“There were two Strykers there, how did they get past them?” Bruce asked.

  “The Strykers were aiming down the road and not into the tree line. And before you say anything, we can’t keep a UAV over everyone at the same time,” Nancy told him.

  Bruce let out a sigh. “No, that’s impossible, but from now on when a truck breaks down and we can’t tow it, get the drivers out and leave the load. That was a tough lesson for us to learn,” he admitted, feeling responsible.

  “That’s easy enough to do. When do we start the pacification of the area we hit?” Mike asked.

  “We aren’t,” Bruce told him. “That would eat up time and resources we don’t have. We are just going to roll into an area and kill large concentrations. At least we can say we are making a dent in their numbers. By my guess, we are over fourteen million now,” Bruce said, grinning.

  Stephanie looked up at Bruce, “Ah Bruce, I’m sorry to tell you that even with the numbers we’ve killed we are not even keeping them in check.” Bruce just looked at her in shock. “Think about it Bruce, there are over a hundred and fifty million in the States. Just taking into account half of them breeding, you are looking at them adding twenty million a year. I really think it’s more because I believe their birth survival rate will be pretty high,” Stephanie told him.

  A wave of hopelessness washed over Bruce as he just collapsed in his chair. “Damn, this war is going to take a long time,” he said.

  They discussed more items for another hour and then the meeting was adjourned. Bruce went to the shop and worked on several items for an hour, then Angela and Stephanie came to check on him. They saw what he was doing and started to help and then called Jake and Matt to help. Bruce bit his tongue to keep from telling them if he’d wanted help he would have called for it. The project was finished by 2300 and everyone went to bed, happy to sleep on something that was not steel.

  Chapter 12

  Bruce woke up and then woke up the kids, telling them to be quiet as they got dressed, leaving Angela and Stephanie asleep in the bed. The kids followed Bruce to the gym. After PJ shot himself off the treadmill for the second time, Bruce grabbed a rope and tied it around PJ’s waist. Then Bruce tied the PJ leash to his wrist. Needless to say, Bruce didn’t have a good workout but it was a workout.

  When they came back to the room, Angela and Stephanie were getting dressed. “Bruce, you could’ve woken us up. You didn’t have to take the kids to your workout,” Angela told him.

  “Nah, I pushed you two kind of hard out there and you earned yourself some snooze time,” Bruce said.

  They bounced over to him and kissed him. Then the kids wanted some love. “Bruce, why is there a rope tied around PJ’s waist?” Stephanie asked.

  “Because he wouldn’t quit jumping on the treadmills and shooting himself off the end,” Bruce responded.

  “Just turn the treadmill off, Bruce,” Stephanie told him.

  Bruce fought off ten smartass comments that came to mind instantly. “Stephanie, people were on them when daredevil would run and jump on them, landing on his belly. The person on the treadmill would fall down as PJ got shot off the end, sliding across the floor,” Bruce said in a flat tone.

  Snatching PJ up, Stephanie asked, “Are you okay?” as she lifted his shirt up and looked him over closely.

  “No Stephanie, he injured his liver. I took it out with a pocket knife and we’re gonna get him another this afternoon,” Bruce said. Stephanie just looked at Bruce, shaking her head.

  “Go take a shower, we’ll get the kids to school,” Angela told him as she and Stephanie left with the kids.

  Bruce walked into the bathroom and found another ‘I love you note’ from Stephanie on the mirror. Shaking his head and without looking down, he opened the drawer where his toothbrush was and pulled out a similar note from Angela. He had what seemed like hundreds of them. They would put them up for him to find. When they were with him in the field the notes were in his pockets, notebook, map case, stuck to the heavy machine gun, and many other places. He really loved the two but they were getting on his nerves.

  After his shower and to be nice, he wrote each a small ‘I love you’ note and put it on their right boots. Grabbing his gear, he headed to the Center. As he dropped down in his chair, Mike looked up at him. “You okay brother?” Mike asked.

  With an unconvincing face, “Yeah I’m good,” Bruce replied.

  Mike looked at Bruce and knew he was lying. “What is it Bruce?” he asked.

  “The man has two wives, a room full of kids and is a total bad ass. What more could you want from life?” Ted announced.

  “I’m good,” Bruce answered as Millie put his coffee mug down.

  “Bruce, you need some time off. Your color don’t look good,” Millie told him.

  “I said I’m good,” Bruce told her and took a drink of coffee.

  “Are you a pod person now?” Carl asked. Bruce just turned to him with a flat look. “My bad,” Carl said.

  “Bruce, will you take some time off?” Millie asked him.

  “Too much to do Millie,” Bruce told her. Mike just watched Bruce. He’d make a point to get him alone today and talk with him.

  The rest of the command group came in and sat down talking. Bruce just watched and listened. When breakfast was done, Jake looked over at him. “Can we show them now, Dad?” he asked.

  “Yeah son, go get it set up and I’ll bring everyone,” Bruce told him. Jake and the kids took off running as everyone looked at Bruce.

  “What’s that about?” Willie asked.

  “Our new jail demonstration,” Bruce replied. Angela and Stephanie patted his hands and just smiled at the rest of them.

  Twenty minutes later Bruce led the group behind the barn to find the twenty prisoners lined up. The all looked malnourished and slightly dehydrated. Omega fed and watered them but only enough to keep them alive. The twenty were standing in underwear with their hands zip-tied behind them. Each prisoner had a numbered collar around their neck and an ankle bracelet on. Guards surrounded them and most of the prisoners looked scared. Bruce grinned at the two who weren’t scared; he knew they wouldn’t like the demonstration.

  “Gentlemen, may I have your attention please? I’m here to offer you a chance to earn your way back to the human race. Take it, and once it has been deemed that you are ready, you’ll be allowed into the clan. If you don’t want this we will kill you now,” Bruce told them.

  “Bullshit, man, you don’t give a chance to anyone,” number twelve collar said.

  “That was rude, Number Twelve. Don’t let it happen again,” Bruce said, and Twelve snickered. “The collars you are wearing can kill you at any time. Let me demonstrate,” Bruce told them and keyed his radio. “Number Twelve,” Bruce said.

  The collar on Number Twelve gave off what sounded like a shotgun blast. He fell down with his head hanging off the front of his body. Three-quarters of his neck was blown away. The other prisoners all jumped back as Bruce yelled out, “Hey, nobody told you to move!” They all froze, looking at him.

  “The box on your collar has two ounces of C-4. Not a lot but enough to do that. Now before anyone thinks they could use the collar to hold someone hostage,” Bruce said, and keyed his radio. “Number Three,” he said and the big man wearing number three gave out a cry and collapsed with his feet jerking.

  “There is also a syringe that holds three cc’s of cyanide that will inject in your neck. The collars are on a satellite so you have to get to the southern hemisphere for them not to work. If you try to cut them off, they blow. You try to pick the lock, they blow. They have a small port for a computer hook up. You have five seconds to give the pass code before you unlock the collar with a key. There are six keys all locked up. Just a word of warning, if you go in the house you will get a pain in the neck. I don’t want to clean up blood out of the house. Let’s get something clear. You are supposed to be dead already but I was busy. I’m not in the mood to take you back out and use you for bait. I can catch more for that. Now for the ankle bracelet,” Bruce said and keyed his radio. “Everyone,” he said.

  All the prisoners fell down screaming, then stopped, mouths gaping open in shock. “As you can feel, they shock the shit out of you. Just to let you know that was the low setting. Would anyone like to feel the high setting?” Bruce asked and all the prisoners shook their heads no. “Stand up please,” Bruce said and all of them jumped up. “Any person here can call on the radio and yell your number. Escape and we just flip your number, and unless you can get to the southern hemisphere you lose your head. Cut their bonds,” Bruce told the guards who went to each one and cut them loose. None moved. “Every two weeks you will have the collars changed so we can download what you have done, what you’ve seen, what you’ve talked about and where you’ve been. I wanted this to be streamed back but I’ve been told that the battery life is not that powerful yet to send. In case you’re wondering, the batteries now will last in each unit for three months. We can kill you at our leisure. Now for the ankle bracelets. Don’t ever try to put something between the bracelet and you. An alarm sounds, then you get a pain in the neck. Any questions?” Bruce asked them. They looked at him with tears in their eyes.

  Then Number Nineteen asked, “How long till we can be members?”

  “That’s up to you. I will say from what you’ve done to some members here it will be several years. But you do have a chance if you want it,” Bruce answered. “Does everyone here want the chance?” he asked. They all nodded their heads. “Jim!” Bruce yelled out.

  Jim came running over to him. Bruce looked at Jim who was still wearing the gun belt he’d been told to wear, still without a gun. “Yes sir,” Jim said, stopping beside Bruce.

  “These are the newest ones we are going to try to get back to the human race. After a full day of work they can eat. After one week and they work well they can eat breakfast and supper,” Bruce told him.

  “Yes sir, Mr. Bruce,” Jim replied.

  “Jim, tomorrow I want you to report to weapons training. You have one week to complete it and I want to see a pistol in that holster, understood?” Bruce told him. Jim just stared at Bruce in shock with his mouth open. “Do you understand Jim?” Bruce asked. Jim, still not able to talk, just nodded his head. “Jim, you are part of this clan now and you must be prepared to fight for it,” Bruce told him.

  “I will die for it, Bruce,” he finally said.

  “I would prefer you to kill the attackers first,” Bruce told him.

  “Yes sir,” Jim replied.

  “Jim, report to Mission Control and get a radio. If any of them get out of hand, yell out the number and they will die,” Bruce told him.

  “Yes sir, I will try to save some more, sir. I just wanted to let you know I think Skanky Whore and Bitch are ready,” Jim told him.

  “I will talk to them, Jim,” Bruce told him. “Now get them to work,” Bruce said, and Jim led the eighteen away.

  When they were gone, Mike walked over to him. “How the hell did you make those collars that fast? The explosive I can understand, but to put a lethal injection also?” Mike asked.

  “Only one had that for now, but they don’t know that,” Bruce answered.

  “Why did you kill two?” Bill asked.

  “Those two were going to be the trouble makers,” Bruce answered.

  “The ankle bracelets?” Paul asked.

  “Shock collars for dogs that Jake and Matt amped up. What you saw was the high setting,” Bruce replied.

  “Do they really record?” Nancy asked.

  Bruce shook his head no. “The next model will and the boys are going to start on them today,” he replied.

  “Man, look under cool in the dictionary and you will find a picture of yourself,” Ted said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Bruce smiled, “Thank you. Paul, I want you to ride around the property with me and the wives,” he said.

  “Sure,” Paul replied.

  Bruce took out four envelopes and handed them to Willie. “This is what Omega is going to do today. Our rides are being stripped today so we won’t be able to prep them. I would like it done in three days,” Bruce told him.

  Without looking in the envelopes, Willie replied, “Unless it’s an ark, it’ll be done.”

  Bruce left with Paul, Angela and Stephanie. They were fixing to jump on an electric buggy when Paul stopped them. “Bruce, the base is too big to look at on one of those. Let’s take one of the UTVs that seats four,” he told them. Bruce had to admit he hadn’t thought about that. The electric buggy only had a range of forty miles.

  They jumped in a UTV with Paul driving and headed to the air field. The gate to the fenced-off area was gone, and inside the log fence Bruce saw the newly cemented area with planes parked everywhere in neat rows. “Where are the animals?” Bruce asked.

  “We moved them west. They really don’t like the airplanes,” Paul told him. Bruce could see they were building two walls on each side of an airplane so if one caught fire, heaven forbid, it would not spread to the others. Bruce looked over the row of C130s then grabbed Paul’s arm.

  “How in the hell did we get that!?” Bruce screamed.

  “It was in Little Rock for maintenance,” Paul replied, grinning.

  “What?” Stephanie asked and Bruce pointed at one of the C130s. “What’s that sticking out of the side?” she asked.

  “Guns,” Bruce said as Paul stopped beside the airplane. Bruce got out and walked around the plane.

  “Is this a Spooky?” Stephanie asked.

  Bruce jerked his head around and gaped at her. “How in the hell did you know that?” he demanded.

  “Honestly Bruce, we know if we stay around you we have to learn weapons. You know a lot of information about many things, but with weapons I think sometimes you go to sleep and dream about them. They are important to you so we’re learning them,” Stephanie told him. Bruce wanted to go and beat himself when he heard that. They were learning something just because he liked it.

  “Is that really a 105 cannon?” Angela asked, looking at the big barrel sticking out from the back left side. Bruce looked at her in shock. “What, she just told you we’ve been studying,” Angela told him. Bruce just dropped down to his knees looking at the two. They ran over to him.

  “Baby, if you don’t want us to study them we won’t, you can tell us about them,” Stephanie reassured him.

  “That’s the sexiest shit I’ve ever heard,” Bruce told them.

  “Ah guys, you aren’t alone out here,” Paul said, shaking his head and looking at them.

  Bruce stood up as Angela and Stephanie hid their blushing faces. “Paul, I know we have pilots but do we have a crew?” he asked.

  “No, but we are training one. It should be operational in a week,” Paul answered. Bruce walked down the row and saw the KC130 refueler. ‘Good now they don’t have to use my chopper,’ Bruce thought. Then he stopped, gaping again.

  “Paul, how on earth did they land that here?” Bruce asked, pointing at a large plane.

  “Very carefully,” Paul said.

  “Why in the hell do we need a KC135 tanker when we have the KC130?” Stephanie asked. Bruce looked at her, grinning, but all her attention was on the huge jet.

  “Bruce, do we really need this? It is nowhere near as fuel efficient as the KC130. I mean it can carry more fuel, like two hundred thousand pounds, and go faster. But the KC130 can carry sixty thousand pounds of fuel to refuel with. Our air force isn’t that big,” Angela chimed in, looking at the big jet. Bruce started looking around for some place to take the two. Just before he was fixing to jump both of them on the spot, Paul spoke up.

  “The pilots wanted one so they brought one back,” he said.

  “I’m worried about them, it doesn’t even do anything cool,” Stephanie said. Bruce was thinking about telling Paul to take a walk and they would join him later when Angela let out a squeal.

  Bruce turned to look at her but she had taken off running. Then Stephanie squealed and took off running after her. Bruce looked to where they were running and felt dizzy. He turned around and jumped in the UTV and sped after the girls. They were already walking around two F15E Strike Eagles when he pulled up.

  “Now this is some cool shit,” Stephanie said, looking up at them.

  “Hell yeah! A thirteen-ton bomb load. Now that can fuck some shit up,” Angela said, rubbing the plane. Bruce started looking for somewhere to go again as Paul trotted up.

  “Yeah, we have them but can’t use them yet,” he said.

  “What?” Stephanie said.

  “We only have one pilot and no operator or bombardier,” Paul told them.

  “How long will that take?” Stephanie asked.

  “A couple of weeks, maybe a month,” Paul answered.

  “How many Warthogs do we have now?” Angela asked.

  “Forty-nine,” Paul answered.

  “Pilots?” Angela asked.

  “In two weeks we will have fifty-four,” Paul told her.

  They climbed back in the UTV and drove over to the helicopter field where lines and lines of choppers stood ready. Bruce saw his Super Stallion and another one sitting beside it. It was painted gray like the other one but had black tiger stripes painted across it.

  “Yes Bruce, we went and got you another one since we used yours as a gas truck. Steve will be moving it inside the farm this week. It is outfitted with two mini-guns and one dual fifty cal on the ramp,” Paul told him. Bruce just grinned as the girls came over to him.

  “Can we ride it with you?” Angela asked. Bruce was fixing to pull them inside the chopper but Paul walked away, gesturing for them to follow him.

  “Come on, I want to show you the munitions storage area,” he said, getting in the UTV.

  The three climbed in as Paul took off. He showed them huge bunkers half a mile from the south wall that would house the bombs for the planes once they were completed, which would be in a few weeks. He told them they had huge piles of bombs all over the base just waiting for housing. Then he showed them the artillery batteries and the MRLS batteries inside the base.

 

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