Mission Control has seen most of them. None appear to be gangs,” the operator replied as Third opened up on the blues.
In ten seconds the blues were gone and Willie came over the air. “Boss, the military did not take this. If they had, they wouldn’t have knocked holes in the walls of the armories.”
“I know Willie, remember, I’ve stripped a few bases. Some of the equipment was gone but that was what was being used by the troops. Hell, there’s nothing here,” Bruce replied. “Well, it’s not going to come back for us so let’s go.”
The convoy headed back to Interstate 40 and Fort Smith. The convoy drove for another hour until Bruce came over the radio. “Alright, we are fifteen miles out. We are heading to the airport. First Platoon has west side, Second north, Third east and Fourth south. Circle the wagons and kill everything.”
“Boss, not to seem like a killjoy here but we just wiped out a million. Estimates here are fifty thousand. I mean, it’s barely worth the effort,” Ted called back.
“Well try to stay awake, Ted. If you need to I’ll send Buffy and Herman over to keep you awake,” Bruce offered.
“Hell no! I’ll be just fine,” Ted answered quickly.
Bruce laughed as they rolled into town. Blues started running at them and Bruce ordered his driver to slow down before the first ones reached them. Willie called out over the radio. “Hey Boss, why are we slowing down? The airport is still ten miles away,” he asked.
“Making sure Ted stays awake,” Bruce answered as he opened up with the M-2.
“Ted, when we stop I’m so kicking your ass!” Willie yelled over the radio.
“Hey this is worse, it’s like my grandmother driving. We’re only doing twenty miles per hour,” Ted called back.
Everyone behind Bruce opened up as the blues charged. It wasn’t in big numbers but it was enough to get their attention. The blues were not in large groups so shots had to be taken slowly. Bruce could not just run the M-2 back and forth. He had to use the sight, sending out bursts to take out groups of two’s and three’s.
It was 1920 when they pulled into the airport, driving slowly to the runways. Second and Third Platoon had pulled to each side of the convoy to surround the supply trucks. When they reached the end of the runway, Omega formed a circle with the supply trucks in the middle. The blues came at them still but never in the waves like they had faced before. Bruce told the platoon leaders to bed down half of each platoon. By 2200 they were shooting walkers.
“Boss, I hate to admit it but Ted was right, this is really boring,” Willie said over the radio.
“Willie, catch some sleep. I’ll keep watch. We’ll pull over and clear the hangers at 0300,” Bruce told him. Bruce joined in the sniping game since Matt and Jake were asleep. By midnight there was nothing coming. Bruce called the mortar teams to fire up some flares but that only brought in another few hundred. From 0200 till 0300 they didn’t see anything. Bruce could see the A-10s on the far side of the airport and several times had to fight the urge to run over to them.
At 0300 everyone woke up and Omega headed to the hangers. They pulled up to the line of Warthogs and Second Platoon headed to the hangers but didn’t find anything. Pissed off that he couldn’t fly one, Bruce called everyone around. “Let’s eat. Keep one squad up. Platoon leaders and support leaders, meet with me!” Bruce yelled out. As dawn broke they ate in peace except for the occasional blue.
At 0700 the leaders gathered around Bruce. “Now, here is our next order of action. We are going to Missouri and hitting Kansas City,” Bruce told them. Everyone just stared at him, expecting him to say he was joking.
“Ah Bruce, I know we aren’t part of the team but what do you want there?” Angela asked.
“The biggest ammo plant the Army operates and the second largest ammo storage area,” Bruce answered.
“So you want more bullets?” Angela asked.
“Well kind of, from there we are going to Kansas to empty out Fort Riley,” Bruce answered.
“Bruce, that is a real long way from home and there are moving hordes. One is three hundred miles away to the east; another is only two hundred miles to the north,” Stephanie told him.
“Well it’s easier to kill them now. We’re here,” Bruce answered.
“How many can we expect in the city?” Willie asked.
“I’m thinking about a mill and a half,” Bruce answered.
“How big are the moving hordes?” This question from Ted.
“The one to the east, around five million. The one to the north is three million,” Stephanie said.
“So we might get raped by ten million. I don’t want to sound like a pussy but don’t you think that’s a little much?” Ted asked, a worried expression on his face.
“Sounds cool to me, I’m game,” Carl said. Everyone but Bruce looked at him.
“You takin’ drugs, dude? Because if you are, I want some,” Ted told him.
Carl looked around at everyone, grinning. “Anyone got something better to do?” he asked.
“Well I was going to rearrange my sock drawer when we got back but that can wait,” Ted answered.
“Willie, there’s a bulldozer on a flatbed trailer on the east fence. Get a crew and bring it with us,” Bruce told him.
“No problem Boss. The plow driver cried for an hour after you used his truck as a battering ram,” Willie said. “Bruce, how about ammo, we almost emptied one truck.”
“We’re going to take two of Gamma’s trucks. I’ve already called for a resupply,” Bruce said as his radio went off.
“Hey, this is Big Daddy Two. Gamma is coming in so don’t shoot at us,” Mike called over the radio.
“I thought you were going to empty the base before you left?” Bruce asked over the radio.
“It’s done,” Mike replied. A thousand questions flooded Bruce’s mind along with some not so nice words. Off in the distance he could hear the line of trucks coming.
“Damn, that’s not cool. We can be heard that far off,” David said as if reading Bruce’s mind.
Gamma pulled onto the runway followed by a line of semis that stretched well past the gates. The trucks started pulling up to one of the taxi runways and parking as Gamma headed over to Omega. When Gamma stopped, Bruce noticed several trucks moving along the runway and moving bodies off of it. Mike walked over, “Not many around here, are there brother,” he stated.
“No, I think they left on vacation. Why are you clearing the runway?” Bruce asked.
“You’ll see in a few minutes. They’re inbound now,” Mike replied, grinning and looking back to the southeast.
Bruce turned around and could see a line of dots coming at them. As the dots became bigger he could see they were planes, then he noticed they were C-130s. Looking down the line he counted eighteen coming in. “You had that many pilots trained and didn’t tell me!” Bruce shouted.
“No, we only had two and they flew the C130 while they were in the service. They were going to train others,” Mike told him.
“Then who is flying those?” Bruce demanded.
“We found a large group of people outside of Pine Bluff. Most were from the Air Force Base, and included a lot of pilots and ground crew,” Mike answered, grinning wider.
“That’s need-to-know information!” Bruce yelled at him.
“No, that was a Gamma secret,” Mike shot back.
Bruce just looked at Mike expressionlessly as Mike grinned at him. “I’m taking two of your ammo trucks,” Bruce told him.
“What? Why?” Mike responded back, the grin falling off his face.
“Secret,” Bruce told him.
